美國這個(gè)國家整體正在倒退嗎？

原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.ltaaa.com 翻譯：阿煌看什么 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處

Chris Joosse , Knows a bit about history
In substantial ways, it is.
In no particular order:
* The US is tracking to be the first developed country to regress into being a ‘developing’ country [An MIT economist says the US has regressed to a developing nation status]
* Life expectancy in the USA has been declining for 3 years now. [On average, life expectancy across the globe is steadily ticking upward—but the same can’t be said for the United States. Three reports newly published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlight a worrying downward trend in Americans’ average life expectancy]
* The US has regressed in its ability to sustain a middle class or shared sustainable prosperity [USA: The Great Prosperity / The Great Regression : 5 charts]

Chris Joosse 了解一點(diǎn)歷史
在很大程度上，這是正確的說法。
順序不分先后:
* 美國將成為首個(gè)倒退成為“發(fā)展中”國家的發(fā)達(dá)國家(麻省理工學(xué)院一位經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家表示，美國已倒退成為發(fā)展中國家)
* 美國人的平均壽命已連續(xù)三年下降。 (全球平均預(yù)期壽命正在穩(wěn)步上升，但美國的情況就不同了。 疾病控制和預(yù)防中心最近發(fā)表的三份報(bào)告強(qiáng)調(diào)了美國人平均預(yù)期壽命的下降趨勢）
* 美國在維持中產(chǎn)階級(jí)或共享可持續(xù)繁榮的能力方面倒退

* The USA once presided over a new world order (starting with the end of the World Wars) intended to stop the great powers from using war to gain wealth or territory- but it has ceded any moral authority it once may have had in the eyes of the world.
* The American Dream, which used to mean that each generation could expect to be better off on average than the one before, is dead in America. On average, we are worse off. [An autopsy of the American dream]
* Ironically, the places to see the American Dream alive and well today… are in other countries. [The American Dream is alive and well in Sweden][What’s So Special About Finland?][You have a better chance of achieving "the American dream" in Canada than in America]
This is not to say that all hope is lost, or that there aren’t redeeming qualities to the USA- but it does candidly acknowledge that in the last 50 years, the United States has stopped doing the kinds of things that made the American Dream possible or real. It has instead traded its New Deal prosperity for a sort of winner-take-all casino reality.
Along the way, what used to make America great has been deeply tarnished and diminished.

* 美國曾經(jīng)引領(lǐng)了一種新的世界秩序(從世界大戰(zhàn)結(jié)束開始) ，旨在阻止大國利用戰(zhàn)爭獲取財(cái)富或領(lǐng)土，但它現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)放棄了它曾經(jīng)在世界眼中的道德權(quán)威。美國的美國夢已經(jīng)死亡，美國夢曾經(jīng)意味著每一代人都可以期望比上一代人過得更好。平均而言，我們現(xiàn)在的情況更糟。
* 具有諷刺意味的是，今天看到的美國夢依然好好地存活著...卻在其他國家。
這并不是說美國已經(jīng)失去了所有的希望，也不是說美國沒有可取之處——但是美國坦率地承認(rèn)，在過去的50年里，美國已經(jīng)不再做那些讓美國夢成為可能的事情了。相反，它把新政的繁榮變成了一種贏家通吃的賭場現(xiàn)實(shí)。
一路走來，曾經(jīng)使美國偉大的東西已經(jīng)被深深地玷污和削弱了。

Jens B?ttiger , I studied history and I follow politics very closely.
It’s moving. Forwards or backwards is a very subjective, because it depends on where you’re actually trying to end up.
* The relative power of the USA internationally, both economically and geopolitically, has significantly declined with the formation of the Eurozone and the rise of China, which are both major economic competitors. India is currently trying hard to claw its way up into the sun as well.
* America is becoming more divided. Not because people act different, but because the previous default winner (conservative whites) are becoming too small a plurality to dominate the country’s politics. Where they used to have the power to keep black men out of the voting booth, now they can’t even keep trans people out of their bathrooms. This feeds a new level of desperation among older whites who have never before seen democracy produce a result (Obama) that directly overrode their will, rather than compromise with them. Never mind that Obama did compromise with them and basically abandoned every left-wing principle he ran on. Nevertheless, there is now a reflexive push for authoritarian domination, which has led us to Trump.At the end of the day, the Civil Rights Movement, the Civil War, and the Cold War were all decided by white people, because nobody else really had the power to do anything except try to motivate white people who had power. The degree with which you need to compromise with white people in order to get political change is in steep decline, and a fair chunk of white Americans see this as a national decline, because they’re racist and don’t actually believe in real democracy.

