When Was The Last Time You Felt The Country Was Truly United?

[mcgrawfsu]

I was watching the Challenger thing on Netflix and the shot of the crowds cheering on the landing of the first space shuttle caught my attention. I tried thinking back over the past 10 years and can't really think of a time or event where everyone was cheering for the same thing? Will there ever be something like that again?

 

[alaskanseminole]

9/11

/thread

 

[JRHawk2003]

9/11

But never as divided as now.

 

[h-hawk]

I agree with 9/11. There was an Outer Limits episode from the 60s where a group of scientists pick one of their own and create a alien looking creature from him, in an attempt to scare the world into getting along. It did not work.

 

[billanole]

9/11

But never as divided as now.

There was a come together period after 911, but it soon split apart... granted I am trying to remember 20 years ago.
Today does honestly feel more divided than the 60s, but a lot of that is due to an inundation of 24/7 info and constant screaming.
Sad to see that old fights are still being waged. For a civilized country, we really are pretty much savages.

 

[ATLNole1]

1776

 

[JRHawk2003]

There was a come together period after 911, but it soon split apart... granted I am trying to remember 20 years ago.
Today does honestly feel more divided than the 60s, but a lot of that is due to an inundation of 24/7 info and constant screaming.
Sad to see that old fights are still being waged. For a civilized country, we really are pretty much savages.

For the most part, we all live in affirmation bubbles. How many people actually interact with people who hold different views? Not many. We are two societies living in the same space. Well, not really. Blue cities, rural red.

 

[QChawks]

1776

@LuteHawk was there.

 

[cfbfan23]

WWII

 

[mstp1992]

Sept. 11, 2001, certainly provided the impetus for uniting the country after the debacle of the 2000 election. However, Cheney and Rumsfeld parlayed that sentiment into divisiveness again for their own personal gain.

 

[UNIowaHawk]

9/11 was probably the most united we have been in my lifetime then politics took hold and ripped it all apart..... because, well politicians going to politic.

 

[BlackNGoldBleeder]

@LuteHawk was there.

Yeah, but he was still in grammar school. He didn't understand culture and politics back then.

 

[BlackNGoldBleeder]

9/11 was probably the most united we have been in my lifetime then politics took hold and ripped it all apart..... because, well politicians going to politic.

And because Bush let Cheney f*** everything up.

 

[ft254]

I think the Nation has been united in recent times. In the late 80s through the 2000s we were united as a nation. We had political differences, but that is healthy. Even in 2008 we had optimism that carried us out of a potential catastrophe. The fracture came in 2010 and broke wide open in 2012 with the Tea Party/Freedom Caucus. These monkeys came in with the agenda to prevent government from operating, and have been employing it since.

It's a concept that played with non-intellectuals and nonconformists, and remains so. To this date, the U.S. Senate has not passed meaningful legislature under Republican rule. Over 400 bills passed by the House has languished, untouched, the business of America not being considered due to the Republican's ridiculous reticence.

 

[mcgrawfsu]

I think the Nation has been united in recent times. In the late 80s through the 2000s we were united as a nation. We had political differences, but that is healthy. Even in 2008 we had optimism that carried us out of a potential catastrophe. The fracture came in 2010 and broke wide open in 2012 with the Tea Party/Freedom Caucus. These monkeys came in with the agenda to prevent government from operating, and have been employing it since.

It's a concept that played with non-intellectuals and nonconformists, and remains so. To this date, the U.S. Senate has not passed meaningful legislature under Republican rule. Over 400 bills passed by the House has languished, untouched, the business of America not being considered due to the Republican's ridiculous reticence.

What was there to be optimistic about in 2008 that you feel the entire country felt the same?

 

[billanole]

WWII

Yessir. Well stated.

 

[mstp1992]

And because Bush let Cheney f*** everything up.

And Rumsfeld...

 

[JMNSHO]

I wasn’t really feeling it on or after 9/11, to tell the truth. I’ll go with something before my genx lifetime.

 

[sober_teacher]

What was there to be optimistic about in 2008 that you feel the entire country felt the same?

I felt encouraged by the country electing a black man as president, and McCain won points with me for how he defended Obama at times during the election, even though he had to know it would hurt him electorally. He was a decent man.

Naïve me thought 2008 meant we might have turned a corner in race relations in America. Now I look back at myself and wonder that I could have been that naïve.

 

[fezzador]

If anything, the 9/11 aftermath caused a deepening of an already existing divide. It wasn't that evident until years after the fact, but the one event that should have united Americans, ultimately did not.

