What can be done to defuse America?

[TheMastersSon]

Every one of those politicians that you blame and criticize are in someones pocket already. You can call it simple greed all you want, but there is sometimes more to things than just getting richer. All you have to do is look at a few instances in our history to know that there is a lot of s*** going on behind the scenes that do not all boil down to money. Money is only a means to an end- not the end itself. if that were true then only thieves would be incarcerated right now. So to say that it is always simple greed behind everything that is wrong is shortsighted at best. No. It is about power. Sometimes you can have power without money, but you can never have money without a certain amount of power.

It really is all about money, power is inherent with wealth. But it's a different discussion topic. I'm just saying that if you or I or anyone reading this were starting a new business to make widgets, and the two available options for manufacture of these widgets were $12/hr. for U.S. labor or $3/hr. for Chinese labor, how many of us would choose the more expensive option? Even if a few of us want to be patriots and pay the extra cost for domestic labor, we'll soon be put out of business by the 99.9% of other companies who choose the less expensive option. That's my point. As long as our current traitorous and obscene federal trade policy remains in effect, all the "buy American" programs and sentiment in the world won't help. Everyone follows the money and Americans are no different.

 

So again, imo the one and only culprit for our China problem is our own federal government, which has since Reagan substantially rewarded our corporations for exporting our jobs. I have no idea if any of you are old enough to remember the debates in the mid-1980's, Democrats (who controlled Congress under Reagan) saw the writing on the wall along with everybody else, and proposed changes to our corporate tax laws that would have compensated for artificially cheap Communist labor. These proposals were defeated by the specific efforts of Reagan and the machine responsible for maintaining his popularity, and keeping us waving our American flags in tears of patriotic joy while the gutting of our country began in earnest.

Edited September 17, 2017 by TheMastersSon

[Anthropoid]

We are large-brained bipedal apes, individualist by nature, nepotistic, xenophobic, cunning, savage, creative, destructive and imaginative by evolved "design." Even before civilization, we were murderous warring savages, and civilization merely organized those internal drives into larger scales that allowed for more efficient pooling of individuals' force.

 

There is simply no solution to these problems because these problems are inherent to our nature.

 

Don't take it too seriously, watch your back, take care of the ones you love, and be ready for the big one. No body survives the planet of the apes and no one has yet to really make any difference to the human savagery problem, so just make the most of the time you have. Don't be part of the problem but don't bother yourself into the delusion that you or anyone else can actually change human nature.

[Fkemman11]

We are large-brained bipedal apes, individualist by nature, nepotistic, xenophobic, cunning, savage, creative, destructive and imaginative by evolved "design." Even before civilization, we were murderous warring savages, and civilization merely organized those internal drives into larger scales that allowed for more efficient pooling of individuals' force.

 

There is simply no solution to these problems because these problems are inherent to our nature.

 

Don't take it too seriously, watch your back, take care of the ones you love, and be ready for the big one. No body survives the planet of the apes and no one has yet to really make any difference to the human savagery problem, so just make the most of the time you have. Don't be part of the problem but don't bother yourself into the delusion that you or anyone else can actually change human nature.

No one person may be able to do anything about the species but they can sure as hell try to make themselves better by transcending the animalistic behavior you suggest is the extent of our primitive nature. Each individuals effort on this world, in this life means something. Otherwise there would be no point to existence other than to breed and make more of ourselves. I cringe when I hear people say that we are just accidental walking bio machines with no real purpose. The overall objective for us should be the betterment of mankind as a whole with much less focus on the individual- regardless of how we got here. I dare say we have a responsibility to ourselves and each other to elevate our consciousness to a higher plateau of refinement until we might some day be able to more effectively govern both ourselves and our societies. Your dismissal of the whole affair as a pointless and wasted effort is something like an infectious disease that is spreading very rapidly between individuals to have them believe that if we are about nothing, and are going nowhere then there is no reason to try to do anything. That poisonous apathy is the root of modern society's problems. It is much easier to whine about things that are wrong than to actually stand up, roll up your sleeves, and try and fix the problem.

 

I won't lie, though. Motivation is sometimes a very hard thing to find, especially if you are looking for it from your surroundings. You have to learn to motivate yourself. But first you have to stop pretending that everything is beyond your control and choose some things that you can change. The ball will roll after that- it just needs you to push it some.

[HeyYou]

 

We are large-brained bipedal apes, individualist by nature, nepotistic, xenophobic, cunning, savage, creative, destructive and imaginative by evolved "design." Even before civilization, we were murderous warring savages, and civilization merely organized those internal drives into larger scales that allowed for more efficient pooling of individuals' force.

 

There is simply no solution to these problems because these problems are inherent to our nature.

 

Don't take it too seriously, watch your back, take care of the ones you love, and be ready for the big one. No body survives the planet of the apes and no one has yet to really make any difference to the human savagery problem, so just make the most of the time you have. Don't be part of the problem but don't bother yourself into the delusion that you or anyone else can actually change human nature.

No one person may be able to do anything about the species but they can sure as hell try to make themselves better by transcending the animalistic behavior you suggest is the extent of our primitive nature. Each individuals effort on this world, in this life means something. Otherwise there would be no point to existence other than to breed and make more of ourselves. I cringe when I hear people say that we are just accidental walking bio machines with no real purpose. The overall objective for us should be the betterment of mankind as a whole with much less focus on the individual- regardless of how we got here. I dare say we have a responsibility to ourselves and each other to elevate our consciousness to a higher plateau of refinement until we might some day be able to more effectively govern both ourselves and our societies. Your dismissal of the whole affair as a pointless and wasted effort is something like an infectious disease that is spreading very rapidly between individuals to have them believe that if we are about nothing, and are going nowhere then there is no reason to try to do anything. That poisonous apathy is the root of modern society's problems. It is much easier to whine about things that are wrong than to actually stand up, roll up your sleeves, and try and fix the problem.

 

I won't lie, though. Motivation is sometimes a very hard thing to find, especially if you are looking for it from your surroundings. You have to learn to motivate yourself. But first you have to stop pretending that everything is beyond your control and choose some things that you can change. The ball will roll after that- it just needs you to push it some.

 

The root of modern societys problems, is our governments. Left to themselves, people can actually get along. Drag religious beliefs/governmental philosophy into it, and you get wars.

 

In all reality, there IS NO POINT. We are pretty much a flash in the pan, in the overall scheme of things. The universe is billions of years old, 'civilized' man has been around for a few thousand. I seriously doubt we will last another thousand. Probably not even another 100, before we kill ourselves off, be it thru war, or simply polluting ourselves out of existence.

[Fkemman11]

 

 

We are large-brained bipedal apes, individualist by nature, nepotistic, xenophobic, cunning, savage, creative, destructive and imaginative by evolved "design." Even before civilization, we were murderous warring savages, and civilization merely organized those internal drives into larger scales that allowed for more efficient pooling of individuals' force.

 

There is simply no solution to these problems because these problems are inherent to our nature.

 

Don't take it too seriously, watch your back, take care of the ones you love, and be ready for the big one. No body survives the planet of the apes and no one has yet to really make any difference to the human savagery problem, so just make the most of the time you have. Don't be part of the problem but don't bother yourself into the delusion that you or anyone else can actually change human nature.

No one person may be able to do anything about the species but they can sure as hell try to make themselves better by transcending the animalistic behavior you suggest is the extent of our primitive nature. Each individuals effort on this world, in this life means something. Otherwise there would be no point to existence other than to breed and make more of ourselves. I cringe when I hear people say that we are just accidental walking bio machines with no real purpose. The overall objective for us should be the betterment of mankind as a whole with much less focus on the individual- regardless of how we got here. I dare say we have a responsibility to ourselves and each other to elevate our consciousness to a higher plateau of refinement until we might some day be able to more effectively govern both ourselves and our societies. Your dismissal of the whole affair as a pointless and wasted effort is something like an infectious disease that is spreading very rapidly between individuals to have them believe that if we are about nothing, and are going nowhere then there is no reason to try to do anything. That poisonous apathy is the root of modern society's problems. It is much easier to whine about things that are wrong than to actually stand up, roll up your sleeves, and try and fix the problem.

 

I won't lie, though. Motivation is sometimes a very hard thing to find, especially if you are looking for it from your surroundings. You have to learn to motivate yourself. But first you have to stop pretending that everything is beyond your control and choose some things that you can change. The ball will roll after that- it just needs you to push it some.

 

The root of modern societys problems, is our governments. Left to themselves, people can actually get along. Drag religious beliefs/governmental philosophy into it, and you get wars.

 

In all reality, there IS NO POINT. We are pretty much a flash in the pan, in the overall scheme of things. The universe is billions of years old, 'civilized' man has been around for a few thousand. I seriously doubt we will last another thousand. Probably not even another 100, before we kill ourselves off, be it thru war, or simply polluting ourselves out of existence.

