What are the top 10 things wrong with America?

[Abnormalia]

The top 10 things you believe are wrong with this country, in order of importance. No holds barred...

My personal list:

10. Drugs. Drugs only makes the list because it is a necessary evil. I'm not talking just about the illegal drugs, i'm talking about the drug companies who seemingly create problems in order to sell their wares. Hand in hand with corruption
9. SUVS. Honestly, hate them. Might be my personal vendetta, but I wouldn't mind seeing all those stupid unneccessary pieces of soccer mom hauling metal hauled off to the scrap yard.
8. Super patriots. I don't care if you have a yellow ribbon or a bumpersticker on your car. I will bitch at you if you question my 'patriotism' for not living how you live.
7. Gambling. I hate it. It's another addiction, I know, but one that can be prevented. Some people call it the 'stupid people' tax, but I just can't stand it. Nuke Vegas.
6. Blaming health problems on anything but yourself. You and your Hardees heartattack burger eating ass (Yes, I know they're good) complain way too much about your health problems, when the problem is clearly visible in the mirror.
5. Resource use. One of the many 'scare facts' that i've learned from college is the use of the Midwestern/Central states 'fossil aquifer', basicically a non-renewable water source that the grain basket is using for crops...and is expected to run out within 40 years.
4. Lack of education. Yeah, I hate our culture. I hate rap music too. Both seem to go hand in hand with spreading the belief that a good education isn't necessary. Tell that to the illiterate 3rd world nations who are starving their asses off.
3. Energy use. I'm a strong, strong believer in alternate energy sources. We have this wonderful Sun of ours beating down on our planet, and we haven't placed nearly enough of our resources into finding ways to harness the incredible energy that falls on even 1 square meter of our earth.
2. Religion. Our founding fathers created this country with the soul belief that religion and state should be seperate. Seperate!
1. Corruption. Can you feel it? Greed, money- it all feels so wrong right now. Money makes the world go round, true, but it drives us insane, and taints the soul of those in power. I wish so few owned so much less than they do now.



Please, please, please share your list.

[Moby]

1. Prejudice – It seems that everyone hates some group of people. We’re so busy pointing fingers at someone that we hate that we’re allowing the other things in the list to happen.
2. Corruption – The current administration is by far the most corrupt that we’ve had in generations and congress has simply taken their pork barrel bribes and looked the other way.
3. Fear – Our government is telling us to be calm and happy. They’re telling us to be afraid every day. Think about it.
4. Health Care – About 28% of Americans are without health care. Don’t tell me that our leaders are trying to protect us when children can’t get basic medical care. 100 countries do better then the USA in infant mortality.
5. Debt – Not only are Americans deeply in debt but we’ve allowed Dubya to borrow so much money that we’ll never pay it back. A lot of things cannot be fixed with this debt level.
6. Education – Our education system ranks between 20 to 50 depending on the measurement. We spend almost no time educating on social studies and current affairs and basic debt management.
7. Our Prison System – We have the highest percentage of imprisoned people of any industrialized nation. Last I checked Zimbabwe was the only country that had a higher percentage.
8. Resource Usage – Ignoring the Kyoto Accord, using 10 times more energy per capita in NY then is used in Shainghai and driving big gas guzzling vehicles. Our pollution, energy use, destroying forest, strip mining and many others make us look like the fallen USSR.
9. Personal Responsibility – We’re obese. We’re unhealthy. We have others raising our children. We’re more concerned about the gay couple that might move into the neighborhood then the man that leaves his guns on the coffee table.
10. Using Religion For Power – People believe that God speaks to Dubya but all through history leaders have made the same claim and been wrong. Church leaders take lavish vacations, wear expensive clothing and drive fancy cars. Would God tell a man to amass wealth? Or would God tell the man to give up his wealth and help his brothers and sisters? Jesus and his followers were not amassing wealth and anyone that’s following his teachings isn’t either.

[mksmith2]

WOW this is a real thinker...

1. Corruption- what is the point in all of this if we are treated like children and only given half truths or whole lies. (say it like it is... War for OIL)

2. Fear (this one I read on SirMoby's)- but it is so true. We need to protect ourselves, our nation, our boarders (mostly from terrorist Mexicans). But don't worry we have a cowboy in our oval office.

