Is it broken, if so, how can it be fixed?

Most "great societies last around 200 years (background will be supplied if needed-Greece, Rome, G.Britian, Egypt ) + or - some.

Where is China?

Where is the US of A?

...or any other of your choice?

REMEMBER if it is fact, be prepared to defend it properly.
REMEMBER if it is opinion, state so share it knowing that we all have opinions that makes the equal.

Since this seems to be open country, let's avoid name calling, abusive generalities and vague inuendo?

So be fair to yourself and others? Respect your self and others who post in the sandpile? We are just a bunch of cats after all?

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The system (read both political parties) is completely broken and corrupt. Our founding fathers envisioned and the author of our constitution wrote of a "citizen legistature", but over time, we, the voters, have created career politicians. There is no solution to this problem other than sending all 535 members of the U S House of representatives and the U S Senate home to find jobs like the rest of us have.
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I just want their health insurance plan and pension.


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Elena, I guess we will disagree on this subject. First, there is no such thing as gay marriage. It is a misconstruction. Marriage has been a legal, religious, and metaphysical union between a man and woman (women). There have variants but the basic premise has been a union between two sexes. Why is that? The bible (of which I am not an expert or true believer) promotes marriage for procreation. Man turned marriage into a way of amassing political power among the elites and for passing the power down the line inside the family. In the United States the government got involved to treat all marriages equally. That is why the US forced Utah to outlaw polygamy before entry into the union. The powers that were wanted one definition that would apply to all states. Yes, it is true that some states outlawed interracial marriage (I have to point out that most of these states were democratically controlled southern states) and until the decade of the 80s the Supreme Court could find no reason to interfere with the functions of individual states. The US Constitution promises freedom of religion and there is part of the rub. How can the government promote a form of marriage that is an afront to a majority of the population? If gay marriage is to become law then decades of persuasion will have to be used and not radical protest. Does anyone think that having gay men in sexualized drag, kissing, and fondling in public do anything for their cause? I'm sure that most of us here don't mind watching lesbian women doing the above but men are dogs...
As for the charge that the GOP is responsible for their situation let me say that those afore mentioned "misogenation" states were (and many still are) controlled by the democratic party. There are gay republicans who act in a responsible, non-outlandish manner but the media and democratic party hound them out when they are discovered. The democratic party has housed gay men who have sex with little boys (Gerry Studds, MA), gay men who have participated in prostitution rings (Barney Frank, MA), NAMBLA supporters (Safe Learning Czar Jenkins), gay men would have endangered the public by putting unqualified lovers on the public payroll in positions of public safety (Jim McGreevy, Gov. NJ) and gay women (I didn't forget them) who have abused the public trust by using their position to coerce sexual partners (Janet Reno, AG and PA of Broward County, FL).
To conclude; gay marriage does not exist as an institution today anywhere in the world. Some Islamic countries would brutally kill any gay person they find (so why are gay people politically opposed to the war on terror, hmmmm) much less allow them to marry. Quiet, dignified persuasion would work better than in your face brute force.
Gay republicans are, for the most part, dignified people who want to preserve their privacy. Gay democrats are, for the most part, in your face, angry, people who will usurp your rights to advance their "rights".
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So how much is opinion, how much if fact?

How are laws made? Are they right or wrong, or just laws? Remember, try to seperate opinion and fact was you go?

Most "great societies last around 200 years (background will be supplied if needed-Greece, Rome, G.Britian, Egypt ) + or - some. Originally Posted by ss4699

Based on the above statement, the USA should have about 165 more years to go, as the "Great Society" was enacted by the administration of Lyndon Johnson in 1965.

Based on the above statement, the USA should have about 165 more years to go, as the "Great Society" was enacted by the administration of Lyndon Johnson in 1965. Originally Posted by fritz3552

Which is fact, which is opinion?

