Political & Elections

BigG · Guru

RE: The Real Problem with America

cbreeze · Veteran Member

"Ask what you can do for your country, ask not what your country can do for you"--- Entitlements.

By today's standards, JFK would have been a Republican.

pima · Guru

I also love the Presidential campaigns...watch them...in the beginning they pander to their party, the minute they get that nom and now have to go national that is when you see all of the flip flopping comments come out. Both sides do it, and the reason why is they want to be centrists to get the independent voter.

McCain flip flopped, but so did Obama. That's just politics.

I also agree with soccer, the problem is most Americans do not take the time to investigate the candidates thoroughly, they buy what is being sold to them through talking heads or non-stop commercials.

I was once told how someone acted in the past is the best predictor of how they will act in the future. If someone really looks at their voting record it is easy to see very quickly how they will go re: to campaign promises as soon as they raise their hand to take the oath of office.

soccerguy315 · Guru

BigG... the problem is most Americans are stupid and don't understand the issues on even a basic level. This is why all of the campaign money (and time after they are elected) is spent trying to make the other side appear evil, instead of having frank conversations about what the country needs, wants, and the positives and negatives of various decisions.

As you can see, they would rather spend their time editing their own honorary resolutions: http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0211/Pelosi_edits_honorary_resolutionon_Pelosi_.html

-- Edited by soccerguy315 on Friday 25th of February 2011 10:05:43 PM

pima · Guru

McCain 2008.

Look. I have a lot of respect for McCain. How many other elected officials can say they never in their elected career took an earmark?

You may not like his policies, or platforms, but you need to give credit where it is due. He has refused to take pork for his self preservation, and his constituents agree with him.

I am like his wife and child...disagreeing about his position re: homosexual unions, and DADT.

I also give him major KUDOS for the Iraq surge, and his position as a POW to state there is never a reason to water board. Without him, Rumsfeld would never have stepped down.

There will never be the perfect official that meets all of your needs/wants/desires. That is politics. You have to determine what you are willing to sacrifice.

hayden · Senior Member

"mimicked McCain's platform". Well that's kind of a moving target, isn't it, pima? His platform of which date / year? wink

pima · Guru

Many voters actually are sheep...they follow whoever is leading, without ever thinking for themselves.

A few yrs ago (08 election), our kids found a website that asked questions and spewed out who you actually are more likely to agree with as President.

My in-laws were staunch Hillary supporters...they loved Bill and JFK. That was their mindset. To their surprise, not ours, they said their political views actually mimicked McCain's platform.

To them the program was wrong. So our DS (govt major) asked them a few questions.

1. Do you believe govt is too big?

Yes they did

2. Do you believe in lower tax rates?

Yes

3. Do you believe we have too many entitlement programs?

Yes

4. Do you believe we need military superiority?

Yes

Congratulations you are a Republican.

He also asked about abortion...they oppose it
Gay marriage....they oppose it

Even after that they still swore up and down a lamp post that they were staunch democrats. They vote D because the letter D is behind the name. They are sheep. Everyone they know votes D, they have been voting D for 50 yrs and won't change now. They are not thinking about issues and impacts when they pull the lever, they are just looking for the letter D.

I am more of a democrat than they are because I believe in abortion and gay marriage.

BigG · Guru

My point was the whole country has this issue; electing clueless, ignorant, incompetent, and/or crooked politicians. People elect folks just like them! Well maybe with more money...

We get leaders that are good at getting elected, not leaders who are good at running things.

The overt oligarchs are going to own the future. Too many people are just too stupid for democracy to work.

If the whole planet were organized like the US, we wouldn't be at a comparative disadvantage with respect to leadership. But some societies are better organized and are using that to destroy our economy.

pima · Guru

DC has always had issues like this...let's be honest they actually elected Marion Barry after he got out of prison, and then they were shocked, shocked I say to find out he was back to his old tricks.

BigG · Guru

I really feel cluelessness is worse than stupid extravagance.

If they weren't clueless, they would do something about the deterioration of the economy due to Chinese predation and then we could afford stupid extravagance.

No amount of saving or austerity will get us out of our current mess.

Monetize the debt, inflate the currency or "grow our way out" and perhaps combinations of the three will be needed to fix things.

Growth in China will not help the US.

But I have come to feel that we as a people are too shortsighted to do what needs doing.

soccerguy315 · Guru

on my commutes, I have been following the saga of the DC councilman who turned down is luxury SUV b/c it had the wrong color interior and no TV for the backseat, so that SUV became the backup for the head councilguy (or maybe mayor), and the councilman got a different one that fit his specifications. Luckily, DC found a good deal, so each SUV is being leased for the low price of $2,000/month...

BigG · Guru

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/made-america-smithsonian-capitol-merchandise-shops/story?id=12992197

This is a comment from a US Senator;

"That is pretty pathetic!" he exclaimed. "I was not aware that the collapse of our manufacturing base had gone that far."

That is the real problem. Our "ruling elite" are CLUELESS as to how bad things have gotten.