# Has America jumped the shark? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 13, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510 "2004-11-13T02:32:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![harwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eb8c5e/32.png) [@harwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harwell)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/1 "2004-11-13T02:32:57Z")
Honestly now, everybody take a deep breath and reflect: a President who Got us into what looks to be an endless war with an enemy that makes the Viet Cong look like a bunch of Franciscan monks, in a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 and had no WMD, Failed to apprehend the real perp behind 9/11, and now freely admits he doesn’t even much care about him anymore, Took the sympathy of the entire world, shat on it, and turned us into the pariah of the civilized world practically overnight, Has a “spend-but-don’t-tax” fiscal policy that is sane only if your long-range goal is to “starve the beast”, i.e., bankrupt the federal government, Savages the environment, lies like a rug, smirks, smears his opponents, jibbers, drools… THAT President is elected to another four-year term. And please, let’s not talk about whether 1% of the vote cast was futzed with here, or 1.5% there – the election should’ve been a LANDSLIDE for his opponent, if said opponent was Spongebob Squarepants! So, the question: did we jump the shark? Will we ever again be able to hold our head up in the Family of Nations, or have we proved once and for all that we forever belong at the childrens’ table… the sl-o-o-ow childrens’ table? ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/2 "2004-11-13T02:54:33Z")
I wonder, will it ever be fashonable to actually like George Bush to buck the ridiculous trend which is going on at the moment? ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/3 "2004-11-13T02:55:30Z")
You will be missed At Democrat Underground You should go back there. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/4 "2004-11-13T02:58:22Z")
Back in the eighties Euroweenies said the same stuff about Reagan. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/5 "2004-11-13T02:59:54Z")
Why are we all posting in haiku? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/6 "2004-11-13T03:03:03Z")
I think America has been going downhill since it got involved in the internal affairs of Vietnam. No, since we hounded American citizens for being member sof Communist organizations. No, since we threw all our industrial military might against Germany although it was Japan which attacked us. No, since we screwed up the global economy with irresponsible stock speculation. No, since we took it personally that Americans were killed traveling on ships of a belligerent nation in a war that didn’t involve us, so we suppported the enemies of the Kaiser. No, since we tried to suppress the native people of the Philipines. No, since we allowed Hearst to trick us into a war with Spain… The election did not go the way you wanted. Grow up. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/7 "2004-11-13T03:04:30Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Why are we all posting in haiku? Because the OP Wrote his post In a similar manner ---
**Author:** ![harwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eb8c5e/32.png) [@harwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harwell)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/8 "2004-11-13T03:08:57Z")
> [@manhattan](#): > > Back in the eighties > Euroweenies said the same > stuff about Reagan. And they were right. Ronnie started us on the long, downward spiral into what we’ve become today: the mentally defective bully of the Western World. Who the hell could’ve imagined when the Gipper was first elected that we’d look back on poor old Bill Clinton, who gave us eight years of peace and unprecedented prosperity, as an aberration in a quarter-century-long slide? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/9 "2004-11-13T03:11:23Z")
> [@harwell](#): > > So, the question: did we jump the shark? Will we ever again be able to hold our head up in the Family of Nations, or have we proved once and for all that we forever belong at the childrens’ table… the sl-o-o-ow childrens’ table? Yes Yes- return in 2006 and 2008 when saner heads prevail. Younger voters favor Democrats, so as the Pubbies die off and the younger generation swells, the demographics favor the Dems. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/10 "2004-11-13T03:11:28Z")
Defective we ain’t Look at our mad haiku skills Shakespeare can suck it. ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/11 "2004-11-13T03:12:02Z")
Back in the fifties we produced half the world’s goods. Now we don’t. Shark jumped. Okay, but seriously. We have been seeing a relative decline in our economic power since the fifties, because the rest of the world has caught up. China has a billion people and has a growth rate of around 10 percent a year. Its just a matter of time. ---
**Author:** ![harwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eb8c5e/32.png) [@harwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harwell)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/12 "2004-11-13T03:12:27Z")
> [@Ryan\_Liam](#): > > I wonder, will it ever be fashonable to actually like George Bush to buck the ridiculous trend which is going on at the moment? No. ---
**Author:** ![harwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eb8c5e/32.png) [@harwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harwell)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/13 "2004-11-13T03:15:11Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I think America has been going downhill since it got involved in the internal affairs of Vietnam. …No, since we tried to suppress the native people of the Philipines. No, since we allowed Hearst to trick us into a war with Spain… You’re right – that’s a hell of a lot of bad karma. And dubya’s our payback. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/14 "2004-11-13T03:16:50Z")
> [@Merkwurdigliebe](#): > > Back in the fifties > we produced half the world’s goods. > Now we don’t. Shark jumped. Until the wall fell there were two superpowers now there is but one. Seriously? There is and will continue to be something of a _relative_ decline as American (and occasionally other) efforts to spread democracy through the world lead to increasing living standards for the world’s poor. In the 70’s and 80’s it was the Asian Tigers and Japan. Now it’s the former Eastern Bloc, 10 years from now it will be the current tyrannies of the middle east. But that’s a good thing. There’s no need to be the top dog (or at least no need to be top by a huge margin) when all the other dogs are good ones too. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/15 "2004-11-13T03:19:35Z")
> [@harwell](#): > > You’re right – that’s a hell of a lot of bad karma. And dubya’s our payback. And you do realize that, except for possibly Holland, no other country has a much better record, right? ---
**Author:** ![harwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eb8c5e/32.png) [@harwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harwell)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/16 "2004-11-13T03:36:31Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > And you do realize that, except for possibly Holland, no other country has a much better record, right? Oh, I don’t know… seems to me, once the Scandanavian countries got that Viking thing out of their system they did okay… our newly-enticing neighbor to the north, Canada, doesn’t have a lot on its blotter… and, of course, most of the countries that were guilty of colonial excesses have already paid a pretty steep price, what with the blitzkrieg and all… Anyway, that’s all beside the point. That was then. This is now. The finger we’ve just flipped to the rest of the world still stands rigid in their sight. Will they ever trust/forgive us again? ---
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/17 "2004-11-13T03:47:53Z")
Iraq “Jumped the Shark” when it’s Army was disbanded. rwjefferson Peace through Liberty ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/18 "2004-11-13T03:48:20Z")
> [@harwell](#): > > No. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![harwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eb8c5e/32.png) [@harwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harwell)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/19 "2004-11-13T03:57:57Z")
> [@Ryan\_Liam](#): > > Exactly. Yeah! What? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510/20 "2004-11-13T05:53:47Z")
Bleu (blue…blew) liberal against a stark field of red, The world crashes about you, Yet stillness reigns through reality. Puzzlement. 😉 > [@manhattan](#): > > Until the wall fell > there were two superpowers > now there is but one. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!! Wonder when we get our magic powers…and I didn’t notice any lightning bolts or anything when we chopped off the head of the last one in our way either. Seriously? Well, I don’t know if we have jumped any sharks lately. I banged a bunny a few hours ago, but thats another matter. Er, what was the question again?? -XT p.s. Sorry, drunk and slightly whimsical tonight…forgive. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-america-jumped-the-shark/274510.md?page=2)