You can tell which faction is running the show by looking at it currency and how widely accepted it is. From Alexander-Roman Empire-British Empire-U.S. the rest or most of the world readily accepted each of these Empire's currencies. Until those in charge of printing or issuing the money become so irresponsible that the other countries soon look for a way out of the reserve currency or an adequate substitute. Many believe that our currency is created by the U.S. Government, but this is not the case as our nation's money creating ability was hijacked in 1913 by our nation's 10 richest bankers led by J.P. Morgan. In fact the 10 met at Morgan's private Jekyll Island and what emerged was the present day Federal Reserve. Our dollar index was at 120 a few years ago but now resides in the neighborhood of the low 70's, which means that the American people have lost roughly 40% of their purchasing power. You can't look at the price of a new T.V. or computer to figure the CPI, because they hedonically adjust these out to keep the inflation rate unrealistically low by this and other nation's slave labor wages. Instead look at the cost of things needed to live like food, gas, heating fuel or gas, electricity. I think this is why you are seeing such a rise in commodities such as oil, sugar, gold and silver etc. as the real money looks for alternatives to paper assets. So back to your question are we done, no one knows, but something has happened to our dollar. All fiat currencies have lasted only a short while, in the history of things. You can look at China B.C., Weimar Republic (20's-30's), British Pound (1700-1800), Argentine Dollar (2000) and Zimbabwe's collapse (current day) to list just a very few. So keep an eye on the dollar and that will answer your question. Not looking for any arguments just some random thoughts as I watch the football game today.

The Federal Reserve is a private organization (oohhh! Obama just got booed and heckled in MA) and not a government body. Last year they made about 45 billion dollars profit off of the American people. That is about a billion dollars more than Exxon made a couple of years ago that prompted so much hate and discontent. I would ask the Elena side of the argument; where are the protests? where is the congressional inquiry? where is the demand for accountability and a refund? This is not an attack on the left (though it may look like it) but I am worried about my country and it will take both sides to fix it. (I'm watching the Obama speech and watching a small boy being taken under escort from two men. I guess he is a dangerous radical.) This is what I'm afraid of. Our rights as well as our currency is under assault. This is neither right nor left but the result of years of experience. You don't raise taxes when the economy is bad. That is fact! You raise taxes when you want to slow the economy down as Nixon did (yes, he slowed the economy on purpose). For a moment Obama agreed with that fact when he was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly but what happened?

...so look at the information presented - facts you are unsure of? Ask the writer for verification. IF you know other facts that conflict or confirm, think about sharing.

Know which parts are opinion? If you have a different opinion, state what it is in a respectful way......not a personal attack.

Thanks for moving over here to a better playing field.

CuriousMe - first time I've seen your handle, welcome - what down is it?

Based on the above statement, the USA should have about 165 more years to go, as the "Great Society" was enacted by the administration of Lyndon Johnson in 1965. Originally Posted by fritz3552

'65 was a pretty good year fritz. Rather than THE Great Society, the timing for a great society would be from the begining of that countries emergency to a level of influence on the countries around them or around the world as a whole....first REVOLUTION 1776 did not make us great but made us a nation....but as the states....

However, the GREAT SOCIETY of Johnson started in 65. Tell us about it....who became great? Who got benefits? How were they paid for? Are those benefits still around? How did/does it effect the GMP? Families in America? And other segments of society in general?

'65 was a pretty good year fritz. Rather than THE Great Society, the timing for a great society would be from the begining of that countries emergency to a level of influence on the countries around them or around the world as a whole....first REVOLUTION 1776 did not make us great but made us a nation....but as the states....

However, the GREAT SOCIETY of Johnson started in 65. Tell us about it....who became great? Who got benefits? How were they paid for? Are those benefits still around? How did/does it effect the GMP? Families in America? And other segments of society in general? Originally Posted by ss4699

http://www.answers.com/topic/great-society

It wasn't that great...lighten up, please

http://www.answers.com/topic/great-society

It wasn't that great...lighten up, please Originally Posted by fritz3552

Fritz I did think it was supposed to be humorous.....but it was on topic and deserved a serious answer.....

The legacies of the Great Society
The War on Poverty
Interpretations of the War on Poverty remain controversial to American conservatives. The Office of Economic Opportunity was dismantled by the Nixon and Ford administrations, largely by transferring poverty programs to other government departments. Funding for many of these programs were further cut in President Ronald Reagan's first budget in 1981.

