[EDINVA]

well, actually I wouldn’t want ever again to see another American go thru what McCain did, but I can’t even imagine Obama (if he’d ever have put on the uniform) surviving the first week in one of the Vietnamese prisoner camps. Forget about the patriotism, he just doesn’t have the character.

Almost daily I wonder how it is that three times now, we’ve watched adolescent males defeat genuine men, war heroes, to serve as POTUS. We have become addicated to form over substance, and that does not bode well for this nation’s future.

[Lexinom]

No it doesn't. There is an antidote, however: turn off the TV. That communication medium has engendered more laziness in the populace than any other phenomenon that comes to mind. It requires very little critical thought, feeding as it does both of the primary senses with no effort required on their part. It conditions people to intellectual sloth and atrophy.

One useful gauge is this: How often do you hear "How do you feel about (x)?" vs. "What do you think about (x)?"

Another one is the level of body piercing as young people struggle for individual identity in a meaningless world dominated by ephemeral images.

Another is to consider the Lincoln-Douglas debates which lasted hours, without any of the technological innovations that we know so well. How would these be received today? If unfavorably, ask yourself why.

[buccaneer81]

but I can’t even imagine Obama (if he’d ever have put on the uniform) surviving the first week in one of the Vietnamese prisoner camps.

Let's face it, in the antebellum era, he would have been the house...person.