What Happened??? From George Washington to George W Bush...Where did we go wrong?

[opihimoimoi]

Just look at the DIFFERENCES....

Where O Where is the George Washington when we desperately need him??? Or at least, someone close....

One of the latest video documentary titled THE CROSSING....shows the differences between W and him...Its a story of how he outwits a paid Hessian Gen with a bold courageous move/stroke...

Washington felt the Hessian would not cover the "backdoor" with a worse case scenario security system. Sho nuff, Washington dares to cross the river and suprise the Germans(paid mercenaries by the Brit Crown) and win a major battle...enough to swing the tide of the Revolutionary war...

He was also an eloquent Letter Writer....Google a few

He was an architect

A Plantation owner

He knew how to pick a staff....competence before cronies

He was a planner. thinker, and Innovator...

What the Hell we got in Bush? ZERO

[133724]

1. I give you a republic...If you can keep it...

[opihimoimoi]

4. Yup...IF we can keep it.....Bush is tearing it down but fasssst.....

You would think if can land a guy on the moon and bring him back...we could get a decent Leader...but no....we had to insist on W...who ain't done jack shit but mischief...Pilot my ass....Washington LED HIS ARMY TO BATTLE...Bush went AWOL....

[mwb970]

23. 300,000,000 people and we pick a moron to lead us for 8 years.

The wretched Bush presidency puts a permanent stain on a once-great nation, as the people doze in front of American Idol. It seems that we got the leadership we deserve.

[opihimoimoi]

29. Smart voting gets smart Leaders....Dumb Leaders come from Dumb Voters

[bdamomma]

48. we are definitely paying for our complacency now.

[HereSince1628]

2. Mrs. Kristol had a baby, the baby grew up a leftie radical but then got mugged

And so the Neoconservative movement found a mouthpiece.

[opihimoimoi]

7. These NeoCons PNACers are stealing the Gov't..Bush is but a blip in the screen

They want it ALL

This what they do.....

This is ALL THEY DO....

Connive, plot, steal, take, cheat. etc

[burythehatchet]

3. corporate "personhood"...the day it was born.

[opihimoimoi]

10. Which leads us to whats in the Oval Office....Damn...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. We became a "super power". See Lord Acton's axiom for what happened next.

[opihimoimoi]

9. Washington was a man of many talents/skills....Bush cannot even hold a common Hammer right

much less drive a 6 penny nail into a 2x4....he is utterly hopeless...can't even remember a joke for gods sake..."If ya Fool me once....."

[zabet]

6. We started going downhill...

the day the corporate suits realized they could buy politicians. Politician represent corporate America, not the constituents that put them in office.

[opihimoimoi]

8. Pocket before Patriotism....Oh my...how far have we gone in 200 years...

[Jeanette in FL]

11. Once upon a time.....

The citizens took an active participation in their government. Now, it seems that many people are more interested in American Idol, Paris Hilton or whatever the latest "important news" of the day is.

It is still a government for the people, by the people, if we choose to participate in it. Unfortunately, many never got the message.

[opihimoimoi]

15. Civics in HS was renamed Geek Class....we see the results in our Land...

[Hubert Flottz]

12. We got the cheap imitation instead of the real deal.

George Washington never went AWOL. George couldn't tell a lie...Bush cannot tell the truth! I'll bet if you look on W's belly it says made in Korea or China or some shit like that! Our dollars don't buy nothing but junk anymore! Bush is just another POS product! He might not kill your dog but he'll rob and kill your kids. But he was the best the GOP had to sell in 2000 and 2004...Now look at the low class load of trash they are trying to sell this time.

[opihimoimoi]

14. If Bush was the Best They got...how in the World can we ever trust their JUDGEMENT?

Them Pubs will say anything to get their way...which is not in the best interest for US AMERICANS...

Washington was a real Leader who rode a huge White Stallion...a great Horseman.

Bush rides those plastic things next to the SuperMarket...until he got stuck and developed a phobia for all horses...

Made in China??? Don't think so....worse...Made in Borneo...

[Hubert Flottz]

22. The royal turd gets duller by the minute, the golden shine is gone!

The Dufus Dullard Dolt in Chief has lived down to his every expectation. Puppets aren't supposed to have brains and sir Dumbya has aced that and that alone in his entire pampered life. The Golden Hollywood style Lustre that the Top Turd polisher put on Poppy's little POS couldn't last because it was never really there...Just a frig-nuten of America's homogination.

Bush is a total product of Karl's STAGECRAFT, combined with Poppy's RICHCRAFT! A tired FAKER indeed!

