I am 40 years old. This is NOT how I envisioned America would be

[The Straight Story]

when I was a kid.

I remember the first man on the moon. And I was like 3 and 3/4 years old at the time. Saw it on TV at our friends' house.

I remember Nixon being impeached, Ford being sworn in, End of vietnam war. I remember Carter and Iran. I remember the freedom train. I remember the cold war as it scared the living hell out of me.

And I remember the hippies and the music of the day. Ktel was all over that stuff :)

Then too I remember dreams of America I had. From comic books, sci-fi movies, books I read (Anyone remember Isaac Asimov magazine, science fiction book club, et al?).

Now we have 9/11, wars of agression and oil, bush in power, and things going to shit all over the place from the environment to healthcare.

We trusted the people in power to do the right thing. We put em in office, went about our daily lives, and now we have this freaking mess.

I don't know how my daughter, 5 years old, sees this world. She plays with dolls. She likes sour candy and noodles. She loves spongebob, the simpsons, barbies, baby dolls, and snuggling with daddy on the couch.

This is not the America I envisioned for her. For my kids. She has no idea how daddy makes money (though I do take her to work at times), or healthcare and it's lack for many people, or who bush is, or what 9/11 was (I was watching a show on that tonight and she heard people screaming as the tower fell - she asked me, dadoo, are they on a roller coaster. I held back my tears and said 'yep baby, it's a movie roller coaster').

What has become of this land I so had high hopes for when I was a kid? Comics books, star wars, indiana jones. It just all seemed a world filled with magic and wonder. Still is to me in some ways as I like to learn and discover. But overall, this great country of ours seems to be slipping into hell - instead of doing well to help the world, it seems like we are doing worse.

What were your dreams of this land and it's people?

[Sherman A1]

1. Got you beat by about 10 years

and I can only agree, that things are now as bad as I have ever seen them.

[The Straight Story]

3. I was scared back then

but now I am ten times more afraid.

The damn russians scared me, but I respected them deeply as I was an avid chess player and knew several russians at the chess club. They were an enemy I could respect and admire in some ways.

The enemy today? All over the place. From fundies (christian, muslim, et al), to bush, to republicans in general and more.

Heck - I am a christian myself, but these folks nowadays scare me at times (and rightly so, Jesus warned of folks like this, and a lot of the bible spends time talking about how sucky believers are....).

Before we seemed to have a few enemies we could focus on and work towards fixing the issues. Today, there is no rationalization of it all. The soviet union fell, life was good, future was bright. Now we are worse off than before!

Fuck.

[ikojo]

14. The Russians didn't scare me in the 80s

but Reagan did. I knew that he subscribed to a fundamentalist version of Christianity as did many in, and around,, his administration. I was so scared that they would "push the button" in order to hasten their perception of end times events. I didn't expect to see the age of 30.

I never held a rosey view of America after the election of 1980. I saw Americans as self centered and easily manipulated by an actor turned presidential candidate. When he won in November 1980 I stomped upstairs to my room, full of teenage anger, and said this country deserves what it gets electing him! My guess is that I had a jaded view of America at a young age because I saw how hard my mom worked and still she struggled.

[Sherman A1]

34. I remember when Reagan won

I looked at my buddy watching the results and just said "time to dig the bunker".

[acmejack]

11. I have to agree with you, Sherman.

I really thought we would change the world. I believed we were smarter, yes, better than the old fuckers running things and we all wanted a better world. Joke was on me. My compatriots sold out to greed, the "Me" generation. People wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire. Our major accomplishment will be the "Make My Day" Laws, Boy, do I feel good about us.

We have set new standards for greed, avarice, corruption, insensitivity and general repulsiveness. I am just so sorry, you young people here. I never thought this is the kind of World we would leave you.

[Sherman A1]

35. Well Said

[SharonAnn]

36. I'm 60 and this isn't what I thought America would be.

[bdamomma]

38. but it all begins and ends with us, if we can get ourselves

out of this mess, everyone will the better for it, there are alot of people who are looking in our direction right now, we have to pull ourselves up and fight hard, we have to fight for our kids.

