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When Did the United States Lose its Prestige?

When did the US lose its prestige?

  • Total voters
    33
Jzyehoshua said:
Those threats against fascist dictators seem to be working superbly as well. I'm sure that quivering Libyan guy is about ready to cave after that previous stern letter.
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LOL..yep I can see it now...Clinton who? beside perhaps we should start exercising something like, lets mind our own business and clean our own back yard first. This country is broke, we can no longer afford being the world's policeman.
 
SirPwn4lot said:
So, when did the United States lose its greatness. People are always talking about how the US has separated from what made it great, just wondering when exactly this happened.

I know most of you probably think it was a gradual process, so just tell me when you think it was diminished the most.

Thanks!

Note: I can only make 10 poll options, so if you're undecided/other/don't think it's lost any prestige/think it never had any, then post below :)
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IMO...don't really care. People can think what they want. So long as we are doing what we think is right then I couldn't give two rubles what any other countries thinks.
 
1970s, when they first lost a war they started.
 
Jetboogieman said:
March 19th 2003 :coffeepap
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I think I agree... I think America had the world's respect when Clinton was in office... but I am not old enough to remember living under many Administrations.. lol
 
Mayor Snorkum said:
It started to lose it under Kennedy and his Bay of Pigs nonsense, and yet we regained much when Neil took his stroll.

It really started going downhill with the 1968 Democrat convention in Chicago and the hijacking of a political party by communist radicals.

Nixon didn't help.

Ford kept things rolling downhill.

Carter threw the brake pedal out the window and glued the gas pedal down (picture the Good Ol' Boys and their RV in the Blues Brothers)

Reagan WON IT ALL BACK.

Then twenty years of socialist leftist presidents threw it all away.

Then along came that fool Obama and the Americans are just wishing we had even the little respect that we had when Bush was in office.
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If the modern GOP is any actual representation of Reagan, then I wouldn't say he won anything back... The modern GOP is just going to f**k this country, and they are super stubborn with their beliefs.. not very middle of the road, so yea, that makes most American's feel like they are being f**ked over and the GOP won't listen to them. Obama did it with healthcare, and they're going to do with everything else.
 
Divine Wind said:
The second we launched an unprovoked attack on another country. We can get it back, but it will take a lot of work.
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Which time?

Kal'Stang said:
IMO...don't really care. People can think what they want. So long as we are doing what we think is right then I couldn't give two rubles what any other countries thinks.
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Yeah, so I'm asking if you think the US has stopped doing what you think is right, and when this happened...
 
SirPwn4lot said:
Yeah, so I'm asking if you think the US has stopped doing what you think is right, and when this happened...
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What was your opinion if I might ask ? (Sorry if I missed the answer somwhere)

I myself think that the US has never and will never do more harm than good.

Plenty of poor decisions have and will be made, maybe it's the bad stuff receiving more attention than the good which gives the impression that the sky is constantly falling.
 
SirPwn4lot said:
Yeah, so I'm asking if you think the US has stopped doing what you think is right, and when this happened...
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This question is a whole nother can of worms than the "prestige" bit. But to let ya know where I stand I like Mattilac's answer.

Which by the by, notice you're a new user Mattillac, welcome to the DP. :D
 
Kal'Stang said:
notice you're a new user Mattillac, welcome to the DP. :D
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Thank you , it's a nice place you have here.

I just have to get used to the 2 hr lag time before my post show up, lol.
(temporary I hope hehe)

Thanks to the mods also, very nice forum!
 
mattillac said:
Thank you , it's a nice place you have here.

I just have to get used to the 2 hr lag time before my post show up, lol.
(temporary I hope hehe)

Thanks to the mods also, very nice forum!
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There's always a bit of a lag with the posts of new users. That will disappear fairly soon. Welcome!

I'm kind of with Kal'Stang on one issue. Discussing whether you think the US has stopped doing what is right is a completely different issue to discussing the current state of the US's prestige in the world. One can do the right thing and it makes you highly unpopular in some quarters - I've no doubt that is what some would argue over the Iraq war. You can also do the wrong thing and receive plaudits for it from many quarters. The morality or ethics of an action has to be assessed in those terms, by the standards the society you are in applies those moral and ethical stances.

