There have been fierce debates about gun control and other matters on these boards, and I do not wish to add to it, but I would like to provoke some other posts with a simple question:

What has gone wrong with us?

We used to live with relatively little seurity. People would self-police their own neighborhoods. People were republicans or democrats, liberal or conservative and they did not demonize one another. They debated, sure, but there was not this air of hatred.

People were religious or not, and there was not the self-righteous hatred that we see now.

We have become less civil in every aspect.

I recall learning about people like the president principles like you don't have to like who it is, but you have to respect the office. That is gone, not ony for Obama, but for the congress, the courts, the police... you name it.

People have no manners. No one stops to let the other guy into a lane on the road, and you are more likely to see someone filipping you off as much as anything.

Is this the beginning or even the middle of the decline of America?