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So What Happened to America?
Townhall.com ^ | August 12, 2013 | Roger Schlesinger

Posted on 08/12/2013 10:42:57 AM PDT by Kaslin

I was out in the desert this weekend at our second home, where, borrowing the words from an old song "nothing is heard of a discouraging word" except if someone is discussing their round of golf. While waking my dogs for their morning ride in my golf cart I got to 'thinking of what's going on in this country and all I could think of was What Happened? And when did it happen?

Let me start in the middle of this discussion to try to illustrate my point. This part of my essay should be subtitled: “me and the Presidents” or for the English majors “the Presidents and I.” When I was under 10, and that is a close as I can pin it down, my father took us to the desert, which was Palm Springs and some interesting places surrounding Palm Springs. One of them was the La Quinta Resort which I guess was in Indio at that time and we stopped for some food or drinks.

We went into a big room and my father said after looking across the room, “that's Eisenhower.” I can't remember whether he said President or General but I do remember the name. The rest is much clearer than that.

1. In the mid to late 50's I saw President Truman at a Rams game in Los Angeles walking up the aisle as everyone was yelling "Give them hell, Harry".

2. In 1967 I believe, I got off the plane from Los Angeles to New York and went to the baggage claim and there was former Vice President & Governor Richard Nixon waiting with some people for his luggage. He had flown first class and I obviously didn't.

3. In the early 1990's my son and I were going to an office in Century City and as we turned the corner in the lobby my son walked into Ronald Reagan. The security guys with him laughed as my son said he was sorry.

4. In the mid 2000's I went to a luncheon in Century City which was attended by Jimmy Carter. When I parked in the building I had to open my trunk for an inspection. I met him and had a picture taken with him as my company had built a house for Habitat for Humanity.

5. In the middle 2000's Bill Clinton was the honored guest at a house in my gate guarded community and as I drove by the house he was going in so, I honked and waived and he waived back. I bring this up because none of it was a big deal. Today, however, when the President travels, streets are closed, Freeways in Los Angeles are closed, sections of downtowns are closed. WHY?

I grew up in the 50's and knew nobody who did drugs, smoked the funny stuff and basically didn't have respect. In high school if you were in the hall during school hours without a written pass you were in for a bad day. You might be suspended, given an invitation to spend an hour or two after school or on a weekend or maybe even paddled. Do I need to mention what most high schools look like now all day long?

In college our drug of choice was Beer. That's right, beer. There was some hard liquor around but very few drank it. The only birth control we had was abstinence, condoms, rhythm or good luck. I didn't know but a handful of girls who got in trouble (hersay) and I am not sure any of it was true. There obviously were some rush marriages, then and now.

What really changed America, in my opinion, began with the Vietnam War. To say that it was unpopular was a real understatement. I was too young for Korea and had already been drafted and deferred during the German crisis, when Russia surrounded Berlin, so Vietnam didn't impact me. But it did a lot to this country starting with the resistance to the draft, huge rallies and marches and the peace movement, although I am not sure I spelled it right.

The above mentioned war gave us the militant crowds of both men and women. With the advent of new forms of birth control we started expansion of the moral code and the rewriting of the America we knew. From then to now things started going downhill. Maybe it wasn't much different than earlier days, decades and centuries but we found out about what was going on with the evening news. Do you think we are all better off now?

It seems to me that what we lost is much dearer to the average American than what we gained. Losers include

1. Fun

2. Respect

3. Our Constitution

4. Faith in God

5. The American Dream

6. COMMON SENSE!

It doesn't seem worth it to me and it doesn't seem to be getting better. We all need to become vocal, start voting for the person, not the party, and stand up for your beliefs. It's much easier for things to keep going the way they are unless a massive effort is put forth to change it.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial
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Hmm, I didn't know Nixon was a Governor?
1 posted on 08/12/2013 10:42:57 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

hippies ruined this country. I’m young and had to suffer thru years of hippie high school teachers and hippie college professors. If I could push a button and get rid of all the hippies going back to the beginning of their movement i’d do it - and America would be a lot better off.


2 posted on 08/12/2013 10:50:23 AM PDT by Deathtomarxists (hillary's cankles smiled at me)
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To: Kaslin

Obviously Rogie has never heard of Cloward-Piven or Saul Alinsky..
Pity... Could be he didnt want to know.. Planned orchestrated ignorance..

Only one way to be that sheltered and protected from reality..
He is lying... He did know.. and is playing a mental game..

Unless he is stupid..


3 posted on 08/12/2013 10:51:50 AM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole..)
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To: Kaslin

A couple of things: Dallas, 1963; The attempt on Reagan’s life; 9/11 convincing us that Islam needs to be taken seriously.

It’s more complex than that, but the days where President Adams can walk down the street from the White house to a sandwich shop with a friend and nobody else are long gone.


4 posted on 08/12/2013 10:53:00 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: Deathtomarxists
hippies ruined this country

Hippies were merely the offspring of the beatniks.

