I think what America lacks today is a sense of honor.

You talk about America great again? It wasn’t so great we just didn’t hear about what happening under our noses. Is the media a blessing or a curse? Is it better not knowing and doing nothing about a problem than knowing and doing something about it?
 

VintageBetter said:
IMO, the greatest problem in American nowadays is that States' Rights have taken over on nearly every issue be it abortion, low income housing or what kids should learn at public schools.
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Sadly so true. I betcha the entrance to H*ll doesn't say "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" on it; instead it probably says, "We follow States' Rights here!"
 
The US Navy just built a portable dock so that relief supplies can be more easily moved into Gaza. Are people ashamed of that also? Americans send tons of supplies to countries that suffer disasters. Are people ashamed of that? We have fought things like racism for years, while other countries to do things like punishing gay people. Should we be ashamed of that? Goodness! We have a Constitution that protects us from excesses by government officials. Should be we ashamed of that?

Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water…..

Perhaps all this negative thinking is a symptom of listening to too much hysterical news coverage, and too much time on outrage feeding social media. Perhaps it’s time to turn off the computers, phones, tablets, etc, and get out and meet people who are doing some good.
 
As Brookword points out our country has done many good things too and it’s to easy just to focus on the negatives. My Dil is from Poland and the average person here has a higher standard of living.

I am all for having social safety nets but I am also for taking personal responsibility to. The west coast is getting very expensive and even though raised here some young people can’t afford to live here any longer.

A rational person saves money and looks for a job in a city they can afford. That’s what we did. Some people will hang on until they are broke and homeless knowing it’s futile.

Don’t get me wrong in that I am not blaming people for being poor. But it’s not as black and white as some people seem to think. Bad things happen to good people that are hard workers and life is indeed unfair.

Personally if I was queen I would focus on our country and stop giving so much money in foreign aid and stop participating in wars all over the world. Many have told me that the government would waste the money instead of redirecting it to help people. Being queen I wouldn’t let that happen:)).
 
The Americans" is a commentary by Canadian broadcaster Gordon Sinclair. This commentary is too lengthy to print here, but it certainly is worth reading. Gordon Sinclair took the time in June 1973 to express true words about our great nation. Between the lines and looking back over the last 50 years, we find our nation in need of a bit of payback to restore greatness.
 
Teacher Terry said:
As Brookword points out our country has done many good things too and it’s to easy just to focus on the negatives. My Dil is from Poland and the average person here has a higher standard of living.

I am all for having social safety nets but I am also for taking personal responsibility to. The west coast is getting very expensive and even though raised here some young people can’t afford to live here any longer.

A rational person saves money and looks for a job in a city they can afford. That’s what we did. Some people will hang on until they are broke and homeless knowing it’s futile.

Don’t get me wrong in that I am not blaming people for being poor. But it’s not as black and white as some people seem to think. Bad things happen to good people that are hard workers and life is indeed unfair.

Personally if I was queen I would focus on our country and stop giving so much money in foreign aid and stop participating in wars all over the world. Many have told me that the government would waste the money instead of redirecting it to help people. Being queen I wouldn’t let that happen:)).
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Do you ever read Nicholas Kristof in the NY Times? Good interview with him regarding his new book: https://www.nprillinois.org/2024-05...t-nicholas-kristof-details-life-as-a-reporter

I love it when he writes about where and how he grew up, in a tiny town, parents not rich at all, and what has become of the friends he went to school with and grew up beside. He talks about the SOCIETY in which they and their parents lived and how everything went down the toilet when the good, blue collar jobs disappeared and the drugs came in.

If you want a RECIPE for How to Destroy America, (or any nation) that would be it: Two basic ingredients -
1. take the good jobs away,
2. send in the drugs.
So many people will seek to self-medicate themselves with any drug when times get bad.

A GOOD PAYING JOB is a SAFETY NET.

He was very lucky and got accepted at a top tier college, then had the good sense to go to that college. He must have had parents who gave him the good sense and courage to do that. He obviously has courage too, which God does not distribute equally among all people. Not everyone has the courage to leave their home town and go to the frightening universities.

When he writes about his old friends, many of whom who have died, some of whom have become homeless, he recognizes that yeah, personal responsibility is always part of the issue, BUT HE ALSO MOVED TO THE PLACES WHERE THE OPPORTUNITIES WERE for him. His friends didn't get accepted to any fancy college. They didn't have the same opportunity he had. He SEES that - that key ingredient that 98% of all Americans just don't comprehend. Most Americans never acknowledge that luck is often the cause of much success.

And, most crucially for his friends, the society in which their parents were able to survive on blue collar jobs, DISAPPEARED.

