# Will the U.S.A. pull its head out of its ass, or is it too late?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [September 18, 2025, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139 "2025-09-18T00:58:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/61 "2025-09-18T15:55:21Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#):
>
> People who have never gone to the dentist will eventually go when the pain becomes unbearable.
Tens of thousands of people land up hospitalized every year because they do not, in fact, do that.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/62 "2025-09-18T15:56:44Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> I truly believe that our only hope to extract our domes from our nether regions lies in the midterm elections.
The problem being too many are enjoying the smell.
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/63 "2025-09-18T16:10:32Z")
The problem is that he has minions for that.
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### Author:  [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/64 "2025-09-18T16:45:52Z")
“Too Late”? Too late for what? Our history is filled with a lot of strikes and gutters, a lotta ins, a lotta outs, and a lotta whathaveyous. Yeah, right now we are not a healthy nation, but over time we emerge from events like this in a different form. It feels shitty right now because most of us, comfortably typing on keyboards, have not had to live thru something like this (incompetent government attacking it’s own citizens), but I bet dopers in other countries have. We wont be going back to the way things were 5 or 10 years ago - when this shit-show is over (and yes, it will eventually end), we will be different - what that will be like is anyone’s guess. But we’ll still be here, in some form or another.
I, too, wrestle with what I can “do” here. Protests are worthless, and IMHO only stoke enthusiasm of those in power. I appreciate those willing to put their physical safety at risk, but I am not among them. For mental health, I have disengaged from most news so what’s going on doesn’t keep me in a constant state of outrage, but I pay attention enough to know what’s happening in general. I don’t know what the tipping point for me to become triggered enough to do more than voting and donating to causes I believe in, and hope I never find out.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/65 "2025-09-18T17:09:57Z")
> [@snowthx](#):
>
> Protests are worthless
I don’t think they’re completely worthless. They are worthless if you consider the audience to be those in power. But I think they show people who are demonstrating that others feel the same way. And that is important.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/66 "2025-09-18T17:10:26Z")
> [@AHunter3](#):
>
> It isn’t useful to set things up as a diametrical “either stop this from happening or get utterly defeated”.
There is always this. Delay, save what you can, save who you can. Make “winning” a real pain in the ass.
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### Author:  [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/67 "2025-09-18T17:17:14Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> I don’t think they’re completely worthless. They are worthless if you consider the audience to be those in power. But I think they show people who are demonstrating that others feel the same way. And that is important.
I agree with that.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/68 "2025-09-18T17:21:15Z")
Sometimes you fight, not to win, but to inspire future battles. If we fight and fail it is still better than not fighting at all because if we do not fight people might come to believe that there was nothing worth fighting for after all.
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/69 "2025-09-18T17:21:24Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> I don’t know when or see how, as each generation seems less educated, less altruistic, and less capable of critical thinking than the previous one.
Don’t start this generational bullshit. Your generation has been in charge for the last 30+ years and it’s one of yours shitting up the country right now.
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### Author:  [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/70 "2025-09-18T17:24:39Z")
> [@asterion](#):
>
> Your generation has been in charge for the last 30+ years and it’s one of yours shitting up the country right now.
Yes, if only Charlie Kirk’s generation had been elected we wouldn’t be in this mess…
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/71 "2025-09-18T20:05:18Z")
Brilliant rejoinder. 👏🏽
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### Author:  [@deltogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltogre)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/72 "2025-09-18T20:08:05Z")
In defense of ThelmaLou…
I have two sons, 19 and 20. They are compassionate, and very smart people. They are utterly alone in their age group, in that respect, from what I have seen.
The current crop of young ‘uns do not ascribe to much beyond “being influencers,” “YouTubers,” or “professional gamers.” Is it absolutely every last one of them? No. It it _the vast fucking majority?_ I’d say, “yes” to that, all day.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/73 "2025-09-18T20:12:23Z")
Surely there has to be a backlash at some point. People will get tired of living in a non-functioning dystopia, won’t they? Maybe the grandchildren of your sons’ generation? Or _their_ children? The USA is a young country by world historical standards–compared to past and present empires.
I know: don’t call you Shirley.
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### Author:  [@deltogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltogre)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/74 "2025-09-18T20:23:22Z")
You would think, friend. However, the timeline we are presently in would seem to suggest otherwise…
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### Author:  [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/75 "2025-09-18T20:26:59Z")
> [@deltogre](#):
>
> The current crop of young ‘uns do not ascribe to much beyond “being influencers,” “YouTubers,” or “professional gamers.” Is it absolutely every last one of them? No. It it _the vast fucking majority?_ I’d say, “yes” to that, all day.
Well, what do they have to look forward to? Politically, economically, and climactically, they know they’re fucked.
On the other hand, they said the same thing about us (Gen X) in our 20s, when we hadn’t had time to do anything yet. My experience of the yout’ today is that they have exceptionally high emotional intelligence compared to generations past, exceptional pessimism about the future, and their educational skills (literacy, critical thinking, etc.) are largely sub-par. That last one is less their fault than those who have been responsible for educating them.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/76 "2025-09-18T20:31:13Z")
No. It’s too late.
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### Author:  [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/77 "2025-09-18T20:45:14Z")
I love that the first sentence is totally abandoned in the second!
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/78 "2025-09-18T21:10:54Z")
_Youth is wasted on the young._
(Unsubstantiated attribution to Shaw, Wilde or Twain. A long time ago)
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### Author:  [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/79 "2025-09-18T21:20:44Z")
> [@bump](#):
>
> The People don’t have a lot of options; there’s revolt, there’s ineffectual demonstrations, and then there’s voting.
That’s about it. I think there’s a better than 50/50 chance voting will work. There’s a few things in our favor. One is that every authoritarian government faces the the problem of succession. Trump does not strike me at all as the kind who has even the smallest interest in naming a successor. He only cares about being in the big chair, not about who sits in it next. That is probably going to cause major problems for the Republicans in the 2028 primary barring Trump’s death before that point, in which case Vance would likely be a shoe in.
Then there’s the matter of who the Democrats nominate, and how that person will govern should they win in 2028. IMHO Abraham Lincoln was our greatest POTUS, but he made a mistake by forgiving the leaders of the confederacy. Biden made the same mistake by going easy on the 1/6/2021 insurrectionists. If the next Democratic POTUS makes that mistake again, then we are done for. If not, there’s hope.
ETA: As for the other two options, yes, technically those are options. But I estimate the likelyhood of either making any significant difference at less than 1 in a hundred thousand, maybe even 1 in a million. As shown by recent events, trying is almost certain to make things worse. For that reason I’m opposed to revolt and won’t be protesting.
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### Author:  [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2025, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-u-s-a-pull-its-head-out-of-its-ass-or-is-it-too-late/1023139/80 "2025-09-18T21:24:48Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> Surely there has to be a backlash at some point. People will get tired of living in a non-functioning dystopia, won’t they?
The problem is they are being told everything is great, better than it’s ever been! That they and their team are “winning”, and winning bigly. Like no one’s ever seen before. And rather than using their own eyes and ears and brains, they are believing it. That and seeing those “others” getting punished, which is a bonus. Heck, even dying in droves from COVID because they couldn’t be arsed to take basic health precautions or to get a simple vaccination wasn’t non-functioning enuf - they are doubling-down on those results rather than getting tired of it. “Yessir, may I have another??!!” I do think people will get tired of this, tho, but only when it starts hitting their wallet, harder than it currently is.
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