| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/23/2005 1:38:20 PM |
I would also state that we make it very difficult for people returning from prison to return to a normal life in society.
I would submit that a good amount of those people are the ones that made it hard on themselves by making the choices which placed them into prison in the first place. | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/23/2005 1:42:55 PM | I really have to disagree watchman, as there are laws in place that prevent people who have been charged with certain crimes to ever recieve financial aid for school, which could be big step for a criminal to realize that their life could get better. And they don't even have to go to prison.
And true while they made those mistakes should we as a society just throw them away
some of the greatest thinkers and artists spent time in prison | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/23/2005 1:46:55 PM |
Three words that will explain why America sucks right now.
George W. Bush.
"W" is a letter, not a word.
Anyway, I'll bet my computer that the Lefties on here far outweigh the Right in terms of income. You see, their parents are all Republicans. And, while mommy and daddy sent them off to school (paid for by daddy the capitalist pig) and bought them a nice new car for graduation, they decided they needed to rebel. Maybe they thought to bite the hand that feeds them and get back at their parents was the best thing to do. Anyway, even though they have relied on Republicans, Republican policies, and Republican $$$$, they will never admit to themselves their true feelings, and even lash out at how they see themselves in others. :P | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/23/2005 1:48:22 PM | | Some of the greatest thinkers and artists were murderers too, does a talent negate their crime or provide admission back into society? | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/23/2005 2:02:08 PM | there is a big misconception that all people that go to prison are violent
violence and criminal behavior are two differant beasts lumped into the same cell
as well there are people in prison for crimes that should not be against the law | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/23/2005 2:09:18 PM | You see, their parents are all Republicans. And, while mommy and daddy sent them off to school (paid for by daddy the capitalist pig) and bought them a nice new car for graduation
Oh really? Mine didn't... and my parent's aren't Republicans. Even my father's parents
weren't Republicans, and didn't put him through school or give him a car ever. My mom's parents were Republicans because they were both military people. But they didn't put
my mom through school or buy her a car. Hmmm... crazy. I wish my parent's knew how it
worked like you Bulldog... would have helped me out a lot and made my road to where I am today a lot easier.
So I'm afraid Bulldog, once again, your perception of us Liberals is incorrect.
Big surprise. | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/23/2005 2:15:37 PM | America has the highest rate of wealth polarity among western nations. It gets worse every year. Other nations have a more even distribution of wealth and investment in their populace in general. This probably explains why we have such high poverty rates, the highest population incarceration rate, high elderly poverty rates, high child poverty rates, low high school graduation rates, and crappy schools.
I guess we should ignore this and wait for everyone to pick themselves up by their bootstraps. | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/23/2005 2:19:19 PM |
I guess we should ignore this and wait for everyone to pick themselves up by their bootstraps.
Yep. Just like you've BEEN doing. Nothing. Maybe you should stop expecting everyone else to fix your perceived problems for you. It will only lead to disappointment. Or, maybe you could rally us together with some ideas on how to fix the situation? We're waiting... | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/23/2005 2:24:41 PM | eccentric-
I was arrested in 2001 for selling drugs and I currently have a state felony on my record. My probation was to last 5 years but i got off after 2 and 1/2. At the time I was convicted, I had to make the decision to either keep on living the way I was or change. Luckily, with God's help I was able to change.
Since then, I've been persistent in going after what I wanted and in doing so, I've been able to accomplish quite a bit in a short period of time.
The first job I had was repairing furniture for $6 an hour. However, I saw opportunities all around me. I started going to re-sell shops and purchasing old couches for $5-10 apiece and selling them "garage sale-style" on my front lawn. Since the re-sell shops had tons of furniture they were just trying to get rid of I struck a deal that allowed me to take all of their "extra" furniture off of their hands - free of charge - which I gladly did.
From there I started going to storage facilities and bidding on units which had not been paid. I struck a deal with 12 low-rent apartment complexes in my area which allowed me furnish apartments for people moving in who did not have much furniture. I opened up 3 spaces in flea markets selling all different types of furniture. I had 4 people working for me. This all took place while I continued to work for a job making $6 an hour and this all took place in a span of four months.
After a year of this I landed my current job, working for an insurance company. Since then, I've opened up a t-shirt company with my sister. We started out with $800 6 months ago selling tshirts out of our church. We now distribute to over 60 stores in 4 states. Currently, I'm in the process of starting a newspaper which will employ high school students who want to go into journalism. It will provide scholarships for the students. The money is already there, just waiting to find the right students (or as I like to call it, "the easy part").
