The Official 2015 2nd Gen Ram OT Thread
#511
I understand wanting to discuss these very important issues regarding elections and such and I won't say take it to the political section because that does not work. Just no personal attacks, ok? I know there are liberals, conservatives, democrats, republicans, tea parties, etc. that's what makes this country and this forum great. Let's keep it friendly and I won't bitch. Personally I'm sick of it all and I have no idea what will even bring this country back to the greatness we once had. I have my opinions and I chose to keep them to myself because for every idea, there is another opposite idea. It only leads to banging my head against someone else's head. This country is as polarized as I've ever seen it. I miss the days when America was feared because of our power but also admired because if our freedoms. No one fears us now. No one respects our rights. Everyone is under attack and everyone is out to take advantage of a government that has grown so big it can't manage itself.
#512
I'm a-thinkin' that we're getting a chance to put the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence to the test. I, for one, think it'd be really nice for Americans to live in a country where the government instituted among men to secure those unalienable rights actually does so. As it is, we have to expatriate if we want to live in such a country, and that just ain't right. Better for us common folk to get uppity again, I think.
#513
Nothing like a good revolution to set things right eh? Sometimes I wonder if that isn't what its going to take. Of course, I fully expect things to be forced on us, when we can no longer borrow money, we default on our loans, and the world economy takes a major dump. Greece on a MUCH grander scale. I give it ten years or so.
Unless something drastically changes here, that is the future I see for us.
Unless something drastically changes here, that is the future I see for us.
#514
Only because divide and conquer works. A government in stalemate cannot govern, and that's been the stated goal of a certain faction since January of 1981: to reduce the government until it can be drowned in a bathtub.
Divide and conquer's success is also its downfall: It must be conducted in plain view in order to succeed, but all it takes to defeat it is for the divided to open their eyes to it and unite.
I'm not going to call anyone names or make things personal. As far as I'm concerned the government we've got is the one the majority of the electorate wants, and if Americans want something better then they'll vote for it. If they don't, I've just that much more reason to be glad that I don't live in a city.
Divide and conquer's success is also its downfall: It must be conducted in plain view in order to succeed, but all it takes to defeat it is for the divided to open their eyes to it and unite.
I'm not going to call anyone names or make things personal. As far as I'm concerned the government we've got is the one the majority of the electorate wants, and if Americans want something better then they'll vote for it. If they don't, I've just that much more reason to be glad that I don't live in a city.
#515
Only because divide and conquer works. A government in stalemate cannot govern, and that's been the stated goal of a certain faction since January of 1981: to reduce the government until it can be drowned in a bathtub.
Divide and conquer's success is also its downfall: It must be conducted in plain view in order to succeed, but all it takes to defeat it is for the divided to open their eyes to it and unite.
I'm not going to call anyone names or make things personal. As far as I'm concerned the government we've got is the one the majority of the electorate wants, and if Americans want something better then they'll vote for it. If they don't, I've just that much more reason to be glad that I don't live in a city.
Divide and conquer's success is also its downfall: It must be conducted in plain view in order to succeed, but all it takes to defeat it is for the divided to open their eyes to it and unite.
I'm not going to call anyone names or make things personal. As far as I'm concerned the government we've got is the one the majority of the electorate wants, and if Americans want something better then they'll vote for it. If they don't, I've just that much more reason to be glad that I don't live in a city.
#517
Have ya ever revisited Jimmy Carter's Crisis of Confidence speech?
We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is a path I've warned about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure.
That certain route to failure was the one we chose when we went to the ballot box in November of the following year. We chose it then and we can choose differently now. That's really very rare. Our choice ever since 1981 has been limited to which color, red or blue, we wanted on our status quo.I've been revisiting that speech every now and then ever since it was delivered. The man told us the truth. In his various speeches he told us what we could look forward to if we refused to accept that truth and act upon it. Today we live in the world he told us would be ours, and we can't claim we didn't know when the man told us what our choices were. That's why I say we've got the government we deserve -- we voted for the deregulators, the trickle-down supply-siders, and the warmongers. We approved of their deregulation, wealth redistribution, and wars, every time. Kinda funny that we say we love democracy then use the ballot box to destroy it, eh?
#518
I have always felt that, americans, taken individually, we have some very smart cookies, but, taken as a collective whole, we got nothin' on a box of rocks. Yes, we did indeed do this to ourselves. We not only let it happen, by our votes, we encouraged it.
Carter is touted as being one of the worst presidents..... I don't agree. I think Bush was the worst. The man that got us into two wars, with no way out. WE are the ones responsible for all the turmoil in the middle east. We started it. We encouraged it. We turned our back on long-time allies, distasteful as some of them were, and created a mess. We need to face reality, we flat out SUCK at nation-building, in cultures we have zero understanding of.
At this point, I don't think it really matters who we elect. Both of the major parties are quite similar in foreign policy, free trade, etc. The Repubbies are a bit more free and easy with the military, but, I think that's about the only significant difference.... Both parties are wholly-owned by their campaign contributors. Citizens United, and a few other decisions since then, that decided that corporations are people, and money equals free speech, pretty much guaranteed that our country is going to fall. And not from some outside foreign power, but from within, and policies that benefit the top 5% or so, at the expense of everyone else. The collapse is going to be epic. I hope I don't live to see it. I certainly won't live thru it.
Carter is touted as being one of the worst presidents..... I don't agree. I think Bush was the worst. The man that got us into two wars, with no way out. WE are the ones responsible for all the turmoil in the middle east. We started it. We encouraged it. We turned our back on long-time allies, distasteful as some of them were, and created a mess. We need to face reality, we flat out SUCK at nation-building, in cultures we have zero understanding of.
At this point, I don't think it really matters who we elect. Both of the major parties are quite similar in foreign policy, free trade, etc. The Repubbies are a bit more free and easy with the military, but, I think that's about the only significant difference.... Both parties are wholly-owned by their campaign contributors. Citizens United, and a few other decisions since then, that decided that corporations are people, and money equals free speech, pretty much guaranteed that our country is going to fall. And not from some outside foreign power, but from within, and policies that benefit the top 5% or so, at the expense of everyone else. The collapse is going to be epic. I hope I don't live to see it. I certainly won't live thru it.
#520
If you need an excuse to shake your head in dismay, just think back to 1976. We elected an honest president the same year Paddy Chayefsky released the movie Network. Both told us what was coming if we didn't get our heads in order, but we got the election of 1980 anyway. Yep, collectively, Americans are damnably stupid. Ya tell 'em where they're headed and they mash the gas pedal to the floor to prove you wrong, then blame everyone but themselves for the wreck.
Bernie was in Denver yesterday and drew a standing room only crowd of about 5,000. That's a huge crowd for so early in the campaign and for a Senator who's not been attention whoring so was largely unknown before he announced his candidacy and remains largely unknown because the media is afraid of him. I figure a guy who scares billionaires so badly must be a righteous enough dude that I'll register just to vote for him.