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> At no other time in human history has one nation been as powerful and influential as America was Imperial Britannia says otherwise. Before that Spain/otterm

> At no other time in human history has one nation been as powerful and influential as America was Imperial Britannia says otherwise. Before that Spain/ottermans/muhgals. But, to tackle your main point. The USA is suffering from two things: a crisis of self identity, and a yawning prosperity gap. The whole point of america is that a pennyless immigrant can land in some backwater of the USA, work hard and become a millionaire. But that can't happen now(if it ever could is another matter). America worked because you had the freedom to get a new job, raise a family and live in relative comfort, even if you didn't go to further education. None of that really holds true anymore. This is being played on by those in power (both left and right). Unless and until measurable changes happen, the USA will continue to have civil unrest. What will make that change? someone/somepeople uniting and sorting out some of the endemic social problems. be that jobs, health care or addiction. The biggest barrier to that is the default position of polarisation. (Us vs them)

solidasparagus 6y ago
> The whole point of america is that a pennyless immigrant can land in some backwater of the USA, work hard and become a millionaire. But that can't happen now(if it ever could is another matter). No, the point of America was that a pennyless immigrant can land in the US, work hard, find a better life and give their children a chance at much more. And that happens regularly. I grew up overseas and I can't tell you how many people from the places I grew up in have done exactly that. Similarly every day I work with people who have moved to the US for work. And many of these people never leave, which must say something about America.
- toyg 6y ago
  You are basically saying the same thing. The point of the American Dream is the promise of improvement on one's status. Different groups decline that promise in different ways: for the migrant, it means an untroubled existence in a land under a stable rule of Law; for the working classes, it means doing better than your parents ("becoming a millionaire"); for the wealthy, it means more personal empowerment ("freedom"). Some of these promises can still be fulfilled, which is why people still come to America and follow the script. Others have not kept up with the times, maybe because social and economic institutions are struggling to keep up with the rate of change.

solidasparagus 6y ago

> The whole point of america is that a pennyless immigrant can land in some backwater of the USA, work hard and become a millionaire. But that can't happen now(if it ever could is another matter). No, the point of America was that a pennyless immigrant can land in the US, work hard, find a better life and give their children a chance at much more. And that happens regularly. I grew up overseas and I can't tell you how many people from the places I grew up in have done exactly that. Similarly every day I work with people who have moved to the US for work. And many of these people never leave, which must say something about America.

toyg 6y ago
You are basically saying the same thing. The point of the American Dream is the promise of improvement on one's status. Different groups decline that promise in different ways: for the migrant, it means an untroubled existence in a land under a stable rule of Law; for the working classes, it means doing better than your parents ("becoming a millionaire"); for the wealthy, it means more personal empowerment ("freedom"). Some of these promises can still be fulfilled, which is why people still come to America and follow the script. Others have not kept up with the times, maybe because social and economic institutions are struggling to keep up with the rate of change.