...now?
I would, yeah.
I would if it weren't so depressing.
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I feel bad for a few of my friends. They got into this "tea party" thing back when Bush was prez to protest the bail out. The hoopleheads swooped in though and completely co-opted the thing. Now its some crazy anti-obama three ring circus. They have to feel stupid for being associated with this thing if they still are.
Obviously a clever plant from the left to make them look bad.
Or Poes law in action.
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Are we using Brawndo to nurish our crops yet?
It has what plants crave!
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Reminds me of the time some Senator thought we had to have 2 naval bases on the oppsite sides of Guam or it would capsize...
But of course he was kidding, and in no way an idiot.
I saw this caricature (language warning: german)
link
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I just love how we are broke but still spending 10s of millions a month to keep our military occupying other countries that we really have no business in. How about we pull back, take a good look at our priorities (not the government's priorities but the people of this country's priorities) and figure out the best way to make that happen. I want a new system for electing people that is fair to all parties also, not just the 2 biggest idiots in the room. Our government is so frickin' big and has spread it's interests so far from home that it has become unmanageable. We really need to look at being self-sufficient and then any excess manufactured can be sold to other countries for profit.
Right now if China cut off our access to electronics and their super-rare metals/minerals that are in them we would be screwed for about 5 years before we could get manufacturing up and running and start self-producing things like cell-phones, TVs, etc...
We are relying on countries that would just love to watch us fall and who are trying to skew the world view to bring that about and that is just plain epic stupidity.
Reminds me of the time some Senator thought we had to have 2 naval bases on the oppsite sides of Guam or it would capsize...
But of course he was kidding, and in no way an idiot.
To Admiral Willard's credit, he didn't verbalize the thoughts that were no doubt in his head at the time.
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Fake Healer, I think that the international economy is so interdependent nowadays that even China cannot afford to have the US come crushing down - yet. If it gets any worse, China will probably try to wrest away the control of the global economy from the US, where it still rests IMO for the most part. If more nonsense like the current keeps happening in the US, this will happen at some point, but not right now. The GDP is still the biggest in the world, but China is gaining ground rapidly. So, if the US remains at its current stance and continues to cut its own flesh by bull-headed stuff like the current situation, it will fall down economically at some point, and stop being the leading nation in global economics. Who knows, in 10 or 20 years the worlds most important currency might be the Yuan, and no longer the Dollar.
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I just love how we are broke
We're not broke.
but still spending 10s of millions a month to keep our military occupying other countries that we really have no business in.
10's of millions per month? You'll probably want to sit down for this.
The United States spends in excess of $10 million per hour on Afghanistan alone. We spend around $8 billion per month on foreign war efforts.
How about we pull back, take a good look at our priorities (not the government's priorities but the people of this country's priorities) and figure out the best way to make that happen.
Make what happen? Withdrawal from foreign war efforts? We've done that. We are nearly completely removed from Iraq, something accomplished over the last four years. Chances are we'll do the same with Afghanistan, provided we manage to avoid electing any Republican presidents in the next couple of elections.
I want a new system for electing people that is fair to all parties also, not just the 2 biggest idiots in the room.
Do you mean "parties" in the political sense? Because we already have that. The people who receive the most votes are the people who are elected (with a scant handful of exceptions).
As for the "2 biggest idiots in the room", I promise you that smaller parties are more than capable of putting forth candidates just as poor as anything the Democratic or Republican parties could come up with.
Our government is so frickin' big and has spread it's interests so far from home that it has become unmanageable. We really need to look at being self-sufficient and then any excess manufactured can be sold to other countries for profit.
Right now if China cut off our access to electronics and their super-rare metals/minerals that are in them we would be screwed for about 5 years before we could get manufacturing up and running and start self-producing things like cell-phones, TVs, etc...
That will never, ever happen.
We are relying on countries that would just love to watch us fall and who are trying to skew the world view to bring that about and that is just plain epic stupidity.
If you think China would "just love to watch us fall", you really need to develop a basic understanding of international economy before continuing to push your personal views.
Yes. Better to laugh than to cry. Think about how us non-crazy fiscal conservatives are feeling. Does anyone know of another conservative political party that might be available for us to use?
The Democratic Party.
Yes, seriously.
Yes. Better to laugh than to cry. Think about how us non-crazy fiscal conservatives are feeling. Does anyone know of another conservative political party that might be available for us to use?The Democratic Party.
Yes, seriously.
Yeah, I thought that was kind of a no-brainer.
It breaks my heart really...
The Tea Party and Occupy movements, so close together, saying basically the same thing — or if not, something vastly more compatible with the other than the established parties had.
