There are simply so many root causes that lead to the mess we find ourselves in today

[NewHendoLib]

Patriarchy, in general - throughout history
Fear
Greed
Seduction of power
End of the Fairness doctrine
Citizens United
Hatred of the other (leading to all of the various "isms" )
the need to belong to a group
Ignorance
Vast economic inequality
Apathy
Misuse of social networking tools
Religion - and the belief that "my beliefs are the only ones that matter"
in some cases, an obsolete constitution

Add that all up....here we are. There are no simple fixes to something as complex - and in some cases, as embedded - as this.

[TwilightZone]

1. Agreed. We try to boil things down to one root cause.

Because we want a simple problem that we can simply fix.

The current situation is decades in the making. Just killing Roe was a 50-year project.

[Wounded Bear]

10. More like centuries...

The current situation is decades in the making. Just killing Roe was a 50-year project.

Many of our problems have their roots in the Constitution itself, and the compromises that were needed for it to be ratified.

I have, in the past, labeled the Constitution as one of the crowning literary achievements of the Enlightenment. Well, the world is going dark again, and in the same relgion driven way it was in the "Dark Ages." The 18th Century solution that is our Founding Document is showing it age, and same old divisions are being pried apart by ideological radicals seeking that mythical "Golden Age" of their dreams. Really, what they seek is power.

I'm getting cynical. It's all falling apart and I'm getting tired of trying to hold it together.

[purr-rat beauty]

2. Please add..

Environmental destruction both man made and natural and the lack of caring about it
and...

GUNS

[DemSigns]

3. Resignations and overstays on the SC

n/t

[genxlib]

4. I would add

Foreign Influence

Fuckery in Voting Rights

Undeserved worship of wealth and celebrity as a substitute for leadership/competency/etc/

A flawed Constitution that bakes in a lot of problems

[SheltieLover]

6. This!👆

[griffi94]

5. The myth of American Exceptionalism

We're taught that as Americans we're different and better. Unfortunately, that lesson has a very negative
effect on the millions and millions of Americans who are, at best. average/mediocre.
IMHO that's a major contributor to groups like the Proud Boys. It also helps explain why working-class
people vote GOP. The GOP has convinced them that they are exceptional and the only reason that they're not
reaching the end of their rainbow is because.....taxes, the other, immigration, and uppity women. For most of our country's history, all white males had to do was show up and they were rewarded.

[Cosmocat]

8. That is a good one

nm

[Wounded Bear]

11. American exceptionalism means we don't have to learn anything from other countries...nt

[griffi94]

13. And we don't have to learn anything from our own history.

In fact, our "official" history is whatever puts America and especially Capitalism in the best possible light.

[Wounded Bear]

14. American history has been largely white washed...literally...nt

[RAB910]

7. The root cause is the right-wing propaganda machine

represented by the likes of FOX "news" and Rush Limbaugh (and his predecessors) they poisoned the minds of so many Americans. It shielded the GOP from any and all wrong doing as long as they were loyal to the party and its anti-American goals

[Peregrine Took]

9. Lee Atwater brought Willie Horton who brought old man Bush who brought Clarence Thomas. n/t

[jcboon]

12. Richard Nixon

[NewHendoLib]

15. kicking for the night crew.

[moondust]

16. The presidency of Ronald Reagan

in the United States was marked by numerous scandals, resulting in the investigation, indictment, or conviction of over 138 administration officials, the largest number for any president in American history.
~
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_administration_scandals

GQP learned from Nixon not to make tapes and to use resignations and pardons as necessary to escape justice. Along with selfishness and greed, perhaps corruption is the common denominator that unites and drives the GQP.