Has America been turned into hell?

This is what I wrote on my blog:

I've never been more proud to say that than I am today. Why? Because it's the liberals who are fighting for good jobs and decent wages. It's the liberals who are wanting to end the crisis in Iraq. It's the liberals who are fighting for the environment. It's the liberals who are fighting for women's rights. It's the liberals who are fighting for equal rights. It's the liberals who are fighting for people who wouldn't have a chance otherwise. And finally, it's the liberals who are fighting to bring back the "old" America, a country many people respected before the Republican Party took over and turned it into hell.

Need I say more?

And this is a response I received:

It’s pretty sad you would call America “hell.” It really shows a lack of a mature understanding of the world.

And this is my response:

Wow, we are going to have some wonderful debates.

Record deficits, restricted free speech, failed policies in Iraq, failed enviromental policies, high gas prices, restrictions on abortion.

What have the Republicans accompolished the past four years?

So who is correct?

America is hell you might want to spend some time in, say, Darfur.

We have challenges. Hell? I don't think so.

he's wrong that America's in a good spot. Things are pretty dismal right now. But hell? Nah.

The Sudan is hell. Haiti is hell.

Relatively speaking, we've got it pretty good.

I agree, as would anyone on DU, I imagine, that the 21st century has been a disaster for America thus far. But hell? I think we've got a ways to go before we can call it that.

Its pretty bad right now, but hings would have to continue like this for a long time before it became hell

That's the question I'd ask. Some days I do wonder if I'm sane.

This is the new edited version:

I've never been more proud to say that than I am today. Why? Because it's the liberals who are fighting for good jobs and decent wages. It's the liberals who are wanting to end the crisis in Iraq. It's the liberals who are fighting for the environment. It's the liberals who are fighting for women's rights. It's the liberals who are fighting for equal rights. It's the liberals who are fighting for people who wouldn't have a chance otherwise. And finally, it's the liberals who are fighting to bring back the "old" America, a country many people respected before the Republican Party took over and turned it into their own personal playground.

Need I say more?

I wrote hell because I am severely angry at the current state of America and what the Republicans have done to this country the past four years.

but I still understood where you were coming from the first time and I agree with what you meant by it, not excatly what was said, I've had the same feelings about it also.

:thumbsup:

And, hey, we're all angry about Republican depredations. That's why we're here, because we care about this country and don't like to see it being raped by greedheads. :patriot:

the fact is that democracy and freedom are not natural. We are monkeys, and the pursuit of personal comfort, convenience and power over our environment comes at the cost of someone else losing comfort, convenience, or power over their personal lives.

If we ever thought that America was perfected, we were doomed to disappointment. We are always going to have to fight people seeking power over our lives to keep the freedoms we cherish and believe America to represent.

Evangelical religion has a vested interest in becoming government. Conservatives will always appeal to "survivalist" fears which are emotionally stronger than political ideals, and do so successfully. There will always be social barbarians and dictators and fear mongers raging at the gate of democracy, willing to use that gate to get in and take over the castle and close the gate behind them.

That's not hell - it's reality. If you leave food out, the rats will come. If you don't weed your garden, the weeds will take over and choke out the roses.

Who cares what Republicans have or have not accomplished? What have we done about it. We are responsible for putting away the food and weeding the garden; the rats and weeds are just a given. As democrats we are responsible for writing our own part in this play. Why do we keep writing such ineffective parts for ourselves? That's the question. What have the democrats accomplished, why have we failed in many cases, and are we in the process of repeating those failures?

you live , in many places the people may very well tell you it is hell , try new orleans or many of the small towns with a few corporations that closed who provided most of the towns jobs , try asking flint michigan .

If you happen to have a good job with insurance and a secure future and maybe your house is paid for then you might thing things are going quite well . It may not last as long as you might hope .

It's just not a matter of what the dems have not done it's mostly what the repubs have created that the dems my have slowed down but couldn't stop since they have been minimized and don't have control of the house or senate .

I am not in hell yet but it's getting very close , all i have to do is not find a job real soon then I can realize what street life is all about . I don't have a family that is capable of helping me out so i would be screwed .

If things remain on the stay the course attitude then it will truly be hell and it won't take as long as many people think they have . consider if the BCF starts up with Iran then what ? Anything is possible . Dems or progressives have to fight to hold onto anything these days . So hell , it very well may be close and for some they are there already . Others will find out if the situation continues to worsen .

America is not Darfur, but the lawlessness and desperation in NOLA after Katrina came close. America is not No. Korea, but there are still the poorest of the poor and the homeless here who are just as hungry as those who live there and are forced to eat grass to stay alive in their state of famine. America is not sub-Saharan Africa, but there are those here who are still doomed to die of AIDS because of the ignorance and unwillingness of their governments to provide the needed preventative care to stop AIDS soon. America is not India, but there are the poorest of the poor and the undocumented aliens here forced to work to make the rich's lives easier, just as the caste system still does in India... Some here are even considered "untouchable", as some are, there -- ask any homeless American. And, this is not Myanmar, but the Bush admininstration is not much better than the totalitarian regime there.

Here in the US today, there is proof of American's being forced off of voter rolls, denial of a liveable basic minimum wage, a disporportionate number of black males incarcerated and on death row, people being forced to order food in English or being denied that food, and so on... No, it isn't "hell" like some places on earth may be, but it is "hell" for those being forced into these situations here in the US. And, it is "hell" for those of us who would love their country to be something better for all our fellow citizens.

It's all in the eye of the beholder.

TC

I would say

USA isn't hell because we live good. Wow. How about the USA is hell because we're murdering people in their own country in an illegal war of aggression and invasion. That's pretty hellacious to me. But I live good, so fuck 'em!

and Iraq is hell. That is, if I believed in those terms.