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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Can I build you a Metal Gear to help?
Anyone think any third party could handle the issues better than either party?
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None, you're a weak willed liberal like that, you really need to start putting your foot down and imposing authority on those bellow you, have you never heard of doing something for the young for their own good?
I'm feeling the Greens, but they have zero voice, no doubt as a result of the Big Two to ensure no one can actually make any changes.
Who was it that said "if voting actually changed anything, they'd make it illegal."?
That's it Mr. Silasw, you're GROUNDED!
edited 4th Apr '13 10:57:07 AM by TheStarshipMaxima
It was an honorThough this also requires a push back against the Private Prison industry, who need to fill their prisons to make a quota, and non-violent drug related crime is a great way to do it.
Basically a lot of things that would help require a general public acceptance that "More government interaction/intrusion in your life isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as it's done right." and that "Private enterprise in some places will never make things better."
You might be surprised to know, Starship, that polling of American citizens generally finds widespread support for most liberal/Democrat platform positions, such as "taxes should be higher on the rich", "climate change is a serious problem", "everyone should have access to healthcare", "people shouldn't be sent to prison for minor drug offenses", etc.
The problem is that movement conservatism has, over the past 40 years, successfully packaged "Republican versus Democrat" as "small government, religious freedom, and free markets" versus "big government, suppression of religion, and commie-style socialism". These myths persist in the public consciousness because they are simple and because they are self-reinforcing among their voter base. It doesn't hurt that they have a well-funded media empire dedicated to selling it.
You may be surprised to know that, in the days of Eisenhower, there was general agreement between the two parties as to how the government should run things. Social programs were accepted by both sides as necessary to maintain standards of living; taxes were high on the wealthy; income and wealth equality were at levels never before seen and unheard of prior to the New Deal; and these were seen as good things. The major sticking point between red and blue was civil rights, and that's the wedge that eventually helped drive things apart to where they are today.
We can trace the shift in party demographics and the consequent rise of movement conservatism to the Civil Rights Act, which is the point in time when the Southern states broke from the Democrats and went over to the Republicans over issues of racial integration. Distaste for integration was also the reason that FDR failed to incorporate universal health insurance into the New Deal.
Ronald Reagan was a pioneer of the modern brand of conservatism, and he rose to power in California by exploiting fears of race. His "welfare queen" speech is the key example of that — preying on a fictitious stereotype to garner support from white voters upset that blacks were being raised to their level.
I've been reading Krugman's The Conscience of a Liberal, and he makes a compelling case that the roots of the modern fight over social programs, health insurance, drugs, guns, education, taxes, etc. can be found in people who don't want those dirty blacks and Hispanics to get their hands on the same rights as the whites.
You keep insisting that the two sides must be equally at fault, but there is no example of this type of craziness on the Democrats' side. Sure, there will always be feet getting shoved in political orifices, but the Democrats, as a party, have nowhere near the level of ideological cohesiveness that the Republicans do, and they have barely shifted at all from a right-left perspective since the sixties.
edited 4th Apr '13 11:25:32 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"But 'Teer, right there in your "welfare queens" speech, I see the issue I have with liberals. That's not a fictitious stereotype. It happens. Often. Liberals act like dismissing the truth makes it disapper. It doesn't
Are there whites who wish to suppress everyone who isn't WASP like them? For sure.
But there are those who are saying, "Look, I had help yes, but I still had to work for mine. Is it so much to expect they do the same rather than crying 'racism' all the time." And the liberals just go "You're just an elitist".
I'm sorry 'Teer but you guys do just as much handwaving and outright dismissing of the facts as those other guys. Yes, you present your message of the rich should pay more, climate change is an issue, and folks should have equal rights, quite well. But when folks start pressing for how you tout equal rights but then support the right to kill off unborn human life, it gets the same handwave. (NOTE: I don't mean you Fighteer, I mean the folks at Huffington Post and MSNBC and some of the folks at Free Thought Blogs).
I support all the things you mentioned, and you know that. But you have to stop blaming Republican brainwashing and start accepting some of the liberals flatly unrealistic ideas of how society should work is part of the reason there's so much opposition even with your recent poll success.
It was an honorWho's playing the victim card and how can we stop them?
The "all Democrats are college fedora kids or rich people who don't know the common man" is probably the oldest political stereotype still used. Can't you at least use the right stereotype when discussing what us commie's say about republicans?
No one will be saying anything for a while bro.
edited 4th Apr '13 11:50:37 AM by RadicalTaoist
Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.You got me there.
And some people really do play the victim card. This was what Dr. Ben Carson was talking about when Toure went after him, cowardly shill he is.
Fighteer had a kickass analogy about the plucky girl who invents The Next Big Thing in her basement, but can't because she's struggling to pay doctor bills, or worried about getting raped in her dilapidated neighborhood.
As a proud libertarian/capitalist, of course, we should siphon money toward doing things that'll give her a chance to become the next great American success story.
But right-wingers don't want to hear that she needs help, and left-wingers don't want to hear that she can take even small steps to better her situation.
Dammit, can folks just shut the fuck up and stop sniping each other long enough to figure it all out?? (Yes, I know I'm wishing)
It was an honorAnd the whole "acquire more capital thing" is not helped by the skyrocketing income inequality in America.
edited 4th Apr '13 12:01:51 PM by PotatoesRock
Numbers on how welfare is not being used is a bit difficult to gather Potatoes, partly because of the left-wing bias in the media.
What is telling is the numbers of white women in college and grad school versus black men. And what's also telling is the numbers of black men in college who come from already affluent neighborhoods rather than the ghettos where that education is needed.
Also telling is how occassionally free literacy, college prep, and other such programs go unused and wind up shutting down in said neighborhoods.
It was an honorSenator Inhofe (R-OK): Immigration reform must 'prioritize' border security
Virginia bill wins praise for blocking Obamacare coverage for abortions
GAO: Big challenges in tackling political intelligence industry
PAC launches to support bearded candidates
Reagan would have backed gay marriage, daughter says

Dammit Silasw, how many times do I have to tell you not to discuss the nukes in public??!
It was an honor