Posted on 08/13/2008 5:18:47 PM PDT by NewConservative79
Today Senator Obama told a little 7 year old girl, "America is no longer what it could be, what it once was, and I say to myself I don't want that future for my children." Obama is saying that America has become a worse nation since his childhood. I'm not one to go after a spouse, but I think given that Michelle Obama said that she was proud of her country for the first time in her life eariler in this campaign. This statement is just another stupid mistake that Obama should've avoided. However Obama is right about one thing, America is no longer what it once was, it's much, much better. I'm a History major so were going to have a refresher course right here.
America is no longer what it once was. In 1776 when our founders wrote the Declaration of Independence they wrote these words. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." However their was slavery, women and minorites weren't allowed to vote. Whites and Blacks went to separate schools. Ate in separate Resturants and were kept separated for the majority of the country's history. There was the Dred Scott decision were the Supreme Court ruled that a slave born in the U.S. was not a citizen in 1856. It also said a man in a slave state could move to a free state and still have slaves
Only five years after the Dred Scott decision the Civil war began. We won't go into the political reasons for the war, or the fact it had little to nothing to do with slavery. The important thing is that the 13th 14th and 15th Amendments were added to the U.S. Constitution. These Amendments freed the slaves, gave them the right to vote, and guaranteed them equal protection under the law. Women were given the right to vote in 1920 as part of the 19th Amendment. However for some reason the Supreme Court didn't get the message.
At the end of Reconstruction in the south Southern States began to pass what we now refer to as Jim Crow laws. These laws separated Whites and Blacks by forcing them to use separate public accommodations. A famous supreme court case rose from these laws, Plessy V. Ferguson.
In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plessy V. Ferguson that Louisana "Separate but Equal" laws were constitutional. This decision upheld the constitutionality of segregation. The law said that racial segregation was legal has long as both blacks and whites had equal accommodations. It wasn't until 1954 that this decision was overturned in Brown Vs. Board of Education. Years after the decision the law still wasn't being enforced in the South. In 1957 Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus had his National Guard block black students from entering Little Rock High School. President Einshower responded by federalizing Arkansas' National Guard and by sending in the 101th Airborne. The last notable event regarding Brown Vs Board of Education, was in 1963 when Alabama's Governor George Wallace stood in the doorway of Foster Auditorim at the University of Alabama to block two black students from enrolling at the University. Wallace is known for his famous saying, "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." However Wallace left the doorway when confronted with federal marshalls and the Deputy Attorney General of the United States.
Then of Course there is the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed all Segregation. It also ended the Jim Crow era. The Bill Passed the House with ease but was fillabustered for 54 days before the Senate finally got enough votes to end the fillabuster and pass the bill. (you need a 2/3 majority to end a fillibuster, 67 votes) The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed practices that were meant to keep blacks from voting. Poll taxes, literacy tests (which would've been impossible for most educated whites to pass), grandfather clauses (if your grandfather could vote so could you) etc. The Act gave federal oversight to elections in areas that had practiced discrimination. The Act was reauthorized in 2006 for another 25 years.
I'm sure I could go on but by now I think you probably get the point. America is no longer what it once was. It is now a true democracy where everyone is treated equal under the law. Understanding there still are some problems with discrimnation and there always will be, to say that America has gone downhill, or isn't a good country anymore just because Obama doesn't like whose in the Oval Office is elitest crap! To quote Ronald Reagan America is still the best last hope on earth. We still live in a country that fights for freedom of others. That tries to make good on past mistakes. That allows every man and woman to speak freely, and to worship any way they see fit. GOD BLESS AMERICA!
To read more from New Conservative go here http://www.thenewconservatives.blogspot.com/
Obama HATES what American once was. Just think about all those evil slaveholders who signed the Declaration and wrote the Constitution. Remember how much the whole country supposedly profited from slavery plus Jim Crow and all the traditional intolerance toward homosexuality. Both slavery and Jim Crow WERE evil, but they did not define the whole country.
I once got a paper from a student when I taught on the college level in which he wrote about how in the 1950s and 60s there was intolerance in America toward people who lived alone or not in "traditional" family groups. I told him that I myself lived during those years and that his statement was ridiculous. He (of course) refused to believe me and said that one of his other professors has made that statement. You can be that Obama thinks just like that about America. He has an evil Amerikkka in his head that never was, and he just knows how much better he and Michelle are than traditional Americans. That's his real opinion. Count on it.
I agree too. Obama, saying this unwittingly, is stating that the essence and soul of what made America great is now the very America which he and his lefty compatriots are now trying to tear down so that we may become yet another tyranny on the trash heap of history ... I agree with his statement completely, but of course for different reasons than what the Obamiracle might think .....
Eeenywees .... welcome to FR :)
America today is what Political Correctness and Liberals have made it .... look at what’s happening in our schools and courts ... my dad told me they used to send kids to reform school for stealing hubcaps!! - then the Liberals got those schools closed down saying if you put those kids in regular schools to see how kids should behave, they then took over the schools .... now there’s zero tolerance on everything. Thanks be I was home schooled .....
Black and White
(Under age 40? You won’t understand.)
You could hardly see for all the snow,
Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go.
Pull a chair up to the TV set,
“Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet.”
My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs
and spread mayo on the same cutting
board with the same knife and no
bleach, but we didn’t seem to get food
poisoning.
My Mom used to defrost hamburger on
the counter AND I used to eat it raw
sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches
were wrapped in wax paper in a brown
paper bag, not in ice-pack coolers, but I
can’t remember getting e.coli.
Almost all of us would have rather gone
swimming in the lake instead of a
pristine pool (talk about boring), no
beach closures then.
The term cell phone would have
conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a
pager was the school PA system.