[opihimoimoi]

28. Hubert, YOU ROCK

You da BES

[Hubert Flottz]

25. W is the guy that Pat Robertson and Jerry Firewall would...

Like to have a beer with! I'll bet Jerry would really go for a tall cold one about now, where he's at! Prolly with just about anybody too!

[opihimoimoi]

30. A cold eer??? Jerry deserves shgit.....

[Hubert Flottz]

50. It's a good thing George Washington wasn't an ass kissing loyal

Bushie, like Marine General Peter Puff..,err Pace. We'd still be in Engladd here in West Bye Gawd Virginia!

[dave_p]

13. April 12, 1945

Things weren't going too badly till then.

[opihimoimoi]

16. Truman did the best he could....all was well until Reagan took over

[dave_p]

20. Sure, he could've been far worse

Truman got some things right, but I see FDR's passing as the start of the slide - the cult of national security, a black-and-white take on global complexity, and the substitution of business appointees for expert administration. Much of it snowballed from there, with JFK's last year a brief reversal.

But I agree that Reagan's the start of the nosedive.

[WilliamPitt]

43. Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific Railroad, Buckley v. Valeo, the Truman Doctrine.

1. Corporate personhood established.

2. Legalized bribery of officeholders via campaign funding, which, combined with #1, established corporate super-citizens.

3. Establishment of our permanent wartime economic footing, thus creating the Military Industrial Complex (i.e. the super-citizens who make bombs and bullets) and placing the preparation for and fighting of wars on the same economic-necessity level as housing sales, consumer confidence, fuel prices and agriculture.

Pick your poison.

[opihimoimoi]

47. The Pubs went into Social Engineering back in the late 40's

to 60 years but look how far they came...

we need to reverse this horrid GOP Trend.

Come, we think of ways

[dflprincess]

17. Two points

first when Eisenhower's warning about the military and industrial complex were ignored and then on November 22, 1963 when JFK was killed and Eisenhower's warning was pretty much proved correct.

Eisenhower and Truman - who really didn't care for each other - rode from the Capital to the church to attend Kennedy's funeral in the same limo I would love to know what they talked about.

[opihimoimoi]

18. I bet they were worried for the Nation....but, being out of the LOOP, couldn't solve the Prob...

[camero]

19. We got nukes first

It was desperately needed at the time but it's the eternal paradox.

[opihimoimoi]

21. Pandoras Box....a nightmare for Humanity

[camero]

32. That too

Funny that the race to nukes was supposedly to prevent fascism but it made us fascists in the process.

[opihimoimoi]

39. Its one of the Top 10 Ironies of Mankind...

[mwb970]

24. I first noticed Americans getting stupider in the 70s.

Then they elected an actor as a president and the decline accelerated, leading eventually to the depths of Wdom we find ourselves in now.

Pathetic.

[opihimoimoi]

31. We noticed this in the work force...could hardly get good workers even then...worse now

[welshTerrier2]

26. Bush is transitory

Blaming bush for all the ills of our country is a mistake made over and over and over and over on DU. bush is hideous. He is extremely dangerous. And when he's gone, and it can't happen soon enough, we still will have badly lost sight of the vision of the country's founders.

I will not address the focus of the OP which quite correctly cited the intellect of George Washington and the total lack of curiosity of bush. I agree with it but my reaction to the OP goes beyond that.

When the country was born, there was an incredible energy and vision to build a nation that served all the people. in a symbolic way, not just one King George was stripped of power but all the King George's. America was to be a nation of the common man. Was it perfect? Not by a long shot. But the vision they had to give each and every citizen (although they didn't do it - e.g. blacks, women) an equal say and the institutions they constructed to support that vision made a sustainable democracy a real possibility.

But the King Georges didn't just disappear. they organized. They sought more power. They sought more power than the common man had. as the hot core of visionaries died off, rather than pick up where the Founders left off, we allowed that vision to become vaguer and vaguer. With each passing year, especially after corporations were enabled and were given equal power under the law, the King Georges increasingly returned to controlling We the People. The situation was not all black and white. Laws were passed to temper some of the corporate excesses. but overall, bit by bit, big money, big organized money tightening its grip and we came a government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations. And King George, whose evil was once understood and vigilantly guarded against, had returned.

The problem we have in this country is NOT just bush. Our citizens do not say the most important issue facing our country is the vigilant guarding of our democracy. They do not say that we are at risk of losing our liberty. They do not vote out political parties that wallow in corporate money and corporate control. They do not arise and call for a second American revolution to restore the Founder's vision for a land of the free. And they do NOT value and empower the few real leaders who do call for the tearing down on the new institutions, like corporate personhood, that have perverted the original vision of the Founders.

And that, my friend, is how we have turned this country away from the vision of George Washington and into the land of the privileged few.

