Reagan said it; do you agree?

[OldJourno]

"This nation has no mission of mediocrity. We were never meant to be second-best. The spirit that built our country was bold, not timid. It was a spirit of pride, confidence, and courage that we could do anything. Well, we still can."


My own feeling is that there are more than a few people who post here who don't think the U.S. is all that great, that there are better places.
Venezuela, for instance. Until it all turned to shit.
Anyway, I pretty much buy into what Ronald Reagan said in 1982.
Do you?

 

[BotanyBoy]

Fuck no, the USA is obviously just fine with mediocrity as long as everyone gets a warm fuzzy out of it.

Place is a fuckin breeding ground of failure and weakness.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Murica Fuck Yeah!

http://dailypicdump.com/media/20160804/technically-not-wrong-sign-americafuckyeah.jpg

 

[KingOrfeo]

"This nation has no mission . . ."

He should have ended it right there. Nations do not have missions.

 

[OldJourno]

I should add my own instincts tell me the Lit libs will be the first to disagree with Reagan and his love of this country. Early returns indicate I'm correct.

 

[Sean]

I should add my own instincts tell me the Lit libs will be the first to disagree with Reagan and his love of this country. Early returns indicate I'm correct.

Ronnie wouldn't stand a chance of winning a Republican primary these days.

 

[rocket_surgery]

Ronnie wouldn't stand a chance of winning a Republican primary these days.

That's what they said the first time.

 

[KingOrfeo]

That's what they said the first time.

Because in 1980 he appeared too conservative. Today he would appear too liberal.

 

[james_1957]

He should have ended it right there. Nations do not have missions.

I also told my team today to keep their heads up, because the remarkable work that they have done day in, day out -- often without a lot of fanfare, often without a lot of attention -- work in agencies, work in obscure areas of policy that make government run better and make it more responsive, and make it more efficient, and make it more service-friendly so that it's actually helping more people -- that remarkable work has left the next President with a stronger, better country than the one that existed eight years ago.

So win or lose in this election, that was always our mission. That was our mission from day one. And everyone on my team should be extraordinarily proud of everything that they have done, and so should all the Americans that I’ve had a chance to meet all across this country who do the hard work of building on that progress every single day. Teachers in schools, doctors in the ER clinic, small businesses putting their all into starting something up, making sure they're treating their employees well. All the important work that's done by moms and dads and families and congregations in every state. The work of perfecting this union.

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/11/09/president-obama-speaks-results-election

Of course, it took a long time to reach this day. One of the reasons I ran for this office was to make America a leader in this mission. And over the past eight years, we’ve done just that. In 2009, we salvaged a chaotic climate summit in Copenhagen, establishing the principle that all nations have a role to play in combating climate change. And at home, we led by example, with historic investments in growing industries like wind and solar that created a steady stream of new jobs. We set the first-ever nationwide standards to limit the amount of carbon pollution that power plants can dump into the air our children breathe. From the cars and trucks we drive to the homes and businesses in which we live and work, we’ve changed fundamentally the way we consume energy.

https://geneva.usmission.gov/2016/1...-for-bringing-the-paris-agreement-into-force/

But we can do so much more. Last year, Vice President Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer. Last month, he worked with this Congress to give scientists at the National Institutes of Health the strongest resources they’ve had in over a decade. Tonight, I’m announcing a new national effort to get it done. And because he’s gone to the mat for all of us, on so many issues over the past forty years, I’m putting Joe in charge of Mission Control. For the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the family we can still save, let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all.

https://medium.com/@ObamaWhiteHouse/president-obama-s-2016-state-of-the-union-address-7c06300f9726

 

[rocket_surgery]

Because in 1980 he appeared too conservative. Today he would appear too liberal.

Same difference. He was too far to one side and won it anyway. Everyone kept underestimating him. Sort of like another President who won despite being told there was no fucking way. Only difference between the two is Reagan was a great politician and President and Trump is Trump.

 

[KingOrfeo]

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/11/09/president-obama-speaks-results-election





https://geneva.usmission.gov/2016/1...-for-bringing-the-paris-agreement-into-force/






https://medium.com/@ObamaWhiteHouse/president-obama-s-2016-state-of-the-union-address-7c06300f9726

Administrations can take on missions, but nations do not have missions in any ontological sense.

 

[Emerson40]

https://68.media.tumblr.com/fc3e8b64971aa5de187f3608b2255665/tumblr_o8idb4mxRL1qz5q5lo1_400.jpg




If we’re talking pure numbers, there really isn’t anything to argue about when it comes to which administration oversaw this country in the shadiest manner. Reagan wins that hands down.



