[eis]

I agree it was worded a bit harshly but on the other hand, that dream I had honestly is gone. So it's not hyperbolic, just maybe not worded perfectly I admit.

Some people may understand my initial comment as bashing against the USA. I want to clearly state that I didn't mean that at all. The last sentence was to express that I'm sad to see such things happen and I'll be the first to cheer if the USA can restore what it used to be and I believe it has everything it takes to achieve that.

[0x12]

I share much of your sentiment, possibly for different reasons. I keep hoping for that moment when the country that I thought was going to be the example of how to run a country will find its bearing again and stop the madness.

The potential of the United States is to influence the world from the moral high ground, the last decade have undone the 20 years of building up that image prior to that.

And it will take at least another 20 years (if not more) to fix that.

About 5 years ago I had an opportunity to move to the US, another year ago a fairly well known company wanted to hire me. In both cases I said 'no thanks', in large part due to how the United States has behaved in the recent past.

The potential for greatness is there, but just like with any project execution matters.

[davidw]

What it used to be when? When black people couldn't vote? When the US was propping up various dictators by virtue of them being "not communists"?

There have always been ugly things about the country - just like pretty much every other country, if you dig some.

Not to say people shouldn't point out the defects and work to improve them, just that hand-waviness isn't part of the solution, IMO.

[Symmetry]

There is one sense in which the US has noticably regressed. Back In The Day we wrote on the Statue of Liberty "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Then in the had a big panic about foreign terrorists in the early 1920s[1], which ended up with the US cutting back on immigration by more than an order of magnitude. The recent panic about foreign terrorism certainly isn't helping, either.

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Red_Scare

[lwhi]

I think the point is, ethical progress (be it through abolition of slavery or greater tolerance of difference) should lead to a greater positive effect on the status quo.

If other forms of social, economic and political injustice take the place of previous abominations, the net result is a state which appears disinterested in positively affecting its ethical standing on the world stage.

[mikeash]

I think the best sentiment is that we should go back to how things used to be in areas where we've regressed (immigration, human rights, limits on the power of government, etc.) but stay where we are in areas where we've progressed (racial integration, voting rights, overall prosperity, cleaner industry, etc.).

[tedunangst]

Yeah, but those things took place before reddit so we don't have to care about them.