Jens B?ttiger 學(xué)習(xí)歷史，非常關(guān)注政治。
它是在改變。但前進(jìn)還是后退是一個(gè)非常主觀的概念，因?yàn)樗Q于你實(shí)際想要的結(jié)果。
* 隨著歐元區(qū)的形成和中國的崛起，美國在國際上的經(jīng)濟(jì)和地緣政治上的相對(duì)實(shí)力顯著下降，兩者都是主要的經(jīng)濟(jì)競爭對(duì)手。印度目前也在努力往上爬。
* 美國正變得更加分裂。不是因?yàn)槿藗兊男袨椴煌?，而是因?yàn)橐郧暗哪J(rèn)贏家(保守的白人)正變得越來越少，無法主宰這個(gè)國家的政治。 他們曾經(jīng)有權(quán)力拒絕黑人男性的投票權(quán)，現(xiàn)在他們甚至不能把變性人趕出他們的浴室之外。這助長了老一輩白人的絕望情緒，他們以前從未見過民主產(chǎn)生的結(jié)果(奧巴馬)，直接壓倒了他們的意愿，而不是與他們妥協(xié)。盡管奧巴馬與他們達(dá)成了妥協(xié)，基本上拋棄了他所堅(jiān)持的所有左翼原則。盡管如此，現(xiàn)在有一種對(duì)統(tǒng)治的條件反射式推動(dòng)，這種推動(dòng)將我們引向了特朗普。為了獲得政治變革，你需要與白人妥協(xié)的程度正在急劇下降，很大一部分美國白人認(rèn)為這是國家的衰落，因?yàn)樗麄兪欠N族主義者，并不相信真正的民主。

* Socially speaking… it’s really very relative. Fifty years ago, conservatives warned America that allowing no-fault divorce and abortions would rip apart America’s families, the gays would run wild, and America would become godless. Turns out, they were pretty much totally right about all of those things. The unpredicted outcome is of course that this is largely considered a feature rather than a bug today.

* 從社會(huì)角度來說... 這真的是非常相對(duì)的。50年前，保守派警告美國，允許無過錯(cuò)離婚和墮胎會(huì)撕裂美國的家庭，同性戀會(huì)變得瘋狂，美國會(huì)變得無信仰。事實(shí)證明，他們在所有這些事情上的看法，都是完全正確的。當(dāng)然，意料之外的結(jié)果是，這在很大程度上被認(rèn)為是一種特性，而不是一個(gè)問題。

Greg Dill , Social Worker (2010-present)
Is the United States moving backwards as a nation?
Whenever conservatives take over the White House a lot of progressive policies that were passed by the previous administration tend to get trimmed at the top or completely chopped off altogether. For example: every time gun control legislation is passed, it gets nixed by the next conservative administration, every time new green initiatives get passed, they get nixed by the next conservative administration; putting us back by a couple of decades. Legalized abortion is next on most conservative’s radar. If that gets nixed, we might as well revert back to living in medi times a la bloody wire hangers. Sadly, many nations already see us as backwards. Especially on the gun issue. My gosh, what does it take to stop the mass shootings of innocent people including our precious little ones? It’s really not rocket science. But, for those less educated… apparently it is. Just so they could keep their fucking barbaric weapons.

Greg Dill ，社工(2010年至今)
美國作為一個(gè)國家正在倒退嗎？
無論何時(shí)，只要保守派接管了白宮，上屆政府通過的許多進(jìn)步政策就會(huì)被削減，或者完全砍掉。 例如：每次槍支管制立法通過，就會(huì)被下一屆保守黨政府否決，每次新的綠色倡議通過，就會(huì)被下一屆保守黨政府否決；這就讓我們倒退了幾十年。墮胎合法化是大多數(shù)保守派關(guān)注的下一個(gè)問題。 如果這個(gè)計(jì)劃遭到否決，那我們還不如回到中世紀(jì)，生活在一個(gè)該死的鐵籠里。不幸的是，許多國家已經(jīng)認(rèn)為我們落后了。尤其是在槍支問題上。我的天，怎樣才能阻止大規(guī)模無辜的人被槍擊，包括我們的寶貝兒女？這真的不像火箭科學(xué)那么難啊。 但是，對(duì)于那些沒受教育的人來說，顯然就是這么難。這樣他們就可以繼續(xù)使用他媽的野蠻武器。

Andrew Pyle , U.S. Navy (6 years) U.S. Army (4 Years) Veteran
Politically and Socially in every way possible. But this is to be expected. Some other people answered this question showing decline statiscally but that is mainly do to the high birth rate after world war 2 which ended in the early 1970''''s. But this is mainly do to this simple reality:
Hard times make hard people.
Hard people make easy times.
Easy times make soft people.
Soft people make hard times.
Right now the U.S. is in soft times with soft people running it. Let''''s look at what soft times have brought the U.S:
Political Decline:
The political system is polarized. Democratics (left) Republicans (Right). It is a joke though, because you don''''t have to agree with party ideals to join a political party. The reality here is if you vote for one of these people from these parties you don''''t know what you are going to get.

