Can This Country Ever Be United Again?

I have no doubt it will be ruled, controled but I fear it won't be anywhere close to what it could or should be. I really would like to call the right wing and all its splintered factions idiots. Some are idiots but most are probably just confused and scared. I'm liberal left and grew up in a family that was left and liberal for the most part. Gods truth is I have no faith that the left can find any kind of solution either. I'm hoping that OWS will ultimately represent a path to a common ground. I've always been kinda simple-minded like that.

It feels like the USA is reeling, insane, incapable of being reasoned with by anyone. When I worked in the Mental Hospital I frequently saw individuals brought in who were so completely out of control they couldn't even comprehend the most basic communication. ie What is your name? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Do you know where you are? It was heart rending. They had lost even the most basic tenets of rational beings. In the hospital we knew one way to help them quickly...medication. Haldol 10 Ativan 2 in the hip and temporary relief would begin in 15 to 30 minutes. Helping/healing then started.

This country needs a major chill pill but its too big, too wild and crazy to allow that to happen. And who really knows what medicine is needed. We as a nation seem to have become cancerous, posibily damaged beyond healing.
I want to believe I'm overly pessimistic, I'm not so sure thats the case though. For the most part people on this site hold many common values and beliefs. Even so we have trouble agreeing on solutions. How the hell we gonna dialog with someone who follows fox news/glen beck and other extremists.

I live in a rural isolated area. Perhaps I'm fortunate because if things come apart it will take longer for the affects to be felt here. Perhaps I'm fooling myself. At least I have some fall back plans for myself.

So, Folks, can we be fixed and made whole again. Do we even want to anymore. What does the individual do to serve the best interest for self and nation? Will we be singing KumBa Yah along with out tea party neighbors or is it Mad Max time?

 

The most helpful thing we can do in an insane world is stay sane ourselves and secure that sanity within our influence. It is from small loci of saneness that saneness may spread. Certainly pessimism or doubt are not effective solutions.

 

Oh, certainly we cannot be united for country because our country has been inconsistent in it's behaviors and premises. We could be united again as tribes of people as opposed to nations.

 

I agree that tribes of people seem to be a likely maybe desireable outcome but I can never imagine the christian right ever respecting anyone elses sovereinty. Like other fundamentalists they believe they are god commanded to convert or kill. Who will take the pacifists under wing? It would be great if it could work but this country is armed to the teeth.

 

It is for this evidence that I live where said folks are unlikely to venture. It is for the disrespect of sovereignty that the country has lost it's decent standing and has proved an affront to our nostalgic sense.

 

Cant even stand my own family..

 

Fuck em if they can't take a joke. Our friends if we need them will shake out.

 

How interesting a local incident here in Montana (Whitefish to be exact) just happens to illustrate at least one point made in this thread...

It starts when the forest service leased a piece of land on the top of a mountain to this private group. They built a Jesus statue on it.

"A special use permit from the Forest Service has allowed the statue to occupy a 25-by-25 foot swatch of public land since 1953. The permit recently came up for renewal and was denied after concerns were raised within the agency about the nonsecular statue violating the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution."

Now check this out...
Jesus statue supporters plan 'Occupy Big Mountain' rally

(It gets worse.. zw)

Read more at your peril, the spin will make your skin crawl!

Read more: http://missoulian.com/news/state-an...758-11e1-88ae-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1cu3U5eJz



What do you guys think would have happened had that statue been a Buddha or a Krishna ,or something inscribed with Alla Akbar or some shit?

Facsist theocracy dead-ahead fellers! yup :smoking:

ZW
​

 

You think thats bad, half time I can't even stand myself :love:

 

christians are probably the most destructive force on earth if for no other reason than they have access to more money and weapons than islamists. Pity the two groups couldn't be separated from humanity and just kill each other off.

 

Aw...I think you're all great.
:hurray:

 

Why the hell would you want to do that? Fucking allegiance to imaginary lines...

 

can somebody tell me what the big deal is about a freekin statue of jesus??im an atheist and honestly that shit does not bother me.people really need to grow the fuck up.

 

I think the US is hopelessly polarized. Logically, it would make sense if the east and west coasts formed their own country. To me, most of the people from the Bible Belt and the middle of the country seem like they're from a different planet. I can't imagine how the US could ever be unified.

 

I think the various regions of the country should form provinces and we should do away with the notion of states completely. States were established to keep the federal government in check, but the federal government eventually got too big and now its too easy for the feds to override states' rights.

This way, if someone didn't like the laws in one province they would have the option to move to another province.

People are people though. I've met left-leaning liberals from the south and I've met conservative racist assholes from the north. I've met plenty of uptight yuppies from California and laid-back hippies from the midwest.

I don't think regional differences prevent us from unifying. I think politicians that create a mirage of differences where no differences really exist are what keep us from being united.

In regards to the OP, I think America could be a great country if the government was willing to invest money into its greatness. The massive military budget could easily be diverted into something that would make us the leader of the free world once again - grants for scientific innovation, higher education, technological advancement, artistic pursuits....

How we get our lawmakers to spend taxes wisely and invest in infrastructure and advancement is a mystery....

 

The question should be "can this planet ever be united?"
If we keep focusing on stupid imaginary bullshit like countries and borders, then the answer is no, nothing will ever be united.

 

I don't think that there is any hope for american unity, and we shouldn't even try

the only thing that unites america is a general tendency to pursue self interest at the expense of others

america is a collection of waring special interest groups and alienated individuals, for the most part, with small pockets of community

i don't think that ideology is the principle thing that divides humanity. i think that there are good people on both the left and right. they may never agree on anything, but good people can remain civil to one another and get along at least in the sense of leaving each other alone.

the fundamental problem is assholes. and there are assholes on both the left and the right.

i used to believe that the liberals were the "good guys", but i discovered, much to my cost, that many folks on the left are the biggest assholes imaginable

we use the terms "left" and "right", but often this just defines a stripe of selfishness. racial groups for racial rights. women for women's rights. gay people for gay rights. unions for the rights of their union. rich people for rich people's rights. citizens against rights for immigrants. religious extremists for shoving their ideology down people's throats

relatively rare to see anyone stand up for someone else's rights, or for a principle of justice that does not serve themselves

there are a lot of reasons why this country is fucked up, and certainly i wouldn't single out any group other than assholes

i don't think that it is generally acknowledged though, that there are plenty of assholes and bigots on the left

i think that many people got sold on the idea that the way to progress for women, gay people, and minorities, was to wage a social and psychological war on straight white men, aka "the enemy", the folks who "just don't get it"

i think that that approach has yielded a lot more wealth and power, in particular for elites within the rainbow coalition. it also took a fucked up situation and fucked it up even more. in large part gender relations in america are shit, and i think militants on the left, and particularly in the media, can take the lion's share of the blame for that

the left has been content to make gay, feminist, and minority rights the core of its agenda, all the while the rich have been getting richer, and the poor getting poorer

there's no hope for america, i'm afraid

 

These are details of the big picture I'm trying to get across; important details that most people don't even ponder let alone understand.

We need not fear this, though. No country ever existed in the first place except in our minds, and they're some of the dumbest, most counterproductive products of our imagination we ever chained ourselves to.

American unity is an oxymoron. Is there anything less united than a planet full of warring countries?

 

Only pay them when they do good...... They are supposed to work for us, not the corporations and certainly not the churches.