At the time of my arrest I was living with whatever friend could stand me at the time, I had no car, no phone, and absolutely no money. Since then, I've not only been able to provide for myself but I've been able to help others as well.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again....opportunity is all around us. You've just got to be able to see that it's there. I've done everything that I've done with a felony on my record. There's not a day that goes by that I don't see a new way for someone to make money and not all of them require a ton of money to begin with. In fact, many of them don't. You just have to be persistent. Any way, point made. | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/23/2005 2:25:14 PM |
Anyway, I'll bet my computer that the Lefties on here far outweigh the Right in terms of income. You see, their parents are all Republicans. And, while mommy and daddy sent them off to school (paid for by daddy the capitalist pig) and bought them a nice new car for graduation, they decided they needed to rebel. Maybe they thought to bite the hand that feeds them and get back at their parents was the best thing to do.
another retarded generalized statement from a republican. actually my parents are republicans while i'm a democrat. i got a job at the age of 14, i held it untill 2 weeks before i moved here for school which means i had my job for over 4 years, i know this may not seem long to you but not too many 14 year olds decided to get a job. i bought my own car and i bought my own 4-wheeler. i paid for my own insurance. i paid for almost everything i now own. i've never had to urge to 'get back' at my parents for anything. i actually have respect for my parents because i know how big of a pain in the ass i am. they've taught me so much in life and i couldn't give enough thanks to them for that. maybe you should show a little more respect for people even though they have opposing views. but i guess throwing around rediculous generalizations with no basis is something you do.
Anyway, even though they have relied on Republicans, Republican policies, and Republican $$$$, they will never admit to themselves their true feelings, and even lash out at how they see themselves in others. :P
republican money? funny, i've never seen money that says "republican" or "democrat" on it. | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/23/2005 2:39:41 PM | I just thought I might bring us back to the topic.
America, you are heading for a chasm. The future looks bleak. What’s going on?
Above this reply are numerous people arguing one side or another. Most of these statements are unoriginal, meaning that they essentially got them from someone else. I see in America people acting at home like American tourists abroad. If you don't think they got it, SAY IT LOUDER and maybe they'll understand you this time.
Here's how the Republicans have been killing America: (I'll get to the Dems later)
Thomas Frank ("What's the Matter With Kansas") has demonstrated that numerous social issues have been fused to economic issues in terms of elections and public discourse, but that the social issues are getting short shrift in legislative action while the economic ones are getting worked on. Essentially he says, religious fervor, anti-abortionism, anti-intellectualism, gun rights and patriotism have been fused to free-market economics, tax cuts, reduced social spending, increased military spending and cronyism.
A tiny amount of work gets done promoting these social issues and then it gets talked about as though that's all the politicians have been doing is trying to defend God and country. But no work will really get done because these social issues are all about anger. They're the things that make you scream at your television set. FOX News has perfected the "two minutes hate" if you know what I'm talking about.
Nevertheless, even though people are elected to preserve God's place in the public sphere and to make it legal to own an automatic rifle, they are very busy going about cutting taxes for the wealthy, limiting spending on social programs, and lining up defense contracts. Basically, the vast majority of America keeps getting less and less from the Federal government while paying, individually, more and more.
Now, here's how the Democrats have been killing America:
Democrats were the cronies of the 1980s. They once held the liberal mantle but then they took control of Congress and started inviting the money into Washington. Their friends became Dow, Lockheed, Raytheon, etc. Remember that****Cheney was cutting military spending during the 80s, probably because he knew it would harm the Democrats' purse if they didn't deliver to their benefactors.
Dems sold out the union vote. They had control of Congress but they never got rid of the Taft-Hartley act. They never passed any pro-union legislation. They didn't stand up to Reagan when he fired the PATCO strikers. They didn't stand up for unions in general. They told upstart unions to get in line behind the big unions who were in their pockets.
They essentially became elitist. All of the Democrats in Washington send their kids to private school. They pull in far in excess of the median income, like 10-100 times. They enjoy politics because they can call up eminent writers and screen directors for dinner, and have drinks with cute actresses and sex with cute interns. Decadent, decadent Democrats. They lost their base and their purpose.
Meanwhile, they didn't care that a new war of ideas was going on behind the scenes. They figured that Talk Radio would only reach a small audience of kooks. But it in fact created new kooks. There are a million nutty right-wing activists now.
Now we have a situation where a whole bunch of idiots (sorry guys) scream at each other for the sole purpose of having the last word. Do you really understand what you're arguing about? Do you, for example, have any purpose arguing about Terri Schiavo?
I think we need more knowledge, i.e., more news about what is actually happening in the world that relates to what the Federal government is doing. We should hear more reporting from Iraq. Not just body counts, but we need real, in-depth stories, narratives about the lives of the people we abruptly introduced ourselves to in 2003. Narratives about the lives of the troops. Reporters need to risk getting killed and captured. Whenever the government tries to warp the news, it has to be called out on it. Iraq is getting the bulk of our spending and all of our military attention and we hear one report every day: a bomb, so many people killed, gee whiz.