Andrew Pyle 美國海軍服役6年美國陸軍服役4年
政治上和社會(huì)上的一切可能都在衰退中，但這是意料之中的。也有人從統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)的角度回答了這個(gè)問題，但這主要是因?yàn)槎?zhàn)后的高出生率，二戰(zhàn)在上世紀(jì)70年代初結(jié)束。針對(duì)這個(gè)簡單的現(xiàn)實(shí)，主要是：
艱難的時(shí)代造就努力的人，
努力的人造就安逸的時(shí)代。
安逸的時(shí)代造就軟弱的人，
軟弱的人造就艱難的時(shí)代。
現(xiàn)在美國正處于經(jīng)濟(jì)不景氣的時(shí)期。 讓我們來看看經(jīng)濟(jì)疲軟給美國帶來了什么:
政治衰落：政治體制兩極分化。 民主黨(左)與共和黨(右)。不過，這就是一個(gè)笑話，因?yàn)槟悴槐赝庹h的理想，就可以加入政黨?，F(xiàn)實(shí)是，如果你從這些政黨中投票給其中一個(gè)人，你不知道你將會(huì)得到什么。

This has left the federal governing body deadlocked for decades. Shifting between left and right laws. Hell, U.S. federal government has not passed a budget in a decade. It has been a extention after extention just to keep the government running.
Social Decline:
Because of the rise of social media, this has polarized our impressional youth, not just in the U.S. but around the world. U.S. news had been Polarized before that.
The difference now is the people who work in the news industry grew up with social media platforms. Instead of reporting facts, it is all and I MEAN ALL sensationalized for the sake of that extra click that gets you that extra advertising dollar. There is no such thing as journalistic integrity anymore in main stream media. It other words it is exaggerated or to simplIfy it even more: it is lies or for those who are insulted: fabricated (another political correct word for lies).

這使得聯(lián)邦管理機(jī)構(gòu)陷入了幾十年的僵局，在左右派法律之間轉(zhuǎn)換。美國聯(lián)邦政府已經(jīng)十年沒有通過預(yù)算了。為了維持政府的正常運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)，一次又一次的延期。
社會(huì)衰退：由于社交媒體的興起，這使得年輕人兩極分化，不僅在美國，而且在世界各地都有發(fā)生。 但在那之前，美國的新聞早已經(jīng)兩極分化了。
不同的是，現(xiàn)在的新聞行業(yè)工作者是從社交媒體平臺(tái)中成長起來的。我的意思是，所有報(bào)道都是為了引起轟動(dòng)來獲得額外的廣告收入，而不是報(bào)道事實(shí)。在主流媒體中，已經(jīng)沒有新聞?wù)\信這回事了。換句話說，新聞被夸大了，或者更簡單地說：謊言，或者是為那些被侮辱的人準(zhǔn)備的: 捏造(“謊言”的另一個(gè)政治正確的詞)。

Non-affiliated fact checking sites from around the world found more than 90% of news reports had DELIBERATE falsehoods in them. Reporters that have no falsehoods in their work rarely remain employed or they remain in medial reporting jobs.
The Majority of news agencies do not call their reports ‘Reports'''' anymore but ‘Stories'''' because this helps them get passed liable lawsuits.
But if you want to stay informed, you have to watch these lying news stations. Unfortunately, the majority of the U.S. nation are idiots who just believe their favorite news agency''''s B.S. and sadly this is mainly because they want to caught up this exaggerated drama. They don''''t understand the difference between facts and dramatically exaggerated lies anymore.

來自世界各地的非附屬事實(shí)核查網(wǎng)站發(fā)現(xiàn)，90% 以上的新聞報(bào)道存在蓄意的謊言。那些在工作中保持誠信的記者很少能保住工作，或者繼續(xù)從事媒體報(bào)道的工作。
大多數(shù)新聞機(jī)構(gòu)不再把他們的報(bào)道稱為“報(bào)道” ，而是稱之為“故事”，因?yàn)檫@有助于他們通過法律訴訟。
但是，如果你想了解更多，你就得看看這些胡說八道的新聞臺(tái)。不幸的是，大多數(shù)美國人都是白癡，他們只相信他們最喜歡的新聞機(jī)構(gòu)的胡說八道，可悲的是，主要是因?yàn)樗麄兿敫线@個(gè)夸張的鬧劇。他們不再理解事實(shí)和夸大的謊言之間的區(qū)別。

There are too many groups in the U.S. that are too and mean TOO EASILY OFFENDED! The U.S. is becoming a bunch wussies who cry every time their feelings are even slightly hurt.
But on an upbeat, the U.S. is still the most innovative county. The majority new inventions and scientific break throughs come from american companies and universities. Unfortunately, the majority of people who come up with these breakthroughs did not originate from the U.S.

