American Politics

[skauble]

It's the idea that the US style of government  is best for everyone that is so daft. Because it isn't. It's almost like saying heterosexual marriage is best for gay people because that is the kind of marriage you are in yourself. Also, of course, they "bring democracy" and "free people" - until the day that those free people elect a government  that isn't the one they were SUPPOSED to elect (like Hamas, for instance) - then all of a sudden they get to be the bad guys all over again.

There's a fascinating transcript of a Noam Chomsky lecture called Modern-Day American Imperialism: Middle East and Beyond. He starts it by pointing out, "In fact, talking about American imperialism is rather like talking about triangular triangles. The United States is the one country that exists, as far as I know, and ever has, that was founded as an empire explicitly."

 

It's a brief and fairly terrifying look at America's beginnings in Imperialism and how that guiding theme dictated our approach to WW II, the cold war, and now the Middle East.

 

 

On a slightly (or completely ) different aspect of American politics, I have to say that someone really needs to sit down with Mitt Romney and get him to change his campaign staff. When he replaces them he needs three groups. The first needs to figure out how to sell his policies in a way that's adaptable to how specific people need him to be and responsive to spontaneous opportunities that allow him to expound on his ideas. The second needs to focus on Obama so that they can counter what he says and take advantage of any weaknesses. And the third needs to identify Mitt's weak points, attempt to minimize and/or compensate for them, and spin the stuff that goes wrong anyway.

 

Seriously, I think almost every gaffe he's made could be spun except for the line "I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives." That line's pretty tough to work around. But they could have used decent distraction techniques if they were any good at their jobs.

 

But, more than that, he needs some kind of "Rich Guy to Middle Class" interpretor to explain things to him before he talks about them. He doesn't need to actually care or even understand, he just needs to be able to fake it. For instance, last night, while talking about health-care he said:

Pelley (Interviewer): Does the government have a responsibility to provide health care to the 50 million Americans who don't have it today?

 

Romney: Well, we do provide care for people who don't have insurance, people-- we-- if someone has a heart attack, they don't sit in their apartment and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care. And different states have different ways of providing for that care.

You say "Emergency Room" to most middle class people, even the ones who have insurance, and you can watch them wince. This is the kind of really avoidable mistake that his people should be working on. IDK, maybe I'm jaded about politics these days, but the thing that really bothers me about this whole Mitt thing is how mind-bogglingly stupid his campaign has been.

 

Also, the Republicans either need to fire Reince Priebus or keep him off camera. He could be talking about donating a kidney and it would sound snide and petulant. He might be a great guy, but he just doesn't come off well on TV.

[brairtrainer]

Yeah but unless people like that start getting elected I don't think we will ever get out of this state that we are in. It's all the people with money that do and they don't got a clue what it's like for the working class at all. :/

 

This is so true, which is why we need to elect people that aren't from the main two parties into office. We need to upset the status quo.

Yes ! See - the message is starting to permeate. Go for it ! (We need to do that in the UK too !)

problem is even people who agree with me aren't willing to do it because you can't change people's minds :/

 

Which reminds me the guy I'm voting for is in my siggy if anyone is looking for a third party canidate.

[Vhale]

But, more than that, he needs some kind of "Rich Guy to Middle Class" interpretor to explain things to him before he talks about them. He doesn't need to actually care or even understand, he just needs to be able to fake it. For instance, last night, while talking about health-care he said:

That actually wasn't the thing that stood out the most to me. The one that did was his idea that he would save the middle class money on taxes but cutting dividends, interest and capital gains taxes.

 

I haven't made squat on interest in ages and unlike most people I know, I actually have savings. In fact, I make little enough interest that I haven't been required to file it the last couple years. My dividends are large enough to claim, but hardly significant. We're talking, maybe 300$ a year. I intend to transfer half my savings into stock, so hopefully that goes up. But I hate to but while the market is at historic highs. So, that isn't relevant now.

[demonicvampiregirl]

 

I hope that doesn't stretch the page if it does I'll link it. It sums up everything very very nicely.

