Is the U.S. Capable of Self-Governance Any More?

[RobertNashville]

From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people...

The more I listen to the news, to other people, see what is happening in our society...the overwhelming complexity of modern society...the moral decay we can see and the large problems this country face I am coming to the conclusion that there are just not enough people in our country today to make the idea of limited government, decentralized power and personal liberty workable today.

At one time, we were told that government was not the answer to our problems but that government WAS the problem. The government does have a long track record of f****ng up just about everything it tries to do yet I haven't seen much better results form individuals either of late. I would submit that for a representative democracy to work...to be sustained, you have to have not just a large but almost an overwhelming majority of people who are WILLING to do the right thing...act with integrity (even when no on is watching)...who have a sense of personal honor...love of family...love of community.

I'm not sure we have that any more, at least not in sufficient quantities.

I'm just about to conclude that there is simply nothing I can do to change anything...that voting is meaningless and a waste of time. That my best course of action is to try and be as comfortable as possible until I check out and assume room temperature.

Am I just being too pessimistic in my old age?

Is it still possible to turn things around?

What to you think?

[macville]

Obviously the masses have been programmed educated to trust the government no matter what. So yeah, I kinda think we are past the tipping point. So let me just be king and we'll all be happier.

[RED333]

I feel we can make things better, I have to believe that, for I can not just give up.

[Raoul]

When you crowd lots of people into a small area herd mentality takes over.

Herds always have to be watched over, protected, and eventually thinned out.

 

I'm just sayin...

 

Soylent Green anyone?

[Guest Lester Weevils]

The scoops are on their way. The scoops are on their way.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhfSPvp252M

[Randall53]

 

The house has interpreted their job description as one of creating new laws...period.  Thousands of them......instead of running the country effeciently as in good budgets, watching over the taxpayers money and how it is spent....ad infinitum.  Another thing most of them do not see anywwhere in their job description..."I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."

[mav]

Are the American people still capable of self-governance?  Absolutely.  Will they?  Not a chance in hell.

[Guest PapaB]

Look at the difference in how people act day to day compared to during a crisis (like the floods in 2010). We may have to hit bottom, like an alcoholic, before enough wake up and change. I believe the people can do it, they still show their resolve during a crisis. Once you turn a certain number around, others will follow. I don't know that it will happen but I think it can.

[zapfbroad]

Look at the difference in how people act day to day compared to during a crisis (like the floods in 2010). We may have to hit bottom, like an alcoholic, before enough wake up and change. I believe the people can do it, they still show their resolve during a crisis. Once you turn a certain number around, others will follow. I don't know that it will happen but I think it can.

Nail on the head, it's inevitable.
And just as soon as Art Bell's Quickening comes rolling down the horizon and modern civilization as we know it collapses, those few. Those phoenix spirits. Will arise. Dust themselves off and take charge of those still too stunned by the loss. Rebuilding will be slow, will be fraught with peril & will need people of great moral strength & character.
That's why we fight & prepare now, so that if it is not us & we are not fortune enough to spare those who come after us from the tribulations of destruction; we may at least preserve the ways & lay the trail for them to return home to the spirit of what this country did once represent to so many in despair with nothing else to hope for except the chance to be here, to be free & to have the opportunity to raise a family, start a business & find someone to love without the risk of tyranny & chaos where they were.

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[Trekbike]

I'm just about to conclude that there is simply nothing I can do to change anything...that voting is meaningless and a waste of time. That my best course of action is to try and be as comfortable as possible until I check out and assume room temperature.

 

 

That might be a reasonable option unless a person has family that will out live you as I do.   I want my kids to have a fighting chance until God decides it's time to call it quits.  

 

 

Nail on the head, it's inevitable.
And just as soon as Art Bell's Quickening comes rolling down the horizon and modern civilization as we know it collapses, those few. Those phoenix spirits. Will arise. Dust themselves off and take charge of those still too stunned by the loss. Rebuilding will be slow, will be fraught with peril & will need people of great moral strength & character.
 

 

Been thinking the same thing for a while.  I believe it's going to take a "reboot" to totally clear this crap up but it would be very painful.   It might not even happen by anyone's direct choice, just the outcome.   

[Monkeyman2500]

I'm going to have to agree with Red on this one. I have to believe we can still bring this country back to sanity. I cannot just give up. I try to do what I can to help people understand what is at stake and how great it is to be an American. But if we hit rock bottom, so be it. I'm ready for that too.

[Chucktshoes]

The Republic is dead. It is all over but the shooting.

[RobertNashville]

That might be a reasonable option unless a person has family that will out live you as I do.   I want my kids to have a fighting chance until God decides it's time to call it quits.  

 

 

I understand the concern. I have no children but I do have a much younger sister and a still quite young niece and nephew...I'd really like to think that they world they enter as adults will still value liberty and personal responsibility and that the U.S. will have been turned to the right direction; I just don't see it happening for them.

 

So...my comment was not the result of choosing an "option" nearly as much as it was an acknowledgement of something that is already true (based on my observation and experience) that truth being that if making a difference in where the country is going is impossible.

 

I probably won't give up but I'm seen less and less reason to think that things will change for the better.

Edited April 29, 2013 by RobertNashville

[RED333]

The Republic is dead. It is all over but the shooting.

Close, very, very, close, but do not give up just yet.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Gotta agree with Chuck on that. I won't ever give up, but I am only one fish in a big sea and I don't see

too many, or enough people, doing the right things. Just the little amount I mention the Tea Party around

here gets mixed reviews. I sure don't see any other good political possibilities on the horizon.