What is the darkest point of the last 100 years in American History?

[coloradodem2005]

Poll question: What is the darkest point of the last 100 years in American History?

I would like to gauge the mood a little on issues. Taking the major points of the last 100 years where things seemed bleak. What do you think is darkest?

[wtmusic]

1. March 19, 2003

An illegal, immoral ill-justified adventure in the name of conquest and greed.

Worse than Pearl Harbor or 9/11? You bet--the blood is on our hands.

[lostnfound]

71. Strange how RW Christians ignore the "Blood is on our hands" perspective

Think about it.
Wouldn't the 'worldly' answer be to pick as the bleakest moment the day when you were a victim?

And the 'spiritual' answer would be to pick as the bleakest moment the day when you became a perpetrator?

They paint us as being the atheists and materialists with no morals and no conscience?!

Isn't it an act of faith or spirituality to be more concerned with what is right and just, than with risk to one's own life, comfort,or security?

Isn't it like "that which corrupts us is what comes from the inside"?

[wtmusic]

75. That is a beautiful reply

Really.

I'm going to save it. One of the best responses I've gotten on DU.

Thank you. :-)

[stevedeshazer]

2. Other

Selection 2000.

[Indiana_Dem]

3. I only say Iraq war because

it is the only time where our future looks as though there are no solutions or goals evident. Our energy resources are dwindling, our national debt has skyrocketed and it feels as though we're losing our freedoms and rights. WWI, the Depression, WWII had some hope because we were on the upswing of industrialization and we were more unified in our efforts.

Vietnam could be a close second but we were able to come out of it with sending someone to the moon, some new freedoms like civil rights and the push for cleaner environment was strong.

9/11 didn't really affect me personally until we invaded Iraq. I knew it didn't add up and wondered what the big deal was about Iraq instead of getting the terrorists. That caught my attention and hasn't let up since. It's just plain wrong.

[T Town Jake]

4. The Great Depression...

...25% unemployment, millions going hungry, Fascism on the march in Europe, and no seeming relief in sight, until FDR. The New Deal saved this country from sliding into some kind of totalitarian dictatorship, IMHO. FDR's "four freedoms" are still the greatest definition of how politics should work to serve the people (again, just IMO). He was a great president, and he saved us first from the Depression and then from the Axis. He was a calm, reassuring captain at the helm during tumultous times, and also gave us the first real social safety net.

[LearnedHand]

5. Prohibition? HUAC?

Fundies managed to pass a friggin' AMENDMANT to the constitution; amendmant lasted 20 years; ushered in organized crime.

HUAC questioned and prosecuted progressives and other left-leaning people. Ruined careers and lives. Jailed innocent people. Cost people LOTS of money and their reputations.

[TheRovingGourmet]

36. Prohibition, definitely. We are living with what it gave us

to this very day.

[drdigi420]

54. and it still continues, renamed 'the war on drugs'

prohibition never worked, of course, it wasnt supposed to work

it was supposed to be a perpetual war for perpetual profit

the people wised up, so they just relaunched it with different drugs

funny how it took a constitutional amendment to outlaw alcohol, but just a closed door congressional meeting to outlaw other drugs

i guess that is because the Federal govt has ZERO right to infringe upon your liberty to ingest whatever substance you want, they had to do it secretly for some drugs, after having to amend the constitution to outlaw the single most devastating drug in the history of man.

[TheRovingGourmet]

77. I think pot is still legal here in Texas but you have to

purchase a tax stamp to possess it. To get the tax stamp, you must possess the pot, which you can't get unless you have the stamp, which you can't get unless you have the pot, which you can't get unless...

[BOHICA06]

6. The Jim Crow 20s -30s

along with the rise of the Mid-West & Southern Klan - our closest push toward facism. Saved by WWII & Truman's start toward integration.

[Yupster]

73. The Klan was discreditted

long before Truman.

FBI infiltrators, celebrated courtcases, especially some on morals charges eliminated the Klan as a large organization before the 40's began.

[Webster Green]

7. When the Bush Crime Family shut down our Democracy....

[TriMetFan]

9. I Agree with you.

[Cheswick2.0]

22. AGREED

thanks for posting. Everything else is just the aftermath.

[smirkymonkey]

60. That would be my choice, though it's unclear

as to exactly when it started.