3. Complacency- I don't think the general public is willing to fight for anything anymore except maybe their favorite TV show getting taken off the air. Our concept of importance it all messed up.

4.Religion in Politics- it has no place there and our country should not be governed by a person who wishes he were a preacher. I don't tell you who or what to pray to, so don't push you born again shit on me.

5. Equality in Education- maybe not exact equality, but every child should at least have a good base and I don't think that this is happening and also I think that the lack of this is causing many more problems.

6. Equality in people- the minorities in this country are not given the same rights. Just wait till the Latinos out number the WASPs... what are they going to do then??

7. Intolerance- if we don't hear the other side then how will we ever know when we are wrong, and more importantly how will they know when I think they are wrong.

8. BUSH- that he could get re-elected!

9. SUVs- I can't believe people are still buying them. I like the bumper stickers on the back of the SUVs that say I support our troops the best! It should say "The Troops are Fighting a War so I Can Drive". Yet companies are still making them and people are still buying them.

10. Ignorance- people who believe anything that Rush tells them to believe. This is kind of sensitive for me right now because my roommate called her dad on the way to go vote to ask him who he wanted her to vote for. I understand that it is your choice to do what you what with your vote, but you dad should not get 2 votes because you have no intelligent opinions about anything improtant.



By the way I think good threads like this make the message board more fun!

[stefan segal]

abnormaila...I am stunned...the small percentage of your head that remains above the cesspool of delusion actualy works...not only is your list insightful, but your supporting elements make a cogent backup.

In fact I am in line wilth all those thirty ills our society suffers.

The fact that I tend to go long...looong, I won't list ten, but just a few that a lengthy list could be extrapolated from as direct consequences.

I am ferocious on Constitutional and Bill of Rights strict adherence to the spirit and letter of the law.

From this first, comes the propagandized public education...such as it is...and many other social injustices...such as our loss of equal time on our airwaves that have been given to monopolistic corporation who shill for those who have the power take away their free ride.

From this last, comes a steady pumping of constituient billions of dolars given in support of democracy, but which instead gets pumped into those who have been gifted first with the free bandwidth, then pour cash from the poor to the rich corporations in a one way flow, while openly slashing every social service they can and still be re-elected.

Anywhere one looks small and large injustices thrive through a dummy-downed and rewritten education...from which the prisons fill their cells to overflowing. People's sense of fair play get hammered through accepting institutionalized injustice as normal, without the tools to adequately question them.

While on the fact of designed ignorance and the perfidy of those who gain advantage though it, I like to add incompetance.

Anyone can be happily and blindly incompetant without much more than harming those dependant upon them, but when it comes to policy makers, thier choices art the climate in which we all must live.

I will bypass this occupation/oil theft in which we are presently embroiled, as it is being partially exposed at present with much more to come...and focus upon a much simpler action...illegal street drugs.

The choices we are given by those exaulted beings "in the know", is that drugs are bad...how bad...? so bad you momma...you can fill in the rest...and how do we stop them?

I hope this is a governmnt scam...if not, it points to shocking level of incompetance, that the thought of them controlling all the firepower they do, both designed for foreign and you and me...is really scarey.

There is no 'either... or' concerning street drugs...they have been and always will be with us...with our kids.

All the billions they take from druggies (including their estates) could finance their
war on drugs", but somehow those dollars go from the evidence room to...fill this in also. The drugs get a public burning where where all the witnesses and fire tenders get high...what drugs they've skimmed before burning the evidencial talcum powder in the drug fire...goes back on the sreet.

Instead of burning the talc and corn starch...laced with enough cocaine to kill the popcorn smell, give it out to druggies in a controlled area. It doesn't take long to starve a dealer's organization into nothingness...they run a high overhead that requires an uninterupted cash flow.

There is no way to "war" against drugs...an easier answer would be to take over the market..regulate it...give the drugs out for free, provide them crash houses ti keep them off the streets, and educate them of the harm they are doing to themselves. (for free drugs...they will endure most anything...)