Alan Brinkley has suggested that "the gap between the expansive intentions of the War on Poverty and its relatively modest achievements fueled later conservative arguments that government is not an appropriate vehicle for solving social problems."[5] The poverty programs were heavily criticized by conservatives like Charles Murray, who denounced them in his 1984 book Losing Ground as being ineffective and creating an underclass of lazy citizens.[citation needed] One of Johnson's aides Joseph A. Califano, Jr. has countered that "from 1963 when Lyndon Johnson took office until 1970 as the impact of his Great Society programs were felt, the portion of Americans living below the poverty line dropped from 22.2 percent to 12.6 percent, the most dramatic decline over such a brief period in this century."[12] The percentage of African Americans below the poverty line dropped from 55 percent in 1960 to 27 percent in 1968.[13]

Conservative economist Thomas Sowell argues that the Great Society programs only contributed to the destruction of African American families, saying "the black family, which had survived centuries of slavery and discrimination, began rapidly disintegrating in the liberal welfare state that subsidized unwed pregnancy and changed welfare from an emergency rescue to a way of life." [14] Professor William L. Anderson also criticized the War on Poverty, noting the increase of dependency on the government as being harmful to the lower classes.[15]

Neoconservatives
Irving Kristol and other critics of Great Society programs founded a politics and culture journal The Public Interest in 1965. While most of these critics had been anti-communist liberals, their writings were skeptical of the perceived social engineering of the Great Society. Although retaining much of their big government attitude and interventionist philosophy, because of this opposition to a specific aspect of Liberalism, they came to refer to themselves as neo-conservatives.[16]

Environment
Joseph A. Califano, Jr. has suggested that Great Society's main contribution to the environment was an extension of protections beyond those aimed at the conservation of untouched resources.[12] Discussing his administration's environmental policies, Lyndon Johnson suggested that "[t]he air we breathe, our water, our soil and wildlife, are being blighted by poisons and chemicals which are the by-products of technology and industry. The society that receives the rewards of technology, must, as a cooperating whole, take responsibility for [their] control. To deal with these new problems will require a new conservation. We must not only protect the countryside and save it from destruction, we must restore what has been destroyed and salvage the beauty and charm of our cities. Our conservation must be not just the classic conservation of protection and development, but a creative conservation of restoration and innovation." At the behest of Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, the Great Society included several new environmental laws to protect air and water. Environmental legislation enacted included:

Clear Air, Water Quality and Clean Water Restoration Acts and Amendments
Wilderness Act of 1964,
Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966,
National Trails System Act of 1968,
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968,
Land and Water Conservation Act of 1965,
Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965,
Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act of 1965,
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966,
Aircraft Noise Abatement Act of 1968, and
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

Consumer protection
In 1964 Johnson named Assistant Secretary of Labor Esther Peterson to be the first presidential assistant for consumer affairs.

Cigarette Labeling Act of 1965 required packages to carry warning labels. Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 set standards through creation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Fair Packaging and Labeling Act requires products identify manufacturer, address, clearly mark quantity and servings. Statute also authorizes permits HEW and FTC to establish and define voluntary standard sizes. The original would have mandated uniform standards of size and weight for comparison shopping, but the final law only outlawed exaggerated size claims. Child Safety Act of 1966 prohibited any chemical so dangerous that no warning can make it safe. Flammable Fabrics Act of 1967 set standards for children's sleepwear, but not baby blankets. Wholesome Meat Act of 1967 required inspection of meat which must meet federal standards. Truth-in-Lending Act of 1968 required lenders and credit providers to disclose the full cost of finance charges in both dollars and annual percentage rates, on installment loan and sales. Wholesome Poultry Products Act of 1968 required inspection of poultry which must meet federal standards. Land Sales Disclosure Act of 1968 provided safeguards against fraudulent practices in the sale of land. Radiation Safety Act of 1968 provided standards and recalls for defective electronic products.

Transportation
The most sweeping reorganization of the federal government since the National Security Act of 1947 was the consolidation of transportation agencies into a cabinet-level Department of Transportation.[11] The department was authorized by Congress on October 15, 1966 and began operations on April 1, 1967. The Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 provided $375 million for large-scale urban public or private rail projects in the form of matching funds to cities and states and created the Urban Mass Transit Administration (now the Federal Transit Administration). The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 and the Highway Safety Act of 1966 were enacted, largely as a result of Ralph Nader's book Unsafe at Any Speed.

Medicare
The Social Security Act of 1965 authorized Medicare and provided federal funding for many of the medical costs of older Americans.[7] The legislation overcame the bitter resistance, particularly from the American Medical Association, to the idea of publicly-funded health care or "socialized medicine" by making its benefits available to everyone over sixty-five, regardless of need, and by linking payments to the existing private insurance system.

Medicaid
In 1966 welfare recipients of all ages received medical care through the Medicaid program. Medicaid was created on July 30, 1965 through Title XIX of the Social Security Act. Each state administers its own Medicaid program while the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) monitors the state-run programs and establishes requirements for service delivery, quality, funding, and eligibility standards.

