Does anyone realize how horrific

[hyphenate]

the Bush regime fucked up out country?

Just a few things off the top of my head:

There were no efforts to bring health care for all to the country--yet we're one of very few other industrial countries without it;

The country is run by corporate bodies, and not by the people themselves;

We are still clinging to nuclear missiles and nuclear technology that has already had a deleterious effect on Japan and Russia, and we can't forget our own Three-Mile Island. When are we going to stop playing stupid games of "chicken" with this shit?

The ban on new stem cell research has driven our scientists to seek progressive countries in which they have no fear of continuing that kind of work;

Electronic technology is one area in which we can play "granddaddy," where our scientists can rave about being there at the beginning, but need to take very long strides in order to even get close to Germany, Japan, China--you get the gist;

Our schools--at the college and university levels--have an enormous population of foreign students, and our children often get behund because of it;

Around the country, we have religiou right groups trying to take evolution out of achools, and teach them creationism, or, in some cases, take biology/evolution out of the equation completely;

Our dependence on foreign fuel snd oil moguls had dependable people in the government during those years--when a move to begin more development of alternative energy sources was introducws, it qas very quickly rejected;

Our system is badly broken. We are behind the rest of the world. In fact, parts of the world that were considered undeveloped are now hosting call centers for all the world in technology support--we have lost millions of jobs as a direct result.

We are going to be a third world nation ourselves when the tally is decided. And it's not going to be pretty when it comes.

[nc4bo]

1. Don't disagree at all

What's also mindblowing is that the very government that is supposed to be for and by the people IGNORES what the majority of The People want. IGNORES it. There's something very, very seriously wrong with that and now the only means we have in our power to change it (our election system) is also corrupted by those same powers. We can't even elect real change and no one in power cares to address that little fact either.

Not looking good at all.

[RKP5637]

6. Exactly! The majority of people are in the way in the "new" USA. The old USA was

about people working together for a better life for all. It didn't work all of the time, but still it worked some of the time.

Now, the ONLY thing that matters in this country is corporate bottom-line profit, and most of our politicians are bought and paid for by the corporate system or anyone that can belly up to the bar with enough money. The system is failing all the way around, but many keep blinders on.

Real change has to come, but SCOTUS has totally screwed the majority of the citizens with Citizens United. I don't see a very pretty picture for the future. And in many cases I think the voting system is totally corrupt.

[RKP5637]

2. And the sad part is this country brought it all on ourselves and many want to

bring on more of the same. The most detrimental force to the US in the world is the US itself. Amazing, isn't it. It's like watching a study in self destruction roll out. I would say Reagan started it and Bush cranked up the amplifier a zillion times more.

[Never Stop Dancin]

3. We know, we know (nm)

[nc4bo]

4. Never hurts to brings us all back down to earth every now and again, don't you think?

BTW, my comment was in response to what you posted before the edit.

Glad you changed it even though I doubt any one else would care, besides myself.

[aquart]

5. I remember the constant repetition "How much harm can he do?"

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. these are not specific just to the bush era

these are atleast 20-30 year old problems in this country.

there are specific issues with the bush era, but these generalizations dont speak to the problems.

specifically and without doing much research i can say the iraq war, tax cuts for the rich, patriot act, torture, unregulated prisons in foreign countries, calling a war hero like john kerry unpatriotic etc.

[Initech]

8. I really often wonder what we'd be like had Bush v. Gore not happened.

[Autumn]

9. Not just the Bush regime , before that and some are

still going on. And some of those things will only get worse.

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. some of us know

[HarveyDarkey]

11. Is that a rhetorical question?

[Taverner]

12. Perhaps the USA has 'jumped the shark' or so to speak

With Dubya as the Fonz...

[saras]

13. Some realize, some don't

I'm in college, and repeatedly shocked by how many young people basically believe that politics have always been just like this, and technological progress has always been the business of business.

It's too big a dumb to address in individual conversations.

[hyphenate]

14. It's too big is part of the problem

As the idion goes: You can't see the forest for the trees. How can anyone now even attempt to isolate a single instance of importance when there is an exponential that magnifies it "all" out of perspective? When I was still in school, ohso long ago, it was just beginning to change. I think for those born a half generation later, there is a lot less clarity--the whole of politics changed dramatically when people like Nixon were elected, who had their own agenda, and whose scruples were already debatable.

Unfortunately, I didn't follow politics all that time--my major opinion was that politicians were scumbags, and nothing I did could change the situation. So I stayed out of it.

Today, there is so much complexity in politics that unless you have a particular area of interest, you can be faced with more elements than you could ever understand. My own niches in politics encompasses women's issues and science-education issues, so railing against the religious "right" is one where my anger holds no bounds.