 

@Skauble

 

I think I'm more worried that they hate the American people rather than the idiots running the government right now.

[Rosedamai]

I think I'm more worried that they hate the American people rather than the idiots running the government right now.

Personally as long as you are polite, most people will leave you alone-but in areas where there are conflicts with the U.S you WILL be targeted.

[Vhale]

Personally as long as you are polite, most people will leave you alone-but in areas where there are conflicts with the U.S you WILL be targeted.

I have to admit, it DOES worry me that when you get the internet involved and Americans saying: Bomb them all! that people from other countries will get terrified at what we may become. After all, that's supposed to be the big worry over Iran, that the religious crazy people will get their hands on nukes. Yet, here in the US... lots of religious people + lots of nukes + government =? I live in a deep red state close to a major city/airline hub. So. yikes... I could see all this fear-mongering turning on us. I think one of the top Australian officials came out and say the modern Republicans were the greatest global threat we currently face, last week.

 

[Syaoransbear]

I have to admit, it DOES worry me that when you get the internet involved and Americans saying: Bomb them all! that people from other countries will get terrified at what we may become.

I agree. A lot of times I think "Oh well it's just a stereotype, I'm sure Americans aren't really like that." Then when you go on the internet and find plenty of Americans that are like that, you wonder if maybe the reputation is deserved and the people who don't think that way are few and far between.

 

I go to a dog forum where it's mostly american, middle aged, christian, caucasian women and men who work for law enforcement or the army. The thinking of that group is definitely the stereotypical 'bomb them all, we're number 1 and our god is the best' american thinking, so sometimes I do come across as anti-american because I don't talk to many americans who aren't like that.

 

Right now on that forum there's a discussion going on about how a police officer went to the wrong address, entered the house with no warning, and shot and killed the home owner's dog when it barked at him. It is so very, very worrying to see people fight tooth and nail about how this police officer had every right to kill that dog and to see people refuse to admit that the officer may have made a mistake. People who blindly believe that police officers can do no wrong are scary. They seem to feel that way about the war as well, that it's okay to kill innocent civilians for getting in the way and hindering the army's operations.

Edited September 24, 2012 by Syaoransbear

[brairtrainer]

Honestly I believe that all of American's problems can be summerized by this song

. Music video is a bit creepy but hey it sure summerizes it . Now if only the generation who made this song actually stuck to it .

 

No offense to older people out there just realizing that with the age of the singer it hasn't happened yet.

[demonicvampiregirl]

I agree. A lot of times I think "Oh well it's just a stereotype, I'm sure Americans aren't really like that." Then when you go on the internet and find plenty of Americans that are like that, you wonder if maybe the reputation is deserved and the people who don't think that way are few and far between.

 

I go to a dog forum where it's mostly american, middle aged, christian, caucasian women and men who work for law enforcement or the army. The thinking of that group is definitely the stereotypical 'bomb them all, we're number 1 and our god is the best' american thinking, so sometimes I do come across as anti-american because I don't talk to many americans who aren't like that.

 

Right now on that forum there's a discussion going on about how a police officer went to the wrong address, entered the house with no warning, and shot and killed the home owner's dog when it barked at him. It is so very, very worrying to see people fight tooth and nail about how this police officer had every right to kill that dog and to see people refuse to admit that the officer may have made a mistake. People who blindly believe that police officers can do no wrong are scary. They seem to feel that way about the war as well, that it's okay to kill innocent civilians for getting in the way and hindering the army's operations.

I watched the video to that incident. That was total bs in my opinion.

 

That's the thing that bugs me. Some idiots out there can be spouting that crap and yet it's not everyone and it does scare me that anyone else who comes a crossed it will believe that is how all Americans act.

 

If you search for "police officers arrested for involvement in drug cartel" (word for word) in google, it will point you to a article where they arrested 35 people for being involved. I wish I could find a reliable source link but the channel I heard it on doesn't have it up unless I'm not seeing it. This is absolute proof that you do not need to use a bomb just to bring criminals down.

