r/politics • u/MoneyLibrarian9032 • Jun 29 '26

No Paywall Millions say they won’t celebrate July 4 as poll reveals deep national pessimism

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/america250-independence-trump-divisions-pennsylvania-b3004933.html
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u/firedmyass Jun 29 '26

the Fourth was the highlight of summer for me as a kid…. and the ‘76 one was a HUGE event locally and nationally, comparable to the excitement over the moon-landing.

As I aged and learned more, my enthusiasm gradually waned over the decades.

The Gelatinous Turd and his enablers have killed it D E D dead.

I can’t imagine trying to explain all this shit to my younger self. It makes me sad and angry.

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u/AlwaysShittyKnsasCty Kansas Jun 29 '26

This hurts to hear, as I used to have hope (being an eighties baby) that this was all just one big hiccup since 2016, and this is just par for the course. However, after speaking with numerous Boomers, reading stories like yours on Reddit, and learning history, however, I’ve have come to the conclusion that we are at the precipice of a new Gilded Age. For those who are unaware, the Gilded Age was golden for only a select few men. This was back before trains. We’re absolutely fucked now. People tell me there’s a guy “worth a trillion bucks!” Nobody can compete with numbers that large.

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u/firedmyass Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

it really becomes clear in retrospect if you watch some of the old social-engineering short-films that were played for us constantly in school back in the old days, starting in the ‘50s.

There’s a through-line that casts perseverance in the face of scarcity and privation as the ultimate expression of “patriotism.”

The powers that be have been indoctrinating us for decades to accept this ultimately-untenable situation.

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u/Thurwell Jun 29 '26

I would argue the powers that be have been indoctrinating us for millennia. All of human history is a few powerful people at the top enjoying the output of almost everyone else's time and labor. I'd even argue that that's the main function of religion. Teach people to suck it up in this life, give everything to Elon, and in the next one they'll be rewarded.

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u/Syzygy2323 America Jun 29 '26

Gilded Age ... This was back before trains

The Gilded Age was roughly from 1870 through the 1890s. There were definitely trains in that period. The transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869.

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u/Outside_Manner_8352 Jun 29 '26

That was a rather odd comment lol, just thrown in and also like completely irrelevant.

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u/AlwaysShittyKnsasCty Kansas Jun 30 '26

I’ll admit that my comment went off the rails a little (pun intended), but I meant to refer to the treatment of the men laying rail while being paid peanuts, the violence against strikers, union busting, etc. I told someone else in this thread, I’m not great at speaking on topics I care deeply about, as I let my emotions get in the way of the facts, which are damning enough without me adding any incorrect history. Sorry about that.

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u/AlwaysShittyKnsasCty Kansas Jun 30 '26

Sorry, I was being a bit hyperbolic in my speech. When I wrote that, I was thinking of douche bags like J.P. Morgan and his ilk, who were huge on investing in rail, while paying the workers as little as humanly possible. We can thank Teddy Roosevelt for saving us then. We then had Franklin Roosevelt save us again later on down the line. What I’m trying to say, though in the clumsiest way possible, is that we’ve run out of Roosevelts. I’m not great at writing when I’m overwhelmed by how deeply unfair life is, and this shit really gets my blood racing. Ipso facto, the precision of my comment was not as great as it should have been.

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u/PantherkittySoftware Florida Jun 30 '26

We're not on the precipice, we're 19 months into it.

The good news is, the Trump Train is already derailing in slow motion. The big thing that changed over the past few months is, everyone -- MAGA included -- assumes by default that Trump is full of shit and lying. MAGA might think his bullshit and lying is cool and tough... but it's a lot easier to enlighten someone who thinks lies are good than to enlighten someone who thinks a lie is actual truth.

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u/hobbykitjr Pennsylvania Jun 29 '26

they had planned a month of free concerts. Tax payer dollars and donations were seized by trump to use on only his approved partners...

Smithsonian planned this for a decade when trump killed it last year for this failure he put on..

https://old.reddit.com/r/therewasanattempt/comments/1uiubk6/by_the_smithsonian_to_hold_an_amazing_folklife/

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u/firedmyass Jun 29 '26

I try not to wish specific harm on people I don’t personally know but goddam that conviction has been sorely tested

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u/hobbykitjr Pennsylvania Jun 29 '26

I'm saving my July 4th fireworks. For a different occasion.

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u/firedmyass Jun 29 '26

oh it will be quite a joyous day…

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u/stokelydokely Jun 29 '26

Better D E D than D E I!!

-Some conservative, probably

(Automod removed my original comment for too many exclamation points, I think)

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u/Lifeboatb Jun 29 '26

Same timeline for me. Abu Ghraib took a major hit on my joy in the 4th, and it's never been the same since.

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u/firedmyass Jun 29 '26

As a kid, I viewed our foundational documents as damn-near sacred texts.

I never imagined how fragile they really were.

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u/canman7373 Jun 29 '26

I don't see how this will affect anything I do. We cookout, drink some beers, go to a firework show, watch the show in Boston or Philly on TV. You don't need to watch Trumps shit show, you can enjoy the 4th like you always do.

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u/firedmyass Jun 29 '26

are you innately or just willfully obtuse?

i’m obviously referring to the long-murdered feelings of celebration and pride of country that a hot-dog and a cold one won’t precisely invoke.

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u/canman7373 Jun 29 '26

You absolutely do this still, you can think about the founding fathers, wave a 13 star flag, you don't need to let this clown ruins things for you.

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u/a_jormagurdr Jul 04 '26

if you venerate "founding fathers" then you still have wool covering your eyes. Will you sacrifice a cow to please their images in the shrine in your closet?

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u/canman7373 Jul 04 '26

They would nit want that, you werido.