I'm beginning to think that now, after there has been some good journalism (not enough) on the lives of the poor and the drug addicted maybe, maybe our fearless leaders are beginning to understand that they can't give all the good jobs away to other nations and not expect negative FALLOUT from that. Maybe.

Anyway, the interview is a quick introduction to some of his writing if you don't read the NY Times.
 
Vintage, I know that good paying unskilled blue collar jobs disappeared because I grew up in such a town. My siblings and I were the first to go to college. We were allowed to live at home, work part time and go to college. I was the only one that didn’t take my parents up on the offer. Other young people pursued technical schools or apprenticeships to gain job skills.

Some stayed in town but many left. What I have observed from traveling to rural areas in 3 different states evaluating clients to help them return to work is that people from such areas are unwilling to leave for work. Depending on the size of the town that leaves very few options even if they obtain degrees or work skills. I have lived in Kansas twice and it wasn’t by choice but necessary for decent employment.

Yes drugs, poor parenting, poor education, poverty all lead to many poor outcomes. But I also will point out that people also need to take responsibility for their own lives by making decisions that will benefit them in the future. It’s extremely complicated and no one reason accounts for all the issues.
 
Teacher Terry said:
Vintage, I know that good paying unskilled blue collar jobs disappeared because I grew up in such a town. My siblings and I were the first to go to college. We were allowed to live at home, work part time and go to college. I was the only one that didn’t take my parents up on the offer. Other young people pursued technical schools or apprenticeships to gain job skills.

Some stayed in town but many left. What I have observed from traveling to rural areas in 3 different states evaluating clients to help them return to work is that people from such areas are unwilling to leave for work. Depending on the size of the town that leaves very few options even if they obtain degrees or work skills. I have lived in Kansas twice and it wasn’t by choice but necessary for decent employment.

Yes drugs, poor parenting, poor education, poverty all lead to many poor outcomes. But I also will point out that people also need to take responsibility for their own lives by making decisions that will benefit them in the future. It’s extremely complicated and no one reason accounts for all the issues.
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But always having to move for better jobs - that isn't really part of the American Dream, is it? Plus, I have been one of those who moved for a job and it did not work out for me. All the sexism, ageism, harassment and racism I was hoping to leave behind me was at the new town too, even worse with some people I worked with.

All the move taught me is that America overall still has a lot of problems with ageism, sexism, sexual harassment and racism. Big news, right? Revelatory! :rolleyes:

Plus, in many cases, when you tell Americans to move, you're telling them to leave behind their support systems - friends, family, even the comfort of knowing the bus system and having a good doctor or hospital. You're telling them to give all that up and hope to God they will be able to find support in the new place and not be treated like a perpetual outsider.

Example: I have been to Kansas. I can't imagine moving there for work and being treated like anything other than a strange outsider from the West Coast. I feel certain I would never fit in there.

I do not think moving is the right choice for 100% of us. Just like a college degree is not the right choice for 100% of us. Just like not 100% of us should be using cannabis recreationally - it is not a magic potion to cure all ills.

What I am trying to say is that there is a tendency nowadays to put 100% of responsibility for life on the individual - no matter WHAT hells they have lived through. No matter what, a person's life is 100% their fault or their glory. That is what many Americans believe.

What I'm trying to say is that I think it's got to be 40% to 50% society's fault too. I say this based on looking at Los Angeles and San Francisco and their crime, schools and homelessness problems. Those are some ****ed up societies there. You can read about one in this book: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/san-fransicko-michael-shellenberger?variant=33063782055970 San Fransicko.

We do not grow up and live in isolation. We don't even grow up and live our lives in little family clans anymore. We grow and live in these man-made systems.

We pay people, with our taxes, to make, oversee and revise these systems and they **** UP. They screw up ROYALLY. Are we too blind to see that? I wonder that with every local and national election.

But, what if you are right? What is the answer is that everyone needs to abandon their loser, dying towns and move.

WHERE do the poorest of the poor get the moving funds? If you're right, then part of our social welfare system should include MOVING GRANTS. Let's say I have a great job offer in Nevada but my credit is shot and I don't have a Mastercard. I also don't have first month's rent and a security deposit. I also don't have any decent clothing or shoes for work and I must wear black work shoes or I'll get written up.

I also need gas money to drive to Nevada.

Where can a person go for help with those practical needs to MOVE for a job? NO WHERE. We do not have that kind of practical, REALISTIC help for people who are struggling.

This is what I'm trying to say. We have aid for refugees. We have cash aid and housing aid. But we do not give that same aid to ECONOMIC refugees who are here already and grew up here. What's up with that hypocrisy?

This is why, when people say, "LOOK at the system, evaluate the system", they are wise to say that. The system has a LOT of power over people's lives. Here, we complain about the healthcare system because it has a lot of power over our lives. It can cure us or kill us.