[Fuzzbucket]

I have to admit, it DOES worry me that when you get the internet involved and Americans saying: Bomb them all! that people from other countries will get terrified at what we may become. After all, that's supposed to be the big worry over Iran, that the religious crazy people will get their hands on nukes. Yet, here in the US... lots of religious people + lots of nukes + government =? I live in a deep red state close to a major city/airline hub. So. yikes... I could see all this fear-mongering turning on us. I think one of the top Australian officials came out and say the modern Republicans were the greatest global threat we currently face, last week.

YES ! Exactly (and it isn't just the internet - the newspapers point it out all the time - with some justification as it is statements by people in your government that are so scary. I am still getting over the Axis of Evil thing....)

 

I live uncomfortably close to a nuclear power plant, and believe me, when Blair was at his worst, I worried...

 

We just had two policewomen shot down in the UK - and in spite of evil press requests for a permanently armed police force, even the cops say this would be a bad idea because it makes people trigger-happy and helps nothing. Anyone in the US familiar with the APPALLING case of Charles de Menezes ? TOTALLY innocent.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jean...rles_de_Menezes

 

 

[inlaterdays]

A little off-topic but I wanted to share this because it's so funny and yet so frightening. Frightening because the man is running for President.

 

Mitt Romney doesn't understand airplane windows or fire

[Zaxian]

A little off-topic but I wanted to share this because it's so funny and yet so frightening. Frightening because the man is running for President.

 

Mitt Romney doesn't understand airplane windows or fire

Eeeesh.

"When you have a fire in an aircraft, there's no place to go, exactly, there's no — and you can't find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don't open. I don't know why they don't do that. It's a real problem. So it's very dangerous."

The man's an idiot.

[Fuzzbucket]

"When you have a fire in an aircraft, there's no place to go, exactly, there's no — and you can't find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don't open. I don't know why they don't do that. It's a real problem. So it's very dangerous."

 

Eeeesh.

 

The man's an idiot.

OMG. PLEASE let me never be in a plane he's on....

 

Oxygen is the LAST thing you want when there's a fire raging, Mitt, dear....

[Slaskia]

A little off-topic but I wanted to share this because it's so funny and yet so frightening. Frightening because the man is running for President.

 

Mitt Romney doesn't understand airplane windows or fire

He was making a joke.

 

Admittly, not a good one IMO.

[inlaterdays]

He was making a joke.

 

Admittly, not a good one IMO.

I'm really torn on whether the joke claim is true or whether it's post-gaffe spin-doctoring.

 

And no one from his team has said that the adding-oxygen-to-a-fire part was a joke.

 

He worries me. Even if this one is false, the fact that he's made enough huge factual errors and major tactical blunders that the story was believable as not being a joke is frightening.

[Fuzzbucket]

I'm really torn on whether the joke claim is true or whether it's post-gaffe spin-doctoring.

 

And no one from his team has said that the adding-oxygen-to-a-fire part was a joke.

 

He worries me. Even if this one is false, the fact that he's made enough huge factual errors and major tactical blunders that the story was believable as not being a joke is frightening.

I don't believe it was a joke. And even if it had been - some jokes are plain not funny.

[Vhale]

It doesn't read like a joke. Even if it was, he's been attacking Obama in the same span of time for saying the trouble in the Middle East was a Bump in the Road, by saying he was calling someone's death a bump in the road. You can't attack someone for being callous about another's death then act callous about your own wife's near miss. It's as tacky as his orange face paint was. Went back and saw more pics. Lord, that makeup artist was clueless or the person ordering them was.

[skauble]

Warning: My long, admittedly soapboxy opinion on voting ahead.

 

Today is National Voter Registration Day, here in the U.S.. A lot of people do vote; but a whole lot don't. If you haven't registered to vote, please consider doing so. It doesn't matter who you're voting for, as long as you vote.

 

Register to vote link

 

A page or two back, someone made the comment that they hope that people around the world don't blame us instead of those in our rather dysfunctional government. Well if they don't then they're being very kind, because it is our fault.

