# Gov. Cuomo: America "was never that great" - is this a common sentiment on the Left?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [August 20, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934 "2018-08-20T22:47:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2018, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/81 "2018-08-21T23:18:06Z")
Does Cuomo himself use the term “walk back”, or are these just people _saying_ that what Cuomo did was a walk back?
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2018, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/82 "2018-08-21T23:27:24Z")
> [@Silver\_lining](#):
>
> I do understand that some who live here hate it. That is their right, and they are also free to leave. Yet we seldom see that. Gee, I wonder why.
It’s because the things that you imagine aren’t real.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2018, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/83 "2018-08-21T23:34:46Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> My understanding is that “the period of Jim Crow laws” encompasses our involvement in World War 2. While I certainly wouldn’t point to Jim Crow laws as an example of something “great” America did, I would put our role in defeating the Nazis and Imperial Japan in that “great” category, and thus would have no qualms answering your question in the affirmative.
So you feel it’s possible for America to have widespread segregation and still be a great country?
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### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2018, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/84 "2018-08-21T23:41:56Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> So you feel it’s possible for America to have widespread segregation and still be a great country?
Yes, and I don’t think it’s an uncommon sentiment. Hell, even Governor Cuomo agrees with me (“Of course America is great and of course America has always been great. No one questions that” - except perhaps you?).
To further expound my feelings on the matter: America of the 1940’s could have been even better if it had not had Jim Crow laws, but stopping the Nazis and Imperial Japan was pretty fucking great. We don’t call them the “Greatest Generation” for nothing.
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### Author:  [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2018, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/85 "2018-08-21T23:44:45Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> Yes, and I don’t think it’s an uncommon sentiment. Hell, even Governor Cuomo agrees with me (“Of course America is great and of course America has always been great. No one questions that” - except perhaps you?).
>
> To further expound my feelings on the matter: America of the 1940’s could have been even better if it had not had Jim Crow laws, but stopping the Nazis and Imperial Japan was pretty fucking great. We don’t call them the “Greatest Generation” for nothing.
So you think that America was great for those living under the boot of the Jim Crow laws?
And you agree that no matter how great great is it can always be greater?
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### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/86 "2018-08-22T00:02:40Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#):
>
> So you think that America was great for those living under the boot of the Jim Crow laws?
“Of course America is great and of course America has always been great. No one questions that”
> [@snfaulkner](#):
>
> And you agree that no matter how great great is it can always be greater?
Sure. “great” != perfect. There is (and will always be) room for improvement.
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### Author:  [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/87 "2018-08-22T00:47:03Z")
Some sentimental, opportunistic dickhead who wanted to sell books called them the “greatest generation.” Truth is they weren’t any different than those who came before or after them. The average folks were just people who had a world not of their creation thrust upon them. Dying overseas for the ambitions of others was an established tradition. People who romanticize this shit didn’t watch their mothers get raped repeatedly, or rejoiced in greeting their legless, forever damaged daddy back home from the glorious war.
It’s depressing that actual adults need to be pacified with fairy tales. World War II isn’t an example of anything great. It’s nothing but savagery, rape, starvation, privation, suffering, and killing on an unprecedented scale. The same America that liberated the camps turned away desperate Jews attempting to flee Hitler’s Germany. The same country that championed human rights abroad had a dismal, hideous record at home. We aren’t superheroes. We aren’t a thousand points of fucking light.
America has done some great things. We have lofty ideals. We’ve never come close to realizing them, but striving for them is so much more important. And we’ve lost that. This disgusting pining for some mythical past is poisoning our country. The best we could do in the next few years is flush Trump and his ilk back down into the sewers they crawled out of to infect the body politic.
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### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/88 "2018-08-22T00:52:58Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#):
>
> … The best we could do in the next few years is flush Trump and his ilk back down into the sewers they crawled out of to infect the body politic.
By electing someone like Cuomo? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/89 "2018-08-22T00:53:19Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> “Of course America is great and of course America has always been great. No one questions that”
I asked YOU for YOUR thoughts.
> [@](#):
>
> Sure. “great” != perfect. There is (and will always be) room for improvement.
So your one of us lefties now! Great!
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### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/90 "2018-08-22T01:01:01Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#):
>
> I asked YOU for YOUR thoughts.
I don’t think that every American has always had a “great” life (certainly feeling that way about Mollie Tibbetts right now), but in general I don’t have any qualms about describing America generally as a “great country”, or even the “best” country.
> [@snfaulkner](#):
>
> So your one of us lefties now! Great!
No, and I believe (in spite of a number of strawmen in this thread) that most right-wingers would have little difficulty acknowledging that America is not perfect.
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### Author:  [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/91 "2018-08-22T01:19:06Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> [Recently Gov. Cuomo (D-NY) said America “was never that great.”](https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/08/15/ny-gov-andrew-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-sot-vpx.ny-governors-office) Is this a common sentiment among those on the Left?
On the Left? I don’t know.
For those with some knowledge of history beyond what was taught in fourth grade? It’s not unusual.
Me, I do not like genocide, slavery, oligarchy, and despoilation. As I’ve become older and wiser, I’ve come to value fiscal responsibility. Does that make me ‘on the Left’?
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### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/92 "2018-08-22T01:42:53Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> My understanding is that “the period of Jim Crow laws” encompasses our involvement in World War 2. While I certainly wouldn’t point to Jim Crow laws as an example of something “great” America did, I would put our role in defeating the Nazis and Imperial Japan in that “great” category, and thus would have no qualms answering your question in the affirmative.
And is America less great today than at that time?
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### Author:  [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/93 "2018-08-22T01:49:51Z")
> [@Ruken](#):
>
> “Great” is a moving target that we’ll never hit. But America has never been greater than it is today.
Well, maybe we were greater at some point in history, like say November 7th 2016.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/94 "2018-08-22T01:54:55Z")
HurricaneDitka, do you or do you not acknowledge that “make America great again” is simply a dog whistle to appeal to whites who long for the days when white straight Christians were unquestionably dominant?
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### Author:  [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/95 "2018-08-22T01:57:35Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> … (certainly feeling that way about Mollie Tibbetts right now…
Why did you do that?
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### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/96 "2018-08-22T02:03:26Z")
> [@elucidator](#):
>
> Why did you do that?
Do what? Mention the dead girl?
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### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/97 "2018-08-22T02:04:35Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> HurricaneDitka, do you or do you not acknowledge that “make America great again” is simply a dog whistle to appeal to whites who long for the days when white straight Christians were unquestionably dominant?
Do not.
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### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/98 "2018-08-22T02:05:39Z")
> [@Ravenman](#):
>
> And is America less great today than at that time?
I don’t think so.
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### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/99 "2018-08-22T02:08:05Z")
> [@j666](#):
>
> … Does that make me ‘on the Left’?
I don’t know where on the political spectrum you land.
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### Author:  [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-cuomo-america-was-never-that-great-is-this-a-common-sentiment-on-the-left/819934/100 "2018-08-22T02:12:08Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#):
>
> Do what? Mention the dead girl?
Why that specific dead girl and not, you know, the thousands of other dead people that have occurred over the years?
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