Was pondering this while walking our dog tonight - our degrading culture

[NRaleighLiberal]

Each evening when we walk our dog, my wife and I just chat about this or that which we experience during the day - maybe add in just a dose of the news (we want to enjoy our walk, after all!).

I told her of a small section of the show 1A I heard while in the car - the host had a the NPR political reporter with two conservatives. When asked by the host if Trump is actually doing anything for the conservative cause, one of the guests said that the main goal is ensuring that each individual can be freed to achieve their best, then quoted the constitution - said it was about "we the people". It struck me at that moment that it was a misreading of the constitution - "we the people" is what liberals think - it is about us, all in this together. The constitution does not say "you, the person" - which is now conservatives view things. As in "I've got mine, screw everyone else".

Anyway - my thoughts moved in to what FDR did - what Johnson did - others, of course - but putting in safety nets for those that are hurting, putting in rights for all - civil rights, voting rights - it seems to me that lots of this sprung up after huge national disasters like the depression, or a world war with a common enemy that drew the country together - WW2 (yes, this is an easy generality, and of course it is not as simple as this).

My thought was that at a point around FDR, perhaps up to Kennedy - maybe a bit beyond - there was still some shared decency, a view that we were indeed all in this together, that kindness was important, that treating others like you would like to be treated yourself is important.

The further we move away from those years - aided by mediums like TV, now social networking - we've lost the "we" and it is becoming all about "me". Kindness abates, anger and violence grow. The wars and disasters that have occurred were not as easily defined, and did not pull the country together, but just catalyzed continued polarization.

I don't like where we are now - maybe it is just me as a 60 plus year old guy wishing for a "nicer" time. Maybe I was naive back then, and things have always on some level, for some people, been this bad.

But I hate this - I hate feeling depressed each day, hating the president, loathing a whole party for their lies and selfishness and damage they are doing to so many people....

and I fear that the only thing that will wake people up and stop this bullshit will be some unimaginable disaster that will require everyone to recognize once again that we are all in this together, for better or worse.

My just before bed, get it off my chest low level rant for the evening!

[Sneederbunk]

1. Trump is not beyond providing a disaster.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. true that - the unmitigated disaster could throw a catastrophic tantrum

[RestoreAmerica2020]

10. He is the disaster! Yet, with every action there is an equal reaction. Resist!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. I listened to that show today.

I was very frustrated that the conservative was allowed to present conservatism as freeing individuals to do their best.

In reality, conservatives have ALWAYS been wrong. Always. In this country they used the Bible to support slavery. To deny women the right to vote. To allow for the incredible wealth grab of the Gilded Age. To fight unionism, Social Security, and Medicare.

What they really want is for individuals to be free to starve, to be maimed at work because of zero regulations, to consume tainted food and water, as was all too common before laws to cover those things. These are people who read "Gone With the Wind" and honestly don't understand why the darkies aren't still content to live on the plantation. Who read "The Jungle" and think it's a simple paean to the ways immigrants can improve themselves. And so on.

In addition, I'm frequently outraged at the way NPR allows conservatives on their shows and never challenges them. NPR, a very long time ago, was a genuinely liberal news outlet. That changed at least as early as 1992, when Cokie Roberts spent much of the first ten months of the year carefully explaining why Bill Clinton would never get the Democratic nomination, and when he did, carefully elucidating why he'd never be elected. That was when I started listening to NPR's political commentary. Oh, they still have other useful shows. I remain a fan of "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross. Of course, she almost never delves into political content, which helps.

[Ezior]

9. It's frustrating how conservatives always get away with having been wrong in the past

"Okay, yes, conservatism was wrong when it supported slavery. But giving blacks equal rights? No way, this time we're right!"
"Okay, yeah, blacks should have equal rights, conservatism was wrong back then. But allowing gay people to marry? No way, this time things are very different and progressives are just crazy!"

The list goes on and on...

Today, the same politicians who opposed a law banning husbands from raping (!) their wife just 20 years ago (!) in Germany, oppose gay marriage and want our supreme court to ban marriage equality...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Rant all you want! You shed light instead of heat...

Thank you.

[hibbing]

5. Howard Zinn

Nice post, and I know how you feel. It is very frustrating, it is hard to find empathy and compassion on a consistent basis anymore. It feels like years since President Obama was in office. I have found not watching the "news" has helped me some, I get enough real news here and on my twitter feed. It is difficult feeling so hopeless and fearing for not only my personal well being, but for the well being of millions of Americans that have or will have it far worse than I will.

Even if it comes across as pollyannish to some, this Howard Zinn quote provides me some solace if I can be a kind and compassionate person in my every day life.

To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”


Peace

[barbtries]

12. thank you hibbing

Howard Zinn is the reason I always say that the real power is with the people. Only the people will pull us out of this spiral. Power to the people.

must continue to resist.

[NRaleighLiberal]

16. absolutely - thanks.

[iluvtennis]

6. I feel you...thanks for sharing. Love the thought provoking "walk the dogs discussions"

[TeamPooka]

7. You must remember back in the FDR to Kennedy errors

You must remember back in the FDR to Kennedy eras The shared decency you spoke of was not extended to black people women Native Americans Asians gays lesbians etc. Many conservatives use the fact that we want them to extend the share decency to those groups and others like them as an excuse to act the way they do

[NRaleighLiberal]

15. absolutely...thanks so much for sharing and I totally agree.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. 100 Years ago lynchings were still considered good weekend entertainment in some places.

Millennials widely and nonchalantly hold views on things like LGBT equality that would have been unthinkable in most circles even 3 decades ago.


I wouldn't get too overwrought about cell phones and video games turning people into jerks.

[NRaleighLiberal]

14. thanks. comments well taken.

[barbtries]

11. but you're right.

we are a meaner place. i never saw i would live to see this day. trump is SO BAD and yet millions of people are completely beguiled by him. i shake my head, i do not get it. i blame republicans.

i don't know what's going to happen. when my son was i don't know, 8, 9, 10, there was an election going on. can hardly remember what election it was, but he told me a joke. If Clinton, Bush, and Perot were all on a plane and it crashed who would survive? The answer was the country. i don't know that anymore.

[NRaleighLiberal]

13. thanks for the many thoughtful responses to my late night thought-share.

I get pretty emotional about things - tend to lead with the heart, not always the head.

All of the points made in the responses are appreciated, and all are valid. I love having my views probed, shared, questioned, challenged. It is how we grow - when we open our minds.

have a great day all. Got a good night's sleep - onward we go!

[treestar]

17. It is weird they could genuinely think that

and not realize that the "freedom to succeed" only applies to a very few. And that they still, with all this regulation and stuff, are 5% of the population and own 95% of the assets. That's not enough?

[NRaleighLiberal]

18. "think" is one thing I don't they do particularly much.

think about others - not at all. they do that very well.

[ck4829]

19. Discredit the tropes and debunk the biases associated with this culture

Don't wait for a disaster and no, voting, at least by itself, won't fix this.

Make life fair.

[NRaleighLiberal]

20. thanks. very interesting.

[MountCleaners]

21. The Constitution says...

...the government is supposed to promote the general welfare, among other things.