Time: The '00s: Goodbye (at Last) to the Decade From Hell

[Democrats_win]

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1942834,00.html?xid=rss-topstories

...The dreaded millennial meltdown never happened.

Instead, it was the American Dream that was about to dim. Bookended by 9/11 at the start and a financial wipeout at the end, the first 10 years of this century will very likely go down as the most dispiriting and disillusioning decade Americans have lived through in the post–World War II era. We're still weeks away from the end of '09, but it's not too early to pass judgment. Call it the Decade from Hell, or the Reckoning, or the Decade of Broken Dreams, or the Lost Decade. Call it whatever you want — just give thanks that it is nearly over.
(See TIME's photo-essay "The 10 Worst Things About the Worst Decade Ever.")

Calling the 2000s "the worst" may seem an overwrought label in a decade in which we fought no major wars, in historical terms. It is a sadly appropriate term for the families of the thousands of 9/11 victims and soldiers and others killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the lack of a large-scale armed conflict makes these past 10 years stand out that much more. This decade was as awful as any peacetime decade in the nation's entire history. Between the West's ongoing struggle against radical Islam and our recent near-death economic experience — trends that have largely skirted much of the developing world — it's no wonder we feel as if we've been through a 10-year gauntlet. Americans may have the darkest view of recent history, since it's in the U.S. that the effects of those trends have been most acute. If you live in Brazil or China, you have had a pretty good decade economically. Once, we were the sunniest and most optimistic of nations. No longer.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1942834,00.html?xid=rss-topstories#ixzz0XvJn3PPw

[ixion]

1. yes, and let's move on forward into some Really Serious Hell

it ain't gonna be pretty.

[aquart]

2. I was about to say.

[Auggie]

3. With all fingers pointing to the Devil, George W. Bush

[Auggie]

4. And his Devilette, Dick Cheney

[seeinfweggos]

8. i think you have them backards eom

[Harry Monroe]

5. Truly the Decade from Hell

But the American people have no one to blame but themselves for electing GWB in 2000. Oh wait, he wasn't elected, he was appointed by the US Supreme Court!! They hold the ultimate blame, but we then repeated the mistake in 2004.

[Harry Monroe]

6. And just think how different the decade would have turned out had Al Gore become president in 2000!!

[napi21]

7. That's quite an article. Frightening to read about it all!

I can only hope our lawmakers read it too and take some very necessary steps to prevent it from happening again!

[seeinfweggos]

9. but of course it isn't really the end of the decade.

right? there was no year 00.

[SpookyCat]

10. Keep fighting the good fight, seeinfweggos..

I had to finally let it go for my own sanity in 2000. It's the same with podium vs lectern, your vs you're, etc.

Welcome to DU!

:hi:

Edit to fix emoticon. How sad is that? LOL

[Doctor_J]

11. I see no signs of it ending

Is George Bush scheduled to stand trial, that I didn't hear about? Before he and Cheney are in prison or executed, nothing will change.