Donald Trump has poisoned American culture - but the toxin was here all along

Odysseus · Feb 22, 2020

Donald Trump has poisoned American culture - but the toxin was here all along

So quitcha bitchin...?

Here is a good, truth-in-advertising political slogan: "How much money will it bring in?" That is also the question that Alexis de Tocqueville argued Americans use to ascertain the "value of everything in this world."

The almighty profit motive reins so steadfastly supreme in the world's wealthiest nation that children suffer brain damage from drinking water contaminated with high levels of lead, prison has become the leading institution for the mentally ill, and hundreds of thousands of Americans declare bankruptcy every year because they can't afford to pay their medical bills. Caring for the sick and nurturing children cannot compete with the twin gods of enrichment and consumption in what historian Walter McDougall called "a nation of hustlers." In the words of President Calvin Coolidge, "The business of America is business."

Even if life, liberty and the pursuit of hucksterism always formed the core of American culture, there has also existed an alternative America. It is the America we can discern in the speeches of Martin Luther King, the songs of Woody Guthrie and the social movements that have pressured the government to move toward the actualization of "liberty and justice for all." ...

It is only Donald Trump who has instructed Americans that civic virtue, concern for the public interest and personal ethics are, at best, delusions of the weak. One of Trump's more frightening political triumphs is that first as a candidate and then with the authority and influence of the presidency, he has exposed the idea of "American values" as a thin, easily penetrable veneer. What lies beneath that is exactly what Trump represents and advances with his every utterance and executive order – fidelity to the ancient maxim, "might makes right."

Mycroft · Feb 22, 2020

Odysseus said:
Donald Trump has poisoned American culture - but the toxin was here all along

So quitcha bitchin...?

Utter nonsense...but totally expected nonsense, coming from Salon.

Odysseus · Feb 22, 2020

Mycroft said:
Utter nonsense...but totally expected nonsense, coming from Salon.

Retorts like yours only serve to reinforce the article's main point.

3leftsdoo · Feb 22, 2020

Mycroft said:
Utter nonsense...but totally expected nonsense, coming from Salon.

As long as Trump bashing sells, it will be pimped...

CaughtInThe · Feb 22, 2020

i'm just glad that our New York City President has always respected other people during his life.

Perotista · Feb 22, 2020

Odysseus said:
Donald Trump has poisoned American culture - but the toxin was here all along

So quitcha bitchin...?

Trump is the result of something going on for the last couple, three to four decades. He's not the cause, but the result. It's the polarization, the ultra high partisanship that has been dividing us. It started slowly and then began to gain steam. A lot of it comes from the leaders of both parties. Their divide and conquer election strategy of pitting one group against another in order to try to attract their votes. Our election campaigns isn't about ideas, possible solutions to our problems, visions of where one wants to take the country. It's about digging up all the dirt possible, mud slinging, negative personal attack ads, it's about trying to get the voter to hate the other guy more than they hate you.

This poison as you describe it, has been a two way, two party highway. As long as political party is the most important aspect one has, the divide between us will only continue to grow. Blame Trump if you must, Republicans blame Obama, Democrats before Obama, blamed G.W. Bush and so on. Either we get back to campaigns with substance and stop all the negative attacks or else we might just end up in another civil war. Not over slavery, but over political ideology in which both parties views the other party as out to destroy this nation. Where the other party is this nations number enemy which the nation can only be saved by my party before the other destroys America.

Trump is the result of 30-40 of the above. Not the cause, the result.

Odysseus · Feb 22, 2020

Perotista said:
Trump is the result of something going on for the last couple, three to four decades. He's not the cause, but the result. It's the polarization, the ultra high partisanship that has been dividing us. It started slowly and then began to gain steam. A lot of it comes from the leaders of both parties. Their divide and conquer election strategy of pitting one group against another in order to try to attract their votes. Our election campaigns isn't about ideas, possible solutions to our problems, visions of where one wants to take the country. It's about digging up all the dirt possible, mud slinging, negative personal attack ads, it's about trying to get the voter to hate the other guy more than they hate you.

This poison as you describe it, has been a two way, two party highway. As long as political party is the most important aspect one has, the divide between us will only continue to grow. Blame Trump if you must, Republicans blame Obama, Democrats before Obama, blamed G.W. Bush and so on. Either we get back to campaigns with substance and stop all the negative attacks or else we might just end up in another civil war. Not over slavery, but over political ideology in which both parties views the other party as out to destroy this nation. Where the other party is this nations number enemy which the nation can only be saved by my party before the other destroys America.

Trump is the result of 30-40 of the above. Not the cause, the result.

Actually, that is not my description. It is the description of the author of the quoted and linked article. However, you also get the point of that article off. It doesn't seem to claim that the "poison" is the two-party system you describe. Rather, the article fairly clearly points the finger at the "Business of America is business" mentality, that puts dollar profits over all other values. Hence we get brain damaged kids from lead contaminated municipal water, etc.

To me what the article points out, if not directly, is not the evils of partisanship, but rather the evil of über narcissism, which puts personal gain over the interest of the community, the city, the country, the state, and the nation. Certainly one must look after one's own interest, but when that starts needlessly to damage the health and basic human rights of others, it's gone too far.

The question remains how best to put a damper on the generation and spread of such societal poison.

danielpalos · Feb 22, 2020

Odysseus said:
Donald Trump has poisoned American culture - but the toxin was here all along

So quitcha bitchin...?

We should blame our Senior Elders in the Senate. They voted for that to be ok in modern times.

Odysseus · Feb 22, 2020

danielpalos said:
We should blame our Senior Elders in the Senate. They voted for that to be ok in modern times.

Which "Senior Elders in the Senate"?

What did they vote for that allowed lead poisoning of children and other bad things?

danielpalos · Feb 23, 2020

Odysseus said:
Which "Senior Elders in the Senate"?

What did they vote for that allowed lead poisoning of children and other bad things?

All of them. They are our Senior Elders in the Senate. The Senate has the sole Power to try all impeachments to fix that ethical and moral Standard for modern times.

Donald Trump has poisoned American culture - but the toxin was here all along

Genius is where you find it.

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency