Has Bush and the Republicans changed the way you look at America?

[kentuck]

Will you ever look at American in the same way again after these last eight years? Do you have less confidence in what America can do? Do you now see that an arrogant and Machivellian leader can indeed get the majority of America to follow him down the path of destruction? And the checks and balances set up by our Constitution aren't worth the paper they are written on?

[zabet]

1. I see a

totally different American
than the one I knew.
I do not recognize this
country that is an imposter.

[Imperialism Inc.]

2. It has changed the way I look at Americans.

Obviously, I knew there were people who voted Republican regularly. What I didn't realize was just how out of touch with reality they were. Not only that, but in many cases they are truly sick people.

[TwilightGardener]

3. It certainly made me think that America is full of ignoramuses (ignoramii?).

I can't believe the absolute corrupt dipshits that we the people keep voting into power. It boggles the mind, as does the fact that there's ANYBODY who still supports the war/occupation in Iraq--what do they think we got out of it? What benefit can they point to, for the cost of our blood and money?

[nancyr]

4. God yes.

Have they ever! They have managed to destroy the country I grew up in. I wonder if it is possible to save at this point. The fact that such an evil bunch was able to totally dupe half the country tells me all I need to know about the intelligence of the average American. They're a bunch of sheep who have been willingly led to the slaughter. It's unbearable.

[lazyriver]

5. I think the next election and the four years that follow it

will be the most telling. I don't even recognize my own country right now since they've butchered and mutilated it. Can we recover? That question haunts me as we move toward the next election or selection. What happens in 2008 could lead us toward redemption or further down the path to fascism and the hell that will follow.

[KansDem]

6. Hell, I look at my neighbors differently now...

As a diabetic, I wonder how many of them support the Bush/GOP's ban on importing drugs and stem-cell research. I wonder how many of them are digging my grave with one hand* and picking my pocket with the other!**

________
*stem-cell research ban
**no inexpensive imported drugs

[SoFlaJet]

7. One way they've changed ME is

I will never vote for a republican again as long as I'm allowed to be on this spinning planet

[atreides1]

8. Yes they have

I stopped looking at America with a hopeful eye in 2004 when 59 million brain dead fucks re-elected this idiot and his heartless evil puppet master Dick(less) Cheney!

What confidence are you talking about?

Yes I see what a man who is evil can do, but what does that say about the citizenry that followed along like Dorothy on the yellow brick road?

The checks and balances can work, they just have to be supported by men and women who truly believe in the US Constitution, not by those who move their lips during a swearing in ceremony, whether to take office or to enlist in the military. That's where the problem mainly lies, the congress take an oath and then promptly forget about when a lobbyist with pockets full of money comes along.

And it seems that those in the military who take that oath, and yet fail to uphold it, can exonerate themselves by saying "I was following orders".

[kentuck]

9. The above comments are very sad.

I wonder how many Republicans feel the same way??

[patrice]

10. I am sorry to say

that I know now that the "American Dream" is bullshit. You must surrender your personal conscience about what is right and wrong; you must conform to the neurotic rules of Cupcake Land. You must belong to the right clique. Being honest, working hard, and doing good work doesn't necesarily get you anything.

We ARE War Slaves.

P.S. Please forgive my depression; watching my husband go down is a hard thing to do.

[guitar man]

11. sure have

I'll never look at it the same. Before these clowns, I had a glimmer of hope that our republic would continue evolving toward equality, social justice and the eventual freedom the founders intended.

Now, all of that has been replaced with their sugar-pimp version of a corporate police state that I fear we will never be able to break out of.

[Ishoutandscream2]

12. Oh, absolutely

I've seen the incredibly wealthy, selfish, religiously insane come out publicly. Poor people were now "lazy," non-Christians "heathens," and those who didn't support Bush "traitors." I heard some ugly shit from these folks during the 90's, but boy did they become more arrogant and outspoken in the first 5 years or so of Chimpy's presidency.

I have to say in the last couple of years, though, they have been less outspoken. I haven't been called a traitor since 2004. I haven't been questioned, "Are you a Christian, James?" since about the same time (when I told someone I was a Democrat). And even the rich are pissing and moaning a little more and sweating out their mortgages, job losses, and the price of gasoline. Oh, and I haven't been told to move to Massachusetts since around 05.

So, yes I have seen a change, and it's been terrible. I'm hoping that now even the biggest dumbasses in this country will understand that we need real change. We're all in this together - the "me, me, me" mentality of the first decade of this century needs to change in a hurry. Or we're all doomed.

[sinkingfeeling]

13. Absolutely. I doubt if I will ever get back the trust I had in SCOTUS or any

cabinet-level agency.

[Johonny]

14. No

The people that voted for him and continue to back him have though.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. Not really. I've been a cynic since My Lai, the '68 convention, and Kent State.

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” - H.L. Mencken

"America is the first country to have gone from barbarism to decadence without the usual intervening period of civilization." - Oscar Wilde