 

If you look around, and you think that it's the extremists in our society who seem to be running things, if you feel like no one ever pays attention to people like you, if you just don't see the point, I get where you're coming from. I honestly do. But here's the thing - The system isn't broken. It's working just fine. We, the people, are what's gone wrong.

 

The U.S. government is actually a really good system. The checks and balances, they do manage to keep things on a fairly even keel. So kudos to those who designed it, because it does what it needs to, it's remarkably flexible to adapt to our changing society, and it stands up pretty well to tyranny. It has its problems here and there, but it really only has one killing weakness - us.

 

And that's kind of understandable, when you think about it. People who'd just fought a war so that they'd have a say in how they were governed probably couldn't conceive of folks one day shrugging that off so lightly. So they never really devised a way to compensate for that. Because everything that happens in our government – everything – runs on the vigilance of the American people. We're supposed to be watching what they do, and then we're supposed to be keeping the ones who actually represent our needs and firing the ones who don't. And we're all supposed to be doing it so that the government is genuinely reflective of the main body of people. It's not supposed to be the more fanatical folks on the fringes of both sides who make the decisions simply because they're fervent enough to do the work democracy requires.

 

Most politicians aren't motivated by some kind of evil; most of them simply want to keep their jobs. If the majority of people voting want the Democrats and Republicans to work together, they will. Partly because we'll end up with a lot more moderate representatives, and partly because they understand that if they're shown to be one of a handful of people who are stalling the entire process, they're probably not getting sent back to Washington.

 

I know it seems hopeless because the divide between liberals and conservatives seems so large, but that's an illusions. We're not that far apart, it's just that the moderates are abdicating their part in the process. For instance, a lot of moderate Republicans are pro-choice; they have certain reservations about some aspects, but they believe in the importance of preserving that right for women. And the fact is that a lot of moderate Democrats feel the same way. And even if some of their concerns are different, it's easier for people in that range of the political spectrum to understand that the “other side” worries, because they do to.

 

We're all a lot closer than we think, but the people who form the bridge between the two vastly divided ideological cliffs have to step back into the process.

 

Bluntly stated, voting isn't our right, it's our duty. It's part of the social contract because it's essential to the proper running of the government, and thus of society – as we've seen with the current state of affairs. There may have been a time in our history where people had more of an excuse to be less connected, simply because information was harder to come by and thus vigilance was a much harder task, but that is not the case today.

 

Congress is in session? You can watch it on cable. Your Senator is voting on the budget? Shoot them an email and tell them what you think. The president has a press conference? Stream it live on the net. A politician says something ridiculous? Check out the 10,000 mocking Tweets with hilarious hashtags. These days you almost have to work to be uninformed. We need to take advantage and make the information count.

 

At the end of the day, the citizens of the world are going to judge us by the actions of our government. And they should. Because, as the Republicans pointed out at their convention – We can change it. If we want it better, if we want it more responsive, if we want to be heard, we have to speak. And our vote is our voice. You may think that one vote doesn't matter, but a million votes are cast by a million individual people.

 

I was once inclined to think that we'd never have a black president or a woman president in my lifetime. But four years ago, enough people believed that we could make that a reality, enough of them wanted to invest in the idea of hope and change, and they made that happen. And that's not meant to be an endorsement of Obama. If enough people want a new change this time, they can make that happen, too. Because we have the power. We, the people. And if we choose to hand that power off to others, then we can't complain when they use it for what they think is important.

 

It may take us a while to get our government back in working order, but that's the cost of so much neglect. But if we don't begin now, they'll find a way to make sure that we can't.

 

Please, please, vote.

 

Register to vote link

 

/all done

[Fuzzbucket]

skauble - as I have said before - you are a very wonderful American, just like most of my American friends and I think I love you

 

Where we are able to vote - we as a population get the governments we deserve. And then we ARE morally responsible for the awful things they do in our name.

[skauble]

In news we all saw coming but is still utterly depressing: Republicans are moving back towards support for Todd "legitimate rape doesn't cause pregnancy" Akins.