 

While I agree with you about govt and religion causing more problems than they ever solved, I think that yours is a fatalist stance. Saying that it is all their fault and there is nothing you can say or do about it sets a bad example for our younger generations. For instance, lawyers can still challenge the constitution to make amendments if deemed necessary by the Supreme Court. Also one vote may not count for much, but convincing others to vote in an effort to promote ones ideals is still rather potent in the world. If you don't like the candidates running for office than support someone you do like and/or trust. Just throwing up your hands in dismay will not accomplish anything. People may not be able to affect change for the better in one go, but chipping away at it will see some headway eventually. At least they can say they tried if their effort never pays off. The day govt realize there is little or no opposition from the people about any idiotic policy they want to sign into law then we are truly screwed.

[HeyYou]

 

 

 

We are large-brained bipedal apes, individualist by nature, nepotistic, xenophobic, cunning, savage, creative, destructive and imaginative by evolved "design." Even before civilization, we were murderous warring savages, and civilization merely organized those internal drives into larger scales that allowed for more efficient pooling of individuals' force.

 

There is simply no solution to these problems because these problems are inherent to our nature.

 

Don't take it too seriously, watch your back, take care of the ones you love, and be ready for the big one. No body survives the planet of the apes and no one has yet to really make any difference to the human savagery problem, so just make the most of the time you have. Don't be part of the problem but don't bother yourself into the delusion that you or anyone else can actually change human nature.

No one person may be able to do anything about the species but they can sure as hell try to make themselves better by transcending the animalistic behavior you suggest is the extent of our primitive nature. Each individuals effort on this world, in this life means something. Otherwise there would be no point to existence other than to breed and make more of ourselves. I cringe when I hear people say that we are just accidental walking bio machines with no real purpose. The overall objective for us should be the betterment of mankind as a whole with much less focus on the individual- regardless of how we got here. I dare say we have a responsibility to ourselves and each other to elevate our consciousness to a higher plateau of refinement until we might some day be able to more effectively govern both ourselves and our societies. Your dismissal of the whole affair as a pointless and wasted effort is something like an infectious disease that is spreading very rapidly between individuals to have them believe that if we are about nothing, and are going nowhere then there is no reason to try to do anything. That poisonous apathy is the root of modern society's problems. It is much easier to whine about things that are wrong than to actually stand up, roll up your sleeves, and try and fix the problem.

 

I won't lie, though. Motivation is sometimes a very hard thing to find, especially if you are looking for it from your surroundings. You have to learn to motivate yourself. But first you have to stop pretending that everything is beyond your control and choose some things that you can change. The ball will roll after that- it just needs you to push it some.

 

The root of modern societys problems, is our governments. Left to themselves, people can actually get along. Drag religious beliefs/governmental philosophy into it, and you get wars.

 

In all reality, there IS NO POINT. We are pretty much a flash in the pan, in the overall scheme of things. The universe is billions of years old, 'civilized' man has been around for a few thousand. I seriously doubt we will last another thousand. Probably not even another 100, before we kill ourselves off, be it thru war, or simply polluting ourselves out of existence.

 

While I agree with you about govt and religion causing more problems than they ever solved, I think that yours is a fatalist stance. Saying that it is all their fault and there is nothing you can say or do about it sets a bad example for our younger generations. For instance, lawyers can still challenge the constitution to make amendments if deemed necessary by the Supreme Court. Also one vote may not count for much, but convincing others to vote in an effort to promote ones ideals is still rather potent in the world. If you don't like the candidates running for office than support someone you do like and/or trust. Just throwing up your hands in dismay will not accomplish anything. People may not be able to affect change for the better in one go, but chipping away at it will see some headway eventually. At least they can say they tried if their effort never pays off. The day govt realize there is little or no opposition from the people about any idiotic policy they want to sign into law then we are truly screwed.

 

The trouble is, there isn't anyone I want to vote FOR. But, there are a fair few that I will vote AGAINST. It has come down to a choice between the lesser of two evils for most any election, and you really only get two choices. The dem, or the repubbie. Third party candidates don't really stand a chance here.

 

And in all reality, except for a few minor issues, there just isn't that much difference between the dems, and the repubbies any more. I haven't seen a really significant shift in policy in decades, regardless of who is in power.