在美國有太多的群體，他們太敏感了！美國正在變成一群膽小鬼，每當(dāng)他們的感情受到輕微傷害時(shí)就會(huì)開始哭泣。
但在樂觀的情況下，美國仍然是最具創(chuàng)新力的國家。大多數(shù)新發(fā)明和科學(xué)突破來自美國的公司和大學(xué)。不幸的是，提出這些技術(shù)突破的大多數(shù)人并非來自美國。

Thomas Griffin , former English Teacher
More like those going forward aren’t doing enough to combat those going backward.
On the one hand, you’ve got younger Americans (35 and under, roughly), who are more skeptical of American capitalism, rejecting religion as a dictator of social morals, more racially inclusive, marrying less and having fewer kids than previous generations.
On the other hand, you’ve got the (mostly) older Americans- we’ll say over 40 to be safe- who grew up terrified of socialism, think global warming is a myth, still want Christian morals to be law and enforced in society, think life is a winner-take-all competition, don’t respect those living “alternative” (read: non-Christian) lifestyles, believe in punishment over rehabilitation, you see where I’m going with this.
I believe the latter group is in decline, not least because they’re older and therefore dying off faster. However, there’s an X-factor: these people vote. Every time. They will wade through crocodile-infested rivers holding American flags high if it means they have a shot at stopping the liberal, socialist, un-American SJW snowflakes from gaining any ground. These people may be uneducated (proudly, even), ignorant, bigoted, or insular, but they’re dedicated to getting their way.

Thomas Griffin 、前英語教師
更像是那些往前走的人，沒有努力對(duì)抗那些往后走的人。
一方面，年輕的美國人(大約35歲及以下)對(duì)美國資本主義更加懷疑，更加具有種族包容性，更少結(jié)婚，比前幾代人生的孩子更少。
另一方面，(大多數(shù))老年美國人，保守定義是超過40歲的，他們從小就害怕社會(huì)主義，認(rèn)為全球變暖是一個(gè)神話，仍然希望基督教的道德是法律，并在社會(huì)中執(zhí)行，認(rèn)為生活是一個(gè)贏家通吃的競爭，不尊重那些生活中的“另類”(即：非基督教)的生活方式，相信懲罰而不是改造，你懂我的意思。
我認(rèn)為后者正在衰退，不僅僅是因?yàn)樗麄兡昙o(jì)大了，所以死得更快。然而，還有一個(gè)未知因素： 這些人的投票，每次都是。這意味著如果他們有機(jī)會(huì)阻止自由派、社會(huì)主義者和非美國人擴(kuò)張的話，他們就會(huì)高舉美國國旗走過鱷魚出沒的河流。這些人可能沒有受過教育(甚至自大) ，無知、偏執(zhí)或者孤立，但他們致力于自己的方式。

Chuck McMahon , lives in The United States of America (1962-present)
That is a HUGE question, and with no one answer.
I can list you particular areas where America is getting better.
I can list you many areas where America is declining.
I can also list you many areas where declining or improving depends upon the person you ask.
The most common reason that a question like this comes up these days is because of our current political turmoil and how a percentage of our population has become so vocally antagonistic towards people that think differently than do they.
The truth is - that is actually caused by growing pains.
We went through far worse following the civil war in the 1870’s.
We went through it again as women fought for their basic rights and won the right to vote in the 1920’s.
We went through it again as the civil rights act changed so many laws about how we treat each other in the mid-60′ to mid 70’s.

Chuck McMahon 生活在美利堅(jiān)合眾國(1962年至今)
這是一個(gè)非常大的問題，但卻沒有人能回答。
我可以列出美國正在改善的特定領(lǐng)域。
我也可以列舉出美國正在衰落的許多領(lǐng)域。
我也可以列舉出許多領(lǐng)域是否衰落或改善，取決于你問的人。
這幾天出現(xiàn)這樣的問題，最常見的原因是因?yàn)槲覀儺?dāng)前的政治動(dòng)蕩，以及我們中有一部分人，變得強(qiáng)烈地?cái)骋暷切┫敕ㄅc他們不同的人。
事實(shí)是——這實(shí)際上是由成長的煩惱引起的。
在19世紀(jì)70年代，當(dāng)內(nèi)戰(zhàn)過后，我們經(jīng)歷了更糟糕的情況。
在20世紀(jì)20年代，當(dāng)婦女為爭取自己的基本權(quán)利和選舉權(quán)而斗爭時(shí)，我們又經(jīng)歷了一次。
在60年代中期到70年代中期，當(dāng)民權(quán)法案修改了那么多關(guān)于我們?nèi)绾螌?duì)待彼此的法律時(shí)，我們再經(jīng)歷了一次。

The 2010’s saw tremendous advancement in social equality without regard to gender, religion, race, country of origin, sexual preference, etc.
Every time we advance in human rights, there is always a faction (generally led by the oldest generation of the time) that tries to claw things back to what they believe should be the norm.

2010年代，社會(huì)平等取得了巨大進(jìn)步，不論性別、宗教、種族、起源國、性偏好等等。
每當(dāng)我們在人權(quán)方面取得進(jìn)展時(shí)，總會(huì)有一個(gè)派別(通常由當(dāng)時(shí)最老的領(lǐng)導(dǎo))試圖把事情恢復(fù)到他們認(rèn)為正常的狀態(tài)。

Clarence Sherrick , works at Psychic Eye, Las Vegas
Backwards and forwards at the same time.
I have lived in the US for 75 years and many aspects of American civilization, its’ people and its’ values have changed and are now rapidly changing. With some elements definitely getting worse.
Only time will tell where this is all going to lead.
However, I suspect that we (as well as much of the rest of World) are already in the stages leading to major Civil Strife. And you may blame communication technology for this. A technology rapidly expanding based upon commercial purpose without any understanding of the social or moral consequences. With so many sources of information without any oversight or refinement, you simply no longer know whom or what to believe.
And this is only going to get worse.

