America's dead. I Nominate Dysfunctionalia as the new name.

[Dawggie]

We are now accepting nominations and votes for our new name.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Dumbfuckistan has been suggested.

[Dawggie]

12. Oh, I like that....

So apropos!

[Rex]

2. United States of Confusion.

Afuckistan always says it all IMO.

[Double T]

3. Appropriate. Nominated and I vote YES!

[canetoad]

4. I see people on this board who on one hand

can do nothing but whinge and bitch and complain about their/America's situation, but on the other hand crow about their pride in their rights and constitution whilst demonstrating utter ignorance about the rest of the world.

I propose Schizophrenica.

[Double T]

6. If you are ever in this hemisphere, stop in and will show you around our former.........

democracy. Maybe you can even spend some time informing US about the rest of the world.

[canetoad]

7. I don't doubt you had a strong democracy

All I'm doing is commenting on what I see before my eyes. I guess it's natural to want to defend your own country against those who criticise it but it does not ring true when Americans are doing the worst of the criticising.

I'm not sure if your post is snark or genuine, but I'll take it as genuine. Put yourself in the place of a left-winger from another country and ask what YOU would think if you read many of the posts in GD.

It's fine to believe you have the greatest country in the world. I believe that too, but never used to ram it down anyone's throat until I saw the internal conflict that seems to beset America. To an outsider, you are polarised, extreme. Both sides say its their way or the highway. No one can win, especially not ordinary, peaceful Americans.

Please read this post with the concern that prompted me to write it. If you form yourselves into two sides and go to war with each other, one side must lose. Whoever unites your country will be a special person indeed.

[stillcool]

8. ain't it the truth...

I read some comments the other day on one of the British newspapers and was struck silly by how respectful and decent they were. There's alot of venom running around these parts. It's a knee-jerk kind of thing...which I know too well because I see it in myself. I find the entire political system corrupt, and the public discourse delusional...but once someone starts messing with 'my guy', I can be guaranteed to rev it up. It's hard for me to define what it is that causes me to react...I always chalk it up to the vitriol, but I think it goes deeper. Perhaps it has something to do with the decline of a society...when fissures develop out of some search for a sense of security.

[canetoad]

13. Thanks for your comments

In more ways than one, the word 'defensive' seems to define the image Americans project to the world. I don't know if it's a result of needing to win, or of feeling under attack. Either way, it's not a healthy way to live.

It pays to remember that not everyone in a society has finely honed critical skills and that some people gulp down any old crap that is served up to them in the form of opinions, purported authority, whatever. When I consider the amount of money at stake, it's not surprising that some companies and people have made it their business to divide your society. I fear there is no real answer to that, except to find a middle ground that pleases the majority.

Lately I've seen a few posts that express sentiments like, 'who gives a fuck what the 26% think'. This to me is wrong thinking as probably only 5% of that 26% (or 1.3% of your population in general) are fundamental in thought and action. I have close friends who vote right wing. To retain the friendship we strive to find common ground, not to exacerbate our differences.

Once more, thank you for a thoughtful response.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. Think I dated her younger sister once.

[jgraz]

9. Obeseana

[ThatsMyBarack]

10. Rosieland!

Oh, wait. That's already being used on a classic M*A*S*H episode....

[PDJane]

11. The Untied States of America?

[tom_paine]

19. That place is gone.

We're trying to name the new thing which has risen from it's ashes.

[tom_paine]

20. Imperial Amerika.

Nazi Amerika doesn't work because there are still several clear differences between us and Nazi Germany.

Several. Why, I can count them on both hands, and that's ALOT of differences.

[avenger64]

14. Province 21 of the Republic of China.

n/t

[balantz]

15. "Stoned on the Grassy Knoll"

[balantz]

16. Lemming Land

[Echo In Light]

17. Funeralopolis: Wonderful World of Colonized Minds

[BeHereNow]

18. "Werefuckedistan" is my new name for the US.

You must admit, it sums our future up nicely.
BHN

[Ivan Sputnik]

21. Oprahfornia

[Beelzebud]

22. I like Gore Vidal's name: The United States of Amnesia

[TheWatcher]

23. Pleasantville.