[Journeyman]

8. July 16, 1945. . .

The day of the Trinity Test . . . first sucessful detonation of a nuclear device.

"The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking . . . the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."
– Albert Einstein

I am become death, destroyer of all worlds.
– Sri Krishna, Bhagavad Gita (quoted by Robert Oppenheimer as the black cloud rose to heaven and the rain began to fall)

[Indiana_Dem]

11. That DID change the world now didn't it? n/t

[serryjw]

10. You missed the THEFT of the 2000 election!

[rhite5]

12. Exactly.

Before I saw the choices, I had made up my mind immediately to choose the theft of the 2000 election. This BY FAR overshadows everything else that has happened. It marked the end of democracy in our country. No national election since then has been honest.

Interesting that so many well informed Democrats still do not realize the significance.

[CaTeacher]

13. The Iraq war---

I am so sad over all the innocent people we are hurting. And we are making everyone all over the world hate us.

:cry:

[serryjw]

14. I knew so much of F9-11

BUT when I saw Cynthia McKinney in the well of the House begging for justice, I cried. It really was the beginning of the end.

[Gord]

15. Too easy

9/11 by far, then the two Kennedy assasinations and Martin Luther King jr.

No contest.

[newyawker99]

40. Hi Gord!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Jokinomx]

69. Welcome Gord to the D.U....:-)

I have to say this latest war...because this is the first time that we really officially attacked a sovereign nation.

[UdoKier]

16. It's tough to say...

Is it the horrible poverty and inequality of the early years of the depression, or the present day "the Iraq war" (?).

The depression saw at least 1/4 or our country out of work and a much higher number in bread lines.

But the changes taking place in the faondations of our economy and our government may very well be the beginning of a new depression paired with an increasingly repressive and paranoid government. In the near future we may be living in a thrid-world country not unlike Mexico or Colombia due to our own short-sightedness and complacency.

At least during the depression, the working class was becoming more active and engaged and fighting for their rights.

Today's generation oar completely oblivious of the blood that was shed to achieve a minimum wage or a modicum of safety in the workplace, much less the right to organize and bargain collectively.

SO I chose "the Iraq war", but by that I simply mean "the present day"

[genius]

17. DEcember 12, 2000

[dbt]

24. EXACTLY!

When the Supreme Court decided that it alone gets to choose the President, the Constitution became moot. Five people sold out 250 million, yet the five walk about freely when they should be in shackles.

Jail O'Connor, Rehnquist, Scalia, Kennedy and (Uncle) Thomas. Now more than ever!

:grr:
dbt

[devinsgram]

28. Put my vote there too!

[HughBeaumont]

37. The date democracy ended?

Yep, that sounds about right.

And if the same shit happens again, expect to see rioting.

[buycitgo]

51. can't believe it took so long for this to come up, regardless of 911/Iraq

[GiovanniC]

65. Mine Too

That's definitely the darkest point in the last 100 years.

The America I knew went on life support.

We've got to bring her back.

[stilpist]

70. Bingo! n/t

[gumby]

18. Not a point, a THING: BFEE

[DeepModem Mom]

19. The stolen election of 2000...

and its acceptance by our free press, and the people.

[neverborn]

20. 9/11 by FAR

[pinniped]

21. The boy asshole who stole the wh and his gang of thugs.

n/t

[kayell]

23. 9/11, not because of the accepted story, but because of what will eventual

ly be known about how and why it happened, and how it was used to destroy our freedoms, and justify the invasion of 2 countries (so far). The invasion of Iraq is dark indeed, but comparable to what we did to Viet Nam. The lengths that were gone to to make that invasion palatable, will be nauseating to Americans in the end.

I think that if the full truth of 9/11 ever becomes common knowledge (whether LIHOP or MIHOP) it will cause an unbelievable crisis for Americans. Despite all the lip service paid to distrust in govt., most Americans place an unreasonable faith in the president, as though simply being in the office sanctifies the person.

[Mr.Green93]

25. Iraq war

Bring them home, John Kerry! Bring them HOME!

[H2O Man]

26. The Supreme Court Decision

putting Bush into office. It marked the greatest threat to constitutional democracy that we have faced as a nation since the Civil War. Not only were tens of thousands of black citizens from Florida disenfranchised by the JEB Bush machine, but the Supreme Court would literally disenfranchise 50 million voters. It s still stunning.

