FUTURE HISTORY: TWO BUSH ADMINISTRATIONS

My first thought's are that both Clinton and the Shrub seemed to me to be the most unlikely representative of my generation. I never ever thought it would be like this when our turn came around. I am a month older than Clinton and about three week younger than Bush. I fear the boomers are going to be seen as just as self absorbed, the real me generation that we are and our noble stand against war and for peace will be forgotten in light of our obsessive consumerism and vanity.

My belief is that Reagan will show up in future history books as fluff similar to Harding, but with one significant difference, historians will point out how California money ran the country for eight years and no one even noticed because they had such a good front man. The Bush dynasty is a puzzle, Bush the elder and shrub, they are such light weights and I predict historians will expose them for the true bureaucrats and Washington insiders that they really are. And that the I am a Texan myth will be debunked and the blue blooded yankees Bushies will be for future generations those presidents with the names you can never seem to remember.

I suspect that the entire era will be given short shrift. In 50 years the high school history texts will view everything we've experienced from Watergate up until right now in terms of the end of the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of the US as the sole Superpower as a prelude to something else.

Depending on which aspects each writer takes, some will comment on the slight reversal of the growth in Social Programs that exploded between 1930 and 1970. Others will comment on the general "feel good" society as an aftermath of the Vietnam War or the period of economic expansion for which I'd guess most of the credit will go to Pres. Carter.

Legal historians will look at things in terms of the shifts in Judgements by the Supreme Court under Warren, then Burger and now Reinquist and Politcial historians will note the general shift in politics from where the Democrats controlled the Presidency for all but 8 years between 1932 and 1968 and then the Republicans maintained control of it for all but 12 years between 1970 and 2002 (or beyond..).

Not knowing the future it's hard to say how the past will be viewed. Historians tend to look at each event in the context of "how did we get where we are today?" so what happens today can only be interpreted after those later events occur.

I think (hope) future historians will see past what is being veiwed solely as divisiveness now and see the feeling of disenfranchisement that seems to be permiating the electorate today.

Everyone is big on talking about how the 2000 election showed how divided the country was/is (and to an extent it is, especially along urban vs. non-urban lines) but I think what it showed more is how people don't feel they have a part in the process anymore and how they are revolted by the whole thing, and the Florida debacle was the icing on that cake.

I think the Clinton impeachment was part of a whole string of acts that the country despised their government for, going all the way back to before Watergate and including Iran-Contra, the questionable release of the Iranian hostages on Reagan's inauguration day, Kent State, lingering questions about the JFK assasination, Vietnam, the general shadiness of the pasts of all candidates, the degree that politicians are now the social elite and out of touch with the general population, on up to Florida and the 'war' on terror.

In the 2000 election I think you'll find very few people were really for the person they voted for, it was a coin toss for many people (if they voted at all) which brought us to the 50-50% result. And the same thing happened in 2002, it was much closer to 50-50% then the trouncing the media likes to say the democrats got. The republicans just got lucky in getting by a slight margin more coin tosses then the Dems did.

I'm hoping that events in the near future will prove this time to be a time of apathy and dissatisfaction amongst the general population leading to a great change in American politics. I really feel we are at a big crossing in the life of our nation. We have a lot of decisions to make about what role we want to play in the world. I hope the future will show this as a time when the population was looking for what we wanted to be and that these times were the threshold of us truly becoming as great a country as we think we are.

Thank you, Hyannis, for a very thoughtful post . . .

setanta-

Greetings. Remember me? Just registered here, HofT invited me. . .

Went through the list of topics and found yours . . .

I agree that history will be unkind to RR in the long run, but this is nothing as to how it will view Bush II. See many similarities between Bush II and Imperial Germany of say 1914-18. . .

Oceanea and Eurasia
Hi, I've just joined the site. I have to say, ignorant though I am, it is reassuring to read , perhaps one aspect of the real feelings of you guys in the States. I live in Newcastle England.
I worry that Bush seniors administration will be viewed as the foundations for Bush juniors. Bush junior seems intent on world domination and as he can achieve it, it will be his people writing the history books!. That is, if there is anyone around!
On another note, I fear that Bushs' administration will be viewed in history as the point in time where Europe and America went their seperate ways, dispensed with co operation and began seriously competing, economically and militaristically.

Just a hunch Chris but I'd guess that any economic divergence between the US and and Europe would be pointed in the direction of the rise of the European Union much more so than any singular US President.

Welcome to A2k Chris it is great to hear the point of view from those across the pond.

Economics I believe will be the ultimate down fall of the US. First we no longer produce any tangible goods we are simply consumers. There is a topic somewhere on the site where folks are trying to figure out what is manufactured in the US and what we contribute to the world and right now the consensus is weapons of mass destruction and small arms.

Personally I think the bonds between Europe and the US are to strong to be broken and eventually we in the US will realize we need Europe more than Europe needs us. What we need to worry about is Asia they own the US. Has any one stopped to wonder why China can afford to stand on the side lines? They know how dependant we are on them for goods priced so we can continue our lavish life style.

When I lived in Phoenix, Arizona, in the 60s there was a huge company making televisions and other electronic machines. The company still exists but all of the TVs are made in Asia and the Phoenix plant is closed. All of the parts of this computer were made in Asia.

In addition, the landscaping company that takes care of the grounds for my apartment are all illegal aliens working for less than minimum wage. The complex is currently under going major renovation of the grounds another company - just a different group of illegal aliens working for less than minimum wage.

"Consensus" on A2K doesn't make anything a fact. I've read the thread and they've managed to ignore entire industries. The US still produces plenty.



Have you gone to the apartment management and complained? If they are illegals why haven't you called INS? Or is it just an assumption that they are illegals?

Fishin man you forget where I live in Tejas all hard labor is done by illegals. Calling INS, um they would not be interested in my opinion. Although they, the INS, just busted a huge ring of Coyotes in Dallas.

COYOTES WORK in the USA - for MONEY??!!!

Whatever they are, they cannot be illegal immigrants - surely they are indigenous?

Bush I to Bush II?

Hmmm - a time when the USA tried to force free trade, except for its own often heavily protected industries - when the economic might of your economy and capital forced smaller government and hence hardship on the poorer of many countries. Stock market bubble and collapse - bizarre focus on the sexual peccadilloes of a president who was well regarded, generally, internationally.

Bush II - when the world began to see in stark reality the consequences of an untramelled superpower - led up to during Bush I and Clinton - for ill and good.

As for the rest - it is soooo hard to know what the future will focus on...

Deb, these are coyotes of the human sort, they bring Mexicans across the border to work in the US for major companies such as Tyson Foods which is currently under investigation by the INS and the US Department of Labor for paying for Mexican workers to be brought from Mexico and to work in their factories. The coyote (the human kind) receives money from several sources, the Mexicans pay them to get to the US and the employers pay them as well. Therefore they earn huge amounts of money smuggling humans. Last summer there were two incidents where Mexicans died in the tractor trailer rigs of eighteen wheelers from heat exhaustion and dehydration.

Similar occurrences of smuggling Mexicans in the US has occurred in Maryland, California, Arizona, Colorado and on and on. It is a nasty business but huge profits are to be made with minimal expense.

Smuggling People Is Now Big Business in Mexico

The Dallas Morning News -

Tyson Foods Inc., is now on trial for allegedly violating U.S. immigration laws.

Tyson was the single biggest backer of Bill Clinton as Governor of Arkansas and later when he ran for President.