Once There Was A Country

[mystery-ak]

February 5, 2021
Once There Was A Country
By Sheldon Bart

Are we still living in America? One wonders. But we’d better recognize the source of the problem and confront it before they cancel John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart.

America was once a proud country, a gracious one, and an accomplished one. That’s no longer true, but there is one American institution that bears the responsibility for this fall and that can still be reformed.

Once there was a country that could magnanimously reconcile its most profound differences. The victorious general of a civil war returned to the losing general his sword. The policy in the aftermath of strife was “Reconstruction” not “Retaliation.” Hands were shaken, each side saluting its former enemies for their fortitude and valor.

Once there was a country where the legislative leaders of opposing factions, a southerner and a northerner, Senators Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas and Everett M. Dirksen of Illinois, could bicker and haggle by day and dine together and enjoy one another’s company by night.

Once there was a country that knew how to deal with violent offenders. A child was raped and murdered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on December 22, 1921, the perpetrator pretending to be Santa Claus. The police quickly identified a suspect with a prior arrest for child molestation and apprehended him on Christmas Eve in a shack in the woods 12 miles from the crime scene. Blood-stained garments were found. Eyewitnesses testified to having watched the suspect lure the child away.

more
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/02/once_there_was_a_country.html

[Fishrrman]

"Once There Was A Country..."

That country is gone.
Short of a major conflagration, it's not coming back.
At least not for a long, long time.

[mountaineer]

In that vein, once there was a country where people who thought the pledge of allegiance was a good thing were not mocked.

Listen: Hot Mic Catches Democrats Making Fun of Pledge of Allegiance
By Grant Atkinson
Published February 5, 2021 at 10:13am

It used to be that Democratic lawmakers would be at least a little less obvious with their hatred for America’s founding principles.

They have long been arguing that America is a systemically racist and overall terrible place to live, but they at least knew how to mask it a little bit. Now, the mask is completely off.

The latest example of this came Thursday, when Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee mocked Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, for proposing an amendment to say the Pledge of Allegiance before hearings.

“I wake up in the morning and I pledge allegiance to the flag, I go outside regardless of the weather, I got my flag up by my house and I pledge allegiance,” Tennessee Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen said.

“Then I get on my knees and I pray. If I do that, if I, do I have to, am I supposed to do it again and how many times a day should I do that?”  ...

More, including audio, at Western Journal (originally reported by Daily Caller)

Link to Daily Caller story

As an aside, I'm convinced Steve Cohen is the third-ugliest member of Congress, behind Rosa de Lauro and Al Green. Just my opinion. And just a coincidence they're all Democrats.

[LMAO]

 Back in the 1970s, you had the end of the disaster called Vietnam, runaway inflation, Watergate, rising crime, energy shortages,  a lopsided misery Index, an  advancing Soviet Union, two very unimpressive presidents back to back,  the GOP at rock bottom, and  economic decline.  Americans were convinced that America was finished.  Polls taken at the time stated that Americans believed it’s best days have long past.

However, there was somebody who did not believe that. He won two landslide victories. Americans mood was a lot different by 1984 than it was in 1979

I am not pessimistic.  In fact, I am optimistic. At some point, all of this will switch. But we will have to go through a mess in the short term. 

[jmyrlefuller]

Back in the 1970s, you had the end of the disaster called Vietnam, runaway inflation, Watergate, rising crime, energy shortages,  a lopsided misery Index, an  advancing Soviet Union, two very unimpressive presidents back to back,  the GOP at rock bottom, and  economic decline.  Americans were convinced that America was finished.  Polls taken at the time stated that Americans believed it’s best days have long past.

However, there was somebody who did not believe that. He won two landslide victories. Americans mood was a lot different by 1984 than it was in 1979

I am not pessimistic.  In fact, I am optimistic. At some point, all of this will switch. But we will have to go through a mess in the short term.

You have to admit, though, that a lot of the advantages we had in the 1970s are no longer there.

Take a second listen to Gordon Sinclair's "The Americans." He wrote that monologue at the peak of that malaise you talked about. But listen to the things he brags about Americans being the best in the world at—and it's a sobering reminder that the rest of the world has caught up with us. There is a viable competitor to the Boeing jumbo jet now, and it's Airbus. We don't put men on the moon anymore and haven't decisively won a war since 1945. The greatest commercial successes in American music are Korean boy bands. Even our social media is being eclipsed by Red Chinese TikTok.

[Fishrrman]

LMAO wrote:
"However, there was somebody who did not believe that. He won two landslide victories. Americans mood was a lot different by 1984 than it was in 1979"

The America that elected Ron Reagan to a 49 state victory DOES NOT EXIST any more.
The American voters who elected Reagan to a 49 state victory are largely gone, too. Most of them are dead.

The America that elected Donald Trump in 2016 is as fractured and divided as was the America that elected Lincoln in 1860.

Those days are GONE.
They are NEVER coming back, short of a conflagration that envelops the entire nation, like the one that came subsequent to Mr. Lincoln's election.

Look at how the nation has changed in only the last 3 weeks or so.
Look at the Capitol. Did you ever think you'd see a "Berlin-style" wall around it, manned by troops?
This is but prelude to what's coming.

I was the first one on the net to post this and I take claim for coining the [para]phrase:
"After Trump... the deluge..."

[skeeter]

Back in the 1970s, you had the end of the disaster called Vietnam, runaway inflation, Watergate, rising crime, energy shortages,  a lopsided misery Index, an  advancing Soviet Union, two very unimpressive presidents back to back,  the GOP at rock bottom, and  economic decline.  Americans were convinced that America was finished.  Polls taken at the time stated that Americans believed it’s best days have long past.

However, there was somebody who did not believe that. He won two landslide victories. Americans mood was a lot different by 1984 than it was in 1979

I am not pessimistic.  In fact, I am optimistic. At some point, all of this will switch. But we will have to go through a mess in the short term.

We has decent schools and defended our borders back then. The country as we knew it will not survive the millions of dirt poor illiterate third worlders who've been pouring in for the past twenty years. Together with the nitwits being turned out by our public schools they're  turning red & swing states blue at a pretty rapid pace.

[mountaineer]

The country as we knew it will not survive the millions of dirt poor illiterate third worlders who've been pouring in for the past twenty years. Together with the nitwits being turned out by our public schools they're  turning red & swing states blue at a pretty rapid pace.

There are few, if any, third worlders in my county, but I suspect that most of the kids in the high school certainly are illiterate nitwits. Our crappy schools are at least as great a problem as our open borders - and it's a widespread problem.

[skeeter]

There are few, if any, third worlders in my county, but I suspect that most of the kids in the high school certainly are illiterate nitwits. Our crappy schools are at least as great a problem as our open borders - and it's a widespread problem.

I guess it depends which state you hail from. Mine is overrun and beyond salvation.

They'll eventually find their way into yours as they leave those they and their rat benefactors have turned to smoldering wreckage. You'll be seeing them at the voting booth.

[goatprairie]

Back in the 1970s, you had the end of the disaster called Vietnam, runaway inflation, Watergate, rising crime, energy shortages,  a lopsided misery Index, an  advancing Soviet Union, two very unimpressive presidents back to back,  the GOP at rock bottom, and  economic decline.  Americans were convinced that America was finished.  Polls taken at the time stated that Americans believed it’s best days have long past.

However, there was somebody who did not believe that. He won two landslide victories. Americans mood was a lot different by 1984 than it was in 1979

I am not pessimistic.  In fact, I am optimistic. At some point, all of this will switch. But we will have to go through a mess in the short term.