General Discussion

We're not the shining city on the hill and never have been, and, contrary to what so many of our favorite politicians keep telling us every time we fuck up, we're not "better than this." We're just people, not special, no more honorable or decent or enlightened than any other people. We have - or had - an innovative government structure with great potential, and sometimes it worked pretty well, but despite attempts at checks and balances those measures were never enough to prevent corruption or abuse. And amid all our arrogant chest-beating about being the best in the world at everything, we conveniently forget that our prosperity and success wouldn't have been possible without stolen labor and stolen land. But by denying our flaws and assuming we were doing everything right, we let the rot develop until, to our shock and horror it couldn't be hidden any more. And here we are. How do we fix it? Can we fix it?