Do you ever get the impression that you are on the "wrong side"??

I'm watching our aggressive leaders causing trouble in countries where we don't belong. I am seeing our nations stir trouble in regions where we shouldn't be whilst proclaiming that we are the good guys.

In years to come will we look back at our generation in the same way that today we look back at the citizens of Nazi Germany? I am sure at the time they thought they were the good guys and were simply invading Austria, Poland, France etc to rid Europe of inferior unfriendly nations? I wonder what the difference is these days when we meddle in other nations affairs.

I look domestically and see our socio-economic systems failing. Our prisons are like holiday camps and the judicial systems are falling apart. Victims are treated like criminals and basic rights are taken away in the name of freedom.

I am worried that these days we are on the wrong side.

Originally posted by 281011
I am worried that these days we are on the wrong side.

No I don't believe we (the average citizen) are on the wrong side. I think our corrupt, out of control government is. It is our constitutional obligation to take back our country. The question is how?

reply to post by janon

That's a cop-out. The very first sentence of the founding document of the US Government declares it to be 'ordained' by the people.

It either is or isn't.

While I agree with you, practically, I think it quite obvious that the buck -- and blame -- stop directly at the feet of the American People.

I think that 'blaming the politicians' is a distraction, which leads to a sense of despair and powerlessness. The first step to change is acknowledging the problems and stop blaming others, and the American Public has yet to do that. Media and political 'spin' is far too powerful -- forces are stacked against any unification of public opinion that might lead to real change; to answer your question "how?", I feel that changing that is an absolutely necessary first-step.

Yes. During a portion of my military life, there were two years in which I wondered if I was doing the "right" thing. I don't wish to elaborate on that period nor location, but it weighed on me heavily. I still wonder sometimes, and that was the beginning of me questioning the motives of government.

Much time has passed since then. I don't find that people in general feel secure that their government has the best interest of the citizens, and that general feeling seems to stem from most every person I call friend, across the globe.

I guess in the final analysis, we do what we think is right on a personal basis, and that is our own tiny microcosm of being on the right side. I know that the older I get, the less willing I am to feel that I have any right to persecute anyone based upon a dogma they hold or embrace that I cannot understand. We all have our reasons. We have to be able to sleep at night, our conscious clear and untarnished.

I have honestly become ashamed of what my country has been allowed to become. Somewhere way back before I was born (and I'm no spring chicken) the populace of this country asked the federal government to do something for them. Then they asked again, and again, and again. Then they didn't have to ask anymore, the government, having downed a good 12 pack of power juice, decided that it would just start doing things it felt were in the best interest of "the people" (cough, cough).

The changed the way public education worked so that children don't know how to learn anymore. They took over the media, so the kids, who don't know how to learn, would be fed the propaganda they wanted them to hear.

Sports and "reality" shows are more important to the average person than what the government is doing.

Even the people who on 9/12/01 said something isn't right here started to believe the lie repeated over and over. Not all, hence places like ATS and others on the net, but the majority.

People don't vote, they have a prozac induced apathy about everything going on around them. They care little about how the rest of the world perceives them, just as long as they can charge their big LCD TV and toilet paper at the dollar store on a credit card and watch the idiot box, they think they are happy.

Even the people who make really good money are so caught up in a superficial status game that they have no clue where their fantasy view ends and reality begins.

And the people have allowed it to get to this point. When some country comes along and B#-slaps us upside the head, these clueless ones are gonna say WHY? We're the good guys. Sad part is, they will believe it when they say it.

Wrong side? Oh yeah!, Like momma always said, if people keep telling you that you smell bad, it's time to take a bath. The world has told us, many times, that we are a stinkin!

The only side I am on is the one of my righteous brothers and sisters who want and deserve a better planet than we live on.

for the rest I don't choose any side.

and to drive the most paranoid tinfoil hatters crazy

I am in no way related to the Israeli GreyMagic Security Firm

(just found that out recently)

Originally posted by argentus
Yes. During a portion of my military life, there were two years in which I wondered if I was doing the "right" thing. I don't wish to elaborate on that period nor location, but it weighed on me heavily. I still wonder sometimes, and that was the beginning of me questioning the motives of government.

Much time has passed since then. I don't find that people in general feel secure that their government has the best interest of the citizens, and that general feeling seems to stem from most every person I call friend, across the globe.

I guess in the final analysis, we do what we think is right on a personal basis, and that is our own tiny microcosm of being on the right side. I know that the older I get, the less willing I am to feel that I have any right to persecute anyone based upon a dogma they hold or embrace that I cannot understand. We all have our reasons. We have to be able to sleep at night, our conscious clear and untarnished.

This is why I believe that *US* troops on US soil is nothing for decent people to worry about. There would be no question in a soldier's mind as to their loyalty. Thanks for serving when you did!