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Strangers in Our Own Homeland

Posted by 73SHARK 2 years, 2 months ago to Politics
36 comments | Share | Best of... | Flag

This is the finest article (no idea who wrote it) I have received and read, with regard to America's current dilemma, situation, nightmare, whichever word one chooses to use. Nightmare works for me........

Growing old in an unrecognizable country.

Those of us who are part of the Baby Boom generation, now in our 60s
and 70s, no longer recognize the nation in which we grew up. We are
strangers in a land that gets stranger by the day. We believed in the
American dream. We worked hard, paid our taxes and obeyed the law -
even laws we thought were idiotic.

We married and had children. We struggled to raise families. Some of
us went to war, like our fathers and grandfathers before us. We
thought that when we grew old, there would be more for us – more than
alienation.


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  • Posted by mccannon01 2 years, 2 months ago
    I think what we are witnessing is the acceleration of the (preventable?) decline of a great civilization. Many of us older folks still know the correct history as much as others, who are ignorant of history, are desperately trying to rewrite it more to their liking and agenda. We were taught if we don't control our passions, they will control us and there is increasing evidence large swaths of our population has lost or given up all control. The biblical examples of Sodom and Gomorrah come to mind either as fact or as metaphor illustrating behavior that nurtures decline and ultimate failure. There are many examples of failure that are political, social, financial, and scientific and any one wouldn't likely bring about the demise of what we grew up with, but the accumulation of all those examples happening at the same time will be devastating. It's death by a thousand cuts.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 2 years, 2 months ago
    I'm not a baby-boomer, but even I don't recognize this nation from what it was forty years ago.

    I remember growing in a home where both my parents thought it silly to lock the front door.
    I remember playing "night games" with half the neighborhood after dark - and not a parent worried a bit.
    I remember seeing the high school kids (older than me) with gun racks (locked and loaded) in their trucks heading off to school.
    I remember a time when I was proud to be an Eagle Scout and affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America. (I still hold that Baden Powell's original vision benefitted millions of people worldwide beyond those who participated in the organization.)
    I remember a time when I didn't have to worry about the adults around me looking at me like an object, but rather a cared-for future citizen.
    I remember being able to fill my tank for under $10.00. (My dad remembers a time he could do it for a quarter of that.)
    I remember a time when libraries filtered their book contents to those things which were wholesome and uplifting.
    I remember a time when I watched cartoons which expressed morals - explicitly - in every episode.
    I remember a time when Disney was still a family experience.
    I remember when I didn't have to eye law enforcement askance.

    So sad that those times are gone.
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  • Posted by $ 25n56il4 2 years, 2 months ago
    Well Darlin' don't stop there. Some of us are still around that were old enough to say, 'Step on a crack, break Hitler's back!' The difference between your generation and ours is we don't know how to give up.
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    • Posted by lrshultis 2 years, 2 months ago
      Back in those days you didn't have to lock everything up to keep honest people honest. I remember kids saying "Your mother wears combat boots." as a putdown of another kid. I don't think things are worst other than population being more than double. Back in the 40s, 50s, and 60s a teacher in the public schools could put hands on a student and sometimes get order by bashing him against a locker or as with my niece with epilepsy, who would sit and stare and not answer a teacher, have the teacher paint her mouth with red hot, paddle her, and put her in a room by herself to get her attention. I hope those days have improved. We do seem to be going back to puritanical censorship of art and speech. Actual patriotism is being replaced with quasi-patriotism of inflating the amount of flags which as with inflating the amount of money just cheapens the meaning of the flag. and of patriotism. Somehow a belief has arisen that patriotism is teachable rather than an individual rating of the worthiness of the country for being supported and fought for. The USA will de found to be more resilient than most believe and not to be destroyed by the likes of Biden and theocratic persons.
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  • Posted by jimslag 2 years, 2 months ago
    There was a series of an old Superman comic book (yes, dating myself) but it had Bizarro World, That is what I call it, everything is backwards. I served 21 years in the military and spent a lot of time overseas, so every time I came home, things had changed and it was not always a good change. I grew up in the 60's and 70's so I saw lots of changes, all the way from JFK being shot to Dr. King and Bobby, Woodstock, Hair, Age of Aquarius and Jesus Christ Superstar were in my playlist along with Steppenwolf, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Tommy Bolin and such. Even with all the riots and stuff, that had nothing on what we recently saw in 2020 Summer of Love. I am sorry but this is not what I fought the Cold War over. Yes, I hate Communism in all it's varieties (Socialism, Democratic Socialism or whatever you want to call it), it is still Communism. Unfortunately our political system has bought into to many of the tenants of that dreaded system and been corrupted by it. Most of the politicians don't care about us except for that vote every 2 or 4 or 6 years, the rest of the time they are just out to collect power and money by hook or by crook.
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    • Posted by Flootus5 2 years, 2 months ago
      I fondly remember Bizarro World and the thoughts it caused. Thanks for that! To have it illustrate its own point, that comic originally cost about 10 or 12 cents and now is worth thousands of dollars - depending on condition.
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  • Posted by $ Radio_Randy 2 years, 2 months ago
    "The only constant is change".

    Reading Edward Rutherford's "Sarum" and "Russka", I realize that nobody, even Ayn Rand, is or was prescient. She simply wrote books that related things that had already transpired, in another time. Since history repeats itself, her books were bound to come true, in one way or another.