Clarence Sherrick 在拉斯維加斯的心靈之眼工作
即在成長也在衰退。
我在美國生活了75年，美國文明的許多方面、美國人和美國價(jià)值觀都發(fā)生了變化，現(xiàn)在正在迅速改變。有些地方確實(shí)變得更糟了。
只有時(shí)間才能告訴我們，這一切將會(huì)把美國導(dǎo)向何方。
然而，我懷疑我們(以及世界其他大部分地區(qū))已經(jīng)處于大規(guī)模內(nèi)戰(zhàn)的階段了。你可能會(huì)把這歸咎于通信技術(shù)。一種基于商業(yè)目的而迅速擴(kuò)張的技術(shù)，卻對(duì)社會(huì)或道德后果一無所知。有這么多的信息來源，卻沒有任何監(jiān)督或改善，你根本不知道該相信誰或信什么。
這只會(huì)變得越來越糟。

Bill Phil
Is the United States a nation?
Don’t get me wrong, the USA is certainly a country and certainly a state with sovereignty and a government.
But what is a nation?
A nation is tough to define, but under many definitions, the US doesn’t fit.
Germany is a nation - not the Bundesrepublik - but German speaking people. Ireland is a nation, Scotland is a nation, England is a nation. France is a nation. Spain is a nation. I can’t think of many off the top of my head but there are plenty of other nations.
But the US… isn’t a nation. We have multiple nations within our borders, certainly.
But the US isn’t a nation. And I think that’s a very interesting and kind of unique situation for a state to be in.
Rather than existing to serve some specific nation on Earth - the US is founded on ideals. And I think that’s a good thing.
But there are some things we’re backsliding on…
Pay hasn’t risen along with productivity.
Prices are massively increasing for many necessary goods and services.
Terrible food is heavily subsidized and healthy food is not.
Our political system is basically a joke.
And so on and so on.
Bill Phil

美國是一個(gè)國家嗎？不要誤會(huì)我的意思，美國當(dāng)然是一個(gè)國家，當(dāng)然也是一個(gè)擁有主權(quán)和政府的國家。
但是什么是國家呢？國家很難定義，但在許多定義下，美國并不適合這定義。（阿煌注：這里側(cè)重民族，nation有國家或民族的意思）
德國是一個(gè)民族，不是聯(lián)邦德國，而是講德語的民族。愛爾蘭是一個(gè)民族，蘇格蘭是一個(gè)民族，英格蘭是一個(gè)民族，法國是一個(gè)民族，西班牙也是一個(gè)民族。我腦子里想不出有多少這樣的國家，但是還有很多其他這樣的國家。
但是美國......不是一個(gè)這樣的國家。當(dāng)然，我們的國境內(nèi)有多個(gè)民族。
但美國不是一個(gè)民族。我認(rèn)為對(duì)于一個(gè)國家來說，這是一個(gè)非常有趣和獨(dú)特的情況。
美國不是為了服務(wù)于地球上某個(gè)特定的民族而存在，而是建立在理想之上的。我認(rèn)為這是一件好事。
但是有些事情我們正在倒退...
工資并沒有隨著生產(chǎn)率的提高而提高。
許多生活必需品和服務(wù)的價(jià)格都在大幅上漲。
對(duì)不健康的食物有大量補(bǔ)貼，而對(duì)健康的食物則沒有。
我們的政治體系基本上就是個(gè)笑話。
諸如此類。

Howard Robinson , Author (2012-present)
Since 2017 America has begun to recover from the terrible years under Bush and Obama. President Trump has lowered taxes for everyone ( liberals say he didn’t on the rich but that of course is false), reduced stifling regulations, renegotiated and is still negotiating trade deals, and has made America stronger and more respected in the world (maybe not liked, but respected). Reelecting President Trump and Republicans could solve many problems including immigration and get beneficial treaties with N. Korea and Iran.

Howard Robinson ，作家(2012年至今)
自2017年以來，美國已經(jīng)開始從布什和奧巴馬的糟糕歲月中恢復(fù)過來。特朗普總統(tǒng)已經(jīng)降低了所有人的稅率(自由派人士說他沒有對(duì)富人征稅，但那說法當(dāng)然是錯(cuò)的) ，減少了令人窒息的法規(guī)，重新談判貿(mào)易協(xié)定并仍在談判中，并且讓美國變得更加強(qiáng)大，在世界上更受尊重(也許不受歡迎，但是受尊重)。特朗普總統(tǒng)和共和黨人的連任，可以解決包括移民問題在內(nèi)的許多問題，并與朝鮮和伊朗達(dá)成有益的條約。

J. R. Franklin , 8+ years playing history and strategy games.
Socially, yes. In the late 1900''''s we were doing great.
Racism was at an all time low, sexism was getting better, and we had defeated Facism for the most part. Best of all, Democrats and Republicans were working together. The Space Race, Vietnam and Korea, civil rights... all focuses of both Republicans and Democrats.
Today, we don''''t agree on ANYTHING! Democrats.. The party of ‘Peace'''' now push for war. The ‘Christian'''' party choses abortion over life. They chose to let everyone in, even gangs. All of this, just to oppose Republicans.