I would say the WWII years, the 1950s, and early 1960s (pre-Nam) were some of the most kumbayah years as far as political unity is concerned.

 

[mstp1992]

I wasn’t really feeling it on or after 9/11, to tell the truth.

I was really feeling it in large part because my dad and his flight from Amsterdam was en route to Chicago when this took place. He knew the pilots and crew members from the other United flights. His flight got rerouted to Gander, Newfoundland.

 

[DooBi]

For the most part, we all live in affirmation bubbles. How many people actually interact with people who hold different views? Not many. We are two societies living in the same space. Well, not really. Blue cities, rural red.

I disagree. We interact with people who hold different views all the time. The difference is, in real life we are respectful and kind. Online we are rude, disrespectful, and unable to change. Media, and social media are the biggest causes of our division.

 

[BABiscuit]

We all liked Game of Thrones.

I would say our Muslim citizens didn't think we were united after 9-11.

 

[Flie]

I think the Nation has been united in recent times. In the late 80s through the 2000s we were united as a nation. We had political differences, but that is healthy. Even in 2008 we had optimism that carried us out of a potential catastrophe. The fracture came in 2010 and broke wide open in 2012 with the Tea Party/Freedom Caucus. These monkeys came in with the agenda to prevent government from operating, and have been employing it since.

It's a concept that played with non-intellectuals and nonconformists, and remains so. To this date, the U.S. Senate has not passed meaningful legislature under Republican rule. Over 400 bills passed by the House has languished, untouched, the business of America not being considered due to the Republican's ridiculous reticence.

What happened to the Tea Party anyway? Did they finally conquer the debt problem?

 

[mcgrawfsu]

I felt encouraged by the country electing a black man as president, and McCain won points with me for how he defended Obama at times during the election, even though he had to know it would hurt him electorally. He was a decent man.

Naïve me thought 2008 meant we might have turned a corner in race relations in America. Now I look back at myself and wonder that I could have been that naïve.

40% or more wouldn't have been supportive no matter what the color of his skin was. Part of the problem with the country I suppose. Obama being elected though certainly didn't unify the country. I don't think any election will ever have that impact.

 

[LuteHawk]

Dwight D. Eisenhower was offered by both the GOP & Democrats
to be their Presidential Candidate in 1952. He chose the GOP
and his 8 years in office is now history. Those 8 years of peace
and prosperity brought Americans together as his landslide wins
proved. Just about everyone would wear the button "I Like Ike".
The Congress on both sides of the aisle was willing to work with
Eisenhower on his legislative agenda.

 

[The Tradition]

I think that most people were pretty cool with Osama Bin Laden getting taken out. Even the Obama haters.

 

[JupiterHawk]

I think that most people were pretty cool with Osama Bin Laden getting taken out. Even the Obama haters.

This. That night was incredible.

 

[Jerome Silberman]

December 7th, 1941.

 

[desihawk]

i remain hopeful that 11/04/20 will give the other mentioned dates stiff competition.

 

[ft254]

What was there to be optimistic about in 2008 that you feel the entire country felt the same?

The situation is 2008 was dire. In retrospect it is easy to dismiss the seriousness of the conditions because we came out of it. But it took initiative and hard decisions by a group of people to make up for the reckless and careless financial experts that took the US and world economies over the cliff.

To see the application of prudent decision making to correct the terrible financial mess was uplifting and encouraging. Maybe 2008 was a bit early. 2009 was more apparent.

 

[ft254]

What happened to the Tea Party anyway? Did they finally conquer the debt problem?

They morphed into the Freedom Caucus. And became table pounders.

 

[sultanofsuede]

I felt encouraged by the country electing a black man as president, and McCain won points with me for how he defended Obama at times during the election, even though he had to know it would hurt him electorally. He was a decent man.

Naïve me thought 2008 meant we might have turned a corner in race relations in America. Now I look back at myself and wonder that I could have been that naïve.

And there might be some that say Obama was the beginning of a split. I think more like you, but have heard that statement before.

 

[PhoenixHawk5.0]

I think that most people were pretty cool with Osama Bin Laden getting taken out. Even the Obama haters.

This came to mind for me

 

[Jan Itor]

And because Bush let Cheney f*** everything up.

What are you talking about. Cheney let Bush be potus in name only

 

[BlackNGoldBleeder]

What are you talking about. Cheney let Bush be potus in name only

Yes. Isn't that what you took away from my post? Bush let Cheney call the shots.