[magellan]

2. I grew up during the same timeframe as you

...and feel the same way. Just coming back with another cup of coffee and thinking about this very thing in fact, how lost and scared I feel inside. The seeds were being sown without our knowledge while we were growing up and lucky us, we get to see the harvest of this New World Order.

There are often times I think I'd rather die than know what I know and face what's coming.

[The Straight Story]

4. Send some coffee my way!

Things looked bleak sometimes in those days. Then it all seemed to change for the better. Soviets changed, mtv was a good channel, and the ideas of war seemed really silly anymore.

Now war seems the norm, we have people like the BFEE ruling the day, and I feel the world is more unstable and hateful now then I did back then.

Just damn.

[magellan]

5. Okay, my coffee's different though

Freeze-dried granules and sugar mixed into milk that's been brought to just under a boil. (No water.) I like it European syrupy strong too. Guaranteed to wake you up! Game?

I've been educating myself on MK-Ultra/Monarch Project and the pedophile rings that infest this nation from the WH down, churches, everything. Saw the Franklin Cover Up video too. If even an ex-Repub senator can't bust something as hideous and widespread as this in 10 years of trying, how can we ever hope to stop illegal wars, signing statements, election fraud and all the myriad rest?

God help us...and I'm an agnostic. It's no wonder so many choose to keep their eyes closed. Opening them hurts. Bad.

[rubberducky]

6. When I was a child the government wanted me to..........

hide beneath my school desk (in case the bombs started falling). Today the government wants me to hide behind plastic sheeting held in place with duct tape. In between the desk and the duct tape eras, we had some fairly peacful years. After this duct tape bush era is done, I really hope they will get rid of the terror chart for good. I`m really sick of hearing what terror level we are currantly at.

[izzie]

7. Been here before. It is like a wave

Look at your history book if you do not believe me. I was born just after FDR came in and I lived when Nixon was in so I find that proof that we have been here before and usually we work our way out of it. From Hoover to FDR has to be some thing one can look at as good for the people.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

8. Unfortunately we work our way BACK INTO IT, too. Why is that, I wonder?

[izzie]

13. It always goes that way.

It is like we go to far one way and over do it to the other. Why? God I do not know but it does seem like the world is slowly moving into a more 'people' govt. if you had seem it when I was born. Well Europe ran half the world and is people then. If you recall it was WW2. Empires fighting every place. Change is always with us and I am hoping we will be able to hold on to this great country and not become a church run society by a few rich at the top. Frankly Empire times have passed and we Americans are not cut out for that job, or so I think. We may be rich but not rich enough to buy that Empire and control around the world but we sure are trying. All will hurt the tax payer I think.

[berni_mccoy]

19. It's that way because the same evil screwups keep ending up back in power

Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush (all of them), look at the cabinet and high posts of today's Administration. You'll find many of the same people in G.H.W.Bush's Admin, Reagan's Admin, Ford and Nixon's admin. They've been fucking things up since Kennedy was assassinated. Only brief periods of Democratic control keep their plans at bay. This is why if we get back the house, that we must begin impeaching every single one of these bastards that go back to before Nixon.

[Cosmocat]

45. We were set up for such GREAT things 6 years ago ...

I am 40 also ... And, looking back, I wish I had been more involved in the 90s ... Not that it would have made a difference, but I wish I could say that I was doing what i could, and I am NOT going to be in the position to not be able to say that again ...

I remember, back in 93, talking to a friend at the gym ... Big guy, but real smart, and a good guy ... Somehow he mentioned that he really liked Rush Limbaugh ...

I was dumbfounded ... I had heard him a couple times, and knew him for what he was ... A disingenious, divisive gasbag ... I could not for the life of me understand how anyone saw even the first value in his garbage ... I still don't, but I now know that he was only the tip of the iceberg, and again, while I don't get it, I now know full out the rage, anger, hatred and completely banal insanity that consumes people who somehow are predisposed to "conservatism"

One way or another, they WERE going to gain control, and they WERE going to put their stamp on this country ...

I did not for the LIFE of me understand how this clown got "elected" as president in 1999, but I knew then were in BIG trouble ... We had FINALLY gotten to a balanced budget, the economy was doing OK, due for a slight tail, but ... We had general peace and stability in the world, and good standing ...

