Politics - Feel free to join in - be respectful of others opinions

Here's something that amazes me.

Something like 51% of American's believe that the world will end with Armageddon, a battle between Jesus Christ and the Anti-Christ.

In the poll I have attached 43% believe that Obama may be the Anti-Christ. So Jesus is going to return to do battle with Barrack Obama? Because secretly Obama is a supernatural being?

A whole 63% believe Obama is doing many thing that Hitler did. Hitler???

Disagreeing with a politicians viewpoints or a political parties platform is one thing but this stuff is just stupid.

The Republican party actively seeks the religious right vote and in doing so they are excluding a huge pool of intelligent, capable candidates that would not pass the religious litmus test.

Iran is a good example of what happens when you let religion hold power over a government.

Honestly, I have no idea how you fix this kind of mess short of regular American's having the courage to stand up and say, "Enough!, I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take anymore!".

 

Gotta say Bruce if I took that poll I would be a hardcore democrat in my answers... WOW!

 

Sadly Brewster, we have the fringe mongers on both sides. There are those in the Democratic party that would tax all corporations out of existance and take all the wealth from the top income earners and distribute it to the lazy and incompetent.

There used to be distinct sides of both parties that occupied the fringes. Now those fringes have become the mainstream of each party. There were Southern Democrats that were actually termed Dixiecrats who were conservative and voted with the more conservative block. There were Republicans like Jacob Javits of NY and Brooke from Mass. that were more liberal than most of their Democratic rivals. That was what made up politics before. Now it is the extremes who occupy both sides of the aisle.

As extreme as some Republican views are, there are also some facts that seem to haunt the Democratic Party. If you look at the ten poorest cities in the US you will find a very common theme. All of them have been controlled by the Democratic Party for most of the last 50 years and more. That is the fruit of the extreme liberal giveaways. All poverty was suppose to be eliminated in the mid-60's. All those policies did was make poverty and government handouts a way of life.

We haven't had a leader in the US since Reagan. Some would argue that Clinton was a leader. Perhaps, but he never really got much of his program through, so I don't think I would agree with his leadership. Leaders were presidents like Nixon and Johnson. They got their programs through, for better or worse. Our current president got what he wanted...his place in the history books. Now it's time to move on.

 

I think you identified the single largest problem in American politics today (Canadian politics has the same problem), the parties put forth candidates who represent mostly extreme positions. You end up with a gaggle of people who can't meet in the middle because it's a sign of weakness.

As dumb as Hank Williams Jr. analogy was, even dumber was the Obama is the enemy comment afterwards. Any elected official should be there to work with their counterpart on the other side of the aisle to make sure that government works. I don't think that happens often in the political climate we have today.

 

I think Reagan was a great President in terms of rallying pride in America. Economically, he spent money like a drunk Democrat...lol. There is a strong myth regarding Reagan's presidency, these days. The facts are very different from the picture that is generally presented today.

I'm reading Clinton's book right now. He is a remarkable man and I think one of your best.

The same voting practices happen here. Manitoba's largest city, Winnipeg, votes Conservative. However, the larger rural population, a large proportion natives and poor, vote NDP, our pretty much socialist party.

I agree that the Democrats have their fringe, as well. But I would have a hard time putting them in the same class of "fringe". I mean there is a big difference between naively wanting more taxes on business and the wealthy without understanding the ramifications and, "The President is the Anti-Christ...oh yeah, and he might be Hitler too...." lol

 

the most improtant thing is .. DID YOU BUY ME SOME GREY GOOSE VODKA FOR TONIGHT!!..haha

 

No doubt! And we have to make sure that we get our TTR in before the Mayan calendar runs out in 12/21/12!

December 2012 TTR Trip... Who's starting the thread!

 

I used to be a hardcore Republican, but I am now an Independant and the reason for that is both parties have gone to the extremes. It is sad really because now they look out for only thier own self and do not care about the people they serve.

 

Here's am interesting chart. Note that the debt drops under all Dem presidencies, with the exception of Obama. He could defend his record pointing to inheriting two war plus the need for massive homeland security plus dealing with an unprecedented financial crisis.

Look at the dramatic rise in debt under Reagan/Bush. Clinton brings it back on course just to have Bush Jr. skyrocket it again.







Canada show's similar stats, where debt to GDP appears to be governed more responsibly under a Liberal goverment compared to Conservative.

In reality governments have far less control over domestic economy than what is generally believed. And natural disasters, global economic downturns, war, etc. will have substantial impact on debt vs. GDP.

My main point here is that Democrats and Liberal are both portrayed as "Tax and Spend" governments by the opposition, who claim to have sole propriety over fiscal responsibility.

Were that true, these chart would be very different. The numbers don't lie.

 

A lot of the debt analysis has to be weighed with the economy at the time. Part of the low debt ratios during Clinton's time was due to the strong economy which resulted in high tax collections. At the same token part of Reagan's problems were related to a weak economy at the time. Reagan, of course, also spent trillions on the military in a successful effort to bankrupt the Soviet Union.

Both parties have been very guilty of pandering to their core and taking that same core to the extreme. Now the Democrats are jumping on the Occupy Wall Street movement. I agree that there are inequities in the world, but there will always be inequities. Much of what I see from the Left is just more programs that encourage those who won't work to continue to not work and discourage those that do work. Somewhere along the line there has to be some politician somewhere that will look to what made the US successful and they will reinstitute those principles. If they don't then I fear we are doomed to become just another third world country.