SniperWhôre
Veteran X
people in this country burn down half a city when their favorite sports team loses, hell it frequently happens when their favorite team wins. If Obama loses, a massive conflagration is inevitable.
people in this country burn down half a city when their favorite sports team loses, hell it frequently happens when their favorite team wins. If Obama loses, a massive conflagration is inevitable.
I agree that there will never be an overthrow.
However, I hold absolutely no hope for change from within. "Change" would require the government to reform itself. It would require the federal bureaucracy (and therefore the Executive branch) to willingly relinquish an awful lot of power. It would also require Congress to reform itself. Those are two massive changes that will require the government to work against its own interests, and I really can't think of a single precedent for this in history--people do not willingly give up power. That is because people are not altruistic: they are douchebags.
Feingold, who was elected to Congress on a promise not to accept pay raises while in office, has so far returned over $50,000 in such raises to the U.S. Treasury.[41] In addition, he is notoriously frugal in his office's spending, and sends back the money that he does not use. In one six-month period in 1999, for example, his office received $1.787 million in appropriations and returned $145,000, a higher percentage than any other senator.[42]
I'm not even sure how to sort out the judiciary.
It was never intended to be political, but it has become extremely politicized. It's about the only issue that I care about in the upcoming election, and that is not what the framers intended. The Judicial branch was essentially supposed to be a meritocracy, it was not supposed to be about abortion and believing in Jesus.
The US government will eventually collapse. All republics eventually collapse from within if left to their own devices. That will be the chance for true reform.
I respect your belief that it can be changed from within--I just don't share it.
I'm not sure where you get the authority to ridicule mine, though.
flexxx and wowbagger, do you deny that McCain ran a horrible campaign?
Of course not. His campaign was fucking incompetent. I almost feel sorry for him.flexxx and wowbagger, do you deny that McCain ran a horrible campaign?
Yes but had McCain not driven away moderate voters with his shit campaign, this election would likely be 50/50 right now and could easily swing to either side. Speculation sure, but so is saying Obama winning is a forgone conclusion.
People like that do exist, but they are in the vast minority.My prime example for this is Russ Feingold, Senator D-Wisconsin. I'm hard pressed to find a single vote he's made that I disagree with. He holds to very strict principles from which I have not seen him deviate legislatively. Here's a good example:
There's no question that it stems largely from the Republican party's ridiculous courtship of the religious right over the last several decades. It was bad before that, but it's unconscionable at this point.Fully agree. Unfortunately, I think that's a result of the polarized society that we've become thanks in no small part due to the selfishness of humans. As a liberal (yes, I have the audacity to label myself), I tend to blame it more on Republicans for pushing their goddamn agenda but I know Democrats are not free from blame on this either.
I don't.Yes. But again, we'll probably be dead. So what good is it to sit around and expect this eventually? Not doing anything is basically like saying it's ok for Government to go ahead and run our lives for us. We've got to take positions, and yes I do think the public can influence government. Maybe not on everything, but on plenty of relevant issues.
I was never pro-Bush.The reason you and I have a problem is entirely based in 2004 politics. You were vehemently anti-Kerry and absolutely pro-Bush (implicitly or not). Bush is an absolute disaster for this country and I give you credit for coming to that conclusion, albeit belatedly. I was not pro-Kerry so much as I was anti-Bush and anything I said otherwise was a means to an end.
I agree.It's only slightly amusing to realize how fucking awful it was that this country elected Bush twice until you realize that we'll all be reaping the rewards of the shitfest he created for years to come. He probably speeded the demise of the Republic but that doesn't mean it's going to collapse in our lifetimes.
People like that do exist, but they are in the vast minority.
They also tend to be corrupted eventually.
There's no question that it stems largely from the Republican party's ridiculous courtship of the religious right over the last several decades. It was bad before that, but it's unconscionable at this point.
I don't.
As I said, if there were a channel for me to actually express my disapproval of the government, I would. Unfortunately, I am forced to cast my vote for one of two parties, both of which are guilty of perpetuating the problem and will never be party to a solution.
The bottom line is that I do not support the current government in any way, shape, or form. It is flawed and has deviated too far from its course.
I was never pro-Bush.
I was anti-Kerry and anti-Bush. You were just sensitive to one side of this because I tended to attack a lot of the fringe leftist ideas (especially in regards to Iraq--which I never supported, by the way. About as close as I've come to "support" for that fiasco is saying that Saddam was a douchebag and that things may improve without him in power, but it has since become clear that, even though he was a douchebag, he was required to contain the region.) However, at the same time, I attacked a lot of the rightards as well.
In fact, I probably made fun of Triple more than anybody else over the course of the 2004 election.
Although I will freely admit that I did make a lot of incendiary comments just for my own amusement, I can tell you that Bush never had my backing.
Although I will admit to being wrong about just how disastrous his presidency could be. I thought that it would be unpleasant, but I didn't realize that it would result in the entire planet hating us.
I agree.
The US has another 1-200 years. Collapse won't come until after China and India industrialize and become the new economic/military powers. The EU will also most likely overtake the US eventually as well.
The US will die with a whimper rather than a bang.
And I'm sure that even reading that has retards like triple and Musashi frothing at the mouth.
In all honesty, if I lived in a swing state, I probably would vote for Obama.But I know that in the short term, I see a clear rational choice. Where it concerns human equality, the Democrats are far more inclusive. They are far from perfect and there are a lot of people/policies I could do without but seeing as we're presented with 2 choices, I think it's smart to choose a side so long as there is enough difference -- and I really think there is.
The economy will turn to shit and we will return the the irrelevancy of the 18th century, but it definitely will set the stage for a return to the actual principles that this country was founded upon.I agree 100% with everything you said here. The rapid rise of former "third world" countries thanks to globalization means we're headed for a big fucking resource fight. Our export/import deficit is HUGE. We don't produce anything anymore and we're just shipping our wealth overseas. There's no way we can continue to consume resources at the speed and quantity we are currently doing.
Ironically, American greed sets us up for inevitable demise as all these other countries start to have the means to compete for "our" resources.
Bingo.That's why I'm voting Obama. I live in a swing state (presumably), and I don't think the President has as much power as everyone thinks they have. It's congress that's completely responsible for the current crisis. No party is responsible, it's a collective 535 assholes who do nothing but take money from special interests, pass reactionary legislation and give presidents carte blanche because then they can always pass the buck on to the administration instead of claiming responsibility.
In all honesty, if I lived in a swing state, I probably would vote for Obama.
Not because I support him.
Not because I believe that he will change anything.
Not because I believe there's any hope for getting things back on track.
But because the thought of what McCain (or worse--Palin) will do to the supreme court scares the shit out of me.
That is something that has real potential to adversely affect everyday life in this country for a generation.
However, I live in CT, and even if I didn't want Obama, he would get our electoral votes anyway. So I'm able to maintain my (admittedly highly ineffective) form of protest.
The economy will turn to shit and we will return the the irrelevancy of the 18th century, but it definitely will set the stage for a return to the actual principles that this country was founded upon.
The age of American economic imperialism is at an end. It was a good run, but like the British, it's time to learn to place nice-nice.