J. R. Franklin ，有8年以上的歷史和戰(zhàn)略游戲經(jīng)驗(yàn)。
在社交方面，是的。在20世紀(jì)后期，我們做得很好。種族主義處于歷史最低點(diǎn)，性別歧視越來越改善，我們在很大程度上消滅了種族主義。 最重要的是，民主黨人和共和黨人在一起工作。太空競賽，越南、韓國、民權(quán)等等... 這些都是共和黨和民主黨關(guān)注的焦點(diǎn)。
但現(xiàn)在，我們在任何事情上都意見不合！ 民主黨...當(dāng)初的“和平”政黨，如今推動(dòng)戰(zhàn)爭?；浇厅h選擇墮胎而不是選擇生命。他們選擇讓所有人進(jìn)來，甚至包括幫派。所有這一切，只是為了反對(duì)共和黨。

Ridge Greene , Construction Management (2000-present)
Absolutely, Divided we are failing. In the past we embraced the rebuilding after WWII exercising our industrial capacity, paid fair wages and grew a middle class that was the envy of the world, we followed that with a space race which resulted in numerous improvements and opportunities in many fields and continued the advantages we built for ourselves with the benefits of the technology we developed. We then passed the High Speed information act which provided the foundation by which the Arpanet became the Internet which created a huge economic advantage for our nation and this is where the progress goes off the rails with the failure to embrace the future, to turn our back on the biggest challenge of our new millennium which is to engage in a clean, alternative energy race that makes the Space Race and the High Speed Information act look like a High School Science fair project. We have taken a big step backwards while other countries surge forward to fill the vacuum created when our country re-dedicated itself to fossil fuels. This decision will be what historians look back on as what prompted the end of America’s rise. Even if we rededicate ourselves to engaging the future instead of the past we have lost ground that will be difficult to make up and it is possible that we lack the vision and foresight to embrace these changes do in part to their demonisation by vested energy interests and political division. Such an obvious common goal would have been embraced by a majority at one time, the fact that these goals are controversial is a testament to the power of propaganda and short term greed by industries afraid of competition. The economic benefit of winning the energy race will be huge and if we fail the losses will be greater.

Ridge Greene 、建造業(yè)管理(2000至今)
毫無疑問，分裂導(dǎo)致我們的衰落。在過去，我們積極參與二戰(zhàn)后的重建，發(fā)揮我們的工業(yè)能力，支付合理的工資，發(fā)展成為一個(gè)令世界羨慕的中產(chǎn)階級(jí)，我們隨后進(jìn)行了太空競賽，在許多領(lǐng)域帶來了無數(shù)的進(jìn)步和機(jī)會(huì)，并繼續(xù)利用我們開發(fā)的技術(shù)，來為我們建立優(yōu)勢。我們隨后通過了《高速信息法案》 ，該法案為阿帕網(wǎng)成為互聯(lián)網(wǎng)奠定了基礎(chǔ)，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)為我們國家創(chuàng)造了巨大的經(jīng)濟(jì)優(yōu)勢。
如今，當(dāng)其他國家為填補(bǔ)空白（我國重新致力于化石燃料所造成）而前進(jìn)時(shí)，我們就已經(jīng)大大倒退了。這一決定，將成為歷史學(xué)家回顧導(dǎo)致美國終結(jié)崛起的原因。即使我們再次致力參與未來技術(shù)，而不是致力過去，我們也已經(jīng)失去了難以彌補(bǔ)的陣地了，而且我們可能缺乏接受這些變化的遠(yuǎn)見，部分原因是既得利益集團(tuán)和政治分裂，妖魔化了這些變化。這樣一個(gè)顯而易見的共同目標(biāo)，曾經(jīng)會(huì)被大多數(shù)人接受。這些目標(biāo)引起爭議的事實(shí)，證明了害怕競爭的行業(yè)的宣傳力量和短期貪婪。贏得能源競賽的經(jīng)濟(jì)效益將是巨大的，但如果我們失敗了，損失將更大。

Scott Nash , Fanatical Reader Since Age 4
No, but we have chosen this unbelievably inopportune time to pause our forward motion. China and Russia are both on the move and intending to overtake us. Russia will fail, they just don’t have the chops, but China WILL surpass us very soon - if they haven’t already. Meanwhile, we have stupidly stopped all forward motion to relitigate the civil rights era.
meanwhile, we can’t put a human in space (Russia can), we don’t have G4 (but China does), we don’t have clean energy (but Germany does - we are still using coal; energy from fire, like Neanderthals). We are very good at technologies we perfected before 2000, but are at a virtual standstill while others are sprinting ahead.

