# How far away are Americans from the "breaking point"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 16, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948 "2011-03-16T18:36:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/61 "2011-03-17T18:29:10Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Hardly a revolution, unfortunately. I saw plenty of Egypt, though. > > ETA: You do know the song, don’t you? Sometimes I forget how young many Dopers are. People making lots of noise for their rights is okay in a foreign land. Since that would never need to happen HERE, it doesn’t get publicity. I do know the song…I just skipped over that aspect to get to my point. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/62 "2011-03-17T19:45:48Z")
Texting didn’t exist during my history classes. Well, except in the form of handwritten notes. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Jacquelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Le\_Jacquelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Jacquelope)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/63 "2011-03-18T23:18:37Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Anyone old enough to remember the 60s when there were ACTUAL protests, instead of people going online and yelling on blogs 😃 Of course, if you ask the folks here, those days either never happened or will never happen again. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Jacquelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Le\_Jacquelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Jacquelope)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/64 "2011-03-18T23:21:22Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > [Here is a pdf report](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CC4QFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedingamerica.org%2Fnewsroom%2Flocal-impact-study%2Flocal-foodbank-estimates%2F~%2Fmedia%2FFiles%2Fresearch%2Flocal-impact-survey-2009%2Fal-bayarea.ashx&rct=j&q=bay%20area%20food%20banks%20recession%20increase&ei=rJuBTdq6F4SosQPXo8SIAg&usg=AFQjCNFseMPsMIFJ56-54B-05IklIuHILg&sig2=QQVT4LaES4DBVugrGpNtpQ&cad=rja) of a survey of food banks. > > Nuff said. There are also spikes in suicides going on, too. One has to wonder when those suicides will evolve into violence against others. Hell, the French were kidnapping CEOs in 2009. That’s a Democratic country, unless someone here can show they’re not. [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/business/global/03labor.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/business/global/03labor.html) ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Jacquelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Le\_Jacquelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Jacquelope)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/65 "2011-03-18T23:25:59Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > How is that a problem? The outsourcing thread has made me appreciate the virtues of the drive-by post. Opposition to such a jobs-killing monster is something you cannot escape in this country anymore. It’s one of the things pushing America toward a breaking point of revolt. I for one would prefer that America simply split in half - with the free traders and corporatists on the OTHER side of the divide. Sadly that is the one unlikeliest scenario. ---
**Author:** ![New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9d8465/32.png) [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Deal_Democrat)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/66 "2011-03-18T23:32:49Z")
During the late 1960s and 1970s a lot of people to the left of the Democratic Party had exciting fantasies of a revolution. What they did not see or did not want to see is that the United States was moving to the right. Currently millions of Americans face long term unemployment. Nevertheless, the only political movement of any significance is the Tea Party. The demand of the Tea Party is that the government do nothing to help the unemployed. There is no movement of the unemployed. They are politically inert. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/67 "2011-03-19T01:06:39Z")
> [@Le\_Jacquelope](#): > > There are also spikes in suicides going on, too. > > One has to wonder when those suicides will evolve into violence against others. I have to admit I don’t see suicide evolving towards anything. “We’ll try suicide first. Then if that doesn’t work, we’ll try something else.” ---
**Author:** ![Agnostic\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@Agnostic\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agnostic_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/68 "2011-03-19T01:25:47Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I have to admit I don’t see suicide evolving towards anything. > > “We’ll try suicide first. Then if that doesn’t work, we’ll try something else.” If zombies start showing up, I would see that as sign we reached the breaking point though. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/69 "2011-03-19T03:00:13Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Anyone old enough to remember the 60s when there were ACTUAL protests, instead of people going online and yelling on blogs 😃 I was there, man. Peace. Free love and nickle beer. Or maybe it was the other way around. Whatever. I was in one protest march in Berkley and I don’t even remember what we were specifically protesting. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/70 "2011-03-19T03:53:29Z")
> [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](#): > > During the late 1960s and 1970s a lot of people to the left of the Democratic Party had exciting fantasies of a revolution. What they did not see or did not want to see is that the United States was moving to the right. > > Currently millions of Americans face long term unemployment. Nevertheless, the only political movement of any significance is the Tea Party. The demand of the Tea Party is that the government do nothing to help the unemployed. There is no movement of the unemployed. They are politically inert. I don’t agree about the tea party being the only significant movement. The protests in Madison drew more people than Glenn Beck’s DC rally, and that was just from Madison and surrounding areas (Madison is a liberal town anyway, so who knows). So there is energy to protect the working class and reduce income inequality. But by and large that wasn’t a political movement, just a protest. They aren’t running effective primaries like the tea party is and politicians do not fear unions and labor supporters the way they fear the tea party. Sadly, you are right. This economic crisis is moving the country even further to the right economically. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/71 "2011-03-19T06:16:00Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > ETA: You do know the song, don’t you? Sometimes I forget how young many Dopers are. You’re shocked that there are people here young enough to be unfamiliar with a 40-year-old song? 😃 Someday I’m going to be all shocked and saddened when the young whipper-snappers don’t know “We Didn’t Start The Fire,” aren’t I. > [@Agnostic\_Pagan](#): > > If zombies start showing up, I would see that as sign we reached the breaking point though. I thought that it would mean hell was full? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/72 "2011-03-19T07:53:22Z")
> [@Agnostic\_Pagan](#): > > If zombies start showing up, I would see that as sign we reached the breaking point though. Zombies will not help. If they go for brains, that leaves much of the right safe as can be. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Jacquelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Le\_Jacquelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Jacquelope)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/73 "2011-03-19T10:30:39Z")
> [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](#): > > During the late 1960s and 1970s a lot of people to the left of the Democratic Party had exciting fantasies of a revolution. What they did not see or did not want to see is that the United States was moving to the right. > > Currently millions of Americans face long term unemployment. Nevertheless, the only political movement of any significance is the Tea Party. The demand of the Tea Party is that the government do nothing to help the unemployed. There is no movement of the unemployed. They are politically inert. The United States isn’t moving to the right. More right wingers are voting relative to their numbers. Their numbers are not growing, they’re shrinking. Last election the Right lost BIG TIME among blacks and Hispanics. Guess which populations are growing and will be the majority by 2050? Hint: it’s the same population groups where Republicans lost horribly, and consistently lose horribly. Also, you totally missed out on the whole Wisconsin thing, didn’t you? Those rallies vastly outsized anything by the Tea Party. Those same people are out now mobilizing the unemployed to vote. Go ahead and call them inert; all the bigger the surprise when they show up at the polls. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/74 "2011-03-19T15:02:53Z")
> [@Le\_Jacquelope](#): > > The United States isn’t moving to the right. More right wingers are voting relative to their numbers. Their numbers are not growing, they’re shrinking. Last election the Right lost BIG TIME among blacks and Hispanics. Guess which populations are growing and will be the majority by 2050? Hint: it’s the same population groups where Republicans lost horribly, and consistently lose horribly. > > Also, you totally missed out on the whole Wisconsin thing, didn’t you? Those rallies vastly outsized anything by the Tea Party. Those same people are out now mobilizing the unemployed to vote. Go ahead and call them inert; all the bigger the surprise when they show up at the polls. Yeah, the GOP is demographically headed over a cliff. They are a party exclusively devoted to socially conservative, economically stable, christian, white, middle aged heterosexual voters. Everyone who isn’t in that group is pretty mucn written off, despite the GOP base shrinking and there being fewer people who fit that list. But you never know what changes can happen in demographics. Women used to be considered a GOP group, now they lean dem by about 14 points. Reagan Democrats (older union workers) left the dems to become republicans. Plus motivation is a huge factor. The % of hte public who support democratic agendas is far larger than those who suppot GOP agendas. But democratic turnout is far lower. So there are efforts to suppress political empowerment by people who lean democratic. Demolishing ACORN, voter ID laws, laws against same day voting, etc. All efforts to disenfranchise those who do not support conservative economics. It doesn’t matter if blacks or latinos like the democratic party if they don’t vote. Demographically the country is already a democrat country when you ask registered voters how they feel about XYZ. But once you start asking likely voters instead of just registered voters, it becomes more of a GOP country. The 2010 election may have been an aberration where every advantage was leaning towards the GOP. But you can’t tell what will happen with demographic ideas down the road. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/75 "2011-03-19T17:11:39Z")
I read an article on line the other day by a Repub is Wisconsin screaming about the Democrats getting their act together. The recall of Repb state senators is going on and doing very well. The Dems are raising lots of money. It would seem stomping on unions and abusing workers has awoken a lot of citizens to the aims of the Repubs. last Friday over 100,000 people demonstrated in Wisconsin with barely a peep from the national news. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/76 "2011-03-19T18:34:59Z")