[Eurobabe]

27. Bush se-lection in 2000

[Cronus Protagonist]

29. Yup, Election 2000 was the darkest moment

Mainly because the reaction of American citizens was so minor and ineffective against the coup. That was the day the Constitution became negligible, and the echo later at the passing of the PATRIOT act was the second blow.

SHOVE IT! - Drop Bush Not Bombs! - Hero Kerry AWOL Bush
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[Raenelle]

64. Another vote for Election 2000-Fraud of the Century

[jdonaldball]

30. The Republican Convention of 1964

when the NeoCons began to take over the party.
In my opinion that year was when the Republican Party began to change character from traditional elitist conservatives to populist revolutionaries. Of course the change had been in the works at least since the 1950s.

[Caution]

31. The MLK Assassination

[G_j]

34. '68 MLK and RFK murdered n/t

[ladjf]

32. The fraudulent election of 2000.

[LeftHander]

33. Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Horrible

[NYCGirl]

35. As a completely home grown black mark on history, Kent State in 1970

should be remembered. 4 protesting students were shot and killed by the National Guard.

[Name removed]

47. Deleted message

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[DrWeird]

48. So what you're saying is protestors should be shot.

Ever consider immigrating to Afghanistan?

[Name removed]

52. Deleted message

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[DrWeird]

55. No, the real men stood there ground in the United States...

and refused to take the cowardly way out and go to Vietnam to kill people that never did America any harm.

Funny how you thing the protestors should have taken the cowardly way out. That's so unamerican. I suppose you think the founding fathers should have backed down to the British too. Typical.

[Name removed]

57. Deleted message

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[DrWeird]

59. They didn't launch peaceful protests?

Forgotten the Boston Massacure, have you? Remember that one? Crispus Attucks? Paul Revere? There's rather obviously substantial similarites with that and Kent state.

But I suppose I shouldn't expect your history to be any better than your reading comprehension.

[EST]

56. Welcome to DU, Rat

n/t

[mopinko]

58. No one made those kids protest

right, just their conscience. just their sense of right and wrong and the knowledge that a right not exercised is lost. they were murdered by their own government. they didn't have to, they could have hidden under the bed. i guess that is your choice in the face of tyranny and war crimes. nice to have you aboard ratatattat. hopefully some democratic principles will rub off on you during your probably short stay at du.
kent state gets my vote, also.

[Zynx]

38. The Great Depression

There was real worry that the entire system had failed and that we might end up with an authoritarian or totalitarian system such as Communism of Fascism.

[kori]

39. I normally do not participate in the polls ......

but I had to get up on the soap box on this one. I think you missed all of the major dark points in American History.

Let me explain why I do not think these are it, although I agree most people would probably pick one of them.

WW1 and WW2 were wars started elsewhere, if we had acted sooner they might not have been as devastating as they were. The Great Depression was a world wide event, and while it was bad here, and made worse by predatory lending practices ( sound familiar) it was not as bad in the US as in most of the world.

Watergate ended up as a high point in my mind. We were able to have a change in government without tanks in the streets. It eventually was a constitutional reaffirmation, and was brought about by the dogged Free Press, the "Fourth Estate".

The event on 9/11 was an attack on us be a lawless group (even those who think it was either allowed to happen or made to happen can agree with the term lawless group). Those people need to be hunted down and caught. It should have been left as an expanded police action, not as a "generational war".

We learned through the experience of Vietnam that activism can affect policy. While it was a bloody lesson learned, again it can be considered at the end a victory for the voice of the people.

The Iraq war is not the first unilateral action taken by the US. The Spanish-American war was simply a land grab against a decaying empire. One allowed to happen by trumped up charges against Spain. If Saddam did have weapons and if he was working with terrorists a pre-emptive strike could have prevented another Hitler, a place we should have acted sooner. As it now appears, we were lied to and that is a great stain on American History, but it will not be the first time.

I see many have listed the 2000 election as a dark moment. Elections have been stolen before and each one is a dark moment. There are many who believe that Mayor Daily stole the election for Kennedy in 1960. While I liked that theft, it probably was one none the less. Each theft is an equal stain on the constitution regardless of who does it.

