Life in the U.S. is a joke

reply to post by slackerwire

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I could arrange for you to go someplace more glamorous like China or Iran, maybe Russia if your lucky....Such arrogance is unbelievable. I truly feel sorry for you, I pity you.

reply to post by vance

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All the votes in the world won't change your elections. All your main politicians are chosen by 'new world order elites' and hence the elections are fixed. These run-up primaries are all acts of fiction, to convince you that you have a say. It's sad, but, I believe, true. The U.S. seems to be a free mason experiment that looks like is AIMING for implosion. I'm in Canada and I am very concerned. Be aware of the real evil-doers on your TV etc.

God bless us all

After reading the title to you thread, I was truly prepared to give you a stinging reply explaining how fortunate and blessed you and I are to live in a nation with one of the highest standards of living in the world, a place where we can still go to the church of our choice, or not go, without fear do to do either we choose, to go to the grocery, supermarket or super store with shelves bursting with products of every sort, of living in a nation without fear of almost anything; which is all true but then I clicked and read your post. I must admit you are correct in what you have stated. It reminds me of a thing I told my children repeatedly as they were growing up. Society today is nine tenths perception and one tenth reality. I think that is especially true for th US today but also most of the western nations. It seems we have become a culture so absorbed with ourselves that we have lost touch with reality. I was watching an episode of "Rick Steves Europe Through the Back Door" and he mentioned the "dumbing down of America" and said he wished Americans would travel more". I have only been out of the country twice (Ii think) but still I must agree.
Thanks for your post, very well said .

USA South

You know when I read about things like this I just laugh. I don't have men in black suits raidng my home when I say I hate America, I read WHATEVER I please, I wake up when I please and I do as I please. I could go outside right now, burn a American flag, spit on portraits of G dub, and piss all over a bible. I'll proceed in my home just as I left it when i'm done doing do so. Life is what YOU make it. There is no "mecca" on this planet for YOUR personal version of "freedom." And to be honest, I know this is said alot, but if you don't like it here LEAVE. You are FREE to do so! And if your so afraid of your "freedoms" being taken away for doing what you want. Call me! I'll order you a copy of Mein Kampf, register you on the Al Jazeera website, and do WHATEVER else you think you can't do! Just to simply prove my point! I'M A FREE MAN!

Cry cry cry about how bad everything is. When your done crying wake up and live your life to your best ability. Do your best to be your best! SEMPER FI. Right now i'm drinking beer with my family, watching movies, and laughing. I'm watching my baby sibling laugh and look around. I'm grateful for what I have and i'll never dwell on the worst. P.M.A. POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE.

[edit on 25-6-2008 by USMC-oorah]

[edit on 25-6-2008 by USMC-oorah]

Well said!! I absolutely concur.

To respond to an earlier query about what specific freedoms have been taken away, I offer my meagre experience ...

As a Canadian, a North American; I have experienced, first hand, my freedoms legislated into illegal territory:
When I realized that by the swipe of a pen, a legislator 3000km away could turn me into a criminal, overnight.

The first one I remember was the seat-belt law, which came into effect in Yukon some years after the rest of the country. I was in my early twenties. Still, after I had received my drivers license in BC, when seatbelts were an option.
The next I remember was drinking in a public place. (I wont mention the drinking and driving law, still later!). This was particularly troublesome as it meant all the softball teams had to drive to someones house after the game to celebrate their win/loss or they shall be arrested.
The most resonant, however, was as a firearm owner;
I was most dismayed at how, years after purchasing a British issue WW1 303 cal. rifle for moose hunting, I was subject to search and seizure after a certain bill was passed in the House.

