评论翻译
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 了解一点历史
在很大程度上，这是正确的说法。
顺序不分先后:
* 美国将成为首个倒退成为“发展中”国家的发达国家(麻省理工学院一位经济学家表示，美国已倒退成为发展中国家)
* 美国人的平均寿命已连续三年下降。 (全球平均预期寿命正在稳步上升，但美国的情况就不同了。 疾病控制和预防中心最近发表的三份报告强调了美国人平均预期寿命的下降趋势）
* 美国在维持中产阶级或共享可持续繁荣的能力方面倒退
* 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.
* Socially speaking… it’s really very relative. Fifty years ago, conservatives warned America that allowing no-fault porce 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.
* 从社会角度来说... 这真的是非常相对的。50年前，保守派警告美国，允许无过错离婚和堕胎会撕裂美国的家庭，同性恋会变得疯狂，美国会变得无信仰。事实证明，他们在所有这些事情上的看法，都是完全正确的。当然，意料之外的结果是，这在很大程度上被认为是一种特性，而不是一个问题。
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)
美国作为一个国家正在倒退吗？
无论何时，只要保守派接管了白宫，上届政府通过的许多进步政策就会被削减，或者完全砍掉。 例如：每次枪支管制立法通过，就会被下一届保守党政府否决，每次新的绿色倡议通过，就会被下一届保守党政府否决；这就让我们倒退了几十年。堕胎合法化是大多数保守派关注的下一个问题。 如果这个计划遭到否决，那我们还不如回到中世纪，生活在一个该死的铁笼里。不幸的是，许多国家已经认为我们落后了。尤其是在枪支问题上。我的天，怎样才能阻止大规模无辜的人被枪击，包括我们的宝贝儿女？这真的不像火箭科学那么难啊。 但是，对于那些没受教育的人来说，显然就是这么难。这样他们就可以继续使用他妈的野蛮武器。
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 美国海军服役6年美国陆军服役4年
政治上和社会上的一切可能都在衰退中，但这是意料之中的。也有人从统计学的角度回答了这个问题，但这主要是因为二战后的高出生率，二战在上世纪70年代初结束。针对这个简单的现实，主要是：
艰难的时代造就努力的人，
努力的人造就安逸的时代。
安逸的时代造就软弱的人，
软弱的人造就艰难的时代。
现在美国正处于经济不景气的时期。 让我们来看看经济疲软给美国带来了什么:
政治衰落：政治体制两极分化。 民主党(左)与共和党(右)。不过，这就是一个笑话，因为你不必同意政党的理想，就可以加入政党。现实是，如果你从这些政党中投票给其中一个人，你不知道你将会得到什么。
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.
在美国有太多的群体，他们太敏感了！美国正在变成一群胆小鬼，每当他们的感情受到轻微伤害时就会开始哭泣。
但在乐观的情况下，美国仍然是最具创新力的国家。大多数新发明和科学突破来自美国的公司和大学。不幸的是，提出这些技术突破的大多数人并非来自美国。
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 、前英语教师
更像是那些往前走的人，没有努力对抗那些往后走的人。
一方面，年轻的美国人(大约35岁及以下)对美国资本主义更加怀疑，反对以宗教作为社会道德的独裁者，更加具有种族包容性，更少结婚，比前几代人生的孩子更少。
另一方面，(大多数)老年美国人，保守定义是超过40岁的，他们从小就害怕社会主义，认为全球变暖是一个神话，仍然希望基督教的道德是法律，并在社会中执行，认为生活是一个赢家通吃的竞争，不尊重那些生活中的“另类”(即：非基督教)的生活方式，相信惩罚而不是改造，你懂我的意思。
我认为后者正在衰退，不仅仅是因为他们年纪大了，所以死得更快。然而，还有一个未知因素： 这些人的投票，每次都是。这意味着如果他们有机会阻止自由派、社会主义者和非美国人扩张的话，他们就会高举美国国旗走过鳄鱼出没的河流。这些人可能没有受过教育(甚至自大) ，无知、偏执或者孤立，但他们致力于自己的方式。
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 生活在美利坚合众国(1962年至今)