And it took SO LITTLE TIME for them to get co-opted into the boilerplate, party-line BS that those movements were both so sick of.
I hope they don't miss the connection next time.
You're allowed to do anything, as long as it's what they want you to do.
It breaks my heart really...
The Tea Party and Occupy movements, so close together, saying basically the same thing — or if not, something vastly more compatible with the other than the established parties had.
And it took SO LITTLE TIME for them to get co-opted into the boilerplate, party-line BS that those movements were both so sick of.
I hope they don't miss the connection next time.
Not only that, but it took so little time for one to attack the other, when they had pretty much the exact same complaints a few years apart.
Not only that, but it took so little time for one to attack the other, when they had pretty much the exact same complaints a few years apart.
One was easily undermined by its own racism, the other by its own caprice.
It's a good thing too. If they'd actually realized their common ground, we'd have gone to guillotines within a week.
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Yes. Better to laugh than to cry. Think about how us non-crazy fiscal conservatives are feeling. Does anyone know of another conservative political party that might be available for us to use?The Democratic Party.
Yes, seriously.
Yes, I'm pretty sure they're going to be the only real game in town in another ten or fifteen years.
Not that they're really much better than the Republicans -- actually, right now they are, but only because the Republicans have become so incredibly, uniquely bad.
Eisenhower for President, 2016.
Yes, I'm pretty sure they're going to be the only real game in town in another ten or fifteen years.
If we can swing Texas, yes. It will either usher in a half century of unassailed Democratic governance, or will see the Republican party forced to shift its politics so dramatically that it will be unrecognizable. It really comes down to how the Republican party reacts. If they double down on their typical ideology, they're done for a long, long time.
Yes, I'm pretty sure they're going to be the only real game in town in another ten or fifteen years.If we can swing Texas, yes. It will either usher in a half century of unassailed Democratic governance, or will see the Republican party forced to shift its politics so dramatically that it will be unrecognizable. It really comes down to how the Republican party reacts. If they double down on their typical ideology, they're done for a long, long time.
They don't have any other option besides doubling down because the republican party is three parties.
Part 1: the big business, take over other countries for fun and profit party. This is the real republican party but they don't like to admit that.
Part 2: is the get government out of my life party. This is what everyone says they're in the republican party for, and they just look the other way when your company is the one that needs a special tax break. They get people to vote for part I by riling up the base with the fear that somewhere, a welfare mother is getting government ramen noodles off of THEIR tax dollars (and ignore Mit Romney in the corner paying skipping millions in taxes) and the fear of the minority de jour taking over (beware the irish menace!). Genuine part 2's are a very, very small part of the party when it comes to the politicians.
part 3: is the get God into government party, which somehow pretends that state or local governments are not government. If the federal government stays out of their lives then they can make state not-government operate according to their values... and of course ignore that government operates by telling people to do or not do stuff.
They don't have any other option besides doubling down because the republican party is three parties.
Part 1: the big business, take over other countries for fun and profit party. This is the real republican party but they don't like to admit that.
Part 2: is the get government out of my life party. This is what everyone says they're in the republican party for, and they just look the other way when your company is the one that needs a special tax break. They get people to vote for part I by riling up the base with the fear that somewhere, a welfare mother is getting government ramen noodles off of THEIR tax dollars (and ignore Mit Romney in the corner paying skipping millions in taxes) and the fear of the minority de jour taking over (beware the irish menace!). Genuine part 2's are a very, very small part of the party when it comes to the politicians.
part 3: is the get God into government party, which somehow pretends that state or local governments are not government. If the federal government stays out of their lives then they can make state not-government operate according to their values... and of course ignore that government operates by telling people to do or not do stuff.
While I (admittedly spitefully) hope that you're right, history demonstrates political parties to be quite malleable in the face of the threat of irrelevance. It may be that we're at a point where that is no longer true due to the factors you outline above, but until that's demonstrated I'm not going to discount the possibility that the Republican party will reshape itself as the political landscape requires.
I find the US very perplexing...
If they double down on their typical ideology, they're done for a long, long time.
People said the same thing after Obama's first election.
Then the Republicans won the house a year later.
If they double down on their typical ideology, they're done for a long, long time.People said the same thing after Obama's first election.
Then the Republicans won the house a year later.
True. There is always the possibility of the Democrats being complete arrogant idiots while in power and make people forget how out-there the Republicans can be. It happened in 2010 after all...
I saw this caricature (language warning: german)
link
** spoiler omitted **
That showed me just how rusty my German has become. :)
When government supply is blocked and mediation fails an election should be called.
People said the same thing after Obama's first election.
Who said that? No analyst I'm familiar with.