War on Poverty
The most ambitious and controversial part of the Great Society was its initiative to end poverty. The Kennedy Administration had been contemplating a federal effort against poverty. Johnson, who as a teacher had observed extreme poverty in Texas among Mexican-Americans, launched an "unconditional war on poverty" in the first months of his presidency with the goal of eliminating hunger and deprivation from American life. The centerpiece of the War on Poverty was the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which created an Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to oversee a variety of community-based antipoverty programs. The OEO reflected a fragile consensus among policymakers that the best way to deal with poverty was not simply to raise the incomes of the poor but to help them better themselves through education, job training, and community development. Central to its mission was the idea of "community action," the participation of the poor in framing and administering the programs designed to help them.

The War on Poverty began with a $1 billion appropriation in 1964 and spent another $2 billion in the following two years. It spawned dozens of programs, among them the Job Corps, whose purpose was to help disadvantaged youth develop marketable skills; the Neighborhood Youth Corps, established to give poor urban youths work experience and to encourage them to stay in school; Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), a domestic version of the Peace Corps, which placed concerned citizens with community-based agencies to work towards empowerment of the poor; the Model Cities Program for urban redevelopment; Upward Bound, which assisted poor high school students entering college; legal services for the poor; the Food Stamps program; the Community Action Program, which initiated local Community Action Agencies charged with helping the poor become self-sufficient; and Project Head Start, which offered preschool education for poor children.

Education
The most important educational component of the Great Society was the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, designed by Commissioner of Education Francis Keppel. It was signed into law on April 11, 1965, less than three months after it was introduced. It ended a long-standing political taboo by providing significant federal aid to public education, initially allotting more than $1 billion to help schools purchase materials and start special education programs to schools with a high concentration of low-income children. The Act established Head Start, which had originally been started by the Office of Economic Opportunity as an eight-week summer program, as a permanent program.

The Higher Education Act of 1965 increased federal money given to universities, created scholarships and low-interest loans for students, and established a National Teachers Corps to provide teachers to poverty stricken areas of the United States. It began a transition from federally funded institutional assistance to individual student aid.

The Bilingual Education Act of 1968 offered federal aid to local school districts in assisting them to address the needs of children with limited English-speaking ability until it expired in 2002

Civil rights
Historian Alan Brinkley has suggested that the most important domestic achievement of the Great Society may have been its success in translating some of the demands of the civil rights movement into law.[5] Four civil rights acts were passed, including three laws in the first two years of Johnson's presidency. The Civil Rights Act of 1964[3] forbade job discrimination and the segregation of public accommodations. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 assured minority registration and voting. It suspended use of literacy or other voter-qualification tests that had sometimes served to keep African-Americans off voting lists and provided for federal court lawsuits to stop discriminatory poll taxes. It also reinforced the Civil Rights Act of 1964[3] by authorizing the appointment of federal voting examiners in areas that did not meet voter-participation requirements. The Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965 abolished the national-origin quotas in immigration law. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 banned housing discrimination and extended constitutional protections to Native Americans on reservations.

War on Poverty
The most ambitious and controversial part of the Great Society was its initiative to end poverty. The Kennedy Administration had been contemplating a federal effort against poverty. Johnson, who as a teacher had observed extreme poverty in Texas among Mexican-Americans, launched an "unconditional war on poverty" in the first months of his presidency with the goal of eliminating hunger and deprivation from American life. The centerpiece of the War on Poverty was the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which created an Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to oversee a variety of community-based antipoverty programs. The OEO reflected a fragile consensus among policymakers that the best way to deal with poverty was not simply to raise the incomes of the poor but to help them better themselves through education, job training, and community development. Central to its mission was the idea of "community action," the participation of the poor in framing and administering the programs designed to help them.