 

And to make it even better, Akin's apparently disappointed because Claire McCaskill isn't being “ladylike”. Why, she even had the nerve to “come out swinging” in their debate. Imagine that, your opponent being critical of you in a debate.

 

But really, he shouldn't blame her. I'm sure she wanted to be more ladylike, but when she sensed a "legitimately" bad senatorial candidate, her brain just sort of had a way of shutting him down. It's nature!

 

The thing that gets me about Akin isn't just the “legitimate rape” thing, but the fact that he seems to make a lot of his decisions without any real investigation of facts. I saw a clip of him talking about the minimum wage being problematic and when he was asked what it was, he couldn't even give them an amount – while he was actually criticizing it!

 

Maybe we really do need a Secretary of Explaining things.

[demonicvampiregirl]

In news we all saw coming but is still utterly depressing: Republicans are moving back towards support for Todd "legitimate rape doesn't cause pregnancy" Akins.

 

And to make it even better, Akin's apparently disappointed because Claire McCaskill isn't being “ladylike”. Why, she even had the nerve to “come out swinging” in their debate. Imagine that, your opponent being critical of you in a debate.

 

But really, he shouldn't blame her. I'm sure she wanted to be more ladylike, but when she sensed a "legitimately" bad senatorial candidate, her brain just sort of had a way of shutting him down. It's nature!

 

The thing that gets me about Akin isn't just the “legitimate rape” thing, but the fact that he seems to make a lot of his decisions without any real investigation of facts. I saw a clip of him talking about the minimum wage being problematic and when he was asked what it was, he couldn't even give them an amount – while he was actually criticizing it!

 

Maybe we really do need a Secretary of Explaining things.

>_< Wow just freaking wow. It's idiots like these that make me want to move out of the US.

[brairtrainer]

^this

[7Deadly$ins]

I'm going to be canvassing neighborhoods starting tomorrow in support of Obama.

[Vhale]

It's the win at all costs mentality. It doesn't matter how bad a candidate is, it only matters that they fight for a majority in the house or senate. The problem though, is that even if one wins, seems like the other can just filibuster anything to death. After all, with the record number of filibusters in the last 4 years, will it really be a victory for either to get a majority? Other than bragging rights of course.

 

It does tie into what is quietly a bigger issue this election. That's Supreme Court Justices. Given that it's so much smaller, a majority there will count for a lot more. It's something I'd like to see brought up in the debates. Maybe it will, I'm seeing a few articles pop up about it, not that it's a guarantee. Run on Jobs, Pass Bills on Marriage Silence about the Court

 

I'm also seeing a few more that show how badly behind the US is compared to other countries. And how much experience we've lost by outsourcing, for expensive and often, inferior products. But, I wonder if in 10 years, that won't be somehow blamed on something besides the companies that drove those practices? After all, I see tons of people commenting on how Unions destroyed the US auto industry. So much, I barely register it anymore. But, when I was first buying a car, I remember how bad the reputation of American made vehicles had gotten. We got a new Buick Century that broke down 7 times the first 3 weeks we had it. And the lemon laws that supposedly protect against that, the dealer would not accept, We would have had to sue. It was common knowledge, buy Honda/Toyota and last 7-10 years. Buy Ford/Chevy, maybe 3 if lucky. And that of course, can't all be laid at the feet of the unions. That was as much a choice on the part of the businesses to drive up parts sales by making inferior products. But it's like people don't remember that anymore. Like the Housing crisis wasn't the banks, it was irresponsible people making bad loans. Welfare people are all lazy druggies. Not that we are in the Great Recession. The 47% are all moochers... etc etc.

 

The US, Hostile Family Policies

US Internet Lagging Behind

US Manufacturing Moving Back

 

Kind of a random sampling of link spam there.

[Sorrowgrave]

I want the goverment to actually follow it's own rules,

 

The right to LIFE being one of them

 

to be alive you have to have a few things

 

breathing is one of them

 

thus fetus does not equal alive

 

A living, breathing human being DOES equal a life.