The reason things look like they might head in that direction is because Texas is going to shift blue within the next few years, rendering the concept of battleground states essentially non-existent; Democratic candidates will take the Presidency based purely on solidly blue states, with very little question of who will win in the general election. The Democrats would literally be able to ignore Nevada, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida completely (to say nothing of Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, and Iowa) and still hit the electoral vote threshold. The math simply does not support a Republican President without a massive shift in party affiliation on a nationwide level.
The only way for the Republican party to avoid this is by dramatically shifting their politics in such a way that they can scrape large percentages off of a number of solidly blue states.
People said the same thing after Obama's first election.Who said that? No analyst I'm familiar with.
The reason things look like they might head in that direction is because Texas is going to shift blue within the next few years, rendering the concept of battleground states essentially non-existent; Democratic candidates will take the Presidency based purely on solidly blue states, with very little question of who will win in the general election. The Democrats would literally be able to ignore Nevada, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida completely (to say nothing of Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, and Iowa) and still hit the electoral vote threshold. The math simply does not support a Republican President without a massive shift in party affiliation on a nationwide level.
The only way for the Republican party to avoid this is by dramatically shifting their politics in such a way that they can scrape large percentages off of a number of solidly blue states.
Many people said it...just like many people said the same of the Democrats after Bush won re-election in 2004.
But I agree that demographics are not working in the Republican party's favor. They have to adapt or die. I suspect they'll adapt. Either way, stuff this loony gets marginalized (which is for the best).
Many people said it...
Well, sure. It's about national politics, there's probably someone predicting every potential outcome. And pundits love to make sweeping pronouncements based on very little data. But that's different than analysts looking at the numbers and saying, "There's no mathematical way that this will end up being a fight."
Many people said it...Well, sure. It's about national politics, there's probably someone predicting every potential outcome. And pundits love to make sweeping pronouncements based on very little data. But that's different than analysts looking at the numbers and saying, "There's no mathematical way that this will end up being a fight."
I don't disagree -- the Republican party has a demographics problem. And the sensible people in the party know it. I can't help but wonder what the less sensible people -- those calling on Obama to "put down the Quran" for example --- are going to do next. When you're 100% certain that you're absolutely right, and that comprise is the enemy, what do you do next when you can't get your way through the political process? When even shutting down the government doesn't work? I shudder to think.
Many people said it...Well, sure. It's about national politics, there's probably someone predicting every potential outcome. And pundits love to make sweeping pronouncements based on very little data. But that's different than analysts looking at the numbers and saying, "There's no mathematical way that this will end up being a fight."I don't disagree -- the Republican party has a demographics problem. And the sensible people in the party know it. I can't help but wonder what the less sensible people -- those calling on Obama to "put down the Quran" for example --- are going to do next. When you're 100% certain that you're absolutely right, and that comprise is the enemy, what do you do next when you can't get your way through the political process? When even shutting down the government doesn't work? I shudder to think.
It's probably too much to hope that the answer is, "Fade into irrelevance and die of old age," huh?
God bless our fallen heroes..and God bless those that would stand up for them.....no matter the party, race, or creed
God bless our fallen heroes..and God bless those that would stand up for them
I don't think they need standing up for. They're universally revered. No one is attacking the country's KIA soldiers.
The people this article highlights aren't standing up for anything other than their own incredibly toxic ideology.
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I find the US very perplexing...
Dude, I find the US very perplexing & I live here...
I find the US very perplexing...Dude, I find the US very perplexing & I live here...
Hmm has there been previous shut downs and have they gone as long?
Here is what I found.
Edit: A little more info.
I think I have moved to hyper perplexed... Why do you keep doing this to yourselves?
I have to agree with The 8th Dwarf. This system is absolutely inexcusable for a modern representative government, and needs to be amended into a Parliamentary system. Unfortunately, we are taught from birth our system is the best in the world, so there is a massive block to any change.
I think I have moved to hyper perplexed... Why do you keep doing this to yourselves?Here is what I found.
Edit: A little more info.
Americans have suffered enough. They last thing they need to do is endure another election cycle
Americans have suffered enough. They last thing they need to do is endure another election cycleI think I have moved to hyper perplexed... Why do you keep doing this to yourselves?Here is what I found.
Edit: A little more info.
Better that than allow any one party to threaten to not pass a budget until a demand is met.
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I think I have moved to hyper perplexed... Why do you keep doing this to yourselves?Here is what I found.
Edit: A little more info.
When you design a system of government to be broken, break it, and then hope politics doesn't happen so no one notices how thoroughly broken it is this can only be expected.
I find the US very perplexing...
It makes a lot of sense if you think evil enough and don't buy into the idea that the government is there for the people. No one is really there for the entire country.