IF 9-11 had not happened, we had a real shot to have this clown and his cabal shown the door two years ago, but I knew the day of 9-11, that this tool was going to get reelected because of it ...

While, functionally, we would have been better off had Gore been president, HAD he been presient, we would have had a decade of republican rule FOR SURE ... He would have been eaten up and spit out by republicans ... Jesus, they had THEIR guy in charge, and near total control, and they somehow have managed to con the sheeple into thinking they, and only they can keep us "safe" ... Had Gore been president for 9-11 ...

Jesus ... \

But, I can only try to convince myself of what you noted ... That we will cycle out of it ... But, it just is a DARN shame, that we were in line for such GREAT things headed into this century, and we managed to do some major SELF INFLICTED damage ...

[Horse with no Name]

9. I remember the flower children

I remember the moonies at the airport.
I remember taking coke bottles to the U-Totem for refunds.
I remember the actual Saturday matinees where I saw movies like The Planet of the Apes, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and others.
I remember what a treat it was to get my scholastic reader from school and getting to choose a book...and the anticipation of receiving it.
I don't remember the Vietnam War, other than my Uncle Tom went to a jungle to fight and people cried.
I remember my parents telling me that ANYONE could be President of the US if they were willing to work hard and were honest and decent.
I remember Apollo 11 and the really NEAT space toys you got at Texaco.
I remember my Aunt Barbara erecting a flag pole when it landed on the moon the first time.
I remember being afraid of Russia.
I remember Jimmy Carter asking us to lower our thermostats as he did the same.
I remember swearing to move to Canada because Reagan was elected.
I remember the thoughts that went through my head when his assassination was attempted (I won't share them here).

However, I also do not remember the fear of a nation. Maybe I was just sheltered from it, I don't know.

[Skittles]

10. I'm glad I got in 44 years before 9/11

yup

[HereSince1628]

12. Those of us who guard knowledge of the US before the Reign of Terror

REMEMBER RAY, it is BASEBALL, that is the one constant through all the years. While everything else was coming apart...well at least before pitchers who threw complete games, a White Sox world series championship(!), HGH, steroids, hopped up balls, player strikes, and designated hitters...

All kidding aside, I'd never have thought my generation would be part of the surrender of the US to a reign of conservative terror.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

24. Sadly, we became complacent. So many good things happened so

quickly. Especially during the nineties, when the USSR folded and it appeared that the geopolitical world was stabilizing.

And, we were vulnerable, because we were believing that the gradual increase of rights and economic improvement for those of us (non-caucasians, women, gays, non-violent) not truly represented by our government would continue upward.

Well, a lot of us are getting back to the roots of our political beliefs. And, I have faith in the generation we raised.

Our generation is living the perpetual struggle against corrupted power.

MKJ

[Cooley Hurd]

15. I'm 40 as well, and my cynicism about the US grows each day...

My heroes have always been people like Abraham Lincoln, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, TR and JFK. My family, starting with my g-g-g-g grandfather - Cooley Hurd, have fought for this country in almost every conflict since the Revolutionary War (Cooley fought with the CT militia in that conflict).

My favorite subject in school was Social Studies, especially American history. Of course, the history that was taught was sanitized, but the stories of the great men and women who shaped a great nation filled me with pride.

The first time that pride was truly compromised was on December 12, 2000, with the Supreme Court decision that, in effect, overruled the will of the people and handed the presidency to George W. Bush.

Then, 9/11 happened and at first I believed, long with many others, that it was the work of terrorists alone. Then the story broke (May, 2002) that the Bush admin knew about the threats, and did nothing to prevent them. Coupled with the fact that they had a strong motive to LIHOP - to allow the attacks to take place to facilitate their agenda - and cynicism overtook any pride I'd felt. Now, almost 6 years since the rogue SCOTUS decision, I have a hard time feeling anything but utter contempt for our present government. At times, I feel like a man without a country.

I miss the USA I grew up in. I miss the pride I felt in her.

Goddamn these bastards - I want my country back. :(

[B Calm]

16. Back in the 70s they said within 20 years we would have more leisure

time and make a lot of money....