这是一个非常大的问题，但却没有人能回答。
我可以列出美国正在改善的特定领域。
我也可以列举出美国正在衰落的许多领域。
我也可以列举出许多领域是否衰落或改善，取决于你问的人。
这几天出现这样的问题，最常见的原因是因为我们当前的政治动荡，以及我们中有一部分人，变得强烈地敌视那些想法与他们不同的人。
事实是——这实际上是由成长的烦恼引起的。
在19世纪70年代，当内战过后，我们经历了更糟糕的情况。
在20世纪20年代，当妇女为争取自己的基本权利和选举权而斗争时，我们又经历了一次。
在60年代中期到70年代中期，当民权法案修改了那么多关于我们如何对待彼此的法律时，我们再经历了一次。
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
美国是一个国家吗？不要误会我的意思，美国当然是一个国家，当然也是一个拥有主权和政府的国家。
但是什么是国家呢？国家很难定义，但在许多定义下，美国并不适合这定义。（阿煌注：这里侧重民族，nation有国家或民族的意思）
德国是一个民族，不是联邦德国，而是讲德语的民族。爱尔兰是一个民族，苏格兰是一个民族，英格兰是一个民族，法国是一个民族，西班牙也是一个民族。我脑子里想不出有多少这样的国家，但是还有很多其他这样的国家。
但是美国......不是一个这样的国家。当然，我们的国境内有多个民族。
但美国不是一个民族。我认为对于一个国家来说，这是一个非常有趣和独特的情况。
美国不是为了服务于地球上某个特定的民族而存在，而是建立在理想之上的。我认为这是一件好事。
但是有些事情我们正在倒退...
工资并没有随着生产率的提高而提高。
许多生活必需品和服务的价格都在大幅上涨。
对不健康的食物有大量补贴，而对健康的食物则没有。
我们的政治体系基本上就是个笑话。
诸如此类。
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年以来，美国已经开始从布什和奥巴马的糟糕岁月中恢复过来。特朗普总统已经降低了所有人的税率(自由派人士说他没有对富人征税，但那说法当然是错的) ，减少了令人窒息的法规，重新谈判贸易协定并仍在谈判中，并且让美国变得更加强大，在世界上更受尊重(也许不受欢迎，但是受尊重)。特朗普总统和共和党人的连任，可以解决包括移民问题在内的许多问题，并与朝鲜和伊朗达成有益的条约。
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年以上的历史和战略游戏经验。
在社交方面，是的。在20世纪后期，我们做得很好。种族主义处于历史最低点，性别歧视越来越改善，我们在很大程度上消灭了种族主义。 最重要的是，民主党人和共和党人在一起工作。太空竞赛，越南、韩国、民权等等... 这些都是共和党和民主党关注的焦点。
但现在，我们在任何事情上都意见不合！ 民主党...当初的“和平”政党，如今推动战争。基督教党选择堕胎而不是选择生命。他们选择让所有人进来，甚至包括帮派。所有这一切，只是为了反对共和党。
Ridge Greene , Construction Management (2000-present)
Absolutely, pided 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 pision. 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 、建造业管理(2000至今)
毫无疑问，分裂导致我们的衰落。在过去，我们积极参与二战后的重建，发挥我们的工业能力，支付合理的工资，发展成为一个令世界羡慕的中产阶级，我们随后进行了太空竞赛，在许多领域带来了无数的进步和机会，并继续利用我们开发的技术，来为我们建立优势。我们随后通过了《高速信息法案》 ，该法案为阿帕网成为互联网奠定了基础，互联网为我们国家创造了巨大的经济优势。
如今，当其他国家为填补空白（我国重新致力于化石燃料所造成）而前进时，我们就已经大大倒退了。这一决定，将成为历史学家回顾导致美国终结崛起的原因。即使我们再次致力参与未来技术，而不是致力过去，我们也已经失去了难以弥补的阵地了，而且我们可能缺乏接受这些变化的远见，部分原因是既得利益集团和政治分裂，妖魔化了这些变化。这样一个显而易见的共同目标，曾经会被大多数人接受。这些目标引起争议的事实，证明了害怕竞争的行业的宣传力量和短期贪婪。赢得能源竞赛的经济效益将是巨大的，但如果我们失败了，损失将更大。
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.
