Where we are progressing... and where we are not. (xpost from GD)
[font color="green" size="5" face="times"]Where we are succeeding[/font]
Due to the fact that many crimes go unreported, the department of justice maintains a survey known as the Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victims Survey. The data shows that from the perspective of decreasing violence, the last eighteen years have been a massive success.
The violent crime rate dropped 60% between 1993 and 2011.
That drop was evident in every category of violent crime.
Rape has decreased 79%, and reporting rates have improved.
In 1996 Bill Clinton signed the DOMA and, like most of the rest of society, has now realized that this was a mistake. Marriage equality is a spreading reality.
The Obama administration is doing a reasonably good job diplomatically to reduce the risk of war.
The above is all great news, and we should continue doing what we're doing to continue to decrease crime and increase equality and improve our international standing.
[font color="green" size="5" face="times"]Where we are NOT succeeding[/font]
The Gini index is a statistical measure indicating the amount of income inequality of a given national economy. The US is rapidly approaching the .5 level, which is astonishingly bad - significantly worse than Mexico, home of the worlds richest man.
Global warming threatens everything. Inflation in medical care is destroying our middle and working classes. Our surveillance state is proceeding apace. The internet has been subverted by corporate interests and your civil liberties are being eroded, year by year.
I think collectively, we should concentrate our efforts on the issues that are eating our lunch NOW. Not the battles of our childhood.
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