[opihimoimoi]

34. Cold beer and Hot Crabs/lobsters to you....Hula dancers too

:toast:

[welshTerrier2]

36. hula dancers with crabs?

no thanks ... i'll just take the beer ...

[opihimoimoi]

38. Noooooo...lol, NOT THOS CRABS...the ones from THE DEADLIEST CATCH

:beer:

[DFW]

27. Falwell and Robertson wouldn't have wanted to have a beer with Washington

Although the USA has had its share of dubious politicians, and Warren Harding's
presidency was certainly a low point, I think that the election of 1968 was a
real turning point. The establishment of a dirty tricks team was a new low.
The fact that a veteran of that original dirty tricks team is now the director
of Fox "News" is very indicative of how much our system has decayed. We need some
serious disinfectant. Dirty tricks is now an integral part of the Republican
campaign strategy. We either 1.) eradicate that as a form of electioneering, or
2.)submit to it, or 3.) adopt it ourselves, and thus become that which we so loathe.

I opt for door number one, and it's not going to even begin as long as a Republican
in the White House. Any Democrat from Clinton to Kucinich and in between would sign
electoral reform legislation Congress puts before it. Any Republican would veto it,
and sustain the veto in Congress. One more reason that whatever the name of the Democratic
nominee, they will have my support.

[opihimoimoi]

37. I vote #1 ....cut out this crap shit of Lie Cheat Steal Mode

[porphyrian]

33. Did we go wrong?

Sometimes it takes a bad example to learn from. As shitty as things are right now, it ain't over by a long shot.

[opihimoimoi]

35. He can make himself DICTATOR FOR LIFE and really finish the job of destroying America

[porphyrian]

40. Only if nobody stops him.

I'm not convinced that will happen yet, though I'm also not convinced we should be waiting for someone else to take care of it for us.

[opihimoimoi]

41. Hopefully Congress will......Hopefully the Masses wake up to the damage caused by this dude

and vote the GOP out

Under the GOP...very little good has been achieved....

They even have the Gall to think they make a comeback....are they in delusion??? I think so....

[porphyrian]

51. Wake up, indeed.

Some people seem to be able to sleep through physical abuse, metaphorically speaking.

[bdamomma]

49. I wouldn't to faith into anyone else stopping this regime, only

the ole but true phrase WE THE PEOPLE can do it.

[porphyrian]

52. I think it may be up to us, whether we can pull it off or not.

Certainly sitting around and waiting for someone else to do the job is a waste of time.

[opihimoimoi]

54. Of Course we can...its already being done...People come to DU and learn/share of new ways to think

and of modes to choose from...

The Astutness Level is pretty high here...People from all directions come to DU

Reason will sooner or later PREVAIL....the Change is in its incipient stage

The People are soured with the GOP...the Scammer Party....

[porphyrian]

55. That's what I want to believe.

The twist is that we're so far ahead of the curve here knowing what's going on, or what's going to happen, that it's easy to lose patience by the time things actually get around to happening. I lost mine years ago, not that I had much to begin with. So, I'd like to believe that I'm just getting the cart ahead of the horse and that everything that needs to happen will happen or is happening. However, I'm also aware that there is a contingent trying to prevent reason from prevailing, and given that they've demonstrated their willingness to go to any lengths in their pursuit, and the ever-increasing number of deaths related to our not being there yet, I think now would be a good time to see some results, not just because I'm impatient. I don't have faith, I have hope, and very little left.

[opihimoimoi]

59. I know...its so discouraging.....but, as they say in TUVA...Keep the Faith

[Swamp Rat]

42. I wish I could recommend this.

:hi:

[opihimoimoi]

45. LOL...Moran is right...there is no comparison between the 2 Georges

Washington was 6 2 and rode a huge White Stallion...He commanded PRESENCE...in Hawaiian...he had MANA....

Bush is afraid of ponies never mind horses

Everyone looks at W and thinks JERK

[AlGore-08.com]

44. There's a new book on the subject I recommend...

It's #1 on the NY Times best seller list...

[opihimoimoi]

46. Reading it now...so far its gonna be a long term best seller...what the hell Bush wrote anyways??

[bamacrat]

53. W tries to hard to be the second coming..

which is why our country has degraded so much, it was founded as religion neutral, and now it isnt.

[opihimoimoi]

57. If we study Bush...he is a fraud...empty language...negative framework....

Poses as the hero that peeps desperately seek...he is not a Leader nor a Hero...he is a poor excuse of a MAN....

[roamer65]

56. HL Mencken really hit the nail on the head with this quote.

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

[opihimoimoi]

58. Can we make that MORAN????