5 posted on 08/12/2013 10:54:37 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Deathtomarxists

Ecclesiastes 7:10
Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.

And to quote from multiple places in Ecclesiastes: “There is nothing new under the sun.”

So true.


6 posted on 08/12/2013 10:55:19 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: Kaslin

It can be summed up in a word: Immigration. The massive immigration, legal and illegal, from third world countries is what did it. Now we have “cultures” we have to put up with and can’t offend, and we have to be “tolerant” of immigrants who come here just for money and refuse to assimilate to our ways. I truly think this is the main reason, though not the only reason, our country has changed so horribly.


7 posted on 08/12/2013 10:58:53 AM PDT by Nea Wood (When life gets too hard to stand, kneel.)
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To: Deathtomarxists
Having been in college in the middle of the hippie era, I can offer a paradoxical comment. Int the late 60's and most of the 70's hippies were into personal freedom and were anti government. Nixon was in the white house so the politically active ones became democrats in protest.

Ironically, those people who did not mature, but held to what they thought it meant to be a hippie are now devoted to the government and work incessantly to deny personal freedom and limit the rights of the individual. The worst and most fervent of the aging leftists are people who never had the free spirit or participated in the demonstrations but always wanted to. Now, they are living what they think was the lifestyle of the free culture.

8 posted on 08/12/2013 11:01:11 AM PDT by Baynative (Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.)
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To: Kaslin

Current White House occupant is a third-world man.
And thus he is exhibiting third-world paranoia.


9 posted on 08/12/2013 11:02:27 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Kaslin

The MEDIA and ACADEMIA was infiltrated by communists.

That’s what happened. Everything else followed.

Rush and Hannity and Levin are helping us wage a battle against it, but we have only scratched the surface of their treachery so far- since we can’t even TALK about Obama being a Kenyan Muslim Traitor.


10 posted on 08/12/2013 11:03:21 AM PDT by Mr. K (Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics, and then Democrat Talking Points.)
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To: Kaslin

“Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word, and the skies are not cloudy all day.” —— is the way I remember that line.


11 posted on 08/12/2013 11:04:01 AM PDT by Elsiejay
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To: Baynative
RE: #8

I posted by accident as I was going to preview. --- I meant to add that a great example of the overzealous wannabes is Barack Obama who never participated ina civil rights march or demonstration, but read about them and always seeks the fulfillment he hopes to find

12 posted on 08/12/2013 11:08:21 AM PDT by Baynative (Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.)
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To: Kaslin

Lets keep it simple. America is finished and within a few years will be a dictatorship. We do not have the people who understand what has happened and all of the Federal Government is corrupt. That included both parties. We have NO power to stop it.


13 posted on 08/12/2013 11:08:31 AM PDT by Logical me
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To: Kaslin

What happened?

We walked away from God.

We disconnected fathers from their wives and children.

No God, no dad, no future.


14 posted on 08/12/2013 11:20:12 AM PDT by lurk
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To: Kaslin

“...expansion of the moral code...”?

You mean destruction, right?


15 posted on 08/12/2013 11:24:12 AM PDT by GeronL
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To: Kaslin

“start voting for the person, not the party,”
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Sounds good but unfortunately there are no longer ANY persons in the Democrat party worth voting for and VERY DAMNED FEW in the GOP. So where do we find these persons to vote for?


16 posted on 08/12/2013 11:26:15 AM PDT by RipSawyer
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To: Kaslin

What happened? Lots. Just to name a few:

1) Loss of religious faith
2) Communist influence on every aspect of life
3) Fatherless, entitlement-minded minorities
4) Immigrants that refuse to “melt” into the pot


17 posted on 08/12/2013 11:33:08 AM PDT by TexasRepublic (Socialism is the gospel of envy and the religion of thieves)
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To: Kaslin

I’d agree that the two biggest factors were the Pill and the Vietnam war, but there were problems before that — such as socialist thought at toxic levels in academia and journalism.


18 posted on 08/12/2013 11:39:40 AM PDT by HomeAtLast
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To: Deathtomarxists
Hippies+Marijuana=Disperceptive Hippies + 40 years ....= 2013's "progressives"


This Message Not Approved by the NSA



19 posted on 08/12/2013 11:42:43 AM PDT by MeshugeMikey (This Message NOT Approved By The N.S.A.)
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To: RipSawyer
And those who will vote for the corruptocrats are flowing across our borders and breeding like rabbits.Those in power, the real party that rules this country, are not concerned about American ideals or values. They want to rule the masses, period. Whatever it takes to buy, beg, borrow, steal or manufacture that vote, then that is what will be. People need to realize that there is a Ruling Party, they can be D's or R's, whatever it takes. They don't really care as long they are in office. They are the ruling elitist and believe only in themselves.
20 posted on 08/12/2013 11:43:34 AM PDT by Mobilemitter (We must learn to fin >-)> for ourselves.........)
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