Yes, if people like the ones at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston become leaders.

Wow, it's hard to remember this is what human beings can be.

Yes it can be saved and it starts with gratitude. We all stand on the shoulders America has built up from generations of relative freedom.

America stands on the grave of the British empire

Sure kid, just like a horse race.

Nasa is the best ambassador the US has, if they took 1/3 of the military budget and put into space travel the US would be back like Jordan.

Space travel for what? Branson is going to operate consumer flights, but how many times can billionaires fly to ISS before they get bored? Not many people can afford $150k for a short vacation.

tourism will always remain in the back seat. the commercialization of space has been about serving the planet as a whole with communications, its brought up the un-cabled world just like mobile phones have brought up the last mile. there is huge potential in energy production and distribution coming next.

Elon Musk estimates 5-10 years to get to Mars. At present the cost is $1 Billion per ton, so it'd need to be 1/1000th of the cost, apparently. The ship will also need to be reusable.

Traveling Mars is also not a point and shoot mission. You have to coordinate launches with the alignment of the planets' orbits to travel the shortest distance and not fly past the sun. This also requires a stay on Mars as you wait for safe realignment after landing. Current technology estimates a 21 month round-trip given a ~3 month stay on Mars. Money is not the biggest hurdle.

When I say 5-10 years, I mean to design and engineer the cost down, not journey time.

go open source, add new states, virtual citizenship and most of all healthy competition with other nations not war

Competition in what? Our largest industries are healthcare and pharma. Getting Americans to change is a huge hurdle.

competition for new citizens, with decreasing population the game is going to change and the usa at least remembers how to play

You like this check out vinie paz on this

update

If its a 12 step program, seems like all this realisation right now is step 1.

So who is the cool cowboy now?

America needs a strong leader. The country is in a mess and it's going to get a lot worse till it gets better.

outlaw political donations there's plenty of free coverage to get the pitches across anyway.

The population grew to large. The citizen / individual is now a defunct concept. Group politics prevail. Democracy is dead.

americas greatness came from common values attracting immigration from around the planet. make that again and yall have a chance

Only problem I see is too many people

not enough young people, not enough people moving up economically.

Hollywood. The American dreM. Clever marketing for a past its date super power.