United(?) States of America

Beer
.........this.

Seriously though if we were able to have these discussions in person over a beer we’d probably find more common ground than we think

I agree but I all so think you will find it is a different thing for different people .We all have had different experiences growing up ....good and bad and to me anyway that is what forms us and our opinions.
I grew up in a very "Rockwellish" way ,I walked to school ..always grade school ,Jr High and High school and they weren't all right next to each other and no BS ..during the summers at the shore we never ever locked the doors to the house.We all ate dinner together (7 kids) and we were all taught by our parents to say yes sir ,no mam and please and thank you...all the time.I was born in 1956 which makes me a child of the 60's and early 70's and it was great and bad at the same time the bad ,both Kennedy's and Martian Luther King murdered and the Vietnam war and riots in the streets and then on the other hand you had the race for space ....the greatest music ever and sports seem a little bit more magical then. Even sex seem more wholesome then..no aids ,Playboy was awesome then!
People talked more to each other,no internet,no cell phones no video games and kids could get part time jobs,they weren't all taken by adults trying to make ends meet. It was all so a time I grew up ,as I mention the Vietnam war and there were 7 kids in my family , well there were 4 girls and 3 boys my oldest brother was declared 4F as was my youngest for health reasons so guess who was lucky enough to be the one that might have to go ...yup and yes my number was pulled but the draft had been stopped by then. Had a cousin who had already been killed over there so it made for some very interesting discussions with a Dad who served in WWII but as I told you my year of birth maybe you can understand that as a kid in grade school and hiding under your desk during drills could make you have differing opinions on Atomic bombs and Wars.
Now I fast forward to today's world and the two girls I have who are married to military personnel and I know what the guys and their wives and children go through all the time, so yes it to alters my opinion on things .
My point is all that is what to me has made America great,it's bad and it's good the one thing this country has always done,I mean always done is come back stronger after some tragedy but I do honestly not know if this country will ever come back from trump as president,yes I really mean that.
Sorry for the rant.

Of course this country will come back from Trump. God is great.

God must have one hell of a sense of humor, or he’s just plain evil

God must have one hell of a sense of humor, or he’s just plain evil



Aint it the truth....wish I hadn’t said God. I hate to sound like a religious person. should have said the universe works in kind and mysterious ways.

Progress isn’t always a straight line

Amen.

God must have one hell of a sense of humor, or he’s just plain evil

If God controls the land and disease,
Keeps a watchful eye on me,
If he's really so damn mighty,
My problem is I can't see
Well who would want to be
Who would want to be such a control freak?

- Modest Mouse

This thread is weird.

When you ask what unites us, are you asking for opinions on which we all agree? You won't find many of those.

Aside from that, a common will to survive. The times when the US was most 'united' came when there was a true existential threat out there. Nazi Germany and Japan. Great Britain during the revolution. Russia's cold war threat, particularly during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

We were divided during wars with enemies that didn't represent a true existential threat to us. Vietnam. Iraq. Some could see the logic in being there, others couldn't. But nobody felt the United States's very existence was ever remotely in jeopardy.

A common will to survive. That's the only thing that truly unites us. We don't have that much else in common with one another - speaking broadly.

Well we'll always have the Redskins at least.

Don't want to stray off topic though, even though I can't think of anything ATM I like this thread Cred.