We all took gym, not PE .. and risked
permanent injury with a pair of high top
Ked’s (only worn in gym) instead of
having cross-training athletic shoes with
air cushion soles and built in light
reflectors. I can’t recall any injuries but
they must have happened because they
tell us how much safer we are now.
Flunking gym was not an option even for
stupid kids! I guess PE must be much
harder than gym.
Speaking of school, we all said prayers
and sang the national anthem, and
staying in detention after school caught
all sorts of negative attention.
We must have had horribly damaged
psyches. What an archaic health system
we had then. Remember school nurses?
Ours wore a hat and everything.
I thought that I was supposed to
accomplish something before I was
allowed to be proud of myself.
I just can’t recall how bored we were
without computers, Play Station,
Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV
cable stations.
Oh yeah ... and where was the Benadryl
and sterilization kit when I got that bee
sting? I could have been killed!
We played ‘king of the hill’ on piles of
gravel left on vacant construction sites,
and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out
the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome
(kids liked it better because it didn’t
sting like iodine did) and then we got
our butt spanked.
Now it’s a trip to the emergency room,
followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle
of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the
attorney to sue the contractor for
leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel
where it was such a threat.
We didn’t act up at the neighbor’s house
either because if we did, we got our butt
spanked there and then we got butt
spanked again when we got home.
I recall Donny Reynolds from next door
coming over a nd doing his tricks on the
front stoop, just before he fell off. Little
did his Mom know that she could have
owned our house. Instead, she picked
him up and swatted him for being such a
goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.
To top it off, not a single person I knew
had ever been told that they were from a
dysfunctional family. How could we
possibly have known that?
We needed to get into group therapy and
anger management classes? We were
obviously so duped by so many societal
ills that we didn’t even notice that the
entire country wasn’t taking Prozac!
How did we ever survive?
LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED
THIS ERA, AND TO ALL WHO DIDN’T;
SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED. I
WOULDN’T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING.
It’s changed.
Over the last 30 - 40 years, this country has gotten worse. Sure, Civil Rights have improved, but our school system is now ranked 17th in the world - right above Mexico (thanks to the liberal NEA). There's more ppl on welfare than 30 years ago because the cycle in the inner cities have not been broken. Corruption is worse in government and in the business section and the libs are spending our tax $$$ like a drunken sailor. I don't think this country is better when you compare 1958 to 2008.
He hates what it is, too. He, a child of a black father who was never a slave nor were his ancestors, just can’t stand it that white people aren’t kowtowing to every black in the US and begging forgiveness at every street corner for the fact that some whitey somewhere owned slaves nearly 150 years ago.
This is one thing I certainly agree with Obama on. One of the causes is radical law professors, like BHO.
Good Night, Gracie .......
My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn’t seem to get food poisoning.
Yeah ya did ... it was called a "stomach ache" ... and ya stayed home from school that day, but were back good as new the next day .....
My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice-pack coolers, but I can’t remember getting e.coli.
Yeah ya did .... read the above :)
Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.
With all that 'slime' stuff on the bottom of the lake, its a wonder that we never contracted the dreaded *STINK FOOT* :)
The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.
What's yer Cell number? "M-2257608" ... with a mug photo on file at the NYPD ..... /laughs
We all took gym, not PE .. and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked’s (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can’t recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now.
That Dodge-Ball thingie was a nightmare! Like a shooting gallery all-out-war ... but somehow we survived with our self esteem still intact .....
Flunking gym was not an option even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.
There were *points* given for being prepared, and *points* taken away for being unprepared ... oh geez, I left my white socks home that day, on Gym day ... so lost a bunch of points .... whatever ....... /laughs
Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention.
Not too sure about 'prayers' (I was in public school in the 60's and 70's), but we *did* recite the Pledge every morning ... oh my, what an emotionally stressful thing that was! /sarcasm off
We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything.
Take two aspirin and call me in the morning .... or cut class tomorrow also ....... /laughs
I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.
Yah, but the slacker in the corner who does absolutely nothing but harass and bully is just as important an individual as one who tries to learn the three W's (writing, wreading, and writhmatic) /sarc off
I just can’t recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.
Well, we had those sort of things too ... as Radio, Television, Automobiles, Hi-Fi Audio equipment, et al ... no real difference, except that ya can't give a Nintendo a *tune-up* on a Saturday afternoon anymore ..... /laughs
Oh yeah ... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!
OK ... we had LSD, Cocaine, and Heroin (none of which were ever sanctioned by the FDA) ... which might take ya out even quicker!
We played ‘king of the hill’ on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn’t sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked.
And nobody ever "put an eye out" or "broke a neck" :)
Now it’s a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.
We didn’t act up at the neighbor’s house either because if we did, we got our butt spanked there and then we got butt spanked again when we got home.
I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over a nd doing his tricks on the front stoop, just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.
I let this one rant off without comment :)
To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that? We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes? We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills that we didn’t even notice that the entire country wasn’t taking Prozac! How did we ever survive?
Imagine all that, ehhh ? /chuckle
LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA, AND TO ALL WHO DIDN’T; SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED. I WOULDN’T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING.
Bring back The Little Rascals and Three Stooges :) Campy comedy to be sure, but what the heck it was just mindless fun ... who cares about PC'ism ;)
It’s changed.
Peace and Love,
MM
What can I say,,,15 Years left.Though I do have grand youngins that,, you know.Hope I’m around.
It is what it is.
And nuthin' we can do can change the past ... although we can *still* tell what it was like in America before PC'ism reared its ugly head and screwed up an entire generation ... we do this for 'the yungins' so that they might not get caught up in the same nonesense that us 60's and 70's kids got sucked into from the left
Pretty good — with one glaring exception — this country, thank the Goor Lord, is NOT a ‘true democracy.’ It is a democratic republic.
And I miss it.
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