I'm sure that any Americans reading this would feel a sense of profound ownership of this scenario and not sit for it. But from what I have seen, Americans are headed in fearful direction; the leadership tells them to be afraid of everything that moves. If it doesn't have the ol stars and stripes on it, don't trust it.
I can't wait for GW Bush to move to Paraguay.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS

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That's the really sad thing, isn't it? Most people who want to leave, can't, because they are NOT financially able to...BECAUSE "THE MAN" KEEPS TAKING ALL THEIR MONEY AWAY! I get sick and tired of hearing all of these "Super Patriots" saying how great America is, and how easy we have it.
True, we have far better than some, but nothing is as good as it was 20 or 30 years ago in my humble opinion...and it never will be again because its just getting worse every day that goes by.
Everyday our "Leaders" find new ways to tax us, news ways to watch us, new ways to breach our already fizzled privacy, new ways to kill us, new ways to #%$@ us, and new lies to tell. Our economy is failing; people can't even afford to put gas in their cars anymore. Companies have increasingly ridiculous expectations of their "slaves" every time the sun sets.
Everyday more Americans die in the middle East for nothing and here in the U.S. groups like the WBC cannot even let these people return to the Earth in peace. Religion is killing us. Government is killing us. The Earth itself seems like its trying its damnedest to kill us too. Everything is spiraling out of control and more and more people are realizing it. Life is a joke.
This country's History was writ in blood and sung with steel. Our Forefather's stood up to tyranny so that WE could reap the benefits centuries later. None of us are reaping those benefits. They gave the Ultimate Sacrifice.. Do any of you people even know what Freedom is or means?
Freedom is the right to choose who you love and how to express that love. Freedom is the right to do whatever you wish to your body and put whatever substances you want into it. Freedom is the right to pursue whatever dreams you may have. Freedom is the right to believe whatever you want and express those beliefs unless it causes harm to, or negates someone else's right to Freedom. Freedom is the right to speak up about injustices and do something about them. Freedom is just about everything we have, at the very least, lost the potential to do or have. Freedom is being unfettered or unconstrained by Man-made bonds. Are we? Sadly, we are not. Freedom is the right to pick Joe Blow as our Leader, but we can't even do that. Instead, we get our choice of Rich &$@#-Sucker No. 1 or Rich &$@#-Sucker No. 2 (if you can even call it a "choice" anymore).
Before the "Patriots" tear me to shreds, know this. I am what I consider a true Patriot. I believe in what this country was founded on. I believe in the Constitution as it was written. I believe in the ideals that Old Glory represents. I believe in the Justice the Blind Lady meats out. I believe in Truth and the Divine that it represents. I believe in change. I believe in Equality for all. DO we have that here? No.
I do not believe the lies the Media perpetrates against us everyday that some of you seem so eager to swallow. I do not believe in the religious intolerance a lot of you spout. I DO NOT believe we should have a government that watches us, taxes us for all we're worth, commits false-flag " terrorist" attacks against its own citizens to pit us in a War for greed, that sends our children to die bleeding in a foreign place to line their pockets with gold, that lies to us about everything whenever they can, that puts poison in our food and water, that brainwashes us.
We began losing our Freedom years ago, and its so sad that some of you can't or won't see it. Someone in this post said earlier that when everything goes to Hell in a handbasket and some us die fighting to regain our freedom, it will be the fat, lazy, dumb sorry excuses for Americans that reap the benefits. That person was right. The ironic thing about that is when it DOES happen, they will aloow someone else to control them, or re-make the system "in their own image."
OP, you are not alone.

The back and forth between those that see the US as in decline and those that defend it as a wonderful place is both interesting and entertaining. However, I have noticed that both sides have missed what I see as a critical point -- both sides only discuss what is and neither discuss what could be.

I grew up in the 1960s and, regardless of your politics, there was one overwhelming feeling that I remember -- the sense that we could change things to make the world a better place. Over the years and decades that have followed, many realized they didn't want to change the system or the establishment, but wanted the very things they decried earlier -- they traded in their ideals for "stuff" -- the SUVs, the suburban house with gazillion BTU barbecue and thousand inch plasma TV. But many, like myself, did not and still believe in a better world, we just have been getting smarter about how change happens.