[wovenpaint]

52. Yeah, the computer age

We'd work an average of 24 hours a week and we would be a paperless society. Lots more time to do the things that we really want to, la la la la.
Remember the first Earth Day? 35 years later and we(collectively)drive cars that get even less gas mileage, pollute more...and if I'd been told then of the future that we have now, I'd have thought it insanity....geesh :wtf:

[nashville_brook]

17. flying cars by 1999

that was a given for me.

you describe an Enlightenment version of progress, which (I'm 40 too) we were taught in school. Scientific progress and civic progress would lead us into a better 21st Century.

Remember Clinton's "Bridge to the 21st Century"?

We've been programmed to believe that things can only get better because we are rational creatures in a rational world where the gears turn and problems are solved with our big brains and our big hearts.

yep. that was then.

[B Calm]

18. If they hadn't stolen the 2000 election we probably would be driving

solar powered flying cars.

[KoKo]

20. I feel sad that there's no longer a time of innocence, joy and imagination

for kids today. I feel kids are growing up in a much more manipulated society than we've ever had...and I've been around longer than you.

We are all so inundated by the Media, Corporation Speak and the vile rhetoric of the Repuglicans that I can't imagine how little kids can escape it and not be influenced in ways that none of us can imagine.

It's sad times...worse than I ever thought we could be in.

[IDemo]

21. From duck-and-cover to terra terra

I remember hearing of the moon landing after returning from a rainy horseback ride at summer camp. I had just turned 12.

I remember growing up in an Orange County Republican household, where the threats I heard of were the Rockefellers, the Bilderbergers, and One World Government (oh, and don't forget the Commies). Peace sign stickers were dismissed as "the footprint of the American chicken".

Russia was a threat, but Mao was downright scary.

When Watergate happened, my awareness of all things political awoke. I was aghast that the Nixon my recently deceased father had supported was a criminal.

My first vote was for Jimmy Carter, and I have never regretted it.

The election of 2000 felt like a stomach punch, followed by the head kick of 2004.

With all that has happened since 2000, I feel as if I'm watching a bad movie when looking at the news. Nothing this government has done from day one has had any grounding in reality, yet the media reports the daily outrage seamlessly alongside the latest Paris Hilton news, and the 30 Percenters soak it up like good citizens.

I will hold out hope for this November that something has snapped the American public to attention, but until I see the results, elections will never feel the same for me before voting day. BushCo and Diebold have replaced the Bilderbergers and the Commies on my list of threatening things.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

22. Here's a link to a video that will inspire you. I watch it at least every

two or three weeks.

"The Battle for America" It reminds me of what we can all do.


http://www.thebattleforamerica.com/the-battle-for-america-large.html

MKJ

[young_at_heart]

31. Powerful video.................thank you for posting!

I put this into my bookmarks and will also watch it regularly.

[orpupilofnature57]

44. I was 6yrs old in 1963 ,speak out thats all we can do.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. I'm older than you, and what I remember and miss most is

optimism.

We believed that things could only get better.

I'm not sure when that feeling disappeared. It started to fade away with the Vietnam War, although we were confident that we could stop it, and faded further during the 1970s, even though, according to the economic statistics, life was pretty decent for the working class till about 1979.

When Reagan was elected, I knew the country was screwed. It's been only downhill since then. Even the Clinton years didn't improve things much from my point of view.

[Hardrada]

43. I was an SDS anarchist in 1968

and believed then that state power was inevitably corrupt and murderous. I have never been proved wrong since. I did expect more of my younger peers. My own classmates never much got beyong the Kingston Trio and how evil Castro was for making Cuba a commy country.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

46. I was a high school senior in 1968

and a naive and sheltered one at that.

What did I know?

[raccoon]

54. I'm in my 50's, and I agree.

Thinking back to the optimism of the 1950's and most of the '60's, when
as you said, "we thought things could only get better," it's hard now to even recall how that FELT.

IMO, things have been going downhill for average working Americans since the early '70's.

