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Pototan

(2,714 posts)
Fri Dec 13, 2024, 01:21 AM Dec 2024

I really can't get my head around it

For those who don't know, I retired 3 and a half years ago to the Central Philippines with my Filipina wife. I'm 72, she's 69 and we've been married for 22 years and have no children. We had good jobs in America and live on our Pensions and Social Security. I spend 50 weeks a year at my home here in the Central Philippines and 2 weeks a year in Boston.

That being said, I was extremely involved in politics back in Massachusetts as a union officer and personally. I've done my share in the 55 active political years of my life. Now, my politics consists of donating a few hundred dollars to Democratic causes, casting an overseas ballot and posting here on DU.

That's my quick background info. Here's my problem. I can't understand where the America I once knew went. When did we discard and denigrate science? As part of the Polio Vaccine generation, WTF is happening to our commitment to medicine. Listen, I worked hard in all kinds of campaigns. The Republican candidates were our opponents. Looking back at those years, the other side may have been our adversaries, but they weren't crazy. I can now say that Bush, McCain and Romney were normal people with different opinions. Bush II lied to get us into a war, and I opposed him, but he fell into the Historical norm of LBJ and Nixon. And as much as I criticized them, they never abandoned science, common sense or our country.

Trump, on the other hand, is other wordily. The John Birch Society, George Wallace and the original "America First" committee that were Hitler apologists in the 1930's were an aberration in US history. I never thought I'd lived to see the day when people like that controlled the country.

I never thought I'd live to see that day, and I almost made it.

17 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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I really can't get my head around it (Original Post) Pototan Dec 2024 OP
Years ago Timewas Dec 2024 #1
In talking to a Ukraine mother she told me American public children are behind in education as her children pass their Stargazer99 Dec 2024 #6
Despised george war bush, haven't capitalized his name since 2004 even in formal documents. Silent Type Dec 2024 #2
Why do we discard and denigrate science? walkingman Dec 2024 #3
The main financiers of the acorn of this treason tree... rubbersole Dec 2024 #4
Koch brothers Avalon Sparks Dec 2024 #5
"Mark my word" Be Leave On Dec 2024 #7
Unfortunately, you're part of the problem OP ThePartyThatListens Dec 2024 #8
If you think McCain and Trump are the same Pototan Dec 2024 #9
You are wrong. madaboutharry Dec 2024 #10
Thanks Pototan Dec 2024 #11
Correct. Past is prologue. taxi Dec 2024 #12
McCain was a decent man; the orange menace is not. Differences were about policy, allegorical oracle Dec 2024 #14
Great OP malaise Dec 2024 #13
Thanks Pototan Dec 2024 #16
I believe we are the victims of long running social manipulation Amishman Dec 2024 #15
you got that right!!!! Stargazer99 Dec 2024 #17

Timewas

(2,475 posts)
1. Years ago
Fri Dec 13, 2024, 01:25 AM
Dec 2024

They started with the dumbing down of our educational system, they have been working on it for quite a while now and the dividends they were hoping/working for are coming to fruition.

Stargazer99

(3,229 posts)
6. In talking to a Ukraine mother she told me American public children are behind in education as her children pass their
Fri Dec 13, 2024, 04:03 AM
Dec 2024

grade level when attending schools. This situation tells me the powerful and wealthy do not wan t the common kid with a decent because the lower class might not be as controllable Could explain why now our kids are forced to take out ed loans,

Silent Type

(10,469 posts)
2. Despised george war bush, haven't capitalized his name since 2004 even in formal documents.
Fri Dec 13, 2024, 01:35 AM
Dec 2024

But, I’d take him back over trump.

He did a few things I liked— (1) Was reasonably compassionate to those without all their citizenship papers, (2) signed Part D drug law as flawed as it may be, and (3) l liked the shirts he wore. Not much else.

walkingman

(9,528 posts)
3. Why do we discard and denigrate science?
Fri Dec 13, 2024, 02:21 AM
Dec 2024

Greed - a profit at any cost mentality.
Religion Fundamentalism - science is the enemy

rubbersole

(10,093 posts)
4. The main financiers of the acorn of this treason tree...
Fri Dec 13, 2024, 02:49 AM
Dec 2024

....were the Koch brothers. Their think tanks and libertarian causes wouldn't have metastasized without their inherited oil fortune making it happen. 40+ years. Keeping rich white (select) men in charge is the goal. It's been working for over 250 years here.

 
8. Unfortunately, you're part of the problem OP
Fri Dec 13, 2024, 05:39 AM
Dec 2024

Last edited Fri Dec 13, 2024, 07:54 AM - Edit history (1)

With your romanticism of American history.

Trump isn't some anomaly.

He's the ultimate form of what Republicans are, stand for and wanted all along.

Nixon was a scumbag, Bush I was a scumbag, Bush II was a scumbag and, of course, Trump is a scumbag.

I can see clearly how these guys are all similar in policy, rhetoric and results.

That you can't is the exact reason for the problem you've misdiagnosed.

Pototan

(2,714 posts)
9. If you think McCain and Trump are the same
Fri Dec 13, 2024, 05:50 AM
Dec 2024

it's you who really doesn't get it.

Welcome to DU, newbie

madaboutharry

(41,971 posts)
10. You are wrong.
Fri Dec 13, 2024, 06:03 AM
Dec 2024

Trump is most definitely an anomaly. He is the first person to serve as President of The United States who is openly hostile to The Constitution and the Republic.

taxi

(2,391 posts)
12. Correct. Past is prologue.
Fri Dec 13, 2024, 07:45 AM
Dec 2024

All of this was necessary to bring us to where we are.

Shakespeare from his play The Tempest. In contemporary use, the phrase stands for the idea that history sets the context for the present. The quotation is engraved on the National Archives Building in Washington, DC,[1] and is commonly used by the military when discussing the similarities between war throughout history.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What's_past_is_prologue

allegorical oracle

(5,324 posts)
14. McCain was a decent man; the orange menace is not. Differences were about policy,
Fri Dec 13, 2024, 08:25 AM
Dec 2024

not maliciously avenging past personal grievances. McCain would've never fostered an attack on the Capitol. Never voted for him, but gave him credit for his military service and decency.

Amishman

(5,893 posts)
15. I believe we are the victims of long running social manipulation
Fri Dec 13, 2024, 08:59 AM
Dec 2024

I strongly suspect China, Russia, and others have been working for many years to promote and empower the radical fringes of our society.

It has become a feedback loop now that more radical politicians are in office. Moderate solutions and compromise cannot get passed into law, increasing frustration with the status quo. That angst leads more voters to turn to the fringes in desperate hope for change, which elects more nuts to office. Almost all of them are on the right, but there are a couple under our tent that I consider to be out of touch and problematic as well.

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