The system is collapsing in on itself. America is not dying, she is begin slowly tortured to death. The principles of the founding fathers, the ideals of "of the people, by the people and for the people" are now considered the rhetoric of terrorists. The patriot act, private mercenary armies and the ascendancy of the American corpro-tocracy led by those that profit from keeping America dumbed down, fearful, fat and buying buying buying (WalMart, Exxon, Monsanto, Blackwater, GM and so many others) have replaced the United States with USA Inc, a wholly owed subsidiary of the military-industrial complex

So what do we do? We do as our forefathers did. We change it. Not by military force or violence, and certainly not by the political process that is so broken that it marginalizes those that seek true change (can you say Ron Paul?) We change it en mass the way that all social change takes place, a whole nation saying "NO MORE!"

It is the only thing that ever works. Learn from history -- the fall of communism started in earnest with the labor union Solidarity in the Gdańsk Shipyard led by Lech Wałęsa. India became free of Britain when Gandhi taught them to say "No more". And the people power revolution in the Philippines forced Ferdinand Marcos out of power. It doesn't always work, Tiananmen Square was a tragedy, but didn't we used to have a saying "Give me liberty or give me death" Sometimes we get death,

But it starts with you. Complain all you want about the US, but what are you going to do about it? Do you really need to go to University to get an education? How many books have you read? How have you changed your life to not be dependent on the Military Industrial complex? Do you know or care about your brothers and sisters in other parts of this world or country and what they go through to get you your coffee that goes with your egg McMuffin or how WalMArt uses de facto slave labor in China and Bangladesh to make sure that your get those cheap prices for your "stuff"

Do you read? Newspapers? Or do you watch TV. Have you read anything by Richard Clark of George Tenet, or even Scott McClellan, -- or do you just listen to people talk about it? Do you ever listen to a non-American news source, like the BBC or CBC? What little things do you do every day to create change -- do you volunteer anywhere? recycle? speak out?

I'm still committed to change, and seeing the US become once again what we know it should be. I have learned in 40 years that change is not incremental, but it builds slowly until it reaches a critical mass, then explodes, as long as we don't give up. And yes, every day I try to see how much difference I can make and how much change I can effect.

You see the problem. Do something about it. And if you don't know what to do, figure it out even if it takes you the rest of your life, otherwise no matter how long you live, you really won't



[edit on 25-6-2008 by metamagic]

Don't worry! If worse comes to worse in the future Bush and Cheney will be here to stand shoulder to shoulder with you to fix the mess. That is if Bush is not on his cottage estate of 90,000 acres in Bolivia, which doesn't have an extradition treaty with the US or Cheney isn't with his business interests in Dubai. Until then, be sure to "clap for Tinkerbelle". Take care----------PC

reply to post by metamagic

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gawd, what an outlook. i love it!!! and the way you say "tortured to death", no doubt!!

so, we have seen those that wanted revolution, but failed to make it a reality. we have seen those before us give up or give in. and here we are, this generation, capable of doing so much........

but what you failed to mention, raised by the generation that gave up or gave in.

what do we do to wake such a faithless generation up? i speak. i talk and i discuss and i try to make aware, but nevertheless, what i find is ppl who are either willing to listen, but only willing to stock pile for their own well being or refuse to look at the reality of our situation and continue complaining about the "spilled drinks on their dresses".

You dont like it here? Move bru!!! PLEASE. If you dont want to be here then no one is forcing you to stay. Remember, you are in a country where you can post this thread and not have your hand cut off or your family killed.