[Gregorian]

25. I'm 50.

And it's exactly as I envisioned it as a child. I wanted to be wrong so badly. I don't need to say much more. I can explain why, but what difference would it make. You can judge me for what I think. But the truth is, it happened. America thumbed it's nose. At everything. But that's only part of the story. It's not just this country that led us to this place where we are. I've spoken my word on this forum. Very few people want to hear it. We are now at a point where it's hard to predict. Will we behave while things begin to slow? Or will we fight to the last precious moment? Now is a time of global change. It will be different from now on out. We had a chance, after world war two. But isn't that the way it has been from the beginning? I prefer responsibility over consuming greed and carelessness. It is now time for the people on this planet to think in terms of "us" rather than "me".

[TransitJohn]

26. About the sci-fi....

It did turn into a sci-fi novel, just not an Asimov or Heinlein type. Alas, we are in the Philip K. Dick "Black Iron Prison."

[Totallybushed]

27. You must not have been

paying attention.

I remember political strife and stupid, corrupt leaders from the 60s, when I became politically aware clear through today. Johnson - Vietnam War
Nixon - Watergate
Carter - Stagflation, Iranian Hostage Crisis
Reagan - Renewed arms race, SDI
Bush 1 - Collapsed economy
Clinton - Monica, bombed aspirin factories, impeachment
Bush 2 - Planning for Armageddon, roll-back of civil rights

I'm not saying all these were equally bad, I'm just saying that there was always something. I'm not blaming everything on the President it occurred under, either. I'm just saying there was always something, and if we trusted President A, the Republicans loathed him, and vice versa.

There is no end to history, no end to politics. You'll have to fight for your rights all your life, or watch them vanish.

[specimenfred1984]

28. No security for our futures

That's the worst. It doesn't matter what job/career a person has, the gov't and most corporations are working against Americans now.

We now live in a predatory culture rather than a cooperative one.

[PaganPreacher]

29. So, you grew up. Welcome to the real world.

The world has never been as we imagined when we were 10. It has absolutely never been as we imagined when we were 18. That is one of the hardest lessons any of us may learn, and I congratulate you for learning it.

Magic and wonder in "Indiana Jones"? Even if Indy beat the Nazis in the short run, you knew he would lose, and lose big, in a few short years. His precious artifacts would be plundered and melted down to make gold that would fuel the Nazi machine.

If you don't think Americans are the most generous people, and the most generous government, on Earth, you are not paying attention. No other country gives 1/10 the amount of healthcare, food, money, technology, and human assistance America does. We have given assistance to 3/4 of the people on this planet, in the course of our lifetimes. We give more dollars, and a higher percentage of our Gross Domestic Product, in public and private assistance, than we have at any point in our history.

Live your life well, love your child well. Do your best to put your cynicism behind you; it won't change anything, and it will only make you bitter and cold. Make your corner of the world a better place, and the whole world will be a better place.

The Pagan Preacher
I don't turn the other cheek.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

30. Nicely written and I disagree about this government's generosity.

The current government has slashed funding for domestic and foreign aid.

MKJ

[The Straight Story]

37. Didn't mean to imply we weren't generous

Just relating how one thought the world be and how it has changed.

We had oppurtunity knocking, and through poor leadership we never answered the door.

[EstimatedProphet]

32. Sounds like we shared our childhood

I remember Nixon's resignation, and how people were so happy to be rid of the bastard. It was all over the news - and that's what's different from today, I think. The media didn't try to prop up Nixon.

[raccoon]

56. And unfortunately for Nixon, Democrats controlled Congress at

the time.

Unfortunately for us, Republicans control it now.

[ochazuke]

33. Just the right (wrong) age

I came of age politically at 16, in 1975. The "Class of '74" had been elected to Congress, and the next occupant of the White House looked to be equally progressive.

In that and preceeding years, landmark legislation in civil rights, equal rights, environment, presidential power, had been passed.

So, my expectations were that we'd just keep it coming. How was I supposed to know that it was the high-water mark of the second Progressive Era?

Nope, all downhill from there.

And just when you think it's going to turn around, it just keeps getting worse.

[AspenRose]

39. I'm right behind you at 38

...and I never imagined civil rights being pushed as far back as they are now, approaching age 40.

I CERTAINLY didn't expect it to be chic to be outwardly racist and bigoted again, with no consequences or shame attached.