"By the end of his term, 138 Reagan administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations. In terms of number of officials involved, the record of his administration was the worst ever."


List of Reagan administration convictions.


Reagan administration scandals

 

[rocket_surgery]

Administrations can take on missions, but nations do not have missions in any ontological sense.

You know you don't have to take everything so literally. He can say the country has a mission without meaning there's an actual mission of some sort. I think most people got the meaning without a semantics argument.

 

[Sean]

You know you don't have to take everything so literally. He can say the country has a mission without meaning there's an actual mission of some sort. I think most people got the meaning without a semantics argument.

I thought his mission was giving arms to terrorists and dealing drugs?

 

[rocket_surgery]

https://68.media.tumblr.com/fc3e8b64971aa5de187f3608b2255665/tumblr_o8idb4mxRL1qz5q5lo1_400.jpg




If we’re talking pure numbers, there really isn’t anything to argue about when it comes to which administration oversaw this country in the shadiest manner. Reagan wins that hands down.



"By the end of his term, 138 Reagan administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations. In terms of number of officials involved, the record of his administration was the worst ever."


List of Reagan administration convictions.


Reagan administration scandals

I think there could be a good argument for it not being more shady but less competent when it comes to not getting caught. I don't believe for a second that Reagans administration was shadier than W's or Nixons or Kennedy's. Just sucked at covering ass. Trump will probably take the cake tho. His admin seems to suck at it all so far.

 

[rocket_surgery]

I thought his mission was giving arms to terrorists and dealing drugs?

I don't think that was in a speech. More of a Oval Office agreement or discussion in the basement when nobody is around sort of mission.

 

[doowdniw]

I thought his mission was giving arms to terrorists and dealing drugs?

Actually, that was Ollie's mission.

 

[BotanyBoy]

I should add my own instincts tell me the Lit libs will be the first to disagree with Reagan and his love of this country. Early returns indicate I'm correct.

As opposed to delusions of grandeur??

I love M'aricuh but I can't lie to myself about the fact that it's sliding down the shit chute like a greased up pig.

 

[KingOrfeo]

You know you don't have to take everything so literally. He can say the country has a mission without meaning there's an actual mission of some sort. I think most people got the meaning without a semantics argument.

No, no, it's not that simple -- too many conservatives, and I suspect Reagan of this, think the U.S. does have a mission in an ontological sense. It's all part of American Exceptionalist bullshit, the city-on-a-hill thing.

 

[KingOrfeo]

I don't believe for a second that Reagans administration was shadier than W's or Nixons or Kennedy's.

Kennedy's wasn't so shady if we leave sex matters aside.

 

[Hard_Rom]

Way back when in the old days it was easy. Vast numbers of immigrants pouring in with vast areas of cheap land for them to settle. America's heyday was just after the Civil War. It was still the New World.

Look at history. Countries, empires and regions rise and fall.

What does the US offer today which other countries do not? And don't go quoting places like Venezuela. Try what does the US offer that cannot be found in Australia, New Zealand, France, Denmark or other industrial and democratic nations.

What do ya got?

 

[KingOrfeo]

Way back when in the old days it was easy. Vast numbers of immigrants pouring in with vast areas of cheap land for them to settle. America's heyday was just after the Civil War. It was still the New World.

Look at history. Countries, empires and regions rise and fall.

What does the US offer today which other countries do not? And don't go quoting places like Venezuela. Try what does the US offer that cannot be found in Australia, New Zealand, France, Denmark or other industrial and democratic nations.

What do ya got?

BBQ. And don't give me any shit about Australia, barbie ain't BBQ.

 

[someoneyouknow]

You know what else Reagan said?

“We in the United States, above all, must remember that lesson, for we were founded as a nation of openness to people of all beliefs. And so we must remain. Our very unity has been strengthened by our pluralism. We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free, and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief.”​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfgxbGvW-7E

 

[domroger]

BBQ. And don't give me any shit about Australia, barbie ain't BBQ.

No it's better .

 

[BoyNextDoor]

"This nation has no mission of mediocrity. We were never meant to be second-best. The spirit that built our country was bold, not timid. It was a spirit of pride, confidence, and courage that we could do anything. Well, we still can."


My own feeling is that there are more than a few people who post here who don't think the U.S. is all that great, that there are better places.
Venezuela, for instance. Until it all turned to shit.
Anyway, I pretty much buy into what Ronald Reagan said in 1982.
Do you?

I never understood why America needs to be great "again". When did it stop?