When should we leave, when should we just give up and quit?

I've been thinking a lot about the state of the nation and about the way we as a nation treat each other. It's almost like we hate ourselves. The constant attacks on teachers, the attacks on minorities, all these new civil liberty assaults. But I think what disturbs me the most is that there is a segment of the population that seems to want this, and another which simply doesn't care. Some are basically brainwashed by the media and what have not, but it brings up an interesting question.

If we can't effect change, and we don't function as a cohesive nation, then what's the point? Why bother staying, why bother calling yourself an American? Why not simply quit, if the majority does not desire the assistance, if they want the pain, if they want to be treated like garbage? Can you help an addict who has yet to hit bottom? I don't want to give up, I want to stay and fight, but what is there to fight for? A people who become angry the the government is giving out free ice to a city that was hit by a hurricane? A people who rally to bash the teachers of their children? If I leave and the place collapses, should I feel guilt for not staying for the crash?

It feels like I'm in a run away car heading for the cliff, and I can see the cliff coming closer and closer but I'm still trying to decide if I want to try to save the person driving the car after repeatedly telling them about the cliff. Like I should pull them out of the car with me. Then there is the macho masculine side that says I must fight the man driving the car because it's your car too and you shouldn't give up what's yours without a fight.

So when is it time to give up and walk away, to let crazy take hold and let them crash themselves. They might not have the pride to ask for help after they fall, but right now the crazy is so strong that they don't think they even need it. Is it right to give up on your neighbors when they've shown how horribly stupid they all are?

another country in a better environment and financial situation, I would pack my bags tonight. Unfortunately that is not my reality.

Could you spend a month sleeping in your car, dump all possessions, and then emigrate? Or is it personal ties? I totally understand the personal ties, maybe you could all do the same thing and emigrate together?

...is because the exploited proletarian class believes they are temporally embarrassed millionaires".

-John Steinbeck.

people are going to have to RISE UP and dismiss this foolish idea of an "American Dream" where we are all rich. We will all be lucky to survive our current stupidity involving wars, pollution, nuclear crap everywhere, corporate fascism, etc as it is. Ugh.

after a forced 'early retirement'-a euphemism for -too old, we don't want to insure you etc...so ,for now,I'm collecting my SS and medicare ..for now??-

Working taxpayer for many years.I live lean now and volunteer w/efforts get these lowlifes out.I live in a VERY red area,and you're right -these people are stuck on

stubborn..Why do they think they will be exempted when we all will be treated like crap.They have bought into the con.

I'm in the minority and isolated here as I can't drive.I fight on behalf of my grown kids because it wouldn't feel right for me to give up and just

let the greedy sob's steal their future and lower our quality of life any more than they already have.We've lost enough.Will keep making noise and refuse

to let it continue,unchecked. If I've inconvenienced them in some way,or maybe just the fact that I'm still here-older ,alive, collecting my SS.

They do consider me a useless drain because I'm not working I should be dead,and if that p*sses off some Randian right winger, that is a reason

alone for me to keep going.

Please don't give up,we can't lose the good ones.

.We do have to take joy in some things, even though at times it can be a stretch.

When Americans first decided "individual greed was good"
(and certainly better and more-important than the collective
good) and that our government should be run by a clown/actor.

They also decided to believe in fairy tells about taxes and
revenues.

It's been all downhill since then.

Tesha

I admire that you're not questioning why things are the way they are. You're questioning your own reaction to it and whether you should try something else that might work.

This is the 5th and last stage of grief. When you accept that things are they way they are and decide what you're going to do about it.

http://grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/

The 5 stages of grief:

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross & David Kessler

Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance

***************

I say don't worry. Whatever you chose to do, you're on the right track.

When there's a tag on my toe. Until then, it's on.

Julie

Is it just yourself, and if it is, and everyone else around here WANTS to live like that, then if you fight isn't that selfishness on your part?

I used to say the same thing as you, that I would never give up trying to make this a better place. But why do the others even deserve it if they're not willing to even treat me and everyone around them like human beings deserving of compassion and social justice? The only alternative in such a situation is that if they will not change you have to remove them, which has serious ethical concerns and will likely leave you outnumbered with a tag on your toe on a metal slab.

And I don't care if others around me don't deserve it or whatever. There are countless excuses to stand down, mind your own business, quit the good fight, just worry about feathering one's own nest and you do a fine job of presenting some of them. Doesn't matter. There have always been people who stand against doing the right thing and there always will be. Yet there are those of us who continue to push on, working toward achieving what is right.

Tuck tail and run if you want, I'm in for the long haul.

Julie

people want to "effect change," and most of them will not get much of what they want (at any point). This includes before your mythical "crash," after it, and during it. That's how it works. There is a difference between what one wants and what one ever gets.

It's less physical than it is mental. It's simply the way we treat each other, the lack of tribal unity.

If your boat catches fire, you start thinking about when you have to cut your losses and try to swim for shore. When you can't see the shore, you'll cling to the burning wreckage for a mighty long time.

!

Revolutionary War, the Civil War (for the North) and both World Wars. I'm made of better stock than to run when the American Democracy that I inherited is threatened.

For some of us, the fight has just begun.