It's disheartening. My parents grew up in a Jim Crow era. I thought we'd be beyond this by now (or at least making SIGNIFICANT progress).

I thought we'd be heading towards being a more united, more equal, more just America. More of a melting pot.

Instead we're more polarized now than we've been in recent memory.

[Arugula Latte]

40. I'm 40 too. I remember having so much hope.

I remember reading "The Lorax" and thinking surely people would realize we have to protect animals and nature.

I remember thinking when Reagan was elected that people would wake up to see what a stupid, evil fool they'd put in the White House.

I remember feeling hope when Clinton was elected that the country was finally correcting back to normal.

I had no idea of the horrors that lay ahead when that gang of criminal thugs stole the election in 2000.


Now, I am angry. So, so ANGRY. I've been furious for six years. :grr: I try to channel the rage into productive actions.

[Protagoras]

41. Dr. Seuss and the Jetsons...all wrapped in some kind..

of basic idea that our founding fathers had really given us something special and unique.

I never imagined we'd walk so far from it.

[onecent]

42. I'm 61 yrs old....and I hear you. The whole world SHOULD hear

you...it's pathetic what this administration is getting away with.
I have 15 grandchildren, between my husband and myself.....and I fear for their wellbeing....

[localroger]

47. Something I wrote almost 10 years ago

Originally posted on misc.consumers.frugal-living...

I came of age in the late 1970's. While it wasn't a perfect world, it was
a world full of hope. We had conquered the Moon and serious people were
seriously talking about colonization and about putting a man on Mars. The
horrible and indefensible war in Vietnam had been ended largely due to the
protests of common people. Women were starting to take the word
_equality_ seriously. Homosexuals were starting to peep out of the closet
without getting murdered. There were widespread movements toward sexual
freedom. Discrimination was an ugly word.

Then, just before I graduated from high school, we idiots elected a senile
B-movie actor to lead our country.

I don't blame what happened on Ronald Reagan -- how can you blame the
collapse of a world on the rantings of someone who spent his entire
adminstration watching reruns of his own movies? -- but I can't help
feeling betrayed and ripped off. I was promised a world in which we would
be conquering Mars and racism and poverty all at once, and I got something
like what the Martinique natives must have felt a couple of years after
Columbus landed on their island.

We sit here and swap strategies for survival, and that's good, because
oppressed people need to survive. But we also have to endure a rain of
invective from our peers who have been brainwashed by the Great Propaganda
Machine and who really believe that obeisance to the Capitalist Machine
will favor them in the end, even though the lesson of history is crystal
clear on the plight of such folk.

I've been going through a period of personal difficulty, and re-reading
some of my notes made in younger days. And it's made me MAD. I'd
forgotten exactly what I expected when I was 18. It's been so long, with
one retreat after another by the people I am supposed to admire, that I
forgot what I felt in those days when our computers still worked well
enough to navigate a moon shot.

There is a beautiful example of Capitalism, our modern religion, at is
finest. Does any of you wish to board a moon rocket if it is controlled
by the products of Our Friends In Redmond? I sure wouldn't. Once upon a
time we expected products to WORK. And if they didn't, we SUED. That
isn't always a bad thing, folks. Torts were invented because, a lot of
times, they right wrongs. The people who would have you believe in
"reform" of the tort system are the same hucksters who have profited from
everything else evil in the modern world.

But now we have the philosophy of "What's good for business is good for
you, even if you starve as a result." Or if your computer crashes. Or if
you happen to be struck with an illness your insurance company deems too
expensive to treat. Or a lot of other stuff.

I was raised to believe that individual humans are important. That can be
defined as a religious belief, because I can't substantiate it with
numbers or graphs. I think it is a pretty simple and basic religious
belief, though, that a lot of people would share even if they don't share
other elements of my thought. I think it's an idea most of you would
agree with. If not, I'd have to wonder why you are interested in
frugality; you could just steal what you need.

