This is due to a lack of respect for the firearm. The amount of "training" it would take to avoid accidents is literally minutes. As someone who grew up in a house that contained firearms, it is truly difficult to understand why a prospective owner wouldn't take the necessary minimal precautions to avoid accidents (trigger locks, keep the gun UNLOADED, lock up the ammunition, RESPECT THE GUN). But, this is a discussion for another forum. I'm done now.

If you ask me political parties should be outlawed in the U.S. look at how much trouble the Democrats and Republicans have caused. Political parties lead to groupthink and stagnation. Anyone should run for office and all campaigns should be grassroots and not be funded by corporations and "special interest groups" who want a puppet in the White house. This is why I hate this election Obama, Clinton, and McCain are all the same. They should really call this election " Who gives a Shit 2008"

If we're talking military power, the U.S. is extremely superior. We have about 120 F-22's that COULD PRETTY MUCH take out the Chinese Air Force by themselves. Four of our F-15's (currently as good and the new Chinese j-10) went up against 1 F-22 and they were all destroyed in a mock battle before they even realized the F-22 was in their airspace. One of our Naval battle groups could LITTERALY wipe out the entire military of some countries in Europe. It is ridiculous how much physical power we posess.

i don't think U.S is going to be going away as a superpower anytime soon, and i don't think china wants it either. Well...not directly or intentionally. It is true that they are the world's factory, other than that, they want to tend to themselves. It is also true that they like to have as much money as the U.S, but then.they don't want to be as noisy and stick their noses in other country's internal matter. That might be the only good thing about chin, if it does become a super power, it won't care whether places in middle east has human rights or no human rights. Even if it suddenly changes to have a 100 percent perfect human rights record, it just won't care about whether other country does anything bad or good to its citizens.

for everyone and anyone in the west who thinks 9/11 is a sad event, etc, etc. I do know many people from the mid east and the near east, even some in asians who thinks that the U.S deserves what it got that day. Why, well all the military conflicts it got itself involved in the interest of serving American interests, the number of lives lost far exceeds the number of deaths on 9/11. But then..that is the consequence of being a superpower when it likes to leverage its influence to tell other people what to do even to the point of being told to screw off in no uncertain terms. I think the more interesting thing about 9/11 is not whether America deserved it, but rather what it has done to the pride of Americans. After all, before that, it thinks of itself as invinsible, because of its military and economic might. I guess after 9/11, how such a mighty super status has fallen.

And those who really think that the might of the american military can really be use against other less advanced militaries if push comes to shelve. Well the truth of the matter is, if it does not serve american interests, military or no military, the U.S won't use it. Also, the world hates the U.S as it is, so the poltiical consequences will not be pretty for the U.S. Besides, isn't Iraq and Afaghan enough a drain on its military as it is. Does it need another war. It keeps on whining about north korea and its nukes, but seriously, i don't think it wants to commit military force to topple the government. It is simply too expensive and it won't do its public images any good. we can all forget about iran and how the U.S is going to save the iranians, because it will be like another iraq if ever invades. The Iranians don't like the U.S period. And it will be ugly if it ever invades. So it has to do it through other means like the UN, but lets not forget, U.S is not the only UN voting power, there are Russia and China. And talking about Russia, it is such a contradiction, it became a great nations again without such a thing call democracy.

It is interesting to read all these views...

I think it is a little pointless to try to predict future events in this way because so many potential factors could completely change things e.g. the caldera (supervolcano) beneath Yellowstone National Park could put an end to the United States and begin a global ice age tomorrow, or an asteroid could collide with China and change that completely - who knows? One person can change the course of history. I think China has its eyes on Zimbabwe and other territories and are looking for expansion. The arms shipment they attempted to send there is in aid of a dictatorial, totalitarian government. China has been involved in shady international deals in the past - they are a definite opposition to democracy, lets hope their people can one day push for democracy.

But as to what happens tomorrow - who knows? Recall 9/11 and other such world-altering events. The only thing we can say for sure is that we'll all be dead in a century or so I hope our descendants can live in a decent world - and they may know some of the answers to these questions we now ask

china will never be a superpower, and there will never be a war between powerful nations, simply because they are all co-dependent, china needs australia's coal, the USA needs everyones oil. the UN will bitch and whine if any influential nation threatens another "big" country and the rest of the world will be pretty much told to intervene, and the NATO alliance will protect the US/Britain/australia from ANY country threatening war. coz america has the military, britain has the nice clean public image as a former superpower.

and if just a few countries stopped all their exports to china, china would collapse in a VERY short time(they would have a large defecit in reaources and have to use their"safety net" supply to survive), (the communist government in china is so unpopular, it has to block some western sites just so the people of china dont see media coverage of tibet and decide to turn on their commie government and vote them out. china is too unstable to be a superpower anytime soon

Maybe its a cold day in hell buddy. Cause Peeps are all over the place i.e. no unity. We don't give a shit about real issues. We would rather know what Britney ate for lunch. Until the monster gas price anyway. Has gas gone up or has all the money we've been printing for the last 28 years finally devaluing our currency. America could easily fall. I'm sorry for your delusion, but America could collapse from within. We are our own worst enemy. Nuke ourselves?

Obviously you do not know how to read, I said they did not become millionaires until they were over 50 so yes they are rich NOW. But of course anti American factions (I refer to them as Republicans  ) always spew their hatred of her and Bill with their name calling. The rabidness with which the Clinton haters fight is amazing, they are willing to destroy this country rather than see her win thus bringing back the days when their control of our country was reduced.

