Is this as good as it gets?

[vi5]

That's my question and that's what I think more than any one individual thing ticks me off. And it's the one thig I'd like the optimists to be able to console me on.

I'm not naive. I know change takes time. I know change is incremental and sometimes slow. I know that it's about negotiation and give and take, even when it's one sided. And I know that our country has historically struggled with and failed at many larger issues at much more unsure and tumultuous times (although it's getting close to not being many more worse). I am well aware of all those things and try to keep them in mind.

What's killing me (mostly on healthcare at the moment but on a lot of other things as well) is.......isn't this as good as it's ever going to get? Is there any reason to believe otherwise? Does anyone honestly believe that we at any point will have more power than the White House, a sizable majority in the house, and more senate Dems than we have now? Does anyone believe we'll ever have more good will and momentum on our side than we did in the first few months of this year after everyone was sworn in and republicans were at their lowest and the whole country was looking for and hoping for a better way and were so willing to give "us" a chance?

Because I can't fathom any way that is the case. If we passed really great legislation that most people believed was really going to help people, and even in the most frustrating moments we were able to take a deep breath and believe that in due time what we were doing would make things better for enough people then maybe. But on arguably the 3 biggest things worked on so far (the stimulus, Afghanistan, and Healthcare), even at top dollar best the most optimistic people on here and elsewhere can muster is that these were "good" moves or "o.k." moves or "practical" moves that stopped the bleeding or prevented things in those areas from getting worse. But nobody at any point in what should arguably be our moment of showing the country and the world what even slightly left of center values and approaches can do, that I can see is saying "This is great. This is what we've worked for and we're doing it."

I don't want to fight any more. I don't want to argue. I'd just really like to know if there's anyone out there who really believes that there's any point where this is going to get better?

[WilliamPitt]

1. Yes. It will get better.

But you might not live to see it get better, even if you live another 100 years.

The idea that is America is worth fighting for, even if you don't get to see any part of it fulfilled.

I got into this game expecting to die without ever ever ever ever seeing what I believe in come to pass.

My job is to move the ball down the field as best I can.

If you're up for that, you're my kind of loser.

Cuz we won't lose.

In the end.

Even if we're not here to join the victory party.

Anyone who thought Obama and a Dem majority would be some kind of panacea has shit pancaked between their ears.

This is a life's work, and we are not going to be around for that party.

Knuckle up. It's worth the fight.

:hug:

[lapfog_1]

3. I hate to disagree

but the electorate in the US is getting lazier and less educated with each passing year.

Hell, when we see the emails written by the 20 somethings and 30 somethings who are staffing our current set of leaders, they can't even write coherently. Misspellings and incorrect word choice are common. And it's not just the signs of the tea baggers. Faux News is a pox on our country, feeding incorrect information by the bucketful to the ignorant masses.

I'd like to think you are correct, that over the long arc of time that truth and justice will prevail. But I don't think that there is anything that assures us that this is so. Only our own hopeful natures.

Pardon my bucket of cold water. I hope you are right and I am wrong.

[WilliamPitt]

4. Name for me please

all the important changes that have come about due to a movement by the majority in America?

I'll save you the time: you can't.

"The electorate" is going to get dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing by the rest of us sooner or later, because...well...

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

:hug:

:toast:

[lapfog_1]

5. Yeah, that's Thom Hartmann's constant argument.

and it's not correct.

And there are many times (like right this minute) when the majority wants to do the right thing but are thwarted by a small group of thoughtless, evil citizens who are committed to stopping progress (tea baggers).

And the majority of Americans wanted to defeat Hitler and Japan when we were attacked. They didn't have to be dragged kicking and screaming to do it. They all went to work and made huge personal sacrifices to win the War.

[FiveGoodMen]

2. Unless the party loyalists wake up and realize the damage that they're doing, yes.

The only chance America has -- and it's a slim one at this point -- is to clean out the crap from one of the parties and get them into power.

The Dems got power, but by then most of them were full of crap.

It may be too late to do anything and if it isn't it's close. The pukes are virtually guaranteed to make gains in the next two elections.

But if the loyalists keep saying "my party right or wrong" then there is no hope at all.

Then we have either fascist government of revolution and whatever comes after that.

[mdmc]

6. --