When will Americans be Americans again?

Well, since you answered your own question, there you go.

Some options:

When people stop using Facebook.

When the news goes back to being loss leader.

When the aliens land and the “us” is earthlings.

When poverty is eliminated.

When women are the majority of the politicians.

When all the descendants of the European invaders are expelled, violently, if they resist, and the continent is ruled by natives.

The honest answer is never. And the reasons are pretty straightforward once you consider the expectations of Americans in the past. For example, consider the average expectation that my children should anticipate an existence equal to or better than myself—an America defined by an overall rising standard of living.

To my mind, the current political turmoil and bitter partisanship models exactly what one should expect in an age where “the kids will have it better” is no longer valid and the living standard of average Americans is clearly on the decline.

We fail to appreciate just how key the overall decline in our wellbeing is to the many problems confronting us, and just how systemic the undermining of the public good is allowed to dictate our economic viability as individuals.

I think many of the issues you bring up fall directly into the lap of Congress.
Immigration: Congress has been pushed by several presidents to resolve the immigration laws. They have absolutely refused to act.
Abortion: again…there is resolution to be had here, but it has to come from Congress.
Healthcare: It is the dysfunction of Congress that has cause so much of the problem. Congress refuses to make tough decisions. The Dems acted to implement the ACA without any Repub support. In fact they totally ignored many of the warnings that the Repubs made and now we are seeing those warnings were true. On the flip-side, the Repubs rightfully made a point that the Dems pushed their agenda without bi-partisan support. Yet the Repubs also failed to have any solutions/suggestions waiting in the wings. They have all turned this into a political football, designed to rile people up at election time.
The same goes for taxes and entitlements. These are all decisions that need to be made in Congress. The POTUS has very little say in most of this. He has the power of the veto and his opinion should be considered, but it really falls to Congress to decide how to move forward. They have the ability to override a veto. But they are so terrified of being unpopular, they make no motion at all.
In the end, it requires open, honest communication and a drive to want to change things for the better. This is all lacking in our Congress and has been for decades.

Well, probably never. We are a large diverse, complicated melting pot not afraid tospeak our peace. We have the luxury of our freedoms and utilize them, sometimes constructively sometimes not.

The Reps have accepted abortion since Jan 22, 1973. That doesnt mean working for change will stop. Look up the news about the closing of the abortion clinic a few months ago in Columbia, Mo. Its a very imperfect system still, so giving up on the horrors is not an option.

Unfortunately none of these issues are about making things better but rather winning or losing. Healthcare is private enterprise vs government. Private enterprise and the Republicans win. Government run and the Democrats win. Whether the healthcare improves or not is academic.Choose sides and scream at the other guys. Whether it’s abortion or taxes, or anything else, it all works the same. Over the last 10 years we have not moved closer together or closer to solutions, we’ve moved further apart. Which ever side you’re on, the other guys are idiots and must be defeated. I don’t see an end in sight.

Honestly…. when people stop being followers and learn how to objectively think for themselves. When you see someone who is angry and ideological you’re seeing someone who is sad, insecure and probably arrived at that state because they were lead to it by others who are exploiting them either directly or indirectly. Finding security in conflict seems to be the name of the game for many people these days. I don’t know what it will take to solve it either. Hate, anger and bickering are infectious and addictive.

@ARE_you_kidding_me I like it. GA.

Were it ever so, never again. We have become too self centered, competitive, and greedy.

That’s the way it seems. But that self centered, competitive, greedy individual just views it as his attempt to avoid being lumped in with the looser majority in a society on the downslope.

But I want to go back to our slipping standard of living, and its relevance to the hot political issues.

Let’s start with immigration, and the reason that no measure short of machine gunning migrants at the border is going to stem the future hordes. Simply put, for the Guatemalan regugee, the single route guaranteeing your child a future superior to your own bleak existence is to plant your feet on U S soil.

@stanley Then teach them to respect the laws from the beginning.

What are the factors feeding into our slipping standard of living? Right at the top is the healthcare situation in country. Health insurance is in effect a HUGE unwieldy tax, and guaranteed to overrun any wage increase or tax cut granted we the inflicted. The implementation of single payer universal healthcare would be the single measure of greatest importance in arresting our decline in household income.

@KNOWITALL “Let them eat cake”. I can tell you unfailingly that were I Bolivian and given the choice between entrusting my kid’s future to that ravaged place or illegal entry into the United States—

@stanley Its so interesting to me that legal immigrants completely disgree with the Dem platform on this subject.

How about the blue states take all the immigrants in this caravan, throw on ankle bracelets so they stay in blue states until legal? You will have complete responsibility for your political choices for once. No federal aid though. Sound good? I would love to see you practice what you preach.

When their identity as Americans, rather than as Democrats or Republicans, comes first again, and they stop thinking of the guys in the other T-shirts as the enemy.

When they are through demonizing their fellow citizens for how they vote or where they were born.

When 100 years have passed and the magic curse has been broken. A kiss probably isn’t going to do it.

@KNOWITALL But I’m not preaching. I don’t advocate open borders or even amnesty for that matter. I do vehemently protest mistreatment of desperate people on the pretense that they are criminals.

When they stop their obsession with politics & religion, go back to being cowboys…seriously :D

@ragingloli You wouldn’t want that. We’d come to Germany.

What, the sea not big enough for you?

@ragingloli Saltwater makes me itch.

Worry not, that will not last long.

@stanley Then we agree? Cant be true.

Only when they recognise trumped up wanna be fascist dictators for what they are and grow the balls to tell them to get the hell out of the White House.

Forget being Americans, let’s all just be humans. Let’s stop seeing divisions and instead our shared humanity. Let’s develop past our lizard brains and reject tribalism and see each other as ourselves. Let’s no longer ascribe to group think and realize that we are all in this together, no matter where we come from.

John Lennon had it right.

Get money out of politics, and allow for Rank-Choice-Voting, eliminate electronic voting (or at least require the system to use open-sourced and auditable software/hardware). If these things are achieved, problems will work themselves out pretty quickly.

GA, @tf. One of your best ever.

Thanks.

You’re very welcome.

P.S. I think you meant “subscribe.”