 

Not to mention that even newbs going into government may start out idealistic, and make promise to 'clean up' the government, eliminate waste, reduce fraud, curb spending, etc, etc, etc...... That lasts about a month after they actually assume office. Then they become just like every other greedy crook in government, as that is the only way 'things get done'. The only time you hear about any of those issues in any event, is during election cycles, when folks are trying to get (re)elected. After that, crickets.....

 

The problem there is, 'cleaning up the swamp', as Donny so eloquently put it, has a 'side effect' of depriving those very same folks of a significant revenue stream. Either while they are still in office, or, after they leave office. They have absolutely zero motivation to actually 'fix' ANYTHING once they get there, and a LOT of motivation NOT to, as it tends to make them wealthy. If you aren't rich when you get to congress, you can bet your bottom dollar that you will be by the end of your first term.

 

No. Our government is broken, and given current circumstances, it is beyond repair, barring a rather significant movement for change. (civil war?) We are heading in a bad direction, have been for a while now, and we are accelerating down that road. We are burying ourselves in debt, which increases every year, and shows NO signs of slowing down. If the US of A were a corporation, we would have gone bankrupt long ago. We are going to get there anyway....... and then the whole house of cards is going to come crashing down. The result is NOT going to be pretty. (as I suspect that the US going down, is going to take a good portion of the world economy with it.)

 

Yeah, I have a pretty dim view of the future. I may live to see it actually come to pass. I will NOT live thru it though. I am far too dependent on the current system for my survival.

[phoneyLogic]

Being half pessimist, half optimist, I do not believe that there could be a way out without having a thermo nuclear world war. The pessimist says, nothing would change. The optimist says, well maybe sth unexpected might happen.

 

The current system just works and there are way too many supporting it. Is there sth which could be considered a viable option?

Edited September 17, 2017 by tortured Tomato

[Fkemman11]

 

And that's a relatively recent phenomenon..... Started in the last decade. I don't recall any constitutional conventions that added the 'right to never be exposed to something you may find offensive'......... Our society is in serious decline.... The cops in Portland Oregon are going to no longer refer to gang members, as 'gang members'..... as it hurts their employability when they get out of prison....... We are going to 'politically correct' ourselves into our graves.

 

These are the first steps toward mass censorship. Censorship called for by people and enforced by the state is in essence totalitarianism. Totalitarianism and oppression are the very things this country fought against in the Revolutionary War. Our countries founding fathers evidently fought for nothing as we "politically correct" ourselves towards this a scant quarter millennium later. When a person or group cry and wail about something or someone they don't like- and then get others to agree and then say things like "that should be against the law!" and then it becomes law........They have just given up more of everyone's rights!!!!!!!! People never learn. :confused:

 

In other somewhat related news- our country's veterans are committing suicide at an alarming rate. That should be a major concern for our govt., but they turn a blind eye it seems.

 

https://www.thetrace.org/2017/03/soldiers-veterans-high-rates-suicide/

[HeyYou]

 

 

And that's a relatively recent phenomenon..... Started in the last decade. I don't recall any constitutional conventions that added the 'right to never be exposed to something you may find offensive'......... Our society is in serious decline.... The cops in Portland Oregon are going to no longer refer to gang members, as 'gang members'..... as it hurts their employability when they get out of prison....... We are going to 'politically correct' ourselves into our graves.

 

These are the first steps toward mass censorship. Censorship called for by people and enforced by the state is in essence totalitarianism. Totalitarianism and oppression are the very things this country fought against in the Revolutionary War. Our countries founding fathers evidently fought for nothing as we "politically correct" ourselves towards this a scant quarter millennium later. When a person or group cry and wail about something or someone they don't like- and then get others to agree and then say things like "that should be against the law!" and then it becomes law........They have just given up more of everyone's rights!!!!!!!! People never learn. :confused:

 

In other somewhat related news- our country's veterans are committing suicide at an alarming rate. That should be a major concern for our govt., but they turn a blind eye it seems.

 

https://www.thetrace.org/2017/03/soldiers-veterans-high-rates-suicide/

 

Yeah, at one time, they were talking about passing a law that basically said denying climate change would get you jail time. (or prison time.....) That was a real eye-opener. Fortunately, that died off, and I haven't heard anything about it for a while.

 

Yeah, Vets are doing suicide at alarming rates, mainly because we have been at war for the last 16 years........ with no end in sight. So, I expect that trend to continue. (and I am a vet..... just not a recent one.)

[Stronglav]

I blame US goverment for sticking their democracy where it didn't belong.

Most russians hate USA simply want to nuke it.

I live in the West and understand that american people are not the same as american corrupt goverment.