This is not the country I grew up in

[Va Lefty]

I grew up in the 1970's, graduated high school in 1980 and it makes me sad to think about how much America has changed since then. I know it's easy to look back on the past and only remember the good, but the entire political/social climate of the country was so much healthier then. I remember a time when you could actually talk to people who disagreed with your views and not have it degenerate into name calling or a shouting match. I can remember a time when whoever was President (Ford, Carter and even Reagan) that person was considered by all Americans to be The President. You did not see a bunch of yahoos running around with "Charlton Heston is my President" bumperstickers just because their candidate lost.

We had plenty of problems, but you felt things were improving or going to get better in the future. Racially, this country wasn't where it should be, but things were a helluva lot better than just 10-15 years before when Bull Conner had turned police dogs on Civil Rights marchers. Vietnam had ended, badly, and you felt this country had learned a lesson about fighting "unnecessary" wars and that that mistake would not be repeated. We had the Church Hearings in Congress that exposed the CIA's tactics of domestic spying and reigned in much of their covert operations. Even after Watergate there was a feeling that Nixon broke the law but "the system worked" (I always had trouble swallowing that one after Ford's pardon).

Today, we have an illegitimate President installed by a coup d'etat by 5 Supreme Court Stooges, who, at the very least, has used the worst moment in American history since Pearl Harbor to enact a radical agenda that trashes the Bill of Rights, violates the balance of powers laid out in the Constitution and lead us into an illegal, immoral war in Iraq that has cost us almost 4,000 American lives and god knows how many hundreds of billions of dollars. The political atmosphere today is poisonous, filled with spin and talking points from both sides. Rarely, is the idea of fairness or justice offered as the basis for public policy or legislation. I have little hope for the future as things seem to be worsening geometrically and I see little chance for real and needed change in our government and the way we conduct business.

Sorry if this is a downer but thanks for letting me vent