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.
我读了其他人对这个问题的回答，很明显，几乎每个人都有不同的指标来衡量方向。因此，我想不出任何进一步的回答，因为几乎没有人有完全相同的国家指标。我只能提供一个冰冷的现实：帝国成长，帝国衰落... 这就是生命的法则，就像死亡对生命一样不可避免。“大到不能倒”是我国政府目前流行的一个假想概念，但在现实中却不存在这概念。
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 、伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校，公共政策与政治学博士，1983年
不仅美国，所有国家都在倒退。新自由主义、跨国公司理论和宗教部落主义，正在不可避免地取代国家主权，成为世界范围内的主要组织模式。一些国家目前重新抬头的民族主义和孤立主义，只不过是对这些趋势作出反应的后防行动，这种做法最终只会弄巧成拙。
Jay C Polmar , 73 y/o Consultant, psychologist, publisher, Mexico (1977-present)
Welcome to Neo-Nazi America. Going back to fascism of the 30s and 40s under a Hitler-like Dictators that breaks all the laws and violates the constitution. The personal income is not increasing and what you can buy with your money is less than before due to tariffs. The U.S. is going ass-backwards and is becoming a 3rd world nation under a dictator who allows his friends to get and stay rich, makes the poor poorer, blames our immigrant workforce for the crimes Americans commit - and goes around grabbing women’s pussies and raping teenage girls. We are going back into the Dark Ages - I hope this Orange Devil dies soon.
Jay C Polmar ，73岁，顾问，心理学家，出版商，墨西哥(1977年至今)
欢迎来到新纳粹美国。回到30年代和40年代，在希特勒式的独裁者统治下，法西斯主义打破了所有的法律，违反了宪法。由于关税，个人收入没有增加，用你的钱可以买的东西比以前少了。美国正在倒退，在一个独裁者的统治下，美国正在成为第三世界国家。这个独裁者允许他的朋友变得更富有，让穷人变得更贫穷，把美国人犯下的罪行归咎于我们的移民劳动力，到处发生对少女的抢劫侵犯。我们正在回到黑暗时代——我希望这个橙色魔鬼尽快去死。
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 前董事会成员
也不尽然。我们得到的教训是，尽管我们在种族歧视问题上取得了法律上的进展，但在种族歧视背后的实际态度方面，几乎没有显著变化。人们几乎和60年代一样，都是种族主义者、排外主义者或者其他偏执的人。 然而，这样的行为已经让我们很尴尬了，以至于我们中的很多人都把种族主义隐藏起来，然后保持沉默。
随着奥巴马和特朗普的当选，这种安静的小现状，被吹成了当前的大热战。
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，布朗大学生物医学工程(2018)
是这样的。特朗普总统的口号“让美国再次伟大”就能证明了。最后一个词“再次”意味着回到过去，唤起一些怀旧的感情。
美国正在倒退，除非美国人民认识到两个政党，特别是共和党，正在辜负美国，否则美国不会前进。
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!
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 ，前外勤工程司机，退休。
当然没有。这是美国有史以来最好的时代，低犯罪率，低谋杀率，高就业率，高工资，低价格的食品，木材，服装，汽油，建材。
没有城市被焚烧和掠夺，没有大学被占领，没有多少人在该死的街头乞讨。
这是一个美国人的伟大时代。
