America = ????

[know knot]

Now I don’t pride myself on being a very politically tuned dude, but…. yes…but ;D
I work from morning to night and get very little time before the boob tube but there’s an issue or rather complaint I’d like to address, and that being the worldly opinion of America and her children.

I have a friend, whom I’ve known for a long time now. She was born in Maine but was raised in Mexico by her Mexican mom and Spanish dad. She’s now going to college in New York and does a lot of traveling around the world to places like, Spain, Italy, Russia, etc. She once wrote me from across seas and was saying how ashamed she was of bringing out her American passport, that she'd show her mexican pass just because of the view the rest of the world has towards Americans because of the whole Bush/war propaganda. Now I think about that and it just drives me mad. We have a President/Government, a direct "representative" of the American people. Their actions are ours.
It’s troubling to me that I can’t go to, say, Europe, and have people not look at me like I’m some contributing minion of a ‘democracy’ of which I do not believe in. Someday I’d like to travel the globe, experience all the many cultures and roots from which I’ve come from. It’s deeply upsetting to know that as soon as I open my mouth I will be immediately judged just as my good friend was, as being one of those damn “Americans”

Now I know 50% or what not of the population elected this "president" per say, and you could say that it is our fault for the way the rest of the world judges us... but what about the other 50% who hated this guy from the beginning. Is it just that we, the people, be judged for the actions of our so called leaders?

What are your thoughts on this matter?

[Kwan Yu]

metalslaved said:

What are your thoughts on this matter?

America is yet young
The young can be obnoxious

[Jupiter]

Ha Ha Kwan Yu and the old can be stuck up! I know that Europeans and other cultures hate the US but I also believe that can be a bit of cultural snobbery too. The English hate the French.......but to address the world view of America now and since the attacks on the WTC is a dogs breakfast of opposing philosophy. I think that it is a huge problem for the youth inheriting the world of tomorrow to have to deal with. That is why the coming election is so important and could make an important impact on that world. Hey does your friend send in their vote? Change the president and you can change the view of America. Britain got rid of Tony Blair right quick!

[Kwan Yu]

jupiter said:

Ha Ha Kwan Yu and the old can be stuck up!

Old cultures have earned the right to be snobs.

[murex]

Too bad we'll just be able to vote for a lesser evil.

[Jupiter]

kwanyu said:

Old cultures have earned the right to be snobs.

Touche! Kwan Yu
And the young get to be brash (we could go on like this forever ;D )

murex said:

Too bad we'll just be able to vote for a lesser evil.

What do you mean? This is vague.......do you think all presidential candidates are evil? Cuz I certainly don't think that someone trying to end war is evil or policies that could bring healthcare to people or programs to assist the poor could possible classified as evil.
Or are you just cynically stating that you don't believe that anyone could possibly have good motive for anything? Too vague to be able to get where your going with this.

[know knot]

jupiter said:

kwanyu said:

Old cultures have earned the right to be snobs.

Touche! Kwan Yu
And the young get to be brash (we could go on like this forever ;D )

murex said:

Too bad we'll just be able to vote for a lesser evil.

What do you mean? This is vague.......do you think all presidential candidates are evil? Cuz I certainly don't think that someone trying to end war is evil or policies that could bring healthcare to people or programs to assist the poor could possible classified as evil.
Or are you just cynically stating that you don't believe that anyone could possibly have good motive for anything? Too vague to be able to get where your going with this.

perhaps the least nauseating? ;D

[murex]

perhaps the least nauseating? ;D

sure.

[nickelfire]

perhaps the least nauseating? ;D

Haha, that seems to be our only choice... I hate our governent! I'm learning spanish though, I could pass myself off as Latin-American if I ever travel.

[Jupiter]

Okay.. what would I like to hear is the idea of a solution. It's fine to say that the government sucks but that just just becomes another cliche or blah blah blah. If you could have your ideal world what would it be???

[nickelfire]

jupiter said:

Okay.. what would I like to hear is the idea of a solution. It's fine to say that the government sucks but that just just becomes another cliche or blah blah blah. If you could have your ideal world what would it be???

Well ideal would be very different from what it is now; I'm talking real democracy, no elected representatives that only stand for selfish profit and not the people who put them in office. This goes for all facets of our current government that essentially fails to serve the people.
MM’s ideals on custodianship and egalitarianism are attractive but they perhaps belong to a future still too distant.
As for an immediate solution or immediate relief, I like to believe that maybe real change is not too far away. It might be wishful thinking but I would say that the majority of people in this country are thinking the same thing when they think about people like Barack Obama who’s trying hard to change the direction this country is taking, and bring us back on course. Whether or not this is possible while working amidst our corrupt government is dubious, but Obama may be awarded the power and hopefully the wisdom to use it, and wrest control of this country from the idiots that possess it and return it to the people again.
The momentum is already rolling alongside him; before he was the underdog yet has now taken the lead. I think it’s a clear sign that people are tired of the BS that we’ve been living with and the world has been dealing with from our government and our reckless leadership even still.
If this turns out to be false, you can’t blame people for hoping… praying that their future’s may yet be decided for themselves.

[MagnetMan]

jupiter said:

Okay.. what would I like to hear is the idea of a solution. It's fine to say that the government sucks but that just just becomes another cliche or blah blah blah. If you could have your ideal world what would it be???

There should be no landlords or over-lords of any kind.

All the basics of life; education, housing, food, energy, medicine,
should be free with nobody trying to make a private profit out of them.

The idea that everybody will be too lazy to work is nonsense. The work ethic is too deeply ingrained in all of us. What we don't like is work that bores the shit out of us - jobs taken just to keep the bread on the table and a roof over our heads, too exhausted at the end of the day to do anything truly creative.

If we dump the idea of ownership and the massive expense required to legalize and police that unnatural state of being, and adopt an ethic of custodianship instead -- all the above can happen

My ideal world is an egalitarian global society all working creatively together to steward the home planet as a single family estate.

[Jupiter]

metalslaved said:

Now I don’t pride myself on being a very politically tuned dude, but…. yes…but ;D
I work from morning to night and get very little time before the boob tube but there’s an issue or rather complaint I’d like to address, and that being the worldly opinion of America and her children.

What are your thoughts on this matter?

Two words dude ....Vote Obama

[murex]

Obama may be the better of the two.

Anyways, MM- I like what you said. If we could stop chasing money and putting a dollor sign on everything, maybe we can actually do something constructive and creative with our lives.

[nickelfire]

If America wants to be the respected leader of the world again she needs to be more open to her followers, less alienating. People want to love her again but it’s hard to love a bully, and we all know that sooner or later the bully is going to be bullied back, and power will shift to someone new.