No I think the darkest moments were the interment of the Japanese in WW2, The necessity of having to use Federal Marshals to enroll Black Children in schools they had every right to be in. (Let me make this clear, not the act of using Marshals but the necessity of it, the destructive racial hatred that is so prevalent in our country, that is the stain). The rise of fundamental religious beliefs around the world and in the US. The jailing of enemy combatants without due process. The seeming death of a diverse free press. ( remember without a diverse free press Watergate and the Nixon stain would not have been brought to the public eye). Blind Patriotism that shows its ugly head many times in American History, most recently after 9/11. And Finally the Patriot Act, if left to stand as it is, may well be the end of the Bill of rights.

These are the real dangers to our Democracy.

[leftofthedial]

41. the coup of 2000

democracy flat lined

[AntiCoup2K4]

42. Not executing Prescott Bush for his treasonous funding of Hitler.

If that fucking bastard would have recieved the just legal penalty for treason back in 1942, that would have been the end of the Bush Criminal Empire, and pretty much everything else on the list which came afterwards probably wouldn't have happenned. I can guarantee you that Watergate and the assassinations of JFK, RFK, MLK, and 9-11 would not have happenned.

[chimpy the poopthrower]

43. I have to agree with the (so far) 17 others who wrote in The Selection

The Selection: 12/12/2000 - Bush v Gore

Even if you went back to the beginning of our country - 1776 - The Selection would still be in the top two. The other would be slavery.

Too bad you can't repost a new poll with The Selection as one of the choices.

[EST]

44. How about right now?

I sadly fear if it looks like JFK is really going to win this election, the far right Fascists are going to seize power permanently and it's all over for the world.

[mountainvue]

45. November 22, 1963.

All the other dark events in the second half of the century were offsping of that one event.

[DaveSZ]

46. The last few years since the selection have been tragic

I don't know that they can compare to the Great Depression and WWII however, when people didn't know whether or not freedom would survive.

[autorank]

49. Murder of the Native Americans

Supposedly 30-50 million when we got here...2 million now. Very uncomfortable legacy.

[Yupster]

74. Outside the polls parameters

It said in the last 100 years.

[CrispyQ]

50. December 12, 2000

The selection of pResident Bush by the Supreme Court was by far the most devastating blow to our democracy since the inception of our country.

[against all enemies]

53. Treatment of blacks over the entire 100 years to present.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

61. Kent State - the end of naivete.

We, of that generation, actually believed that if America was exposed to what our own government was capable of, the people would rise up in indignation and demand that the criminals who led it be overthrown.

At Kent State they shot down their own citizens..and the people applauded.

It was the end of the belief that a "government of the people, by the people and for the people" could not be corrupted to the point that it would even kill it's own.

[DrWeird]

62. The Tulsa Riot

Well, it's probably the darkest point most have never heard of anyway.

[MoonRiver]

63. I wasn't alive during the Great Depression, but from what I hear and read

it was more traumatic and "dark" for Americans than the Iraq war. But in terms of our future, particularly increasing the possibility of terrorist attacks, plus limiting our international credibility, Iraq may turn out to be the darkest time.

[in_cog_ni_to]

66. I voted for The Iraq War....BUT

The stolen 2000 election was the darkest point, in my mind. Had the chimp NOT been selected by the SUPREME COURT we wouldn't be in Iraq. The 2000 selection opened the door for EVERYTHING that has since followed. :(

[rucky]

67. Selma, Alabama n/t

[Lindacooks]

68. December 12, 2000

The theft of democracy.

[Yupster]

72. I would say the surrender

of the US forces on Bataan and Correigedor. That was the largest surrender of US forces in history, and at the time, the Axis forces were advancing everywhere and looking very victorious.

[phillybri]

76. Nobody's mentioned Joseph McCarthy...

I wouldn't vote for him, but I thought someone might bring it up...

What a sick, drunken scumbag...:puke:

[GliderGuider]

78. Given that I'm strongly MIHOP, it has to be 9/11

If 9/11 was in fact MIHOP, it's the ugliest thing any American government has ever done to its people.

My vote for runner-up would be the McCarthy hearings. They still resonate today, and they set the stage for the RW vitriol that still poisons your political discourse.