I think our work and housing systems are the same way - they can cure or kill people.
 
VintageBetter said:
Plus, in many cases, when you tell Americans to move, you're telling them to leave behind their support systems - friends, family, even the comfort of knowing the bus system and having a good doctor or hospital. You're telling them to give all that up and hope to God they will be able to find support in the new place and not be treated like a perpetual outsider.
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So true. I keep hearing how there's a loneliness epidemic these days, in some cases worse than at any other time in history. "Oh, you're lonely, huh? Tough sh*t. If you wanna eat, leave and go somewhere where you'll most likely be even lonelier."
 
This country has been and continues to be the 'Land of Opportunity'!

It is not meant to be a gift or easy; you have to go out and get it. That's always been true. If you don't see this, then consider that maybe you have not pursued what you want as hard as you must. No one is telling you no, no one, of importance, is telling you that you cannot.

In America it is all about you! So, if you are not happy, go out and find your happiness...
 
My husband and I had no qualms whatsoever about moving to where the opportunities are. What do you think America is? It's the place you leave a place to come to. What about pioneers? Nothing gets done if one stays in a place dying. Courage! Get off your........... It worked very well for us.

PS
I know this is a silly reference, but when I was young & single I thought if Life ever became impossible for me I would move to FLA and be a waitress. In other words, I had hope as long as there was a new place to start again.
 
Pepper said:
My husband and I had no qualms whatsoever about moving to where the opportunities are. What do you think America is? It's the place you leave a place to come to. What about pioneers? Nothing gets done if one stays in a place dying. Courage! Get off your........... It worked very well for us.

PS
I know this is a silly reference, but when I was young & single I thought if Life ever became impossible for me I would move to FLA and be a waitress. In other words, I had hope as long as there was a new place to start again.
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The problem sometimes is, though, that people have family members they're taking care of in the jobless area, family members who can not be moved. For ex.: old mom/dad/grandma/grandpa/aunt/uncle are comfortable in their old home and if they were uprooted to move with their caretaker family member to a larger city, apartments or whatever that would be comfortable and usable for the old family member are unaffordable (if you can even find any; even then, there's a waiting list a mile long).
 
As Thomas Jefferson said: "I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."

Or as Jim Rohn put it: "If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”
 
Paco Dennis said:
Timewise your answer is a little off kilter. You say everyone In the US has an equal chance at success regardless of their starting point. That is not entirely accurate. Socioeconomic factors such as family wealth, education, and access to resources can greatly influence one's ability to achieve success. Systemic racism, discrimination, and other forms of inequality can create significant barriers to success for marginalized groups. These issues cannot be ignored or dismissed as purely individual failures. While hard work and determination are certainly important, they are not the only factors in achieving success. Luck, timing, and circumstances outside of one's control can also play a role.
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Nice try PACO! I did NOT say,
everyone In the US has an equal chance at success regardless of their starting point.
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Those are your words, not mine. Then you state the obvious...!#

Furthermore,
"racism, discrimination, and other forms of inequality" Do exist, always have and always will. They are part of the human condition, yet in today's America individuals have the right and legal support to overcome these if need be... Hate is a human condition also and must be challenged and overcome also.
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Get back to individual rights and freedoms stop using these "forms of inequality" to explain away lack of success...Nuff said, I'm done...
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Some people (not all) in the US have lost their sense of humour. Along the same line of thinking:
Most people in Canada have lost their sense of humour but fortunately not all!
 
Different horses for different courses maybe?? - I've lived in HK where once a lot of people worked at frenzied paces of life in hot steamy conditions ; and some lived on the peak and rode around in roll royce cars? ; in UK the country of once rigid class system where some worked long and sweaty hrs in factories lacking aircon and others owned those factories and lived in mansions in the countryside and lived in Oz - the sunburnt country where the first nations peoples have been severely disadvantaged for years and the immigrants have found it to be "the lucky country" - there is a theme running through all of this and I wish I could find it??
 
Timewise 60+ said:
Nice try PACO! I did NOT say,

Those are your words, not mine. Then you state the obvious...!#

Furthermore,
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I think we will need to agree to disagree, because I don't think our laws protect these systemic problems. There is way too much inequality.
The argument that systemic inequality can be overcome through individual rights and freedoms ignores the fact that these forms of inequality are often deeply ingrained in social, economic, and political systems. While it's true that individuals can and do overcome these barriers, the presence of systemic inequalities can make it significantly more difficult for some people to achieve success, regardless of their personal efforts.
It's important to acknowledge the existence of systemic inequality and work towards addressing these issues at a systemic level, in addition to supporting individuals in their personal struggles against inequality. Ignoring systemic issues only perpetuates them and prevents us from creating a truly fair and equitable society where everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed.
 
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