I have to agree, with the idea of finding common interests.. and doing them together...
In my case, above all, I HIGHLY enjoy trail walking/hiking in state parks, and looking for anything of interest... and trust, I am SO easily entertained on my adventures. I try to notice as much as possible. I like to read most of the, " How it was formed," posts they have at the scenic points of the walk also...
but I have been on the adventurous side since I learned to walk.

Well, you're free enough to whinge about your lack of freedom.

Well, you're free enough to whinge about your lack of freedom.

what 'signs' do you see that it IS so bad?

maybe its just where you live, or maybe its just your perception, or maybe its just an attachment to an inhuman idealistic fantasy?

what 'this' has america come to in 20 years?


We are more gluttonous than ever, we have an overabundance of food , yet still have people starving (that hasnt changed),

We are more paranoid than ever, we have a decrease in violent crime, but more people convinced they need a gun for the 'bad guys'

we are free to be bigots, we have some of the best medical care , we get free access to public education, we all are able to have a vote, we have an overabundance of access to just about any product you can think of, we have internet, we have cable, we have an overabundance of vehicles, we have multiple airports, women are free to behave like trollips or saings, men are free to be gentleman or dogs,



and we are free to LEAVE if we feel so trapped in all of the abundance we already have

,,whatever is so 'bad' to you,, just seems like life to me,,,,and Id go so far as to say perhaps too much freedom,, that has lead to quite a few spoiled entitled brats,,,

here is a topic,,,,,more about collective responsibility than fingerpointing at scapegoats...


Nations most often fall from within, and this fall is usually due to a decline in the moral and spiritual values in the family. As families go, so goes a nation.


This has been the main premise of thinkers from British historian J. D. Unwin to Russian sociologist Pitirim Sorokin who have studied civilizations that have collapsed. In his book Our Dance Has Turned to Death, Carl Wilson identifies the common pattern of family decline in ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. Notice how these seven stages parallel what is happening in our nation today. In the first stage, men ceased to lead their families in worship. Spiritual and moral development became secondary. Their view of God became naturalistic, mathematical, and mechanical.


In the second stage, men selfishly neglected care of their wives and children to pursue material wealth, political and military power, and cultural development. Material values began to dominate thought, and the man began to exalt his own role as an individual. The third stage involved a change in men's sexual values. Men who were preoccupied with business or war either neglected their wives sexually or became involved with lower-class women or with homosexuality. Ultimately, a double standard of morality developed. The fourth stage affected women. The role of women at home and with children lost value and status. Women were neglected and their roles devalued. Soon they revolted to gain access to material wealth and also freedom for sex outside marriage. Women also began to minimize having sex relations to conceive children, and the emphasis became sex for pleasure. Marriage laws were changed to make divorce easy.


In the fifth stage, husbands and wives competed against each other for money, home leadership, and the affection of their children. This resulted in hostility and frustration and possible homosexuality in the children. Many marriages ended in separation and divorce.


Many children were unwanted, aborted, abandoned, molested, and undisciplined. The more undisciplined children became, the more social pressure there was not to have children. The breakdown of the home produced anarchy.


In the sixth stage, selfish individualism grew and carried over into society, fragmenting it into smaller and smaller group loyalties. The nation was thus weakened by internal conflict. The decrease in the birthrate produced an older population that had less ability to defend itself and less will to do so, making the nation more vulnerable to its enemies.


Finally, unbelief in God became more complete, parental authority diminished, and ethical and moral principles disappeared, affecting the economy and government. Thus, by internal weakness and fragmentation the societies came apart. There was no way to save them except by a dictator who arose from within or by barbarians who invaded from without.


Although this is an ancient pattern of decline found in Greece and Rome, it is relevant today. Families are the foundation of a nation. When the family crumbles, the nation falls because nations are built upon family units. They are the true driving social force. A nation will not be strong unless the family is strong. That was true in the ancient world and it is true today.


Social commentator Michael Novak, writing on the importance of the family, said:



One unforgettable law has been learned through all the disasters and injustices of the last thousand years: If things go well with the family, life is worth living; when the family falters, life falls apart.


from :http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/decline.html