Pine Barrens Mafia Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 And to answer the question, I'd say the era between the end of the civil war and the formation of the IRS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkington Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 It's a relative question because it depends on where you find that greatness. Some people find it in the ingenuity sprung from products and efforts to enhance life for all. Some find it in the resiliency of the people to cross uncharted lands to enhance life and opportunity for their family. Some find it it the way the country reacts to wars and struggles, like WWII or the unity from 9/11. Unless you're amongst liberals, in which case there is no American greatness, only American failures that created all the ills in all the world for all of everyone...where reparations and apologies are simply never, ever, ever enough to account for our embarrassing shame. I'm actually really enjoying the range of answers. If I'm allowed to answer, I'd address your final point (being that I'm seen as the resident idiot liberal here). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary M Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 More like 1922 to 1967, I think. 1967 the year I was born. That's when things went to hell. People stopped asking where can we go next and started looking at how many victims we made to get where we are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deranged Rhino Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 I often times wonder what people of the past would think of the modern world. Depends on the difference in years I'd imagine, and the nature of the individual. If Franklin were to come back in 2015, he'd probably be overwhelmed with the advanced tech and our dependency on them (and he was a pretty bright guy). Would he be able to relate at all? Probably not without a long period of acclimation. Then again, I guess we could just go by the first Austin Powers movie. It took the super spy a whole movie to get used to living in the 1990s, and that was only a 30 year difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkington Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Depends on the difference in years I'd imagine, and the nature of the individual. If Franklin were to come back in 2015, he'd probably be overwhelmed with the advanced tech and our dependency on them (and he was a pretty bright guy). Would he be able to relate at all? Probably not without a long period of acclimation. Then again, I guess we could just go by the first Austin Powers movie. It took the super spy a whole movie to get used to living in the 1990s, and that was only a 30 year difference. Steve Rogers likes the food better now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4merper4mer Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 What era do people refer to when they refer to America's former greatness? Before hippies and pot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deranged Rhino Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Before hippies and pot. So, never? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4merper4mer Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 People HATE change, and the older they get the more they hate it. I hate it when you use your attitude toward underwear as an analogy for America. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deranged Rhino Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 I hate it when you use your attitude toward underwear as an analogy for America. :lol: I was born going commando, and I'm not going to apologize for it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozymandius Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Culturally, I'd like to roll back to the 1950s. The body of law, I'd like to roll back to about 1913, before the introduction of the income tax and all the entitlement programs that came after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deranged Rhino Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Culturally, I'd like to roll back to the 1950s. The body of law, I'd like to roll back to about 1913, before the introduction of the income tax and all the entitlement programs that came after. Culturally?! Wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeviF Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 I'm actually really enjoying the range of answers. If I'm allowed to answer, I'd address your final point (being that I'm seen as the resident idiot liberal here). I didn't mean leftists couldn't contribute at all. Just can't shout "RAYYYSISSSSST" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 (edited) For me, it'd be the Apollo Era and everything that said about American (and German) ingenuity, bravery, and our willingness to sacrifice for discovery, exploration, and the betterment of mankind. But, I wasn't alive for it so maybe I'm romanticizing it. Still, based merely on the fact we put a man on the !@#$ing moon -- an astounding achievement for all of humanity, not just one nation -- I'd say that was the pinnacle of American exceptionalism. You can't talk about Apollo and not include Mercury and Gemini. Oh and when was America great? From 1776 right up until that dentist shot the lion. Edited July 30, 2015 by Chef Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deranged Rhino Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 You can't talk about Apollo and not include Mercury and Gemini. Oh and when was America great? From 1776 right up until that dentist shot the lion. That's fair, in my mind Mercury and Gemini were included when I wrote that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeviF Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 (edited) Here's a snippet from the Breitbart piece that speaks to my point a bit, to get things back on track: “Rather than have the back of their allies or tell the left to worry about its own members, such as Bill Ayers and Al Sharpton, the right has given the left moral authority,” he explained. “You can see the cuckservative phenemona in the campus rape hearings about to happen in the U.S. Senate. Not a single Republican senator will speak out in favor of due process or refute the rape culture nonsense.” Some commentators, bizarrely, have convinced themselves that the only people who use the word are Twitter obsessives yelling about Jewish conspiracies and white genocide. And it’s true, you can find a few dozen Twitter accounts that fit this description. But they’re in the minority. Mostly, cuckservative memes are about GOP spinelessness on immigration, lies the political left tells about racism in America today, or simple frustration with the perceived limp-wristedness of the right-wing Establishment in the face of the vast left-wing smear machine. Edited July 30, 2015 by LeviF91 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozymandius Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Culturally?! Wow. Yeah, although now that I think about it, just rolling back the body of law to 1913 should probably take care of the cultural issues that developed as well. I think the entitlement mindset, the envy mindset, the breakdown of the black family, among many other things, were heavily influenced by disastrous progressive policies implemented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4merper4mer Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 So, never? I'll clarify: When people actually started listening to hippies instead of mocking them and when pot became a false idol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkington Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 I didn't mean leftists couldn't contribute at all. Just can't shout "RAYYYSISSSSST" If I can speak on behalf of liberals... I think they don't view America as a bad place... instead as a good place with faults, that could be even better by learning from others that have had successes where we haven't. Unfortunately that gets painted as "America sux" often times. Though, admittedly, there probably are a lot of extremist liberals who do believe that, I don't know. Example... I think we should go to a single payer system for healthcare, and I think our healthcare is disappointing relative to certain other countries for the majority of people... BUT relative to another set of countries, we have it pretty well here, AND we are at the forefront of many advancements in bio-tech. Being aware of our shortcomings, being critical of them, and wanting to improve upon them, doesn't necessarily mean I think America is terrible in that field, just that we could be even better. As far as greatness... I'm of the general opinion that every generation is better* than the previous generation in that we continue to build on successes of the past. A lot of amazing things happened in the past, and a lot of shameful things as well. The idea is to remove the shameful things, or at least learn from them, and then also build on the amazing things. We don't necessarily put people on the moon anymore, but we just got some sweet pictures of Pluto and are discovering new things about space every day. Some look at that and say "we aren't as great" others say "well, what more do we gain from putting people on the moon? Let's see what else is out there, and what we can learn from it" * - its pretty difficult for me to say one generation is hard working, and another isn't, just because we now have protections for those who can't provide for themselves... in the past those people suffered greatly, and were not able to turn it around very often. Now with a social safety net, there is a greater possibility. At least theoretically, since it's a topic of great debate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deranged Rhino Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Yeah, although now that I think about it, just rolling back the body of law to 1913 should probably take care of the cultural issues that developed as well. I think the entitlement mindset, the envy mindset, the breakdown of the black family, among many other things, were heavily influenced by disastrous progressive policies implemented. So to help black families, you wish to roll things back to a point in time where they were not allowed to equally participate in our democratic process? Got it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azalin Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 That's part of the point. "Conservatives" have marched right along in lock-step with leftists for decades now. Marching a couple steps behind doesn't make them different. I suspect that what you call 'conservatives', I call 'establishment republicans'. You can't talk about Apollo and not include Mercury and Gemini. Yep! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts