Posted on 10/19/2017 11:11:19 AM PDT by Rennes Templar
President George W. Bush on Thursday issued a thinly veiled warning about the state of American democracy under the current president, arguing that "bigotry seems emboldened" and politics is "more vulnerable" to conspiracy theories.
Speaking at the George W. Bush Institute's "The Spirit of Liberty: At Home, in the World," a national forum in New York City, the former president warned that the trend in Western countries of moving away from democratic confidence and global engagement is seeping into American culture.
Parts of Europe, Bush said, have developed an "identity crisis" as a result of economic stagnation, youth unemployment and fears about immigration.
"America is not immune from these trends," warned Bush, who noted that public confidence in U.S. institutions has declined in recent decades and discontent has "deepened and sharpened" partisan conflicts.
"Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories," he said. "We've seen nationalism distorted into nativism."
Bush warned that the U.S. faces the return of isolationist ideology even though he said that American security is "directly threatened by the chaos and despair" of other nations around the world.
The former president listed a series of recommendations that he suggested would improve the state of democracy. First, he said that the U.S. must harden its defenses in terms of confronting cyber threats.
"The Russian government has made a project of turning Americans against each other," said Bush, who added that cyber threats should not be "downplayed or tolerated."
Bush said that there should be a projection of American leadership, the importance of active citizenship should be strengthened and trust in democratic institutions should be restored. He said that Americans should pass civic ideals onto the next generation.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Shrub. The chimp that took us all for chumps.
Whites, and only Whites, are impugned as a group by public figures.
That conclusively disproves the myth of White privilege.
Moron forgot they used to say the same thing when he was in office.
You make it sound as though Bush has somehow changed. He’s always been a globalist and a liberal. Pretty much the only time during his Presidency he seemed articulate and passionate was when he was advocating on behalf of Mexican illegals.
All of this gentlemanly conduct goes out the window as soon as Trump was elected President. Suddenly, "gentleman" Romney becomes an attack dog, and the Bushes couldn't be more vocal in attacking a sitting President. It all goes to show what the real political alignments in this country are. Establishment Republicans and Democrats are one another's loyal opposition. It's the skeptics of their globalist utopia who are their real enemy.
Please just go back to your strait jacket and child-like finger painting or whatever it was you were doing before.
Worst family in American history.
He was falsely accused of bigotry. He doesn’t deserve the support I gave him.
I like claity, even if I don’t like what I’m seeing.
How quickly did he get those Saudis on those planes again?
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Bush Babylonian Globalism is what is emboldened.
Black/Leftist bigotry toward American exceptionalism is so intense that it can’t be any worse.
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These are the days of the 70th Sabbath, so this garbage is to be expected.
All “kingdoms of men” will be destroyed in the aftermath of the Day of Trumpets in 2024. Be Patient, Yehova has a plan.
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Did you notice that when the fire headed toward the ‘grove’ a big DC-10 full of magic pink dust appeared just at the right time to steer it away ???
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Rush was saying two Never Trump guys wrote this speech. I might put W in that same camp.
So true, they much prefer collectivism.
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