Okay, end of rant. | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/23/2005 3:08:29 PM | Bulldog,
I don't have any problem. I do well for myself. I've never been on public assistance.
And if you looked at the record, you'd see that the average welfare recipient is only on for less than a year, then they pull themselves up by their bootstraps. The largest component of the poor are single mothers. 60% of minimum wage earners are 21 and over. Minimum wage puts you below the poverty line. These are people who are working their asses off trying to make it.
You guys sit up here and complain about social welfare but don't seem to have a problem with the hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate welfare. Corporate taxes are on the decline and the recessive payroll tax (which are only paid on the first $90,000 of income) are on the incline and hurt the poor the most. In the meantime, people like****Cheney can same Halliburton 10's of millions in taxes by moving offshore. Who makes up the difference in govt revenue? You and me.
Aside from that, we simply give away billions of dollars to already profitable corporations with no quid pro quo. $1 billion a year to computer chip makers. $1.2 billion to automakers. And price supports. These are just plain handouts to corporations which no one seems to have a problem with. Why? So the CEO can make another $10 million in salary even when he performs poorly? Eliminating this welfare would fill the hole in the budget.
Maybe then we could fund education.
However, typical of the right to beat up the weakest segment of society. | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/23/2005 3:19:23 PM | | nope. parents grew up poor. i grew up in "the ghetto". went to the university and am now ensconced in the corporate ivory tower. | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/23/2005 3:26:00 PM | | I forgot. No one ever claims they relied on wealth to get where they are now. That's like the multi-millionaires of today claiming they're "middle-class." | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/24/2005 5:28:40 AM | @Easytag,
Congrats on your success story. I've always known that success is measured by the individual and not by the opportunity, your story clearly proves that as well. Determined people create their own opportunities. It's a pity we can't teach drive and determination to people that come out of prisons, that would be the most effective attribute we could give them. | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/24/2005 6:03:28 AM | All your answers pre-suppose something that I think has been lost.
That being equality of oppertunities.
The simple fact is, if you are born to a rich family you are going to have far more oppertunities in life.
If you are born poor, the likelyhood is, unless to are a truly exceptional person, you will die poor.
The key is education, but the rich, dont send their children to the schools the poor do, In fact they attempt to starve those schools of funding by baying for tax cuts. Does anyone reading this think, that had say G W Bush been educated in a publicly funded school he would be where he is today?
I belive that education is the key to the answer. | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/24/2005 6:04:58 AM | All your answers pre-suppose something that I think has been lost.
That being equality of oppertunities.
The simple fact is, if you are born to a rich family you are going to have far more oppertunities in life.
If you are born poor, the likelyhood is, unless to are a truly exceptional person, you will die poor.
The key is education, but the rich, dont send their children to the schools the poor do, In fact they attempt to starve those schools of funding by baying for tax cuts. Does anyone reading this think, that had say G W Bush been educated in a publicly funded school he would be where he is today?
I belive that education is the key to the answer. | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/24/2005 6:18:38 AM |
If you are born poor, the likelyhood is, unless to are a truly exceptional person, you will die poor.
Poverty is a problem. But people born poor in the U.S. have many opporunities to take jobs that provide them a very nice life. They may not be rich by U.S. standards but they world standards, these people are amazingly wealthly. You need not be exceptional to do live this kind of life.
Ronald Reagan was educated publically and he became president. Bill Clinton was born very poor and he became president. would Bush have made it? Hard to say. Usually in America the most successful people (from where they started to where they finish) are educated publically. They went to some small state university and never let go of their dream. That's what this country is about and we accept the tradeoffs that come with it. | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/24/2005 8:07:46 AM | | Ah, the old Equality Of Result vs. Equality of Opportunity Debate? Thought that was finished in 89? Good thread question, forgive a hopefully humorous response: I think the biggest thing wrong with America is marxist devils from across the pond stirring the fires of facism on our side of the water. Serious Answer: To many of us get our news and form "opinions" from soundbites, WE ARE A DIVIDED NATION. The biggest thing wrong with America right now is the colossal battle for control of the education system. No Child Left Behind? I will not belittle it anymore than it already rightfully has been. Some teachers are not teaching their students much more than how to take a test. America is sliding, and it will not stop until we really find far better common ground than whatever we may have at the moment. | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/24/2005 8:44:42 AM | SlowDazzler-
That's exactly why conservatives want to start the voucher program for schools, which I support.
Watchman-
Thanks. | |
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| What’s gone wrong with America?
Posted: 3/24/2005 9:36:36 AM | School vouchers would redirect the flow of educational funding, channeling it directly to families rather than school districts. This would allow families to select the public of private school of their choice and have all or part of the tuition paid.
You can do a google search and find a lot of information on it if you're interested. | |
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