US election

[Aesthetics]

I'd rather have 1000 bushes than another Obama. Get a capitalist repuclican in there before all the democrats / liberals destroy this country.

I hope you are joking here... To me Obama tries to clean the mess that the Bush adminstration left behind. It'll take at least another 4 year to get things back on track.

[sevenELIXIR]

I'm tired of this crap. liberal vs republican, right vs left. i"let's bash each other to death and blame the other guy!"to hell with both parties. get along and act like adults. it's pathetic. pointing fingers gets you nowhere. and I'd vote Obama over bush any day, and not just because Obama can actual give an intelligent speech.

[zeitgeist]

[sevenELIXIR]

bahaha

[Waterbagel]

My sentiment is that being a congressman/woman (and this goes out to lawyers and such too) has become much too much of a profession.

Hell, the first couple of terms in the H of R is just spent trying to get re-elected and become the usual incumbent and get that good 'ole 90% or 70% re-election rate (whichever one it is, doesn't really matter at that point, eh?)

That, and both sides are basically the same. Well, not exactly.. But you're rarely ever going to find a senator or representative that stands with every belief arbitrarily chosen by a single party. They're always mixed.

Oh, and, of course, the good of the public and the future often gets overshadowed by "What will make the public happy now so I can get re-elected? To hell with a few years from now."

[Vexille]

My sentiment is that being a congressman/woman (and this goes out to lawyers and such too) has become much too much of a profession.

...

Oh, and, of course, the good of the public and the future often gets overshadowed by "What will make the public happy now so I can get re-elected? To hell with a few years from now."

Exactly. People should not be allowed to make a career out of it because then they worry about job security. So their public political opinions are all corrupt with regard to keeping their job.

I'd rather have 1000 bushes than another Obama. Get a capitalist repuclican in there before all the democrats / liberals destroy this country.

I hope you are joking here... To me Obama tries to clean the mess that the Bush adminstration left behind. It'll take at least another 4 year to get things back on track.

People have always said this and always will say it, about the current president in regards to the previous one of a different party.

[turquoise70]

I disagree with the sentiment that there's no difference between the right and the left. That kind of "everyone's a loser" malaise is just another reason politics are so broken in this country - granted, I'm speaking from an American standpoint. In some other countries, third parties actually have some pull. In ours, unfortunately, a third party is basically still a wasted vote. Before you pile on me for saying that, I don't think it should be that way either, but at the moment, the way things are configured, it IS that way. And there is a huge, heinous difference between the right and the left. The problem right now, is that the left in our country is more or less "centerist" and the right is "way off wacko right". The discourse in America is skewed by this - leftists who are disenchanted by a Democratic party that doesn't seem to represent them, and right-wingers who enjoy the luxury of being accused of being extremists (which many of them are), which they can use the way a 5-year-old who's been tormenting his sibling all morning can use the one retaliation said sibling carried out to play himself as a victim.

[Waterbagel]

I disagree with the sentiment that there's no difference between the right and the left. That kind of "everyone's a loser" malaise is just another reason politics are so broken in this country - granted, I'm speaking from an American standpoint. In some other countries, third parties actually have some pull. In ours, unfortunately, a third party is basically still a wasted vote. Before you pile on me for saying that, I don't think it should be that way either, but at the moment, the way things are configured, it IS that way. And there is a huge, heinous difference between the right and the left. The problem right now, is that the left in our country is more or less "centerist" and the right is "way off wacko right". The discourse in America is skewed by this - leftists who are disenchanted by a Democratic party that doesn't seem to represent them, and right-wingers who enjoy the luxury of being accused of being extremists (which many of them are), which they can use the way a 5-year-old who's been tormenting his sibling all morning can use the one retaliation said sibling carried out to play himself as a victim.

i completely agree with everything you just said, as it's the way i see it.
i just don't think i got my two-sides point across like i'd hoped.

I meant to say that the two parties are a good bit different, and, based on their platforms, the parties themselves stand for one side of the binary questions (pro-life/pro-choice, same-sex marriage, etc). it's the representatives that don't. they'll swing one way on one question, and the other way on another, usually based on the demographic of their potential constituency.

so yeah, the parties are separate parties for sure. it's the congresspeople-to-be that aren't

tl;dr, i agree with you T70

[Waterbagel]

awesome..
http://lifehacker.com/5846185/congress- ... against-it

EDIT: although i personally feel there's not much we can do about it. by all means, if you feel the desire, do write/call/email/somehow let your representative know that you don't want this thing passed (that is, if you don't), but it's.. pretty much a tool for incumbents to insure their incumbency. i don't see why they wouldn't pass it.