> [@Le\_Jacquelope](#): > > Some of the powers that be are seeing the threat that America is on the verge of rising up in protest. Big protests. Revolution-level protests. > > On a side note, I recently pointed out how clueless the definition of inflation is. Apparently many others have seen through this traditional definition, too. > > Is it possible that we could soon see another major game-changing revolution on the level that ended the last Gilded Age, except in fewer years? > > [Latest Technology News and Reviews - Yahoo Finance](http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/536035/Jeffrey-Sachs%3A-%22The-American-People-Are-Going-to-Reach-a-Breaking-Point%22) Hello, Senator Rhett. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/77 "2011-03-19T20:36:21Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > last Friday over 100,000 people demonstrated in Wisconsin with barely a peep from the national news. [http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2058601,00.html](http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2058601,00.html) [http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/13/usa-wisconsin-idUSN1227540420110313](http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/13/usa-wisconsin-idUSN1227540420110313) Waa! The media is not covering a story that’s important to me to my satisfaction! Waa! People on the right and the left need to put this little nugget back in the bag. It’s not an effective arguing tactic and just makes you look foolish when links are produced. ---
**Author:** ![randy054](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/54ee81/32.png) [@randy054](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randy054)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/78 "2011-03-20T03:49:24Z")
> [@](#): > > “The top 1% is cut off from the rest of society,” he says in the accompanying video. “They don’t know what’s going on in America anymore. For them life couldn’t be more booming [but] it’s falling apart” for ordinary Americans. Those top one percent are out of touch with the majority of Americans and need to be thrown out and campaign finance reform instituted, so that we can have people that know whats going on with the majority in this country. Not cockroaches that exist in a revolving door to stuff each others pockets and give each other reach arounds while giving everyone outside their circles the finger. ---
**Author:** ![randy054](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/54ee81/32.png) [@randy054](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randy054)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/79 "2011-03-20T04:00:00Z")
This is about a year old, but applies today as it did then. It unfortunately only touches the surface, and I wish Congressman Alan Greyson was giving more time to elaborate on what he meant by campaign finance reform. There are no real elections for the people in this country, when the big corporations, banks and wall street fund who we get to pick from. We have no choice in this matter, unless there is real campaign finance reform and these cockroaches are separated from our government. If you were at the head of a big corporation, investment bank, or some other large institution, i.e. Monsantao, then you should not be allowed to serve in the government, PERIOD, because the corrupt nature to tailor your administration to your own benefit exists. We have seen this with Bush and now with Obama and Wall Street, It needs to END. **THE GREAT CON JOB - DYLAN RATIGAN** [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qyjVa6JkIWE/hqdefault.jpg "THE GREAT CON JOB - DYLAN RATIGAN - 1 (APRIL 8 2010)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyjVa6JkIWE) ---
**Author:** ![Agnostic\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@Agnostic\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agnostic_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948/80 "2011-03-20T08:59:04Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Yeah, the GOP is demographically headed over a cliff. They are a party exclusively devoted to socially conservative, economically stable, christian, white, middle aged heterosexual voters. Everyone who isn’t in that group is pretty mucn written off, despite the GOP base shrinking and there being fewer people who fit that list. > > But you never know what changes can happen in demographics. Women used to be considered a GOP group, now they lean dem by about 14 points. Reagan Democrats (older union workers) left the dems to become republicans. Plus motivation is a huge factor. The % of hte public who support democratic agendas is far larger than those who suppot GOP agendas. But democratic turnout is far lower. So there are efforts to suppress political empowerment by people who lean democratic. Demolishing ACORN, voter ID laws, laws against same day voting, etc. All efforts to disenfranchise those who do not support conservative economics. It doesn’t matter if blacks or latinos like the democratic party if they don’t vote. Demographically the country is already a democrat country when you ask registered voters how they feel about XYZ. But once you start asking likely voters instead of just registered voters, it becomes more of a GOP country. > > The 2010 election may have been an aberration where every advantage was leaning towards the GOP. But you can’t tell what will happen with demographic ideas down the road. Exactly, the GOP sees the demographic shift happening and appears only too willing to destroy this country before the ‘non-white’ man becomes the majority or even a strong plurality. On the flip side, the Democrats are too willing to assume they will automatically get those votes. Not if they keep fighting as hard as they are to keep them (which is little to none at all.) And many of those minorities are the opposite of the DLC - socially conservative (anti-gay rights, pro-abortion) but economically liberal (pro-labor, pro-UHC). No party really represents them, but they are too small to form their own. I think this country is ripe for another two-party shift where the Dems become the de facto conservative party (i.e socially and economically moderate), and a new progressive party takes hold of the real left (socially and economically). What will cause a break down is that Republicans still have a strong base in the smaller states and will continue to have undue representation in governor mansions and in the Senate. In a three party system, the Dems and Reps could still easily control a majority to block progressive reforms, such as how the Blue Dogs joined with the Republican minority and blocked most of Obama’s platform. (Dems had the majority, but nowhere near a majority of progressive Democrats, though they are still the largest caucus in the House on that side.) I could just as easily see a national referendum before that shift is complete and the Union dissolves. I am uncertain if that would not be a good thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-away-are-americans-from-the-breaking-point/574948.md?page=5)