This nation is no longer capable of acting on problems.

[edhopper]

After the tragic shooting in Tuscon, even modest gun control is not feasible in Congress, not even the ban on assault weapons.

After the biggest financial collapse since the Great Depression, returning some of the modest, common sense regulations, like Glass/Stegel, is a nonstarter. The banks and financial corporations still run rampant.

We refuse to accept the criminal act of invading another country unprovoked and the torture and other acts done by those in power.
We continue to build a $100bil plus embassy in a country we should not be in.

As both sides rail against the deficit, they can't even let the tax break for the richest .5% expire, costing the country hundreds of billions $.

In the midst of a health care crisis, the sanest solution of a Government option (forget even a mention of Single Payer)isn't given a chance.

We have known about the energy crunch for over 40 years and done next to nothing to face it. Even making cars as efficient as the rest of the World.

We allow the discourse to turn to "downtown mosques" and the minor problem of illegal immigrants and refuse to discuss the big problems like the unprecedented income disparity, the plight of the middle class and the crumbling infrastructure.

I simply don't think this country can face. let alone solve the real problems it has.

And yes the Republicans are more at fault, but it is the Democrats who have done nothing to counter them.

[cali]

1. which is why I depend on my state gov't to do the right things

politics on a national level seems nigh on useless to me.

[Catherina]

3. Would that we all lived in Vermont.

I say that with no sarcasm Cali, just discouragement.

[Catherina]

2. I totally agree with you. It's extremely discouraging.

I have no faith in the Democrats anymore. You can't be an opposition party if you don't actually oppose anything.

Rec'd

[bobbolink]

4. The nation is WE, The People. People are capable of action.

Other countries have been demonstrating this fact, but we are complicit with those in power.

Its time to look at our own damned selves. Especially on the day honoring a man who took action.

[Zax2me]

5. Rec - but Democrats have done SOME things to counter

It just may not be all or everything we want - or enough.
And the repubs are more than 'more at fault', they carry the banner.

[edhopper]

15. Yes,

But compared to The New Deal, the last time we faced such a crisis, it feels like fighting fire with a squirt gun.

[whatchamacallit]

6. Don't need a Magic 8-Ball to know "Signs point to yes"

Good, true, sad, post!

[indepat]

7. It is not easy for a nation to focus on its problems while all major branches of government focus

on implementing a far RW-wing corporatist (read fascist) society. :shrug:

[elocs]

8. Are we sentient enough to perceive our own pending demise as a nation?

Will it be a collapse, an implosion, or just a fading away to the second tier of nations in the world?

Did the Romans envision the collapse of their empire, or did the Soviets have a clue that things would head south so quickly?

This country is so polarized that nothing of consequence will get done other than getting into another war. However, if Republicans manage to seize power, then things will get done that will please them immensely and cause many of us to want to seek refuge in another land.

[mmonk]

9. Sure we can. Tax cuts!

[affrayer]

10. I Agree

And yes the Republicans are more at fault, but it is the Democrats who have done nothing to counter them.

I used to think the democrats were hiding in the weeds, letting republicans bollix things up so the democrats could look good in the next election. Even if that is exactly what the democrats are doing there is a very large flaw in their plan. By the time the elections roll around the republicans have fucked things up so badly, who cares who wins them.

Did anyone in their right mind think Obama could turn the Bush Jr era policies around? I didn't...

So now we have just the latest calamity by the republicans, the mass murder in Tuscon. And again, the time for politicians to have tried to address the problem, out of control violent political rhetoric, was before the shootings and not after. But this has become politics as usual in America...

1) The republicans screw up...

2) The democrats let them...

3) And then they both give meaningless speeches with empty promises and fraudulent assurances.

4) Then it's back to business as usual.

Welcome to America!

[upi402]

11. As long as there is no opposition party to corporatism

there will be only lipstick on the occasional pig.

No trade policy, finance, or campaign finance reform is possible until the media stop propagandizing the people.