By all means go because there are thousands of folks each day risking life and limb coming from other coun tries trying to get into the US.

reply to post by justamomma

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I don't see that so much. In my job field there are not many illegals Too many ATF and FBI checks for a SOT. I get to own pretty much whatever the hell I want. If you check you can get a tax stamp from everything from drugs to machine guns. If you have a clean record and plenty of money you can do anything you want pretty much, short of murder. Even then if you have money you can stand a better chance. I listen to sat radio, watch pretty much just ESPN and History Channel and don't have a problem. The real conspiracy seems to be that those on the lower rung of society keep getting it worse than the rest of us who got lucky or work hard. Now that I agree with. I have awesome health insurance that is not expensive. Because I stay in shape, and use it as little as possible. I have a decent savings account, and have a CPA that can write off this 4 dollar gas. I feel for those who are not that lucky, I really do. But you have to become active in your life. If where you are at now sucks....GET OUT! I lived in a car and lived off cheap beer and Taco Bell through some of college. Life is rough, ya just got to "cowboy the f up"

[edit on 26-6-2008 by son of PC]

It's so typical to see how people derail from the topic - OP included.

This topic is NOT meant to show how "blood thirsty and reckless extreme Muslims are" compared to US citizens. This topic is NOT meant to be about the "evil, conniving Israeli's who dont really want peace". Thats right, ppl from all sides are trying to bring in **** that doesnt even relate to the topic!

Back to the topic "Life in the U.S. is a joke"

Life in the U.S. is actually not a joke at all. Yes, there are social problems and religious/racial tension among much of the country. If you feel things are so bad, why not attempt to take up a working visa in a country like China or Zimbabwe? Better yet, why dont you go to Sudan, Morroco or Iran to go study or make a documentary on how their freedoms are more pure and honest than ours?

LOL - i dont remember the USA forcing incoming Olympic athletes from other countries to sign gag orders, preventing any political comments. Oh wait, maybe there is a clause in the Patriot Act that states this now...

reply to post by princeofpeace

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i am by FAR not a rude person. but please ppl, stop w/ this "you don't like, then leave" mentality!! that does nothing bc most of us that WOULD gladly move can't financially, and even if we could, are VERY WELL aware that there is not many places to go on this earth where we would be better off.

point is, america is known as the "super power" and look at us. we really are a joke, no matter how comfortable we feel at the present moment. still, we see this path.... this path toward destruction and if we are the "light of the world" (as was said NUMEROUS times during the last republican convention and is still being stated over and over)... if we are this "light" and see this path of destruction that we are headed in, where do you suggest we go?

if we are the "light of the world" then WE need to stop focusing on the BS that we as a nation are continuing to place our focus on and start stepping up to the plate.

you say "move somewhere else bro" but pretty soon, should more ppl not start being aware like the OP and should more of us who are aware not start figuring out how to step up to the plate, all of YOU who keep saying "move somewhere else" are gonna be wondering where to go just to feel like a human again as well.



[edit on 25-6-2008 by justamomma]

as a person out side of the US . this is a top post by the OP

exactly how alot of people view the US from there homeland.

one thing i never understand about the US goverment .

they go and fight wars for no good reason and poor money into things that really dont do any good but it seems not enough is spent in your own back yard.

ever heard the saying. "You are only as strong as your weakest person"?

iv seen many documentrys regarding poverty in the US and some of those aread in US citys are no better then Bahgdad. WHy dont the US goverment fix all of this up?

this is something i dont understand to be honest.

Naturally I wouldn't help out in murdering millions of people. I am pretty much the definition of a misanthrope, but annihilating millions of people ain't my cup of tea.

My complaint is that puritanical morons have set those standards for us. Why not let the free market make those decisions?



See above.




Such as?




To the best of my knowledge, no truly free nations exist currently.


Make no mistake, I love capitalism. It has enabled me to lead a very comfortable lifestyle. My problem is these a'holes in DC enrich themselves through legalized bribery errrr lobbyists.

100% correct. Other than my business requiring me to live in a place that I truly hate, I have no complaints at all about my personal life. Couldn't be happier actually.

My rant is aimed at the continual degradation of the country I grew up in, the country I once loved, and the country I have bled for.

I'll add one more to the list of the head-up-ass syndrome this country is infected with.

When one turns 16, the government believes they are responsible enough to get behind the wheel of a few thousand pounds of metal and combustible liquids, but somehow they lack the responsibility to consent to having sex or the ability to consent to binding contracts.