I lived in England for not too long about 20 years ago. I have a deep respect for the British people, or at least some British people. They have gone off the fucking deep end, though. The days of America and UK gruesome twosome are over, probably forever. Sad because they can be whip motherfucking smart, metered in their actions, and very principled. At one time they commanded the largest empire the world has ever known, and there's a reason for that. There's also a reason they don't anymore and I think their problem is rampant bureaucracy and pussification, something we see here as well. I honestly wish them the best, but don't see them returning to their former glory anytime soon.
I left England shortly after a close friend was murdered in the 7/7 bombings. Her burnt corpse had to be identified from hair taken from her hairbrush back at her flat as she was in the car that the bomber was in at Kings Cross. The thing about that day was that all the bombers were British born. They'd been radicalized, obviously, but they'd grown up in one of the most assimilated, multi-cultural societies. I've lived in UK, Canada, USA, Singapore, Germany, Norway and a few months in Spain. The UK, was, the best of the lot in regards to cross-cultural integration with a sense of Britishness and Englishness held intact for many years. Almost every ethnicity retained their identity and indigenous culture, but they also spoke English. They had their favourite football teams, they'd all go down the pub and the whole nation turned out for the Queen's Silver Jubilee. It wasn't paradise. I remember seeing up close and personal my first skinhead at 12 and being head-butted. My neighbour taught me to take off the chain of my bike and how use it and then there was always the good ol' friendly punch ups because I looked like a 'paki'. I went to the funeral of a childhood friend killed in NI by the IRA and other fun stuff. In the '70's and '80s The National Front was in full swing and the police were full on thugs and without question racist, BUT, it never really, fully got out of hand. The legislature, the Establishment, was vested in maintain order, unity and above all, national pride and 'getting on with it'. We all, got on with it, regardless.
England's lost it edge and position because, I feel, the people have swapped national pride and identity with the drive to 'get more' and rampant consumerism that the 80's gave birth to made people just run harder and faster to stand still and so suddenly there's more to life than being 'the best' or Bitish or English. Pride of nation and history was replaced with sports and other bite-sized patriotism that could be taken or left with no consequence. When you define yourself by stuff and pomp you don't leave yourself with much depth to grow roots that'll hold you firm in the hard times. So what happens? You look to someone/thing else to create rules to make it all better.
The Brits now don't nearly have as much a sense of themselves, their history and unity as they used to when I first moved there and grew up there. I wonder how many know the Battle of Hastings, the Reformation or the Civil War and Cromwell's ideals and the role of the monarchy in meeting some of the largest challenges the small island state faced in its history. England's history is as fascinating, varied, bloody and miraculous as any you're ever going to find and there's a lot there to be proud of. Just look at Cambridge's contributions to science and understanding.
The multiculturalism of England caught the disease of political correctness and identity first politics - now we're African British, or Pakistani British or some other drivel. And for a country like England, a small nation, where a single identity was what precisely made it formidable, irresistible and so blindingly effective in industry, commerce, war and welfare reform, it became the rot that would kill the mighty oak.
We have had other governments that have infested the country with CCTV. We have a judiciary that has suspended habieus corpus. And this is the country of the Magna Carta!! The single oldest functioning judiciary body in the world.
You guys here might wonder why or how we've become so divisive here, it's not really that much of a mystery. The same thing that happened there happened here, but American patriotism is more entertaining to the patriots. American patriotism has not gotten to the point of being viewed with a sense of self-deprecation or self-loathing as it has in the UK (if you wear the St. Georges Cross you're assumed to be a racist...!!). I hope it doesn't either.
So be warned, my fellow Americans. Whatever we think of the Left, they have an ailment that needs remediation and it's not a knock out punch in the street or ArmyJerry loading mega-fuck tons of ammo. This divide needs to be figured out and solved. We need reform in education (and frankly DeVos is a tragic neglect of this need and one of Trumps worst decisions that will impact us for years), we need to teach civics, ours and international history without the lens of 'feelings' and we should bring back saying the Pledge of Allegiance and flying our flag - everywhere. Without or without god. It's about the nation, not the notion of a higher power. As Condoleezza Rice said, "There is no American gene, or race other than the native americans. If modern United States is to survive, we need to keep the American ideal and ethos."
Long live the Federal Republic of the United States of America and it's Constitution!