    It sucks, but it's all we have...
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    • Posted by freedomforall 2 years, 2 months ago
      Hers is a warning that many of us recognized and tried to educate others as she did.
      Today, as predicted, true conservatives, true objectivists, and true libertarians are being
      reviled and censored, while CINO's, fake objectivists, and LINO's are praised for their
      compromise of ethical principles "for the common good" (aka evil.)
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    • Posted by GFasolt 2 years, 2 months ago
      It's worth noting that Rand was making the point that adopting, consciously or unconsciously, a philosophy based in anything other than objective reality will inevitably lead to predictable results. It's not that history repeats itself, but that humans adopt bad ideas with predictable results. Leonard Peikopf's "Ominous Parallels" applies Rand's theory. It connects the dots.
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  • Posted by VetteGuy 2 years, 2 months ago
    Agreed. My wife and I refer to the current situation as "upside-down world"!
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    • Posted by $ allosaur 2 years, 2 months ago
      Insanity has infested this country's pilot seat and has spread to the crew.
      Me dino can be called a racist for not believing men can get pregnant.
      If that's not insane then I don't know what is.
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      • Posted by bobsprinkle 2 years, 2 months ago
        Nothing wrong with you. It is the others. A man can get pregnant if it is a bio woman who thinks/insists it is a man. Assholes are changing the rules just to confuse us.
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        • Posted by $ allosaur 2 years, 2 months ago
          Me dino's heart goes out to female athletes forced to compete with men who "identifies" as women (whatever that really means) and exposes HIS manhood in the dressing room.
          To complain is a big no-no to the woke sad joke screwheads who run things.
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  • Posted by GaryL 2 years, 2 months ago
    Many of us saw this coming but instead of fighting we ducked. In the USN during Vietnam and being witness to the fact our politicians and military leaders love war but don't have the brains or stones to fight them and win. At age 70 now I am completely disgusted with the USA we made in the last 60+ years.
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  • Posted by $ Markus_Katabri 2 years, 2 months ago
    I am the descendant of United Empire Loyalists. My family was here before this grand experiment in governance began. We will remain here after it has ended. It helps if you’ve already had the exiled mindset for a long time.
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  • Posted by JS_ 2 years, 2 months ago
    I will say this, I will lay all the issues at your generations feet and the feet of those before you. My generation and my posterity will be dealing with this for a long time. It may not be necessarily your fault personally, but if a person says it ain’t my job and eventually everything goes to shit… who’s job was it? Who’s job was it to watch the bath water? Who’s job was it, to make sure that bureaucrats didn’t steal the silver out of the kitchen?
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    • Posted by $ Markus_Katabri 2 years, 2 months ago
      I’ll just say it even though it will get me tarred and feathered. The Boomers allowed this to reach critical mass. If you jump in front of the rolling snowball now you’ll just get flattened. Best to let it go on its merry way.
      (Ducks in anticipation of incoming weaponized potato salad.)
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      • Posted by freedomforall 2 years, 2 months ago
        How about a pie in the face instead? ;^)

        Blaming any one generation is doing just what the Deep State wants.
        To divide those who should recognize that the problem is corrupt, unconstitutional
        government, not innocent individuals.
        The con wasn't obvious because the pro-America propaganda was so good.
        Public schools used the WW2 victory and ensuing economic boom to distract
        attention away from the corruption in DC (and the spread of corruption into
        every corner of American life.)
        People should have awakened about 30 years ago.
        imo, that is when the con was becoming too obvious to ignore.
        I know that my friends ("boomers") have been spreading the truth at least that long.
        imo, "boomers" never had any voice in the federal government.
        But they never realized that was the case, and the media drowned out
        anyone who tried to spread the truth as a 'conspiracy nut.'
        If any generation should be blamed (and I don't think any should be)
        it would be the so-called "greatest generation." Members of that generation
        held the reins in DC from the end of WW2 until the end of the 20th century
        - and one sits in the office controlling (arguably) the current administration.
        The fact is that the federal government has been controlled by the banking
        cartel since 1913. The American People have been conned for 109 years
        and every generation bought it.
        No living member of any generation had a hand in that.
        Most were taken in by its well designed propaganda cover-up.
        The truth told by so-called "conspiracy theorists" have been ignored
        by every generation. Every generation ignores history and goes to
        the polls, thinking that their vote counts.
        Now THAT is conspiracy FACT.

        Every living American now has a choice, however.
        Freedom and responsibility or the false security of slavery.
        Choose liberty and I praise you as an American patriot.
        Choose false security and prepare to be hung as a traitor or starve as a slave.
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    • Posted by JS_ 2 years, 2 months ago
      Those analogies, may not be the best. People were taught to be good Americans and on the political side, not to rock the boat… Call it for what it is, don’t sugar coat it….
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  • Posted by katrinam41 2 years, 2 months ago
    My dearest friends are in their mid-80xs and both have to work to stay heads-above water---meaning they have to eat. My family and friends fought to keep this country great, all the while failing to heed warnings about the hidden poison filling every aspect of our lives. Conspiracy believers were mocked and reviled, Chicken Littles crying "the sky is falling!" Unlike the fairy tale, this sky really was falling. Is there a way to put it back? Only if enough of us understand what happened and why , and are willing to keep trying. Even then, there is no guarantee of success. We must keep the pressure on before Big Brother takes its full shape and swallows the world.
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  • Posted by Owlsrayne 2 years, 1 month ago
    The US government seems to be creating a new Cold War Armaggedon hysteria. Even growing up back in the '50s and '60s the hysteria wasn't like it's now. My wife commented to me that she wish she could go back to those times. I like what we have now even though I didn't do as well workwise as my father and relatives had done after WW2. This administration has successfully turned the country into shambles.
    I'm currently reading "Return of the Gods" by Jonathan Cahn, it's very interesting I just don't know if the premise of the book is plausible. The events that are happening every day around the country and in DC make one wonder if such supernatural evil is exerting an influence on people. I watched a Glenn Beck YouTube video about a report:https://ussanews.com/2022/09/28/us-ur...
    which sounds like a current maritime convoy action taking place. What the hell is going on/
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