whats wrong with America?

I think that this thread is exemplary of the problem with the united states. Let's take a look at the people posting on this thread.

XT18 - canadian
Ckava - British
IronDragon - Lives in Britain, came from America
Taff - Welsh
Bulkathos - America
Victoria - British
Slip - Lives in Asia, American born
Banpen - America
Knight Errant - Britain
Damien Alexander - Britain

So out of 10 people posting on this thread, freakin' 2 people are ACTUALLY FROM AMERICA (3/11 if you include me). That's pathetic. People in other countries care more about how screwed up America is than we do.

I live here and I talk to people about this stuff alot because I'm concerned about how bad the government has gotten, and NOBODY CARES. 9/10 people over here don't have the slightest inkling as to what the government is up to and don't care. Most people don't even vote.

The fact of the matter is:

We're in the worst debt in our history.
Our economy is on the outs.
Our education system is in the toilet and getting worse.
Our medical system has been sabotaged by government interference, poor medical insurance policies and irresponsible malpractice litigation. It's still strong but will decline.
We've lost more personal freedom in the last 10 years than we have in the 100 years before that.
We're in a war that has no objective (thus, we can't win it).
Our military is overextended all over the world. We can't protect our own borders.
Illegal immigration is totally out of control.
Everything except the service industries is getting put over seas.
And to top it all off, our politicians are bought and paid for by special interest groups and corporations.

And the real nail in the coffin is that no one gives a damn or pays any attention. There are very few people who are even talking about this stuff, and even fewer who are trying to do something about it. Plus, there is NO ONE in the main stream (except for the liberal spin doctors). The most main stream person who is addressing the stuff with very little liberal spin is Ron Paul, but he isn't enough to raise awareness.

The sad fact is that the American people have reached new heights in ignorance and apathy. People need to wake up and educate themselves before all this comes to a head.
 
Honestly, I could do a better job than 90% of the people in government. I know this. Someone give me a chance to spend a day in the shoes of one of them.
 
Many people here in the US care about the direction the country is going and we vote according to the issues that are important us. I have lived long enough to see quite a few ups and downs in this country. I remember the old days of the daily body counts in Vietnam, the protest and shooting of protesters. The fire hoses and dog used on the civil rights protesters. I remember the government lies and Abbie Hoffman fighting the power.
So it’s not like we don’t have problems now that we need to try and fix but the sky is not falling. I have seen the country in worse shape but I have certainly seen it in better shape.
I just for the most part don’t feel like getting on a forum and debating with people who have made up their mind that the US is an evil place full of evil people just waiting to ruin the world just for the fun of.
I do enjoy civil discourse however a lot of the time any point I wish to add is already made by those that have better skill at the key board then I
 
A quote from this video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AyCZere2bzc&feature=related

That made me cringe.

"The current administration has accumulated more debt than all of the previous presidents combined. Unfunded liabilities for things like Social Security and medicare are equal to the ENTIRE net worth of the United States of America. Tens of Trillions of dollars. It's not being addressed."
-Jack Cafferty
 
My main issue is that the majority of the candidates aren't addressing the issues that I find important:

Broken foreign policy
Poor insurance policies
Poor taxation policies
etc . . .

I agree that the sky is not falling. You say you've seen the country in worse shape, but I ask you, do we not have all the problems you've described above?

Vietnam - We're at war with Iraq and Afghanistan right now. The war is more expensive and on a bigger scale, and no one is protesting or doing anything about it.
Civil rights - the problems is 10 times as bad because EVERYONE'S civil rights are in jeopardy, not just the minorities (though they are even worse off).

Plus our economy is really on a downturn. I don't really think our country is screwed, but we are really getting there.
 
That’s because the social security system is being used for things it was never intended for. It was never intended to be a welfare program. It was set up as a supplement to retirement. The idea was you worked and paid in then you retired lived a few years and went belly up in the bowl. Now it’s used by a lot of people who never paid in like a form of welfare. Almost no one I know counts on social security as a retirement.
 
I agree we are on down turn just how bad it will be we will see. I don’t believe it will be any thing like the great depression that some of the “chicken littlies” are saying but some price will be paid. The world is very much a global market the US going into a major depression would drag the rest of the world down with it and no one wants that.
 
For future reference not too fond of being referred to as British .

Also if it helps I think most people in this thread are responding to XT18's silliness rather than because they are the only ones concerned about the welfare of America. I'm also with oldshadow on the need to put things in perspective. You could just as easily compile a list of how things in America now are greater than the past and anyway you only have 1 year left of Bush' administration.
 
That’s because it is not PC to question someone’s right to collect from a fund they have not contributed to. This would be a sure way to be boycotted and vilified by the media. It’s best to keep it quite and try to slip something in when in power.
 
You are right about perspective. Personally, I try not to be a chicken little. I'm still concerned that our policies are bad and will end poorly for our country. I'd be interested in seeing your list of how America is now greater than in the past.

The unfortunate thing here is that after Bush leaves, we are going to get someone else in office who is going to perpetuate his policies and make things worse.

On one hand we have the democrats who will increase entitlements but won't escalate the ware in Iraq.

On the other hand we have the republicans who won't escalate entitlements, but will likely spread the war.
 
Yes; I *live* in London.
But I am American.
And I will be returning in 09 or somewhere there abouts.
So I keep up to date on certain things

And to be honest; London beats the hell out of Redstone Arsenal!

Except for when I used to pickle my liver at Hoppers
 
We all know you have anger issues and are screwed up. Yohan, when did you stop beating your wife?

The reason why I glance at threads like this and then functionally ignore them is that they start so flawed in the same way I started this post. The first sentence in this entire thread is, "We all know that America is a very screwd[sic] up country."

Do I think America is perfect? Not by any means. Is it a constructive use of my time to defend "America" from a functionally illiterate troll on a martial arts board? Is my not getting involved in this discussion indicative of a lack of interest in the general health of my country? The answer to all of the above questions for me is "no."

Drawing any conclusions about Americans from this thread is folly.
 
Ok I'll definitely give you that one!! I think Hoppers is closed down now though. I'm not sure I haven't seen the sign for it in forever.

My point stands though - it seems like there are more people OUTSIDE of America that care more about whats going on here than people who actually live here.
 
Now THERE is a term that screwed ANY country!

All it does is drive a wedge farther between it's citizens!
 
About the same time I started posting in threads like this



Yeah you are right about this thread - but go look at other threads, about elections, issues, etc . . .

There are consistently more Europeans on those threads debating American policy then there are Americans. That seems like a problem to me. I see the same thing with the people I know too. hardly anyone I know gives a rat's tail about economic policy.
 
Hoppers was aloooong time ago.
Man, I don't remember leavin there too much


But I know what you mean.
I have a few friends here who know far more about the US than I ever imagined possible!
When some were naming pres candidates at the beginning of the elections; I could only answer: "who the hell are they and why do you know more about my country than ANY american I know?!?!?"

Funny, it is...
 
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