Scott Nash 4歲開始就是狂熱讀者
不是的，但是我們選擇了這個(gè)令人難以置信且不合時(shí)宜的時(shí)間，來暫停我們前進(jìn)的步伐。中國和俄羅斯都在前進(jìn)，并有意超越我們。俄羅斯會(huì)失敗，只是因?yàn)樗麄儧]有這個(gè)能力，但，中國很快就會(huì)超過我們。與此同時(shí)，我們愚蠢地停止了所有前進(jìn)的動(dòng)議，重拾民權(quán)時(shí)代。
再與此同時(shí)，我們不能把人類送上太空(俄羅斯可以)，我們也沒有G4高鐵(但中國有) ，我們沒有清潔能源(但德國有，我們?nèi)栽谑褂妹禾浚拖衲岚驳绿厝艘粯?。 我們非常擅長使用2000年前完善的技術(shù)，但是當(dāng)其他人在奮力前進(jìn)時(shí)，我們卻原地踏步。

Richard Comroe , Scientist, inventor, engineer, professor, VP
Everything in the entire world changes constantly. Nothing in nature is unchanging. The challenge in any observation on direction of movement or change is really a question of direction … which direction is forward and which direction is backward?
To answer any question regarding direction one needs a compass, which is merely a device that points out a direction to a pole. In fact, we could have a unique compass to point towards any given obxtive.
For example, here’s a couple of obvious obxtives (it’s by no means a complete list):
* Per capita wealth
* Per capita wealth standing among nations
* Individual longevity (health)
* Individual longevity standing among nations
These are NOT all in the same direction. For example, regarding wealth a nation may move forward in regards to increasing individual wealth while SIMULTANEOUSLY moving backwards in relation to other nations (if they are moving forward faster).

Richard Comroe 科學(xué)家，發(fā)明家，工程師，教授，副總裁
整個(gè)世界的一切都在不斷地變化。自然界沒有什么是不變的。任何對(duì)運(yùn)動(dòng)或變化方向的觀察，所面臨的問題實(shí)際上就是方向問題... 取決于哪個(gè)方向是前進(jìn)，哪個(gè)方向是后退的？
為了回答任何有關(guān)方向的問題，我們需要一個(gè)指南針，它只不過是一個(gè)能指出極點(diǎn)方向的裝置。
例如，這里有幾個(gè)明顯的指標(biāo)(這絕不是一個(gè)完整的列表) :
* 人均財(cái)富
* 各國人均財(cái)富情況
* 人均壽命(健康)
* 各國人均壽命情況
這些并不都是朝著同一個(gè)方向的。例如，關(guān)于財(cái)富，一個(gè)國家可能在增加個(gè)人財(cái)富的同時(shí)，相對(duì)于其他國家卻是在倒退(如果他們前進(jìn)得更快的話)。

I read the other offered answers to the question, and it’s obvious that almost everybody identifies different goals to gauge direction against. So I can think of no way to contribute further as hardly 2 people see the exact same national obxtive. I’d only offer the cold reality that nations and empires grow and nations and empires fall … such is the law of life as inevitable as life and death. “Too big to fail” is an imaginary concept popular in our government right now, while it exists no-place in real-life.

我讀了其他人對(duì)這個(gè)問題的回答，很明顯，幾乎每個(gè)人都有不同的指標(biāo)來衡量方向。因此，我想不出任何進(jìn)一步的回答，因?yàn)閹缀鯖]有人有完全相同的國家指標(biāo)。我只能提供一個(gè)冰冷的現(xiàn)實(shí)：帝國成長，帝國衰落... 這就是生命的法則，就像死亡對(duì)生命一樣不可避免?！按蟮讲荒艿埂笔俏覈壳傲餍械囊粋€(gè)假想概念，但在現(xiàn)實(shí)中卻不存在這概念。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://nxnpts.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處

Stephen Godek , Ph.D. Public Policy & Political Science, University of Illinois at Chicago (1983)
Not only the U.S. but all nations are moving backward as nations. Neoliberalism, multinational corporatism, and religious tribalism are inexorably replacing national sovereignty as the dominant modes of organization worldwide. The current resurgence of nationalistic isolationism in a number of nations is merely a rearguard action responding to these trends but it is ultimately self-defeating.

Stephen Godek 、伊利諾伊大學(xué)芝加哥分校，公共政策與政治學(xué)博士，1983年
不僅美國，所有國家都在倒退。新自由主義、跨國公司理論和宗教部落主義，正在不可避免地取代國家主權(quán)，成為世界范圍內(nèi)的主要組織模式。一些國家目前重新抬頭的民族主義和孤立主義，只不過是對(duì)這些趨勢作出反應(yīng)的后防行動(dòng)，這種做法最終只會(huì)弄巧成拙。

Frank Lazar , Former Board member of NJPIRG
Not really. What we have learned is that for all of the dejure progress we have made when it comes to racial discrimination, very little change has actually occurred in the de facto attitudes that were behind it. People are pretty much just as racist, xenophobic, or otherwise bigoted as they were in the 60’s. However such behavior became enough of an embarrassment that many of us kept our racism hidden and quiet.
With the elections of Obama and later on Trump himself, that quiet little status quo was blown over into the present hot war.