Bring in kids on school trips to ask the druggies questions...show before and after photos of what years on drugs does to your body. There is no subset of society that is more black and white judgemental than a 12 to 14 year old. One session experiencing the stupidity of drugs will keep those kids clean for life.

Giving drugs to junkies may offend one's sensibilities, but the nature of addiction is that it must be fed without interruption. Society looses a great deal more than those kids, now junkies...these people have two to three hundred dollar a say habits the WILL feed everyday until they are locked up for a panoply of crimes against people and property.

That junkies realize in crime against property, 20 dollars against 100 in goods...if they are lucky, even a junky can figure that jacking up people for cash, pays a lot more directly and quickly than humping a thousand dollars worth of goods to make a two hundred a day jones.

All of this is just to point out incompetence and personalities making bad and very costly decisions, from a body specifically chosen for their ability to steer us through the daily myriad of choices needed daily.

I know this is long, but there is one historic fact of bad choices that I really need to put down...(those who have already tired of my endless drivel have already peeled off reading...so I will indulge myself)

At the time of the strategy planning for the Pacific theater WWII, the generals agreed on a plan to isolate the fortified Japanese islands, cutting them off from resupply and transport...and move on to attack Japan...Mcgarther was not invited from the Phillipines to join in this steategy session.

He got wind of it and rushed to Washinton, crashed the party and ranted and raves about leaving an enemy at your back etc. and in the end, got his plan accepted...that of island hopping...except all those boys whose blood turned the surf red.

Macgarthur was a sick man...(did a notable job in reconstructing Japan) but sick regardless...all those men died because of him and his ego.

I am certain if the origional plan was island hopping, he would have pushed for isolating the islands because the butcher bill would be too high.

Stefan

[Betty Blowtorch]

Gambling. I hate it. Nuke Vegas.
Until two days ago, I would have said:
"Don't nuke Vegas. Nuke Washington D.C."

But now that the Dems have won control of Congress,
I suppose we can hold off on nuking D.C. for awhile.
Let's see if the Dems can turn things around.

I don't want to repeat what's already been said,
so here's my list:

1. Get out of Iraq. Fast. Lose the war, win the peace.

2. Impeach Bush and Cheney simultaneously, so the new
Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, will become President,
and the Dems will control two branches of government.
It would be a sweet coup d'etat. Off with their heads!

3. End the tax cuts to the rich, which have put America
a trillion dollars in debt. Tax the rich, then eat them.
Roasted Republicans, yum yum. My favorite.

4. Legalize drugs and prostitution. Outlaw SUV's.

5. Universal health care. Jesus frickin' Christ, every modern
nation on Earth has universal health care -- except the U.S.
I need a couple of teeth fixed. Anybody know a good cheap
dental plan I can get? My job doesn't have one.

6. Stop burning fossil fuels. Switch from our oil-based economy
to a nuclear-powered, electricity-based economy. Go from zero
to 60mph in four seconds in your new Tesla electric car.
End our dependence on foreign oil.

7. Sterilize everyone who voted for Dubya. They simply can't
be allowed to reproduce.

Gee, that's only 7 things on my list. Oh well...

[Abnormalia]

Until two days ago, I would have said:
"Don't nuke Vegas. Nuke Washington D.C."

But now that the Dems have won control of Congress,
I suppose we can hold off on nuking D.C. for awhile.
Let's see if the Dems can turn things around.

I don't want to repeat what's already been said,
so here's my list:

1. Get out of Iraq. Fast. Lose the war, win the peace.

2. Impeach Bush and Cheney simultaneously, so the new
Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, will become President,
and the Dems will control two branches of government.
It would be a sweet coup d'etat. Off with their heads!

3. End the tax cuts to the rich, which have put America
a trillion dollars in debt. Tax the rich, then eat them.
Roasted Republicans, yum yum. My favorite.

4. Legalize drugs and prostitution. Outlaw SUV's.

5. Universal health care. Jesus frickin' Christ, every modern
nation on Earth has universal health care -- except the U.S.
I need a couple of teeth fixed. Anybody know a good cheap
dental plan I can get? My job doesn't have one.

6. Stop burning fossil fuels. Switch from our oil-based economy
to a nuclear-powered, electricity-based economy. Go from zero
to 60mph in four seconds in your new Tesla electric car.
End our dependence on foreign oil.

