This is a great time to start anew and jumpstart our Monthly Topic! Remember, you don’t have to write an eloquent treatise – just a couple of simple sentences will do!
It’s a great time for our NEW MEMBERS to jump in and let their voices be heard!
We are now less than a year away from our nation’s 250th year! Some of us remember the bicentennial, 49 years ago.
How do you think the level of patriotism has changed, if at all, here in the United States over the past half century? To what extent do you think presidents are responsible for influencing patriotism?und today?
POSTING/COMMENTING GUIDELINES
We encourage lively, thought-provoking discussions conducted with dignity and decorum. We reserve the right to remove any comments that are deemed abrasive and directed toward any member. No president is off limits, but we adhere to the longstanding tradition of refraining from fully evaluating presidents who have not been out of office for at least 20 years. While negative criticism of specific presidents is allowed, here’s what’s appropriate and what is not.
Appropriate: “I think President___________was an ineffective president because…”
Inappropriate: “President __________ was an idiot!”
Just today (July 21) there was a story in the Wall Street Journal about students are increasingly losing faith in the notion of American exceptionalism.
I’m wondering how Donald Trump’s presiding over the 250th year will compare to Jerry Ford’s in the 1976 bicentennial celebration. Whatever one thinks of either president, their personalities are certainly different: Ford having been understated and Trump overstated.
A side-by-side comparison of their speeches would be interesting.