I know Bill Clinton, I used to work for him, and I know the kind of person both He and She are. Are they perfect? No, but at least when it comes to policy they will not lie to us, they will not arrange for an additional three trillion in debt be thrust upon us so that their friends can make a few billion and then move to Darfur.

They do put America first in their policies. Are they always right? Of course not, but at least they will not suspend Habeas Corpus for Americans! At least with them we will not have Americans disappearing off the streets and sent overseas to "undisclosed" prisons run by "undisclosed countries". Our treasury will not be looted as it has been for the last eight years.. Money that should have been used to fight the war on terror not lining the pockets of Halliburton and Black Water.

as far as them not being middle class you are correct about that, they are smarter, better educated and better mannered then the vast majority of middle class people.

They also know how to be as vicious as they need to be to get done what needs to be done.

I would rather see Joe Leiberman in the White House but he is not running. (unless MaCain grabs him). We could use another Bill Clinton in the white house, he could undo the damage that Bush has done to us over the last eight years, I mean, how bush and his crew botched the war is beyound me. My mother could have done a better job, hell I know six year olds that could have done no worse then this administration.

SpacyPony your right, My mom could do better, why do people how seem like they have get the answer for our problems and screw up and make it worse. Spacepony by a another clinton do you hillary? because I think she would do a good job. And also what is this about us being behind technology, dude have seen what we have in production in the show future weapons, we have more military tech then any country, china probally gets their tech from bootlegging all are stuff. Also just show you know we have more powerfull weapons than nukes (I do not know why we have them, we just do). The weapons ae called Thermobaric, what they do is about heat and pressure, a fire ball that continues expanding, exploding, and literally crushing and burinig everything in its path untill it is dust. dude that is scary

sorry I overestameted the power of thermobaric weapon, but is still powerfull.

LOL - The US is not literally alive, so it won't literally die. It will just do what the USSR did and slowly lose infrastructure and power as the money goes away.

America is taking all the right steps that will lead it into decline from its #1 spot.

I'm uncertain who will take up the top dog position after us but I do know that with the way things are going we will knock ourselves down VERY soon. For example, the recent xenophobia the US is adapting; wanting to kick out all the illegals and basically halt immigration (unless it comes as rich investors). THAT is already a step-back, think about it, this nation was FOUNDED by immigrants under the ideals that anyone could come in just like they did, this generated a rich mix of cultures and ideals that enabled us to become the super-power we are now.

Second: the military, why do we insist on it so damn much? Oh that's right, because of the xenophobia. While the rest of the world focuses on coexisting in a bright future, we fence ourselves out in the corner in paranoia that everyone's out to get us. Carl Sagan said it best when he stated that we employ about half our resources and half of our best minds into pointless military efforts... Imagine if we put all that into the TRUE advancement of our SPECIES (not our nation). Then you can have a real life Galactic Civilizations.

Unfortunately our technology is too advanced for us right now. We should learn to use it to care and educate; not to insist fear with a gun showcase. Business as usual will definitely bring us down.

Answer: Yes.

Note: Germany was overrun first by the Nazis and then by the Communists and Capitalist Allies and split in two, had a wall erected in its capital city, and reunited for some reason no one can quite work out, and it now has one of the strongest economies in Europe, if not the world.

With the Cold War, America and Russia screwed themselves over royal by putting all their brains into how they could increase the yield of the nuclear bomb, and finding out cooler and more intricate and advanced ways of killing people. Germany on the other hand used its brains for actually developing itself up, and this has allowed it such a spectacular return to the world stage.

Having a better military does not make a country more advanced than another. When Britain took over India, was it because Britain was more advanced than India? Hell no. Britain just happened to have a better military at a time when India's culture was very strong, but its government was becoming slack and weak. The British, as it turns out also turned out to be very good users of the Divide and Conquer philosophy, which they used very well in India.

Even considering the Australian Aborigines, they were most likely to be the most stable civilisation ever to have existed. It is true that they were basically hunter gatherers, but their spiritual advancement was far beyond that of European Christianity, as it taught not to look to the heavens and forget the Earth, but to bring one back down to Earth, as they believed that one came from the Earth, and returned to it when one died. This type of religion, this kind of spirituality as part of any civilisation will greatly enhance the sustainability of the civilisation it is in. It was the longest surviving civilisation, and existed for 40-80,000 years before the British arrived and sacked it. If Australia and its aborigines were behind some sort of curtain that cut it off from the rest of the world, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they continued their way of life more or less unchanged far longer than the (comparitively) rapidly changing Western civilisations.

Anyway, a book by Michio Kaku written ten years ago, I don't know if it still applies, states that there is a reduced number of PhDs and whatnot being produced in the States than before, science budgets are being downsized, and many top-scientists are being laid off. This is all part of a short sighted search for short-term profits. The only reason the US scientific community has remained as strong as it is is because of a large influx of educated migrants, but as DuderSeb stated, there is an increasingly hostile view towards immigration in the States, which will cut of this resource of intelligence if allowed to continue.

"In sum, the United States is eating up its own scientific seed corn."

Hate to qoute the whole thing, but well said.

America's strength comes from it's money, which comes from capitalism. Taxes will drive off companies, sucking out money, sucking out power. As long as leftist bastards keep their grubby red hands out of the honey pot, yes. China is almost a superpower, but their gender imbalance may cause a lot of odd problems in 10-20 years. Russia, with new oil revenue, is on the way back. So, how many of us think they're going to be all nice and friendly and let the old west keep the power it's grown fat and lazy on without a fight? Canada's toast.