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It's called "mindset".
If you really believe that America hasn't been living in a bubble and lulled into a false sense of security then nothing will convince you not even facts.
What facts? We Americans have advanced so far ahead of everyone that we "dumbed" ourselves down to make others feel more self confidence. By "dumbing" down, we have slipped into complacency while the world caught up. Now that the world is catching up, we have lost our desire/drive to jump back into the forefront imho. The difference between today and yesterday is that today we have what I call the instant gratification generation. They want everything instantly rather than working/striving for what they want. Instead they want government/charity/us to give it to them. Yesterday we had real "gogetters" that worked hard for everything they wanted/desired.
Also in todays world, government have their fingers in everything. In the old days they did not. Government have really stradled the American people by dumbing us down. With welfare etc... people feel that they do not have to work hard and will still be taken care of. These are a few of my thoughts. I will not even touch your "gun" comments. I believe that the average gun carrying citizen are not your "crazies". And that is all I will say.
We have slipped from doing our best every day and being responsible to buying as much crap as possible every day and it's some one elses fault when things go wrong. People scream and cry that it's the oppositions fault when things go wrong, but they never come up with a solution when it's their turn...they just do enough that enough time has passed that the bag drops in another persons lap after they are gone, who just does the same again.
We need to be responsible for the change we want to see in the world. If people want the political debate to be civil, responsible, and logical they need to be so...and those who are not, and scream in factious partisan ways, we need to turn our backs on. When things go right or wrong we need to look at why, and those who are responsible need to stand up and everyone needs to work to make things better. We need to be able to look to the future where it makes sense, small gains now can some times be sacrificed for huge rewards later...and we have been doing the opposite.
What facts? We Americans have advanced so far ahead of everyone that we "dumbed" ourselves down to make others feel more self confidence. By "dumbing" down, we have slipped into complacency while the world caught up. Now that the world is catching up, we have lost our desire/drive to jump back into the forefront imho. The difference between today and yesterday is that today we have what I call the instant gratification generation. They want everything instantly rather than working/striving for what they want. Instead they want government/charity/us to give it to them. Yesterday we had real "gogetters" that worked hard for everything they wanted/desired.
Also in todays world, government have their fingers in everything. In the old days they did not. Government have really stradled the American people by dumbing us down. With welfare etc... people feel that they do not have to work hard and will still be taken care of. These are a few of my thoughts. I will not even touch your "gun" comments. I believe that the average gun carrying citizen are not your "crazies". And that is all I will say.
If that's what you want to believe then go right ahead.
I have been lucky that my job has taken me around the globe. I have seen the poorest countries and the wealthiest. I have gone to countries that we criticise openly and found they are nothing like what we portray them to be and i have looked at America from the outside and the inside.
America is coming unglued we have seen this and that is one reason that Obama was elected into office, with a landslide, on his "change" platform.
Now Obama is starting to turn things around i hope that we keep up the momentum and really make the changes needed to make America the nation it should be... The Nation of new ideas.
SO I will ask you again. What country do you think we should model ourselves after?
Did i say we should model ourselves after any nation?
I said we have been in a bubble and that bubble has now burst. We should now model ourselves on new innovations and new technologies. You want to stay with your feet well and trully rooted in the past,,,,nuff said!
So you assume that I have not traveled outside of the country and seen things for myself? Have you also assumed that I am a die hard republican/conservative? If that is the case you would be wrong on both fronts. The problem in my honest opinion is that government has grown too large and too powerful. They have brokered America in a bid to become rich and powerful. We no longer have people that want the country to succeed as a whole. Instead we have politicians that would rather line their pockets/insure their futures than make sure that we build a stable sustainable future as a whole. We have lost the "For The People" and now have "Take Care Of Numero Uno".
We should now model ourselves on new innovations and new technologies. You want to stay with your feet well and trully rooted in the past,,,,nuff said!
Would that be based on all the R&D the corporations have offshored for cheaper labor costs ?
We are now a service based economy, not a producer based economy.
Did i say we should model ourselves after any nation?
I said we have been in a bubble and that bubble has now burst. We should now model ourselves on new innovations and new technologies. You want to stay with your feet well and trully rooted in the past,,,,nuff said!
NO not "nuff" said. You accuse Americans of not leaving our nice little bubble,that most don't even have a passport and how we are so far behind compared to other countries, so who should we be like?
You are really good at trashing America and Americans but when you have to actually give a an upfront answer we get the same mumbo jumbo. You talk in circles with not logic or direction just random thoughts with no idea of a solution and when asked a question just more mumbo jumbo.
Monday, October 20, 2008 | 12:21 p.m. CDT
BY Katy Steinmetz
"Only 10 percent of Americans have passports."
Most people in the U.S. have probably had this statistic quoted to them at some point, and certainly most U.S. citizens abroad have had it quoted to them — probably many times.
During the three years I spent in the United Kingdom, I heard this legend about once a month. Now that I'm back home, I want to take an opportunity to discredit it, once and for jolly all.
The number itself is inaccurate (the most recent statistics put out by the U.S. State Department suggest the number is closer to 30% (http://www.travel.state.gov/passport/services/stats/stats_890.html - broken link)) but that's not the real issue. The reason foreigners love to quote this back to Americans is the problem.
NO not "nuff" said. You accuse Americans of not leaving our nice little bubble,that most don't even have a passport and how we are so far behind compared to other countries, so who should we be like?
You are really good at trashing America and Americans but when you have to actually give a an upfront answer we get the same mumbo jumbo. You talk in circles with not logic or direction just random thoughts with no idea of a solution and when asked a question just more mumbo jumbo.
You continue to prove my point. I am not "trashing America" as you put it but simply giving a observation about why we have found it so hard in America to change with the times and why this has contributed to our present problems.
You don't like my logic or my opinion well believe me i won't lose any sleep. You cannot even begin to understand how insular America can be until you have spent time "out of the bubble". There will be people who have been out of America who will disagree with me and that is fine. You don't like what i have seen then that is fine too. America is like every other country. It has it's good and bad points. The problem is that if you don't try other experiences and systems then how do you know that the one you are clinging to is the best one to use? It must be failing for a reason.
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