But individual humans went out in 1980. We got "supply-side economics,"
which even its _inventor_ once admitted was a fraud to let the rich do
whatever they wanted. Whenever anyone says "people suffer," we are
answered with "they will suffer more if business suffers." Well, maybe
so, but the record has been accumulating for several decades and it looks
like people are suffering (in the USA) more and in more ways than they
ever did in 1979. Not that 1979 was so good; there was a lot of room for
improvement. But the subsequent developments have been much worse.

The government takes over 40% of my income. I don't have any choice about
that. Inasmuch as it is spent on things like nuclear weapons,
occupational forces, and other things I find abhorrent, it can be
considered (by dictionary definition) theft. Mind you, I don't mind when
the government takes my money to build storm drains, provide flood
insurance, or fund other emergency or support services. But I don't like
it when my money is used to suppress a legitimate election (such as those
in Chile or Nicaragua) just because our politicians didn't like the
results, and I don't like it when they fund torturers and death squads (as
in Chile and Honduras). But they don't ask me about that. They just take
the money and do what they want, whether it's good or ill. And too often,
it's ill.

My girlfriend, who is a bit older than me, often rants "I want my
jet-pack," because in her age she was promised jet-packs and VTOLs and
other nifty Popular Mechanics pablum. I understand how she feels.

I don't want a jet-pack, though. I just want justice.

Sometimes -- more and more often -- it seems like her wishes and mine are
equally likely to be met.

[PresidentWar]

48. 46 here. And yes, its a Sinclair Lewis-ian nightmare.

I thought Vietnam would change things for the better, permanently: not just give the thugs more time to regroup and try it again.

I thought that, by this time, we would already have established some permanent bases on the moon and maybe even Mars. That space travel would be commercial and regular. That everyone would have a quality public education and that poverty was nearly unheard of.

I never would have dreamed that all that would vanish while we pursued war on the world, or anyone that didnt hold our views.

Sigh.

[Javaman]

49. My hero was neil armstrong...

What hero's are there today?

I grew up during viet nam, saw nixon resign, got the crap scared out of me during the cold war, but never once, never ever, did I ever feel that my government, our government would ever make us the fall guy for their fuck ups. the system had worked, there was still a level if integrity in the U.S. When all things went to shit, someone, that brave someone would do the right thing and speak up and say, "this is wrong".

there is no one like that any longer. Not that they don't exist, but they are purposely quieted now. Swift-boated into obscurity.

We live now in a neutered society run by the inmates.

[samsingh]

50. who would have believed this is how things would be even

8 years ago?

[bumblebee1]

51. I'm 45

I remember Nixon's impeachment and resignation. At the time, I was thinking, "Gee, Ford didn't get to be vice president too long." I also remember the resignation of Spiro Agnew. I can remember my father referring to Nixon as the goofball at the dinner table. He may have been thinking other terms, but did not use them in front of his wife and daughters.

I remember the different Apollo space missions, Skylab and Mir space stations.

Yes, Straight Story, you do bring back memories about K-Tel records. I remember the tv commercials for them.

I grew up under the impression that fascism was something that happened in other countries, not in the USA. The Soviet Union was a country I feared, hated and also had a fascination for. The only Russians I saw on TV were figure skaters and gymnasts. For some reason Irina Rodnina, Ekaterina Gordeeva (and their respective partners) and Olga Korbut didn't look all that scarey to me. A coup happens only in communist and third world countries. In 2000, I learned I was dead wrong.

When I was a child, I never thought I'd see the day when the USA became the country where you can be ignorant and proud of it. Seeing this country resemble Nazi Germany and more recently Romania under Ceaucescu (sp) is something I never thought would happen. Americans have become too complacent. If 9/11 didn't serve as a wake up call, I'm not sure what will.

[mad-mommy]

53. not quite 40, but feel a lot older...

Right now I am just happy we made it through another pay period, and nothing bad happened. Sadly, I have a back up plan (moving back with dad) if a life event would take place, because we would not recover from one. They say to have 6 months of a year's salary on hand in case of a major event. To that I laugh. One month, six months, 2 weeks, whatever, it will all disappear so fast, you won't know what hit you. You may as well live for today, and not worry about tomorrow.

[omega minimo]

55. All you sleepwalkers need to listen to Thom Hartmann explain how we got

from Reagan to here-- and reread the posts of those here who were awake at the time.

:hi: