the right fails to realize that our transportation model does not work in the world they envision. If they had it their way every employee would be on immediate call but only paid after they had checked in and reached their work station. They would be provided with absolutely no health or retirement benefits. Of course they would be paid just enough to keep them alive. You throw all this in the need to maintain a capital asset like a car with its operating expenses. The model just doesn't work.

goes to hell, because it surely will at this rate.

"We don't need no stinkin' plan!"

There IS no plan other than tear down everything positive program that exists to better the lives of the majority of Americans so as to favor the 1%.

by electric cars and the transportation-on-demand industry with companies like Uber.

Check out Tony Seba's videos on YouTube, for example, this one:

He does a really good job of explaining all of it.

the fewer people who are driving their cars. Have to keep the fossil fuel industries profitable, you know!

transit hurts Big Oil.. never mind it's killing the Planet.

Greedy monsters at every turn

I live within walking distance (about a mile) from public transportation, but it takes a long time to get anywhere I want to go.

Transportation in Los Angeles is a big problem in my opinion. We have very little public transportation for a city our size if you think of Paris or Vienna or London.

But the public transport options in Houston are downright embarrassing.

what's the argument against mass transit in Wyoming?

But I do know you need a certain population density to pay for the buses and/or trains. You need enough people going from similar places to similar places before it becomes economical, and I just don't think most of the state is anywhere close to that. Also, when you get that rural, an awful lot of the population basically works out of their truck. Those farmers and ranchers need welding gear, weapons for pest control, tools for fence repair, etc., and it's not reasonable to expect them to walk around with all that stuff. Also, having lived 40 miles from the nearest supermarket, I can tell you that trips "into town" don't happen every day and involve buying more stuff than you can comfortably carry on your person, never mind the refrigerated/frozen food on that kind of bus trip. If you build it, they won't come, and I understand why. Having a bus rumble around with a couple of people in it rather than a pickup with a couple of people in it doesn't strike me as an ecological win.

Sure, a couple of the cities (especially college towns) may have a few routes. Cheyenne (largest city in the state) has six bus routes operating half of six days a week, for example, which is actually not bad for a city of 60k. And I don't know whether those cities all have a mobility shuttle for the disabled, but that's always defensible almost regardless of cost. But comprehensive public transport just won't work in that kind of population density.

I thought it was something along those lines, but wasn't sure.

As for mobility services for people with disabilities, under the ADA any government entity that provides mass transit for the general population has to provide some similar service to people with disabilities. And I think all mass transit buses manufactured now are wheelchair accessible (have floors that lower and ramps that extend).

Of course, now that the Republicans are on the verge, for all intents and purposes, of repealing the ADA, this may change.

Thanks again for the thoughtful response.

That we don't have bus routes anywhere near my house, yet you can get a disabled courtesy van operated by the county. It's a PITA to set up, and it's a long way from perfect, but it does let disabled people get out of the house if they're willing to jump through enough hoops. Because of this, I tend to view disabled mobility services as having a lower threshold, and being independent of, actual bus service. I occasionally become aware that this is not as widespread as I think it is. But if I ran the world, I'd have disabled mobility vans even in places I couldn't justify bus services.

Most English language bibles are derived from, or draw from the work done by, the King James version, which was created by the equivalent of a hedge fund billionaire.

On a more serious note, the idea that god rewards the saved, “the elect”, in this world has its roots in the Calvinist branch of Protestantism, and has a long history in this country.

Had little to do with theology. It’s goal was to rewrite the Bible to bring Christian doctrine in line with blind acceptance of the Divine Right of Kings to rule their subjects, and for those subjects to obey the state/king as part of their Christian duty.

But I reject the no true Scotsman argument that this is somehow not “true Christianity”.

KJ was rejecting the Latin bible of the RCC, which kept the book out of the hands of the people, and whose institution elevated the pope over the rulers of Europe.

The point was that this is not new.

We have so many things ass-backwards here.

Like the belief that health care is a privilege that has to be earned, and that more guns keep us free and safe.

Mind boggling, isn't it?

If things continue on their current trajectory, I fear we are headed toward 3rd world status. It won't take as long as people think.

3rd world in nature. Think about it. We must all band together in strength, to overcome the mob.

I think this administration is trying to spread that kind of deprivation throughout the land. They want us desperate and poor so they can control us.

we are the MOST backward.

WE ARE NUMBER ONE!!!!

USA USA USA

Can we have a parade now?

To celebrate our Dear Leader who has brought us to the brink of obsolescence.

Etc.
Not one of those things do I
just not understand compared to the rest of the world

I do understand that dont should be don't in an article headline

This "all Americans" crap gets old. There are 300M plus Americans, 300M plus individuals. We are not all the same.

Any given group of humans will have its share of stupid assholes.

Here's a heart in way of thanks.

copy and paste this: don't
into the subject ( "Reply title" ) of a post and see what you get.

And yeah the article was referring to 100% of Americans. No exceptions. Only a dullard would think that an article speaking to the prevailing attitudes of a large group of people would contain exceptions. SO obviously the article is wrong and must be disregarded. Thanks.

would we have become a world leader in the first place? Like in almost everything else, a major factor in this is that we're leading the world in experiencing the inimical effects of enormous wealth concentrated in the hands of a few hundred troublemaking, knuckledragging centimillionaires and billionaires.

Btw, what's the relation between large size, widespread population dispersal, and relative geographic isolation of nation (with very extensive, well established air and road travel) and adoption of high-speed rail? Religious anti-government whackadoodles aren't the only reason we haven't lead in this, just a major one.

They must have meant "Murikans."

Typo?

At least, among us DUers, that the "We" refers to 'Muricans"

But I don't know if the rest of the world gets that the majority here in the USA don't all think like those 'Muricans' that always grab the headlines.

We get it, but most republicans do not.

Using the blanket “American” in these cases does two things: It helps convince the English speaking non-US world we’re all ignorant. It helps convince the “Americans” who hold those views that those that Americans who disagree aren’t Americans.

thanks

I plan to share it with friends. I especially appreciate #'s 3 and 7.

When I was younger Kansas passed "right-to-work" (silly ass name if you ask me) legislation, and our parish priest preached about how such laws were immoral. I was too young to understand why, but I remember it vividly, although I had no idea of the implications at the time.

Also, although no one else seems to remember this, not too long ago one of the major protestant denominations (Southern Baptist?) or one of the grifter/preachers on tv was appalled to learn that King James was gay, and frantically tried to remove that version, the subject of Bible-olatry to some, from use.

A good read and a great way to start the weekend!

If I may quote President Obama: "I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being."

He was a special president.

I think you are leaving out the context, as well as the rest of the quote. He went on to say he believed in it the same way a Frenchman believed in French exceptionalism, or an Italian believed in Italian exceptionalism.

He was speaking at West Point, giving the commencement address.

By the way, this Alternet article was originally published in 2015 when Obama was president.

He was speaking at a commencement address during the middle of his second term as president.

to be a certain way . he has had to hold back on telling the truth about many things. he was more open later on and currently but we saw what happened when he made the comments about certain people clinging to their guns and how cops unfairly target black and hispanic men.

His definition of what that phrase means to him was well explicated.

Too many folks in the Northeast forget how large some of our metro areas really are.

This is the outline of Connecticut imposed over the Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex.

Where I live mass transit just wouldn't work.
One reason it works so well in other countries is that their communities have been around for CENTURIES. So in the very beginning they lived more condensed. As they grew larger it became easier to incorporate transit.
Here in the US, expanding frontiers was the name of the game. In the older "first cities", there IS transit. But places like Atlanta do have a long way to go to grasp the concept.

Then you have the ideas like the high speed rail from Orlando to Tampa. Well, a rail line only makes sense if there is good transit at both ends of the line. In Floridas case, theres not. So it would be a waste of billions to build it!

comparison. I know that there are some Texas counties which are bigger than some states.

But as it had evolved in this nation it undermined democracy, since union leadership bought legislators wholesale. Public sector unions, which is really about the only meaningful unionization remaining, is particularly pernicious at this, since union wage and work rule negotiations occur between union leaders and politicians. The power of public sector union leaders over legislators is phenomenal.

I recall a San Diego "town hall" meeting at which the leader of the local SEIU said to the mayor, "We put you in office and we can take you out." It was not really an empty threat, and the mayor knew it.

Many here will blast you for it, but its the truth. The public sector/govt unions in the past have generally gotten pretty much whatever they wanted because of weak politicians and the fact that tax money isnt looked at like corporate money. While I believe every employee should be able to earn a retirement, some of the rules are easily gamed for huge lifetime payouts.

I was a member of the IBEW for several years after I got out of the Navy, and then later was a member of the Teamsters when I worked in a steel plant for a dozen years or so. I am a big fan of the aspect of unionism which is collective bargaining, even when it is done by a gang of guys at the gate carrying axe handles. (Something that I have participated in, by the way.)

What I am not a fan of is a union organized such that elected leaders become non-working business managers for the union, and sit around in offices wearing suits to engage in "lobbying," that is to say spreading union members' money around to bribe legislators.

With most of the world's industrial base still being either rebuilt, relocated, or retooled after World War II, the US could have dominated running the feudal system. It was a high-water mark due to a unique situation, and we don't have to be fans of 70 hour weeks for low pay and a chance of death and dismemberment to say that. It's just not my favorite yardstick, and I see it a lot in pro-union arguments.

for 5+ yrs, I know all of these things but telling an American our way is backwards or wrong just cuts into their conservative little brains. Most of the conservatives I know don't own a passport and have never left the country. Have never visited Mexico or Canada, our closest neighbors.

It makes it very difficult to make friends in America if you know these things after living abroad. I think the % is about 10% of Americans have ever lived abroad. Try finding friends in that %. ugh. I really wonder if my spouse and I should just go back and live in Europe.

I lived in Vienna for a semester, but have been back to Europe many times and I just love it there. I felt so much more at home over there than I do here most of the time and it's mostly due to how people think about politics and the world. I just feel like this country is so shallow and pre-occupied with ridiculous things. If I could work it out, I would definitely move back.

lived in Germany from 07-09 and Switzerland from '14 to March of last year. He's still there. He's trying to find a job here again but there are moments when I wonder if I should sell everything and go back there. I came back last march to take care of the house and put it up for sale for his next transfer. I hope it comes soon as I miss him so much and I don't really care to live alone anymore. sniff.

I never made it to Vienna. The furthest east I ever got was Zurich or Munich.

being since I don't see things getting any better here for a while. I don't know what your husband does, but if he can get transferred to someplace else in the EU, that might be the best thing for now and then you could go back with him. BTW, Vienna is a lovely, very livable city. One of the highest standards of living in the world. There are definitely worse places you could end up. Good luck and I hope you are together again soon, wherever that may be!

I hope it ends soon. I have a feeling it will and since he's a British citizen we've thought of the UK but the weather there would affect my health. That's another reason I moved back to get healthy again. It's been a roller coaster of emotions and I really appreciate your kind words. When hubby got transferred there, we were going to stay forever but they didn't pay him enough and we could barely afford to survive in Switzerland (so expensive there and he wasn't happy) so it caused a lot of problems between us. We've overcome that now and hope that he can get transferred to CA so that we can finally live in a blue state and not a red state.

I'm been a bit involved in the Indivisible group here and they give me hope for the future. I live in Tucson now.

California is a great state as far as politics and weather goes (as long as you are on the coast, not inland - especially the SF or LA area).
Massachusetts is great as well, but the weather might be a little extreme for your health. Anyway, I hope everything works out in your favor!

His company is also located in SF so that could be our next destination. I'd love to live in San Diego (my grandparents lived out there when I was young and I loved it then) but we'll see. He's applied for a job outside of the company and they are also worldwide so who knows? I love Boston and lived in NH on Winnipesaukee for a couple of years back before 2000. Thanks!

Sorry to say I'm in the middle of Kansas, an appallingly red state.

But my "librul" friends are strong and determined, and we persist even in the face of assholism unparalleled anywhere...

Americans don't get it.

It is a distraction to discuss the error, but the error is there and while it may be small, it still redirects focus.

Media redirects people focus. It is what they do. Media has learned how to tug at your heart strings in a movie and make you desire to wash your clothes with Tide.

Sure some people's minds are strong enough to think critically and realize that you don't need Tide, when others will do the same job for less, however, if the shift is great enough, the competition will perish due to loss of sales and Tide will end up the only choice.

The damage is done. DJT is president and it sucks and everyday the dismantling is getting harder and harder to reverse. The people at the top are treading very carefully right now because they realize that they have created a tipping point scenario and if you run the numbers, it could tip either way, left or right. Peacefully or violently. There are no other options in my opinion.

I am just an retired old fart IT guy, people in Washington and the beltway are the only saving grace. We the people have lost all power because We the People have been manipulated and divided by the very people who say they are on our side, when actually they are only protecting their own little world. Their only little gravy train. The very rich and powerful, whether they are d or r. The few with so much.

Either Congress gets off their ass and starts working together to save the democracy or we sit back and watch the next couple months unfold like a fugging nightmare. As long as they have the money and the power, it does nothing.

And we need paper ballots for all elections and hand counting. Might take longer, but people will get employed and the count will be verifiable and we might just get some real good people elected.
<rant off>

My opinions...happy valentines week all. My rant is done...sorry if I rambled, I am sure I got it all wrong and feel free to correct me in my old age, lol.

Peace

Righteous rant!

I normally just read nowadays and don't post much.

I prefer to sit by my pond with my ducklings and look at clouds. To much insanity for me to process anymore.

Have a wonderful day.

Peace

Seems like someone gave me a heart...heading out to find a tin man who needs one. Turning the virtual into the real. Going to go spread some love.

Have a great day at the pond with the ducklings. It sounds wonderful! If you can, pay it forward and find someone who is heartless to pass it on to. I'll warn you, it is kind of addicting.

This is not a good article. It says "Americans" instead of "trump voters" or "republicans".

I think, in general, the majority of people on DU:

1. Want universal healthcare
2. Think sex education that talks about safety and prevention is a good thing.
3. Believe that while we don't always get it right, there are good people in this country doing good things.
4. Have no problem with mass transit and might even like it.
5. If you take the bible seriously, interpret it a little differently than some of your fellows.
6. Might even know two languages, particularly if you went through college. Either way, you're probably as impressed as I am any time someone knows more than one language (I couldn't do it.. and I'm terribly impressed by people who did)
7. Believe in unions.
8. Think women, at the least, should be able to rest and be home with their newborn babies. Some of you may even believe in leave for both parents.
9. Are frightened by oligarchies and wish we could get rid of ours.

By saying this article is good, you say you are exactly what they said all Americans are.

There are people who act/believe as they say, but they aren't even in the majority.

who look down upon education and public works. I would think that the vast majority of DU visitors do not share this ass backward thinking. I do think, however, that when expressing opinions most posters understand that they are not preaching to DUers but commenting about those aspects of society most closely aligned with the right wing. I doubt seriously and RW tool would be visiting this site unless it’s a bot. Personally I think we all presume that the vast majority of visitors to this site share many of the same values and our gripes about Trump voters and the right are about them and not us. Just a thought.

where if you don't recognize yourself as being the type of person being described, you don't get offended. I'm sorry, but it just seems to be true.

I think it's pretty obvious that we aren't all that ignorant, but on the whole, many Americans, mostly republicans, are like this. I don't know why people get so touchy about articles like this. Yes, they are generalizing, but there is a core of truth to it. If it doesn't apply to you, you shouldn't be offended.

at everything that they fail to see that we are actually sliding backwards. For most Americans who work it’s a struggle to live paycheck to paycheck. Education, health insurance and transportation used to be not for profit endeavors and our country thrived. Privatization and cronony capitalism has eroded the our quality of life. Government no longer serves the interests of the population at large. A few get wealthy and enjoy the benefits while the rest of the middle class fights for crumbs. As technology and innovation rapidly disrupts and reorders our society many will be left behind because of our institutions failure to prepare people for the future. And yes, the anti-intellectualism and theology of the right-wing and it’s media megaphone will continue to to foster the ideas that education is bad, free healthcare is a handout instead of a right and tolerance of other cultures is anti-American. rights.

1. Universal Healthcare Is Great for Free Enterprise and Great for Small Businesses
As I see it, the reason that the Koch and Mercer backed GOP wouldn't want any type of Universal Healthcare is that people would actually begin to start their own business and would no longer be available to exploit in the cheap labor pool. They see good healthcare for common people as a threat to their power and money.

2. Comprehensive Sex Education Decreases Sexual Problems
Again, the Koch and Mercer backed GOP see preventing teen pregnancy as a threat to their cheap labor pool. It's a plus that they disguise this as a moral issue through the twisted use of the bible in American Christianity. The Evangelical Taliban are only too happy to agree with this.

3. American Exceptionalism Is Absolute Nonsense
The constant chanting "USA, USA, USA", give a good insight to the mindset that the US is better than everybody else. This kind of thought is strengthen through all the sports in this country in that 'Our team is better than your team' and 'Our school is better than your school' and Our city is better than your city' and so on. Everything is a game here from employment to Wall Street to religion to politics and even war. The prison complex and the rabid homelessness serve as an example of what happens to 'losers' and as a stark reminder that 'living conditions can get much worse so stay in line.'

4. Adequate Mass Transit Is a Huge Convenience
In the Koch and Mercer backed GOP world the easy access of the masses to good transportation is a threat as they could mobilize to attend protests, spread news, stay in touch with like-minded people, and oppose the horrible country killing policies they wish upon us all. Also, the common man may find better opportunities elsewhere and deprive one of the wealthy 1% another worker they can exploit.

5. The Bible Was Not Written by Billionaire Hedge Fund Managers
The prosperity gospel has got to be the most evil twisting of the Gospels and the all the messages that Christ himself died explaining. Not only does this teaching negate everything all the prophets and messengers stated throughout the Judaic-Christian teachings, people who actually understand what is written in these books shake their heads in disbelief at the American Christianity which invented this justification of excess wealth belonging to these con-man 'pastors'. Personally, I can't believe that the common American can fall for this so easily.

6. Learning a Second or Third Language Is a Plus, Not a Character Flaw
That some Americans are so stupid as to confuse the Latin language spoken in ancient Rome with Latin-American countries speaks volumes here. The Koch and Mercer backed GOP are working hard to make anyone who speaks another language other than English as being suspect, illegal, rapists, drug pushers, etc... This helps reinforce the idea that the USA is better than everybody else in the world.

7. Union Membership Benefits the Economy
The wealthy 1% view unions as a direct threat to their cheap labor pool. This is why we have seen as rise in the so-called 'right to work' states which should really be called 'right to live on starvation wages'.

8. Paid Maternity Leave Is the Norm in Most Developed Countries
Another threat to the wealthy 1% and their cheap labor pool. Also, the alignment of the Koch and Mercer backed GOP with the evangelical form of American Christianity don't like the idea that women work let alone get paid maternity leave.

9. Distrust of Oligarchy Is a Positive
The threat of a major industry pulling out of an area is a great incentive for a local government to provide a form of welfare to prevent a corporation from moving. A lot of the American people are finally starting to wake up and see who is holding the stick that is beating them. I only pray it is not too late.

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear."

[Special Message to the Congress on the Internal Security of the United States, August 8, 1950]”
― Harry Truman

I had no career plans for govt., and French isn't anything like a necessity here on the West Coast, but she did have a career plan that required it. She was an anglophone, obviously, but was fluent enough in French that she studied at a French university for a year. Finished first in her class, as was common for her.

She felt she had met a comeuppance when she did her Master's at Oxford, though. There, it was an everyday thing to speak to people fluent in 3, 4, or even 5 languages. Feeling like a country bumpkin because you know only two, however perfectly, has to be deflating.

speak another, or more than one, foreign languages fluently. I would think it would be something to be admired, but Trump voters see it as akin to treason.

For one thing, with our crime rate, there is a case against mass transit - you have to interact too much with a potentially violent public.

I was pleasantly surprised when my morning train in Germany filled up with school kids. It made me realize that we have a huge mass transit system in this country with thousands of buses, but it is only used for kids. We would not consider it safe for kids to ride with adults. Considering the stories I have heard about school buses, they often were dangerous places, loaded with violent bullies.

Learning a second language in America makes far less sense than it does in the Netherlands or Scandahoovia. The Netherlands is a tiny country you can jog across in about two hours. It is only 513 kilometers (whatever that means) from Amsterdam to Paris and only 877 cubits from Amsterdam to Prague. (Which is another huge reason they can have a continent wide system of mass transit - it is a small continent tightly packed with people.)

America on the other hand is yuge, perhaps even hugh or Hugh Mungus. It is over 700 miles just from Kansas City to Austin. That's over 1100 jigowatts. Americans can drive for days and still be around English speakers. We are separated from foreign countries (and their languages) by two huge oceans. If they take the trouble, as I did, to learn Deutsch, where the heck are they supposed to use that? It is a long flight to get to any other German speakers. (Except in Wisconsin where my dad's cousin had a German club at the nursing home where her dad lived.)

And Latin actually would be more useful in Latin America since their languages are Latin based Te amo.

"There isn't room to swing a cat without sending it through customs."

so this seems like the American sterotype