Frank Lazar 、 NJPIRG 前董事會(huì)成員
也不盡然。我們得到的教訓(xùn)是，盡管我們在種族歧視問題上取得了法律上的進(jìn)展，但在種族歧視背后的實(shí)際態(tài)度方面，幾乎沒有顯著變化。人們幾乎和60年代一樣，都是種族主義者、排外主義者或者其他偏執(zhí)的人。 然而，這樣的行為已經(jīng)讓我們很尷尬了，以至于我們中的很多人都把種族主義隱藏起來，然后保持沉默。
隨著奧巴馬和特朗普的當(dāng)選，這種安靜的小現(xiàn)狀，被吹成了當(dāng)前的大熱戰(zhàn)。

Rohan Rastogi , Sc.B. Biomedical Engineering, Brown University (2018)
Yes.
President Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again” is exactly evidence of this. The last word “Again” implies a return to the past, by evoking some nostalgic sentiment.
The United States is moving backwards and it won’t move forwards until the American people accept that both political parties, but particularly the Republicans, are failing America.

Rohan Rastogi 2018年，布朗大學(xué)生物醫(yī)學(xué)工程(2018)
是這樣的。特朗普總統(tǒng)的口號(hào)“讓美國再次偉大”就能證明了。最后一個(gè)詞“再次”意味著回到過去，喚起一些懷舊的感情。
美國正在倒退，除非美國人民認(rèn)識(shí)到兩個(gè)政黨，特別是共和黨，正在辜負(fù)美國，否則美國不會(huì)前進(jìn)。

Dwight Gray , former Retired USAF
I like to think of it as “taking two steps forward and one step back”, repeatedly.
Progress is being made here on most fronts of human endeavor.
The thing that''''s making it pointless is our incessant wars.
But man being the flawed creature he is…..Will occasionally regress.
I challenge any country that bashes America to first look in the mirror and see how THEIR country looks!

Dwight Gray ，前美國空軍退役軍人
我喜歡把這想成是“前進(jìn)兩步，后退一步”如此重復(fù)。
人類努力的大部分方面正在取得進(jìn)展。
而讓這一切變得毫無意義的是我們不斷的戰(zhàn)爭。
但是人類是有缺陷的生物... 偶爾會(huì)倒退。
我向任何一個(gè)抨擊美國的國家質(zhì)問，讓他們先照照鏡子，看看自己的國家是什么樣子！

Arunava Mookerjee , former Managing Director
Not exactly. But there is a noticeable deceleration in the forward velocity.

Arunava Mookerjee 、前常務(wù)董事
不完全在倒退。但是前進(jìn)速度有明顯的減速。

Manuel Louro Mour?o , Dr. from Universidade Independente (2005)
Yes. The choice of the presidente only highlihted the problema.

Manuel Louro Mour?o ，獨(dú)立大學(xué)博士(2005)
是的，總統(tǒng)的選擇只是強(qiáng)調(diào)了問題的嚴(yán)重性。

Dan Marczuk , studied at Grand Valley State University
No! With president Trump, we are moving forward, and Making America Great Again! You, of course, are thinking of Barry Soetoro, AKA Obama, who moved us backward, as a nation. It was Obama, who took us on an eight-year, world-wide, “Apology Tour,” where he derided America and our Christian heritage & values. Good riddance Obama! Hello president Trump! Trump in 2020!

Dan Marczuk ，就讀于大峽谷州立大學(xué)
沒有！與特朗普總統(tǒng)一起，我們向前邁進(jìn)，讓美國再次偉大！ 當(dāng)然，你想到的是奧巴馬，他把我們國家?guī)蛄艘粋€(gè)倒退的境地。正是奧巴馬帶領(lǐng)我們進(jìn)入了為期八年的全球“道歉之旅” ，在那里他嘲笑了美國和我們的基督教傳統(tǒng)和價(jià)值觀。我們終于擺脫了奧巴馬！你好，特朗普總統(tǒng)！ 特朗普2020年！

Steven Lambdin , former OTR Driver. Retired.
course not. This is the best time in America, ever. Low crime, low murder rate, high employment, good wages, low prices for food, lumber, clothing, gasoline, building materials.
No cities Are being burned and looted, no Universities are being occupied, not many people begging in the damn streets.
It''''s a great time to American.

Steven Lambdin ，前外勤工程司機(jī)，退休。
當(dāng)然沒有。這是美國有史以來最好的時(shí)代，低犯罪率，低謀殺率，高就業(yè)率，高工資，低價(jià)格的食品，木材，服裝，汽油，建材。
沒有城市被焚燒和掠奪，沒有大學(xué)被占領(lǐng)，沒有多少人在該死的街頭乞討。
這是一個(gè)美國人的偉大時(shí)代。