[edhopper]

12. Growing up in the post war

I was always aware how much the country still rejected the policies of Coolidge and Hoover, and embraced all the good things FDR did to help the nation. Years after the fact.

We live in a time where the country at large doesn't remember or comprehend the results of what Bush and the Republicans did just 3 years ago.

Disheartening to say the least.

[Swamp Rat]

13. yep

:thumbsup:

[ladjf]

14. It amazes me to see that so many people understand exactly

what is going on yet these aren't enough, somehow, to be able to offer any Resistance to the destructive forces. We are locked in a asymmetrical battle with larger numbers of people on one side fighting larger amounts of money on the other. The money side is winning.

[edhopper]

16. Another part of this

is the media in general will not hold accountable, politicians, pundits and other opinion makers who were demonstrably and disastrously wrong!

[Imajika]

17. Sounds like you are mostly saying...

...the majority of Americans don't agree with me, therefore the nation isn't capable of acting on problems? You make some points I agree with, but it still sounds like you are essentially saying "the country is dysfunctional because it isn't doing what I think is right".

"After the tragic shooting in Tuscon, even modest gun control is not feasible in Congress, not even the ban on assault weapons."

The problem isn't that the nation is incapable of action, they just disagree with you. Gun control is an unpopular, poisonous agenda that even most Democrats have written off. The people simply don't accept whatever pro gun control arguments you may believe in.

"After the biggest financial collapse since the Great Depression, returning some of the modest, common sense regulations, like Glass/Stegel, is a nonstarter. The banks and financial corporations still run rampant."

We passed financial reform. It isn't everything that needs to be done, but it is a start.

"As both sides rail against the deficit, they can't even let the tax break for the richest .5% expire, costing the country hundreds of billions $."

I do agree with you here. It amazes me that even with this massive deficit it seems near impossible to implement a more progressive tax structure. Still, part of that is the President having chosen not to fight for one. The people elected a massive Democratic majority in the previous Congress along with a Democratic President, and collectively our party chose not to fight for this. Why they didn't is beyond frustrating.

"In the midst of a health care crisis, the sanest solution of a Government option (forget even a mention of Single Payer)isn't given a chance."

The healthcare plan passed in the last congress is most likely a prelude to this. It was a building block. One can certainly argue whether it was or wasn't a good bill, but it was a pretty big change to our current healthcare system.

"We have known about the energy crunch for over 40 years and done next to nothing to face it. Even making cars as efficient as the rest of the World."

The nation is split on this. Republicans simply say the answer is "drill, baby, drill". Our side will just have to do a better job convincing the public that efficiency and moving away from fossil fuels is a better idea than simply drilling more oil, digging for more coal, etc. Half the people, however boneheaded we may agree they are on this issue, just disagree with you. The answer is to find better arguments to persuade folks to change their mind. Throwing up your hands in disgust only makes it easier for the other side to win the debate.

"We allow the discourse to turn to 'downtown mosques' and the minor problem of illegal immigrants and refuse to discuss the big problems like the unprecedented income disparity, the plight of the middle class and the crumbling infrastructure."

The problem is that those issues will always come up and if we are on the wrong side of public opinion it hurts us because we have to expend energy to defend our position. The public probably opposed the "downtown mosque" and also generally opposes illegal immigration. You say they are minor issues, but I am quite sure you think they are serious enough to fight about if the Republicans try to ban the mosque and attack undocumented workers. So we can either not be on the wrong side of public opinion (follow the herd of public opinion), or accept that these kinds of issues are a fact of life and fight them out however unpopular our argument may sometimes be.

"I simply don't think this country can face. let alone solve the real problems it has."

You could take this view, or you could look at "austerity" sweeping Europe and breathe a sigh of relief that Americans haven't subscribed to the same knee jerk anti-stimulus philosophy that a majority of Europeans seem to have adopted.