7. Sterilize everyone who voted for Dubya. They simply can't
be allowed to reproduce.

Gee, that's only 7 things on my list. Oh well...



Legalize drugs I like the way you think...except for the nuclear power part (I think solar is the way to go, as soon as advancements are completed). And come now, we don't need to sterilize them all. I felt bad for voting for Kerry. Everyone who was running sucked monkey balls.

[Moby]

7. Sterilize everyone who voted for Dubya. They simply can't
be allowed to reproduce.
Voting for a member of PNAC or the Bush family was about the stupidest thing a democracy could do. However I would have voted for most republicans over Kerry so I hope the dems don't consider pushing him forward ever again.

[Betty Blowtorch]

Kerry took a dive in 2004. All through the campaign season,
I kept wondering when Kerry was going to start fighting hard
against Bush.

In 2008, we'll need a nominee who will fight hard for us.
Kerry doesn't deserve a second chance. He should keep
his mouth shut and go away.

[BilldaCat]

Not in order of importance.

1. Our school system.. it's a complete joke. Get rid of the idiotic standardized tests and teach these kids phonics and math. If they can read, write and do math, they can learn everything else. If they can't adequately read and write, they are doomed. 40% of kids aren't grauduating.. is this really America we are talking about.. we arne't falling behind the res tof the World.. we are WELL BEHIND and American arrogance and ignorance are now our biggest problems.

2. Politics aimed at the short term.. example, Hillary trashing on Obama when she has already lost the race. The only thing she can do is damage the democrats' chances to win in November and this appears to the only thing she has been successful at. My dental hygienist a few days ago said she didn't know who she would vote for because she didn't know if Obama was actually a Muslim.. UGH ... thank you Hillary, you Moron.


3. Flat out dumb people who think SUV's are a problem. Some people actually need them. We all don't live in areas where we can walk and many of us have property we have to take care of. They are called SUV's for a reason.. we can do a lot of different things with them. Also .. the Japanese vehicles being called SUV's generally are not SUV's... if you can't tow more than a few thousand pounds with it, and it doesn' t have a full frame, it's not a friggin SUV.. some of the auto reviewers are calling these things SUV's when they are not. A Crossover is a vehicle that looks like an SUV but doesn' t have a full frame... get it...?

4. Again.. it deserves at least 2 places...Our political system .. it is completely controlled by corporate money. What you can't buy, you can control with advertising aimed at our uneducated and unthinking populace. .. hey.. Obama isn't a Muslim you morons.. learn to read and don't believe everything you hear!!! If you hear something on tv and it sounds fishy, look into it.. read the newspaper, get on the internet and look it up. For God's sake, do you believe every idiotic thing you hear or see on TV? God help you if you do!!! HEllo MEDIA... get off your butts and help to educate people.. this is also a function of our media/news.. educating our dumb a$$ American idiots while they are sitting on their couches.


5. Working people who think unions are bad... what a bunch of IDIOTS!!! Where do you think your pensions and health care went? The standard of living is going down because of this.. how incredibly stupid.. CEO"s make 550 times the average worker and people are complaining because some worker making 25$ an hour is making too much money????? Good grief charlie brown, wise up!!! If you want to live somewhere that workers can't make that kind of money unless they own the production system or stock.. move to your choice of third world countries... Unions are only strong in rich countries.. because their balancing force drives up working people's wages. Take them away..you live in the third world... move there if you don't like unions, they can always use some more peons to work for less than a dollar an hour.

6. The government needs to get out of people's private lives and do what they are supposed to do.. protect people's freedoms instead of taking them away. If you aren't haming someone else, then whatever you are doing should basically be LEGAL... drugs? Legal.. take away the crime for goodness sakes. It is less the drugs than the related crime that is the problem in this country.

7. Declaw and detooth our military industrial complex.. it is absolutely RIDICULOUS that this country spends as much on "Defense" as the rest of the World COMBINED... that is SICK!!!!! Eisenhower warned us about this.. he was right on the money!!!

8. Redo our trade laws and go back to producing things in this country.. there is one thing this lie about free trade has gotten us... it's called debt... we have used this country's wealth like a credit card to buy foreign junk.. Japanese cars and Chinese JUNK.