[Ender]

[Jonse]

[Jonse]

I disagree with the sentiment that there's no difference between the right and the left. That kind of "everyone's a loser" malaise is just another reason politics are so broken in this country - granted, I'm speaking from an American standpoint. In some other countries, third parties actually have some pull. In ours, unfortunately, a third party is basically still a wasted vote. Before you pile on me for saying that, I don't think it should be that way either, but at the moment, the way things are configured, it IS that way. And there is a huge, heinous difference between the right and the left. The problem right now, is that the left in our country is more or less "centerist" and the right is "way off wacko right". The discourse in America is skewed by this - leftists who are disenchanted by a Democratic party that doesn't seem to represent them, and right-wingers who enjoy the luxury of being accused of being extremists (which many of them are), which they can use the way a 5-year-old who's been tormenting his sibling all morning can use the one retaliation said sibling carried out to play himself as a victim.

Except I'm not sure the commonly acknowledged "right" and "left" people (media-portrayed liberals and conservatives) are even really right or left to begin with. Commonly they seem to be uhh....what's the word I'm looking for...insane? Yeah, that's it.


I do agree though that when it comes to regular people living regular lives, receiving regular criticism, conservatives tend to scream "GOD DAMN LIBERALS" at centrists and libertarians (who often ironically are more conservative fiscally and nationally yet often don't believe that these stupid wars should continue, so Republicans often immediately rule out anything they have to say after that) all the time and it's unfortunate.



Also, it's too bad that the big media Repubs/Dems misconstrue these generalizations of regular, every day "blue collar" conservatives/liberals by running their god damn mouths on TV and the internet, spouting off nonsense.


Maybe if it weren't for these people on TV, feeding their bullshit to the masses, then the centrist viewpoints of most people who just associate with the party that BEST represents them (and they'd dissociate with it if they could and their votes would still count) would show more prominence in America and inevitably, a third party vote would begin to become effective.

[mechanismj]

BUSINESS HUGS!

I like where Rodheh is coming from here. I believe that if you can't think for yourself, you don't have your own opinion, and what opinions you do have come from TV, then you're probably insane or a sheep. I guess a human acting like a sheep would be insane eh?

I equate the whole left/ right deal to an imbalance in the brain, or a drunk person walking down a hallway, leaning from left to right, bouncing off the walls before they vomit on their shoes.

[Cryabetes]

Maybe if it weren't for these people on TV, feeding their bullshit to the masses, then the centrist viewpoints of most people who just associate with the party that BEST represents them (and they'd dissociate with it if they could and their votes would still count) would show more prominence in America and inevitably, a third party vote would begin to become effective.

Fun fact about those people on tv feed bs etc: Paid with funds obtained through illegal trading of petrochemical equipment with Iran, courtesy of the Koch bros.

"Because rules are for little people"

[Jonse]

Maybe if it weren't for these people on TV, feeding their bullshit to the masses, then the centrist viewpoints of most people who just associate with the party that BEST represents them (and they'd dissociate with it if they could and their votes would still count) would show more prominence in America and inevitably, a third party vote would begin to become effective.

Fun fact about those people on tv feed bs etc: Paid with funds obtained through illegal trading of petrochemical equipment with Iran, courtesy of the Koch bros.

"Because rules are for little people"

Among other things, yes.

And that sort of activity is also part of what this current protest was started for.

[Waterbagel]

Maybe if it weren't for these people on TV, feeding their bullshit to the masses, then the centrist viewpoints of most people who just associate with the party that BEST represents them (and they'd dissociate with it if they could and their votes would still count) would show more prominence in America and inevitably, a third party vote would begin to become effective.

Fun fact about those people on tv feed bs etc: Paid with funds obtained through illegal trading of petrochemical equipment with Iran, courtesy of the Koch bros.

"Because rules are for little people"

Among other things, yes.

And that sort of activity is also part of what this current protest was started for.

i still feel that.. if they just had a unified message, something all the protesters were standing behind rather than a hundred different platforms across different streetcorners.. maybe something could get done.

as of now, half of them contradict each other anyway.


EDIT:

HILARIOUS!

[sevenELIXIR]

bring down the koch brothers

[Mexicola]

Think I just entered the Twilight Zone. Brian to stand as my local MP?? I kid you not...

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/gen ... ament.html