I have to agree with Big Time... This country has become so divided as of recently and our government is pushing the country into a direction I believe only represents the few. It's truly sad how the direction this country has gone. For this reason, the patriotic spirit I once had had unfortunately disappeared. We do not have a united country and when the time comes for us to go to war you won't have hundreds of thousands of men running to sign up like they did for world war 2.
“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
I'm not sure we were really that much more united back then. Maybe there was less political division between whites, but considering how segregated blacks and whites were (not to mention women's lack of voting rights), we may have been a more divided country back then.
Difference is, when stuff hit the fan we came together back then.
For the most part we came together again after 9-11. Unfortunately that didn't last too long.
I'm sure if something existential threatened us, (Russia or China attacked Pearl Harbor again), we'd all come together. At least I'd hope so. Things are different with Ukraine and Israel since we're not directly attacked. 9-11/OEF everyone initially supported, lots of people enlisted, we were all thanking soldiers for their service/giving them fringe benefits, but then Iraq came into the picture and muddied the waters. That and it seemed the political upper class never really had an end-game in mind for Iraq or Afghanistan, and then we just got stuck. And when you get stuck, the blame game starts.
As Big Hoss points out, I agree not many Americans would actually pass physical standards. Personally, I vote we ban cars in cities/suburbs--they're really not needed now that we have ebikes, and it would get Americans into fighting shape real quick. Europeans don't eat
that much healthier than we do--they just have movement built into their everyday life (like the internist who takes 9 flights of stairs multiple times on rounds...).
Either my idea gets us ready to fight WWIII, or it saves the planet by dramatically reducing greenhouse gasses. Win-win! Main downside is a more smelly society from all that daily exercise.
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