Because of our government and military spending.. and our foreign trade.. we are going into debt at the rate of a TRILLION dollars a year!!!!!

It is only a matter of time before the credit card is maxed out and then what are you going to do.. sell haircuts (services) to foreigners to pay off our debt????

9. we need an alternative energy plan NOW... it has nothing to do with SUV's or hybrids, we need to start moving to another form of energy we can make for OURSELVES. It will take a decade or two to switch .. we need to move NOW. I don't care what you drive, you are burning oil... SUV, hybrid.. it means nothing.. it burns OIL.. and there is no real alternative that can work for us right now. The plastic bags at the stores should be TAXED as well... return fees should be used like we did with bottles until we cna get everyone used ot using something else that doens't end up in the dump and which doens't use oil...


10 Poeple driving around in Japanese cars with an American flag on them.. or even worse, people being paid with Tax dollars to do their job.. and then using the money to buy Japanese cars!! They should be deported. (Kidding mostly)...

11........


Jails.... we need to set targets of reducing the percentage of our citizens being incarcerated.. and do whatever it takes to reduce the number of people in PRISON in our country.. we are living in a society touted as the most free in the world while having the most people in jail.... education and opportunity are the keys... a person that could go to GM or Ford and get a Job 30 years ago was a guy you could pretty well guess wasn't going to be a hardcore criminal.. because he HAD SOMETHING TO LOSE...

once you give all those jobs to China and Japan.. well the jobs are gone,, the ladder to a better life is gone.. and ... guess what.. people with nothing to lose are the hardcore criminals who kill beat rape etc.. they have nothing to lose.. they were failed by our society ... .

That doesn't make what they do alright and poeple who are violent or a danger to others SHOULD be locked up.. but we have failed a large segment of our population when all we can do .. is lock them up because they were left behind!

Please note.. my typing sucks(computer programming with its symbol usage broke me from proper typing), not my education, so b$%^ me if you don't agree and think I'm stupid because I'm too busy right now to fix the typos..

[disrupter]

The inability of people to think decently.
both personally & collectively, which overlap & merge.

You sort the major issues in terms of significance.

You figure out which of the important ones people [you] have some hope of effecting in a positive way.

You apply effort on whatever or all fronts of the more important issues you can have effect on.

You don't dawdle around with things like after-death [after-life is an oxymoron].

You base issues & actions on evidence, not mythology or superstitions.

You think like adults, not hysterical, thrashing, overcharged children.

Drugs - legalize them
Prostitution - legalize it
War - you better have a damn good reason for it & if you screw up your life is forfeit.

Brilliant, cold, understated.
If people didn't realize you were serious because you weren't screaming about it, not your problem, they just get obliterated, like they never existed, no time to waste.
Rip people apart from the inside, don't waste time or energy with flashy, egotistical 'shows'.
It demands that people use their minds to the very best of their abilities, those that don't measure up, almost always get whacked.
Fear taken to the maximum humane levels is optimal for mind growth & exercising.
Reality has every possibility of hitting one a whole lot harder than that, often unexpectedly & without warning.

Be viciously real.
Reality is already way ahead of you.

[Cat slave]

Ill play.

1. Corruption in government.
2. The entitlement mentality
3. The invasion of illegal aliens.
4. Shortage of personal responsibility.
5. Crime.
6. Drugs...how odd that my daughter had to show ID and sign to buy a
box of allergy medication yet the flow of meth flows freely from the
south via drug runners through our non existent borders.
7. Loss of sovereignty.
8. Lawyers
9. Erosion of rights.
10. More corruption in government.:D

[Niwrad]

1) Too many people (currently in the process of being fixed)

2) - 10) See # 1

" The Owl "

[disrupter]

If you are counting on global heating to get rid of the majority of humans,

remember the last global heating event [247 million years ago] extinguished 90% of all species.

A 100% elimination of humans is called EXTINCTION.

Who knows? We may do millions of years of volcanoes one better,
instead of 90% extinction, maybe we will have 99.99% of all species dead & only bacteria left.

The poop smear xerox mentality is looking more & more like a long term failure.