Patters

Some of the righties here think America is fundamentally different than it was bfore. They think the problems we face are new. They think our elections are worse, that the battle between conservatives and liberals are at some sort of peak, that the battle between religion and science is new, that the political divisions are like we've never seen before. They have not read history. This book review will give them some insight into our glorious history and maybe help them realize the problems we face today are not greater or less than the ones we faced in the past.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/liv...election_1800/

PressCoverage

well, when you consider that unnecessary global nuclear conflict is looming on the horizon largely because of the actions of our current leadership, i would say the problems we face today most certainly ARE greater than those of the past...

sdaniels7114

What is different is the level of despair and bitterness, at least in my lifetime. You don't get a sense of what the average person was thinking in the past from history books. I wonder if the despair and bitterness is self-fulfilling?

patsfan13

I agree with you Patters. It is possible that the pervasive media we deal with tends to amplify things. OTOH there are so many distractions (other media) beyond politics know this may offset the increase in the amount of media, in terms of the impact on peoples awareness of politics.

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"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."

DarrylS

It also has fostered deeper divisions than previous, with the advent of the internet and discussion boards & blogs... there is a lot of unsubstantiated information out there that lemmings from both sides of the aisle blindly follow.

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"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

Real World

As usual you either can't grasp what people's concerns are, or you can, but deliberately play dumb. People don't think yesteryear was Eden'esque. We simply feel that the current path that our country is on, is of grave concern. With $9 Trillion in national debt, 20+ million ILLEGALS inside our borders, wars being faught on two fronts, entitilements crippling our budget, millionaire out of touch politicians filling up our executive and legislative branch, the welfare state growing at an unsustainable rate, the cost of living exploding, the police state tightening it's grip, families discintigrating, kids growing up out of wedlock, and the morallity of society non-existent, please don't try to tell us that today's problems are no different than 50, 100, or 200 years ago. Look at this group of frauds running for office as proof positive of how far we've fallen.

Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Thomas Jefferson....

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

STFarmy

Regarding political polarization, a fun read is "Affairs of Honor" by Joanne B. Freeman. It explores the honor culture and the viscious political battles that some of the early politicians of our country had. Ideas and beliefs are powerful things indeed, and they can drive people to irrational or hostile actions towards those who don't share the same ones.

Fogbuster

I cannot figure out what this thread is supposed to be about.


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"All that is required for evil to triumph is for good to do nothing."

Patters

I wish you had read the arrticle, since you're missing the point. Take just this paragraph:

"Democratic Republicans responded by damning their opponents as paranoid monarchists willing to sacrifice American liberties, including freedom of speech and religion, to imaginary threats - and their own political ambitions. An undeclared war on France, the suppression of opposition journalists, a law aimed at illegal aliens, and Jefferson's reputation as a man of science allowed the election of 1800 to also serve as a referendum on a range of issues, from to civil rights to foreign relations. In August 1800, a foiled slave rebellion in Jefferson's own Virginia built on, and in turn reinforced, the sense that a glorious or tragic change might occur in November."

RW, the issues are the same and of equally dramatic importance relative to their times. Our problems are different today of course, but no more dramatic except for the, to paraphrase the article, the paranoid righties willing to sacrifice American liberties.

Patters

Our country and our issues are no more dramatic today than they were 200 years ago. These times we are in are not as special as people think. I disagree with the doom and gloom righties (who are terrified of immigration, the deficit, terrorists, moral climate, etc.) and think the United States is collapsing. We have problems back then that parallel the ones we're having today, and we'll find our way forward.