You could look at any point in American history and say "if ONLY people were capable of action, such and such wouldn't have happened". Now is probably no different than any other period of time. Democracies, especially ones with lots of checks and balances, tend to move slowly. Sometimes we wish it didn't, and then other times (such as when Republicans win the Presidency and run Congress) we are thrilled about the glacial pace things get done in this nation.

[edhopper]

18. But

Most Americans support the Assault weapons ban, the five day waiting period, the end to the Gun Show Exclusion, the limitation on the number of gun purchases. It's just that the NRA is very effective at lying about any politician that supports these.

The financial reform bill was barely a start, it was a band aid on severed artery.

I won't hold my breath that the health care reform was a start that will lead to anything, with the Republicans holding Congress, I don't see when there will ever be enough Democrats to do it if we couldn't with the majority we had.

And drill baby drill won't work, period, and our side can't seem to do squat. Which is my point.

These are non issues that the other side gladly draws us into so we use up the energy to work on the real problems, that's the whole objective.


Yes they don't agree with me on many of these issues, and they are wrong.
They were wrong about Iraq, they were wrong about deregulation, they were wrong about the housing bubble, they were wrong about torture, they were wrong about the tax cuts. Objectively wrong as recent history has proven.
But rather than rectify the situation, we go on down the same path that lead us to this sorry state.

[Selatius]

19. With respect to financial reform, it is a start, but let us not kid ourselves.

With the Republicans back in control of the house, any meaningful measures passed beyond that will not be passed for at least another two years when the economy needs to be addressed immediately. Major economists from Joseph Stiglitz to Nouriel Roubini were saying the financial reform package passed by Congress is woefully insufficient. Worse yet, they've essentially already begun the assault the proposal by economist Paul Volcker that prevents investment banks from taking bets against their own recommendations to customers as far as purchase of various securities and instruments are concerned. The proposal was inserted into the financial reform bill, and the Republicans have basically said that we're going to open up loopholes into that rule to destroy it.

Even with the presence of the Volcker Rule, the recommendation is that we simply should re-institute the repealed Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 because it goes to the heart of the matter as far as eliminating a fundamental conflict of interest that arises when one both originates loans and then repackages them as investment instruments to be sold off.

These are terribly important issues that haven't been addressed yet, and it has been over two years now since the financial crisis hit.

[edhopper]

23. On gun control you said

"The problem isn't that the nation is incapable of action, they just disagree with you. Gun control is an unpopular, poisonous agenda that even most Democrats have written off. The people simply don't accept whatever pro gun control arguments you may believe in."

This is demonstrably untrue, as the latest polls show:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/18/poll-americans-gun-owners-stronger-laws_n_810069.html
-- 90 percent of Americans and 90 percent of gun owners support fixing gaps in government databases that are meant to prevent the mentally ill, drug abusers and others from buying guns.

-- 91 percent of Americans and 93 percent of gun owners support requiring federal agencies to share information about suspected dangerous persons or terrorists to prevent them from buying guns.

-- 89 percent of Americans and 89 percent of gun owners support full funding of the law a unanimous Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed after the Virginia Tech shootings to put more records in the background-check database.

-- 86 percent of Americans and 81 percent of gun owners support requiring all gun buyers to pass a background check, no matter where they buy the gun and no matter who they buy it from.

-- 89 percent of Americans and 85 percent of gun owners support a law to require background checks for all guns sold at gun shows.

Is that the pro gun control arguments people don't support?

[tomp]

20. the dems are not just incompetent, they are complicit.

they want you to think they're incompetent, lame, inept....as long as you also think you have nowhere to go.

[Scruffy1]

21. Don't worry the corporations will fix it.

Bill Gates will "fix" the schools. Halliburton & Big Oil will "fix" the energy problem , the Tea Baggers will "fix" the dissent problem, and the MIC will "fix" the war problem. Ain't good ole capitalism grand? It can fix anything.

[edhopper]

22. "Fix" as in

"Fix a fight"?