The War on Poverty began with a $1 billion appropriation in 1964 and spent another $2 billion in the following two years. It spawned dozens of programs, among them the Job Corps, whose purpose was to help disadvantaged youth develop marketable skills; the Neighborhood Youth Corps, established to give poor urban youths work experience and to encourage them to stay in school; Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), a domestic version of the Peace Corps, which placed concerned citizens with community-based agencies to work towards empowerment of the poor; the Model Cities Program for urban redevelopment; Upward Bound, which assisted poor high school students entering college; legal services for the poor; the Food Stamps program; the Community Action Program, which initiated local Community Action Agencies charged with helping the poor become self-sufficient; and Project Head Start, which offered preschool education for poor children.
Economic and social conditions
Unlike the New Deal, which was a response to a severe financial and economic calamity, the Great Society initiatives came just as the United States' post-war prosperity was starting to fade, but before the coming decline was being felt by the middle and upper classes. President Kennedy proposed a tax cut lowering the top marginal rate by 20%, from 91% to 71%, which was enacted in February 1964 (three months after Kennedy's assassination) by Lyndon Johnson. Gross National Product rose 10% in the first year of the tax cut, and economic growth averaged a rate of 4.5% from 1961 to 1968. Disposable personal income rose 15% in 1966 alone. Federal revenues increased dramatically from $94 billion in 1961 to $150 billion in 1967. As the Baby Boom generation aged, two and a half times more Americans would enter the labor force between 1965 and 1980 than had between 1950 and 1965.

Grave social crises confronted the nation. Racial segregation persisted throughout the South. The Civil Rights Movement was gathering momentum, and in 1964 urban riots began within black neighborhoods in New York City and Los Angeles; by 1968 hundreds of cities had major riots that caused a severe conservative political backlash. Foreign affairs were generally quiet except for the Vietnam War, which escalated from limited involvement in 1963 to a large-scale military operation in 1968 that soon overshadowed the Great Society.

Hey SS did you make MOD? If so congrates.

Hey SS did you make MOD? If so congrates. Originally Posted by dirty dog

Naw DD, just another member. But I did find out in PM that the supermods rarely lock threads here and since the staff was really short, I have offered some suggestions on previous threads here and the main board. The "what would" thread was having a real problem staying on topic, so I started an alternate thread to try and help.

I think the topics being discussed are/were important for where this country is now. And I "host" any thread I open.

So is this place ready for change>

SS; don't have time to read the whole thing right now but did you mention how LBJ hid the deficit by adding the Social Security "lockbox" to the general funds to offset the cost of the Vietnam War?

SS; don't have time to read the whole thing right now but did you mention how LBJ hid the deficit by adding the Social Security "lockbox" to the general funds to offset the cost of the Vietnam War? Originally Posted by john_galt

Nope, that was part of Johnsonism rather that the Great I think (opinion). And I still have questions on Kennedy and Dallas and Johnson. I have seen the book depository and that window and the grassy knowl and the....there is no way to make that shot...

Nam was a whole different box. We had a thread on war as a "political tool". I mentioned the number of death of americans as a matter of "policy", from the 1776 original to Iraq. And of course "we" are still sacrificing boys and girls to the war gods...but that is a different thread. That was on Area69 I think, long time ago....
But it does fit this thread now that I think about it.

Iraq, Iran, Afgan, why are we there? Profits for the war groups, stopping terror, helping the people? Should we stay? Just more VietNams to drain out hearts and minds?

Nope, that was part of Johnsonism rather that the Great I think (opinion). And I still have questions on Kennedy and Dallas and Johnson. I have seen the book depository and that window and the grassy knowl and the....there is no way to make that shot... Originally Posted by ss4699

Oswald never fired a shot, Kennedy was killed because of his brothers attack on the Mafia. Sam Gianncana, Santo Trafficanti and Carlos Marcella worked with members of the government still angry about the bay of pigs. All three godfathers were directly attacked by Kennedy who went so far as to have the FBI kidnap Marcella and drop him off in the costa rican jungle with only his suit and his alligater shoes. Add in the Kennedys fucking Joe Dimaggio's (the most popular and loved Italian sports star of his time) wife and then Kennedy turning his back on Frank Sinatra who was a very close friend of Giancanna and you have making of a Presidential assassination. Why John and not Bobby, well you kill John so Bobby has to live with the fact his actions caused it, knowing who did it but not being able to prove it. Thats why Oswald was killed he was the only one who had not taken the oath of Omerta, and most likely to talk. Trafficanti lived in Cuba until Castro took over, he was able to find and lure Oswald into the deal because of Oswalds pro Castro stance and associations. I dont think Oswald even knew what was going on, he thought he was involved in a pro castro cause. Ruby worked for Marcella, his bar was paid for by Marcello. Ruby volunteered to take care of Oswald because he knew he was dying of cancer and by doing so his family would be taken care of. Anyway, there is a lot of interesting information out there for those who are interested.