The USA is still the greatest country in the world.

[Walker]

“The problem, however, is that you can’t make society better unless you first make its people better.”

Left and Right differences
https://www.prageru.com/courses/left-an ... vs-right-5

Of course, “better” is not a relative term when used to describe life, of which society is an extension.

Thus, the term better is an absolute for this reason: All things concerning man are relative to life, even what he imagines of the abstract is relative to life, for life is all that man knows. Therefore, life is the basis of this absolute we call better, for when you think about it, all you know of death is an inference, and better is always just around the corner.

*

Looks like Trump is going for the gusto with his man in charge of foreign relations. He has oft expressed amazement that the USofA does not own all the oil in Iraq.

[bobevenson]

Please, I challenge you to specify a single lie I've told!

You can challenge me all you want, but since it has already been fully established that you continually lie, there's no point in answering anything you say because you'll just lie about it.

You poor pathetic poster. You call me a liar, and can't give me a single example. What are you, a troll?

[bobevenson]

See, that's why he/she writes in such big letters, to cover up for not knowing which bathroom to use.

I note that you use huge letters more often than anyone.

I use a conservative 125 point, not the maximum 200 point like that lunatic!

[Lacewing]

You call me a liar, and can't give me a single example.

Everything you write is an example. Just go back and read all of it, and ask yourself each time, "Is this really true in the reality that most people share, or is this another one of my delusional rantings about non-existent or inconsequential imaginings that I'm making too big a deal about as usual?" The answer is pretty much always the same, and it's not the former. If it's not real, it's a lie.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

See, that's why he/she writes in such big letters, to cover up for not knowing which bathroom to use.

I note that you use huge letters more often than anyone.

I use a conservative 125 point, not the maximum 200 point like that lunatic!

You still have to make the effort to highlight the text, click on 'font', and then click 'large'. Arising UK is just responding appropriately to your lunacy.

[Arising_uk]

See, that's why he/she writes in such big letters, to cover up for not knowing which bathroom to use.

Whoosh!!

Hear that bob!? That's the irony jet passing over your head.

[Arising_uk]

I use a conservative 125 point, ...

Can't afford glasses in the land of the flab?

not the maximum 200 point like that lunatic!

Oh! The irony. You're such a card bob.

[Ginkgo]

See, that's why he/she writes in such big letters, to cover up for not knowing which bathroom to use.

I note that you use huge letters more often than anyone.

I use a conservative 125 point, not the maximum 200 point like that lunatic!

I hate to be the one to tell you Bob, but people post in huge font to mock you.

[RickLewis]

I hesitate to jump into the snake pit which is this thread. I do think that the USA is by many measures the greatest country in the world and I am a big fan of the place.

However, the election of Donald Trump means that for at least the next four years, the USA will no longer be in any meaningful sense the "leader of the free world". Trump is blatantly not up to the job in terms of foreign policy, since he is very erratic, takes major new policy positions towards different countries entirely on the basis of passing whims, has senior advisors who appear to be in love with Putin and apparently isn't even interested in having daily intelligence briefings. Therefore there is no way that the governments of the other Western democracies - even with the best will in the world - could ever take any kind of a foreign policy lead from him. Therefore the other Western nations will either do their own thing or maybe follow whatever lead is set by Angela Merkel.

It is hard to say yet whether America will recapture its leading position once Trump finally departs to run his property empire full time again. It may be that once the other countries' habit of following America's lead has been broken, it won't easily be recreated. Time will tell.

[Lacewing]

the election of Donald Trump means that for at least the next four years, the USA will no longer be in any meaningful sense the "leader of the free world"... /... It is hard to say yet whether America will recapture its leading position once Trump finally departs to run his property empire full time again.

Yes... it seems that the USA is already in its decline... which is how the reality of Trump being elected could even occur at all, followed by him punching on the gas pedal like some kind of maniacal drunk driver.

I think the USA has gotten too convoluted and bloated to stay afloat. And it could get really ugly as they try to insist on maintaining a claim of superiority on the world playground.

[thedoc]

the election of Donald Trump means that for at least the next four years, the USA will no longer be in any meaningful sense the "leader of the free world"... /... It is hard to say yet whether America will recapture its leading position once Trump finally departs to run his property empire full time again.

Yes... it seems that the USA is already in its decline... which is how the reality of Trump being elected could even occur at all, followed by him punching on the gas pedal like some kind of maniacal drunk driver.

I think the USA has gotten too convoluted and bloated to stay afloat. And it could get really ugly as they try to insist on maintaining a claim of superiority on the world playground.

You guys are really amazing, Trump hasn't even been sworn in yet and you are talking about how bad things will be. Typical of someone who doesn't live in America, to start with the idea that America is a terrible place, and go from there. The only thing we can know for sure is that if Hillary had won things would continue as they are, at least now things have a chance to improve.

[Lacewing]

You guys are really amazing, Trump hasn't even been sworn in yet and you are talking about how bad things will be.

You don't see it?? Do you need to wait 'til the clown car is over the cliff to scream "Watch out!!"?

Typical of someone who doesn't live in America

Well I DO live in America, and I'm saying it... and everyone I know is saying it.

The only thing we can know for sure is that if Hillary had won things would continue as they are, at least now things have a chance to improve.

Now notice what you're claiming we can "know for sure". Right doc... your view isn't skewed at all.

I think Hillary at the wheel would have been on a slower speed -- we could have pretended for longer that there wasn't a cliff ahead -- but it seems that America has become unsustainable REGARDLESS of who is at the wheel. It looks as if Donald will smash up the works more quickly. People who think that he can magically "Make America Great Again", don't seem to be in reality. America is in deep doodoo... as is a lot of the world. I think we need to EVOLVE/EXPAND OUR THINKING more than anything else. We're too comfortable in our little bubbles of ordered delusion. Life must keep flowing and moving or it stagnates. Our rigidity is not natural.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

You guys are really amazing, Trump hasn't even been sworn in yet and you are talking about how bad things will be.

You don't see it?? Do you need to wait 'til the clown car is over the cliff to scream "Watch out!!"?

Typical of someone who doesn't live in America

Well I DO live in America, and I'm saying it... and everyone I know is saying it.

The only thing we can know for sure is that if Hillary had won things would continue as they are, at least now things have a chance to improve.

Now notice what you're claiming we can "know for sure". Right doc... your view isn't skewed at all.

I think Hillary at the wheel would have been on a slower speed -- we could have pretended for longer that there wasn't a cliff ahead -- but it seems that America has become unsustainable REGARDLESS of who is at the wheel. It looks as if Donald will smash up the works more quickly. People who think that he can magically "Make America Great Again", don't seem to be in reality. America is in deep doodoo... as is a lot of the world. I think we need to EVOLVE/EXPAND OUR THINKING more than anything else. We're too comfortable in our little bubbles of ordered delusion. Life must keep flowing and moving or it stagnates. Our rigidity is not natural.

Trump is a uuuge red herring. It will be a miracle if he lasts the duration anyway. It's his pea-brained VP and the rest of his lunatic administration that you should worry about. It will be interesting to see how Americans react to such a stifling group, after getting used to a liberal Govt. (and I mean liberal). Hillary is a vicious warmonger. I don't know why you would prefer her.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

You guys are really amazing, Trump hasn't even been sworn in yet and you are talking about how bad things will be.

You don't see it?? Do you need to wait 'til the clown car is over the cliff to scream "Watch out!!"?

Typical of someone who doesn't live in America

Well I DO live in America, and I'm saying it... and everyone I know is saying it.

The only thing we can know for sure is that if Hillary had won things would continue as they are, at least now things have a chance to improve.

Now notice what you're claiming we can "know for sure". Right doc... your view isn't skewed at all.

I think Hillary at the wheel would have been on a slower speed -- we could have pretended for longer that there wasn't a cliff ahead -- but it seems that America has become unsustainable REGARDLESS of who is at the wheel. It looks as if Donald will smash up the works more quickly. People who think that he can magically "Make America Great Again", don't seem to be in reality. America is in deep doodoo... as is a lot of the world. I think we need to EVOLVE/EXPAND OUR THINKING more than anything else. We're too comfortable in our little bubbles of ordered delusion. Life must keep flowing and moving or it stagnates. Our rigidity is not natural.

Trump is a uuuge red herring. It will be a miracle if he lasts the duration anyway. It's his pea-brained VP and the rest of his lunatic administration that you should worry about. It will be interesting to see how Americans react to such a stifling group, after getting used to a liberal Govt. (and I mean liberal). Hillary is a vicious warmonger who was so desperate for the job that she will likely wither away and die now, like the foetal Voldemort in the Deathly Hallows. I don't know why you would prefer her.

[bobevenson]

You don't see it?? Do you need to wait 'til the clown car is over the cliff to scream "Watch out!!"?

Let me know when we're about to plummet over the stock market cliff which has set record heights since Trump was elected (realizing, of course, that socialists like yourself have little or no interest in the subject).