age. Things change, things are different. Hard to look at them through an objective lens. And we tend to remember a lot of things in ways that are a lot more positive than they actually may have been.

This country has done an amazing job tackling poverty over the last 40 years. I don't see signs that things are really less patriotic once you peel the layers back. Kids still sing the national anthem at high school sporting events. There are still a lot of kids joining ROTC, but they look a lot different than a few years ago. This country wasn't terribly unified during the Vietnam era. I'd argue that there are a number of amplifiers now that didn't exist then (news was on for 2 hours a day 40 years ago - that's probably a good thing).

Do I like everything I see? No way. But I always go back to first principles, the first principles of this country. And if you do that, you will believe that the MAGA movement is a scourge, and will ultimately occupy a position of infamy in this country's history.

Things are different. Some things probably for the better, some things for the worse. But change frightens a lot of people, and we see a lot of very frightened people out there right now. We also have opportunists willing to take advantage of that fear for money. It isn't very constructive.


[Post edited by Capital City Hoo at 04/14/2024 08:57AM]