I can't say I am optimistic.
November's elections are coming down to a referendum on the Economy vs the Democracy.
It should never have come to this but it has.
I ain't betting on us to do the right thing. 

Read J. Michael Luttig’s written opening statement before the January 6 committee. It is a scathing but insightful critique of where we now find ourselves and a challenge to each of us to preserve our democracy and sustain our republic. A brilliant analysis and urgent plea.

Trump Poses a Test Democracy Is Failing

The erosion of democracy is now self-evidently a global phenomenon with exogenous and endogenous causes. A brief list from the Hague Journal of the Rule of Law gives the idea:

Economic inequality; political polarization; cultural backlash against rapid social, moral and demographic change; the scapegoating of immigrants and minorities by political forces; the profound — and often negative — effects of technology on society and the political system; the rise of non-liberal alternative governance models viewed as successful …. The trend of democratic decay itself — and the means by which political and social forces are degrading liberal democracy — is rapidly changing, developing and spreading. We are trying to understand a global phenomenon as it envelops the world in real time.

 Ohmsen wrote:

try flipping that opening line...what's motivating these so called progressives who are completely out of step with the vast majority of voters.

We Hold This Truth to Be Self-Evident: It’s Happening Before Our Very Eyes

RIP American Democracy

 R_P wrote:
 
This is a subject that you and I are in agreement.

 Isabeau wrote:
 
Ah, right. I forgot. America's Greatest Enemy™ is always behind everything all the time.

 R_P wrote:
 

Indeed sir. That is the point.

 Isabeau wrote:
 
I don't see them mentioned.

 R_P wrote:
 
Russians have succeeded in destroying our belief in the process, Constitution or our elections.

This is the beginning of propaganda, one-sided narrative, anti female, people of color or refugees. Of worshipping the bank accounts of the 1%. 

Like I keep saying, I wonder how much are the shipping costs of a yard canon by Prime? Can I get a special deal on volume?

Deficit
Dissatisfaction with democracy 'at record high'

This is probably the end of it, right here...

 black321 wrote: 
This is nothing new.  NIMBY is a direct result of this thinking.  It's everyone else's problem, leave me out of this ...

We only think in terms of what is upstream or upwind when considering impact.  Downstream or downwind (or in the future) ?  Sucks to be you ...

Same as it ever was ...

 black321 wrote:
 
It's certainly a feature of most politics. No need to (really) look beyond the current term and maybe the next. And then there are those quacks who tell us to "live in the now."

Also instant gratification.

 black321 wrote: 
Per usual Southpark illustrates this best in the second installment of ManBearPig starring Al Gore.  If you haven't seen it, you really need to.

Enough of the short-termism...do future generations have rights?

The time has come to face an inconvenient reality: that modern democracy – especially in wealthy countries – has enabled us to colonise the future. We treat the future like a distant colonial outpost devoid of people, where we can freely dump ecological degradation, technological risk, nuclear waste and public debt, and that we feel at liberty to plunder as we please. When Britain colonised Australia in the 18th and 19th Century, it drew on the legal doctrine now known as terra nullius – nobody’s land – to justify its conquest and treat the indigenous population as if they didn’t exist or have any claims on the land. Today our attitude is one of tempus nullius. The future is an “empty time”, an unclaimed territory that is similarly devoid of inhabitants. Like the distant realms of empire, it is ours for the taking.


http://www.bbc.com/future/stor...

Democracy Index 2016

According to the 2016 Democracy Index almost one-half of the world’s countries can be considered to be democracies of some sort, but the number of “full democracies” has declined from 20 in 2015 to 19 in 2016. The US has been downgraded from a “full democracy” to a “flawed democracy” because of a further erosion of trust in government and elected officials there.

The "democratic recession" worsened in 2016, when no region experienced an improvement in its average score and almost twice as many countries (72) recorded a decline in their total score as recorded an improvement (38). Eastern Europe experienced the most severe regression. The 2016 Democracy Index report, Revenge of the "deplorables", examines the deep roots of today's crisis of democracy in the developed world, and looks at how democracy fared in every region.

 expertTexpert wrote: 
Well, this thread dates back to 2005.  It isn't a new 'forum".  Its an old thread that has been thoughtfully brought back for an appropriate article to be considered, without any fanfare or hyperbole by the poster.  No one is forced to click into a thread, so don't be surprised if the title is what you expect it to be and you knew you may not like the topic before you clicked in.

We try not to start a thread around here for a separate tangent on something that already exists.  Do look around.  Look at the various threads.  Open up the dormant ones and see what they are about before starting a new one.  Use the forum topic search.  It works very well.

There just happens to be a a lot of angry old white men from all sides of the political spectrum here.  They are not all Republicans. And there are some people here who are not angry old white men.  Plus members from many different countries.

So what are you ?  A young happy white man or single black female parent with an hispanic surname ?  Or something in between ?

Doesn't matter one way or the other, other than you brought up angry old white men for a reason, eh ? 

Have fun, mind the puddles around here.  You'll never know how deep they are until you step in one. 

Me, I'm one of the crazy old white men.       But I don't bite much as I have just enough teeth to be able to live in a trailer park and not be called the toothless guy.

ymmv   

 expertTexpert wrote: 
What was your former member name? This trolling must stop.