If you start behaving according to how such-and-such an action will affect your 'prestige' in the world, then you cease to operate morally and ethically. Some, not the same as the last lot, will argue that that is also what happened with the Iraq war, that it was done to show the world the continuing power and prestige of the US in the wake of 9/11, rather than based on the ethics of the case.
 
Who says it has lost it? I mean really - name another country that has done so much for others so consistently.
 
The first serious dent came November 7th 2000 with the disputed presidential election. For the first time, the world saw that the democracy they thought was perfect in the US, was no where near perfect and resembled more a 3rd world country. For the first time, people said.. hey our system is quite good compared!

The final nail in the coffin happened on March 19 2003, when the US invaded Iraq. That should be self explanatory.

Before those two events, the US at least maintained the aura of prestige and respectability. After those events it was shattered.
 
Temporal said:
It started with Nixon, increased under Regan, and ultimately grew to epic proportions under the Bush line. In between, a combination of inaction and overspending by the Dems only compounded the problems, however it was the ultra conservative mentality that formed the worst aspects of U.S. foreign policy in the latter half of the 20th century. This is what turned the world away.
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Nixon was a good president actually. He got us out of a war, he opened relations with China, he started in with environmental concerns, he introduced a form of universal healthcare (it didn't fly). And all he did wrong was lie about knowing about something. Not even setting it up or being involved, lied about knowing about something. Hell in today's political arena, the guy's a saint.

THAT'S how far we've fallen.
 
jamesrage said:
We never lost our prestige.
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It's not really for you to judge. Prestige is about the reputation and image of the US in the eyes of the wider world. You, as an American, can't really be expected to be able to judge yourself or the opinions of other non-Americans.
 
Andalublue said:
It's not really for you to judge. Prestige is about the reputation and image of the US in the eyes of the wider world. You, as an American, can't really be expected to be able to judge yourself or the opinions of other non-Americans.
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So you are saying that only Euro-trash Bush-bashing anti-war-tards can judge whether or not the US lost its prestige?
 
jamesrage said:
So you are saying that only Euro-trash Bush-bashing anti-war-tards can judge whether or not the US lost its prestige?
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Don't be ridiculous, Europe's just a small continent constituting a fraction of world opinion. US prestige will be judged by Asia, Africa, Central and South America, Oceania and Europe. My point is just that it can't, by definition, be decided by Americans.
 
"Of course I worry about America," he says. "The whole world depends on America ultimately, particularly Britain. And also, I love America—a marvelous country. But in a sense I don't worry about America because I think America has such huge strengths—particularly its freedom of thought and expression—that it's going to survive as a top nation for the foreseeable future. And therefore take care of the world."

The Weekend Interview with Paul Johnson: Why America Will Stay on Top - WSJ.com
 
Our greatness isn't lost, just tarnished. FDR certainly was the start... the new deal and the remaking of this country and laying the groundwork for the now ever present welfare/nanny state owes much of it to FDR's vision. Then again, I doubt FDR would have foreseen to what lows his policies would go in 60 years.
 
snilloctjc said:
"Of course I worry about America," he says. "The whole world depends on America ultimately, particularly Britain. And also, I love America—a marvelous country. But in a sense I don't worry about America because I think America has such huge strengths—particularly its freedom of thought and expression—that it's going to survive as a top nation for the foreseeable future. And therefore take care of the world."

The Weekend Interview with Paul Johnson: Why America Will Stay on Top - WSJ.com
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You could probably do with better advocates than an octogenarian, weather vane (emphasis on vain) like Johnson. His brand of ultra-conservative, family-values, Catholic traditionalism (applied to everyone except himself and his mistress) plays well perhaps with tea-partiers, but is hardly representative of mainstream European opinion.
 
Andalublue said:
Respected by whom?
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Well I guess not you. But as a student of History I find his research well done and his writing very approachable. I always acknowledge a Historian's biases as I read them, if known or discerned in the writing, but still assess the whole work on its mertis. And I read many from Zinn to Catton and all in between
 
Andalublue said:
Don't be ridiculous, Europe's just a small continent constituting a fraction of world opinion. US prestige will be judged by Asia, Africa, Central and South America, Oceania and Europe. My point is just that it can't, by definition, be decided by Americans.
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Then please tell all the other Americans on this forum that they aren't allowed to chime in on this thread.
 
snilloctjc said:
He is however a respected historian
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By whom? He's a supporter of fascism masquerading as an unbiased observer. The only people he's respected by are far right wingers like himself.
 
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