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Let me see now, last time I was in school we had erasers for the MISTAKES which I used a LOT. The Govmt consists of many people within its walls. Good and Bad decisions are made all the time. We can only hope that they level out in the long run. I can pick out many MISTAKES presidents made from FDR on down to todays BUSH JR. I have lived thru them all starting with the WPA in the 30's. Any fault made is basically due to the fault of the HOUSE and SENATE passing Bills etc. The President only signs these Bills. Truman had the sign on his desk "The buck stops here". Steve
Let me see now, last time I was in school we had erasers for the MISTAKES which I used a LOT. The Govmt consists of many people within its walls. Good and Bad decisions are made all the time. We can only hope that they level out in the long run. I can pick out many MISTAKES presidents made from FDR on down to todays BUSH JR. I have lived thru them all starting with the WPA in the 30's. Any fault made is basically due to the fault of the HOUSE and SENATE passing Bills etc. The President only signs these Bills. Truman had the sign on his desk "The buck stops here". Steve
The Presidency, especially under King George, has assumed more and more power and released conglomerates from their civic responsibility.
We can get more W's and happily march our way into totalitarianism and smile all the way and some day wake up angry at how it happened.
I cringe when I see 'God Bless America' stickers - I want to replace them all with 'God Bless the World'. We are all members of the same race - human, and we should stop trying to lord ourselves over others. I bet most every convict in jail would say he is 'proud to be American', the Hell's Angels all carry flags, and are some of the most 'patriotic' people out there. I appreciate America, what it represents, and the opportunities it affords. But what makes me 'proud' are things that I accomplish for myself or others. Is being born here something that I can point to with 'pride'? No, but I can be proud of finishing college. I can be proud of donations that I make to charities. I can be proud of helping family members. Pride to me represents something positive that you have done for yourself or someone else. Is someone born in China 'proud' to be Chinese? Who knows? Do they deserve to be?
According to most of the responses on this board, yes.
Distinguish the OP's question from the question "Are you proud of what a given American administration is doing or has done during its tenure?" Any American should be proud to be a part of one of the most significant and successful political experiments in human history.
(Of course, this took place in the context of the American nation's gaining, by conquest over groups of indigenous inhabitants having mostly Stone Age-level materials technology, a territory of immense raw material wealth, the fact of which our previous political leaders very well knew was the case. Due to the continental isolation of those inhabitants, their societies were probably doomed from the outset in the inevitable historic "collision of civilizations," combined with the inability of the conquerors to resist the sins and temptations of complete conquest of a previously unknown group of peoples.)
Last edited by ParkTwain; 05-23-2008 at 08:13 PM..
park- or history will record us as the generation that dropped the ball on the whole political experiment of democracy, particularly when we have to force feed it abroad and don't practice it at home.
collision of civilization- snort laughin- new agers praying for one world, and continents smashing into one another for pangea! yeee haww
proudmarine- about the hollywood comment: can't hide under that blanket. when we're wrong, we are wrong. best part of america is being able to self criticize and correct our course, mend our ways. stay the course is unamerican.
as a vet myself (uscg), i feel as if we, as citizen arm of balance of power, have really let my brothers in arms down having the wrong admin wielding military with poor leadership. my loyalty is to them, always, but never to those who would abuse them. I feel we've set them up on an impossible mission with poorly defined goals, no end in sight. I also feel fighting other peoples civil wars is a dangerous precedent to set for foriegn policy. This needs to be a substantial UN troop mission like bosnia.
steve bagu- I know the feeling being away so long, step off the gang plank in dress blues... I remember it well. I felt more proud, more grateful of our abundance and collaborative efforts when I traveled to third world, though. People don't realize how hard life can be when you have to think so hard about getting water or existing with electricity that only comes on 20% of the time in a 24 hr clock. The buffer between you and mother nature is very flimsy in many places of the world. We take so much for granted, and glad I got to learn that relatively young.
I'd vote for Jefferson in a NY minute if he were on a ticket. I liked Ike too.
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But this numb-nut so obviously has contempt for our freedoms, our economy, even the lives of our children. He says one thing and does another. The man is a charlatan and a curse upon the country. He will go down in history as the worst President ever. I consider him a cruel and heartless sociopath who considers materialistic benefits to him and his as the only thing to be considered in making decisions. You say he is smart? Are you missing something? He failed in everything he did. He went to college when C was the lowest grade you could get, and people were not failed then. He was a C student. I wonder at your capacity when you talk this way. There is nothing that he got that was not helped by his dad's friends or financing.
The man is a failure at everything he attempts, and an insult to this great nation.
Shame on you, for trying to whitewash this dolt. I truly feel you must be better than that.
You certainly must be a very kind and forgiving person for overlooking the abysmal mess created by this thing.
I appreciate that you afford me the same consideration. Thankyou.
First of all, though I owe you no explanation, I did not whitewash President Bush. I believe I was clear in my disappointment about many decisions he has made particularly in his loyalty to people who did not deserve it. He is not a failure; he is not an insult, he is not a curse or cruel or heartless. He came into the Presidency and faced challenges this country has never known before and he has messed up many times. Sadly, we can't compare to see what mistakes someone else would have made had they walked in his shoes.
And again, there are those often used buzzwords to express feelings about this President. I can tell by the way you write that you have a larger vocabulary at your disposal yet you delight in words like "numbnut", "dolt", etc. It only cheapens your opinion.
I believe I was clear that I have the utmost respect for anyone's opinion about our President. But I would wish to see those opinions expressed with the degree of respect that the Office itself deserves. Sadly, a prior President may have removed that respect single handedly, but I will continue to preserve it as much as I can.
And finally I can only say without hesitation that you are wrong in your summation of this man and I am confidant history will show that. You may be fortunate enough to live to see that; sadly I won't.
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