BestOfBid.com - Why all the partisan extremism? Even if voters are really cons or lib, those we elect prove otherwise. What?

Why all the partisan extremism? Even if voters are really cons or lib, those we elect prove otherwise. What?

will it take to leave behind the emotion and face the facts? Bush ran on a promise to end Clinton's policies of nation building and strengthen the dollar. Look how that turned out. People call Bush and Cheney "traitors" - fair enough - but ignore the fact that Clinton and a dem Congress made Cheney rich with no-bid contracts to KBR/Halliburton. Voters are furious at the Patriot Act but blame only Repubs. Hello?! Joseph Biden submitted it to Clinton in 95 under the name "Omnibus Counterterrorism" and Clinton pushed Congress to pass it - they refused, at the time. People, this is our country. We are, for the moment, a people with a government. Not a ruler with subjects. The parties keep jabbin' us in the ribs and whipping up hatred along party lines so that half the nation's voters hate the other half but love their supposed "representatives" in DC. In the end, we still get the Patriot/Omnibus Act. We still get nation-building. We still have a private entity parading as public by calling itself the "Federal" reserve (keeps no reserves). We still have the income tax which was passed under the promise that it would only last until WWI ended. Is this Jr. High, Rah-Rah, adolescent sporting event loyalty worth the demise of a great nation? The parties are raping and fleecing us. Why, why, why are we letting this happen?

Public Comments

Government is the problem, not the solution! “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” — Benjamin Franklin “I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.” — Benjamin Franklin “To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.” — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816 “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” — Thomas Jefferson “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” — James Madison, 4 Annals of Congress 179, 1794
I don't think it is the parties who whip up hatred (at least not all, or even most of it). For whatever rhetoric a politician or party uses, there are pundits, commentators, and average citizens who are out there spewing far more hatred and doing a lot more to polarize the country. We are a people with a government, and as it is a democratic government, we need to take responsiblity, including for hatred and partisanship. If the voters didn't reward partisan sniping by politicians, there wouldn't be any. The fact is, the people approve of and desire (although maybe not always consciously) politicians and pundits who are polarizing and hate-mongering. If you want to blame someone for the darker side of partisanship, blame the citizen who votes for the candidate who slings the most mud or the consumer who goes and buys Anne Coulter's books. Without the demand that they create, the supply of vitriol would not be as high as it is. It is a market fueled by the citizenry.
We have allowed ourselves to be divided by the republicans and democrats in order for them to remain in power. They used push button issues like abortion and gun control to set us up. We the stupid people allowed this to happen. Now we have a completely corrupt government, representing the rich elites and the corporations, taking bribes and making it impossible for us to replace them. When a state or district leans to one party, we get stuck with a crook from that party. No honest candidate from that party will be allowed by the party to run against the incumbent. And a candidate from the other party cannot win an election. So the crook is in office until he dies. Term limits might help in the short term and they are our only chance for change. But in the long run, we must eliminate the two party system. The same corrupt politicians will still run for office, but we might have a better chance at electing patriot leaders to office.
Thank goodness we have the Constitution. And a slightly split and slightly limited government. Otherwise, they'd chop heads off on the steps of the Capitol every time there was a change of power. And if we didn't have the Constitution, I can assure you that we would have been slaughtered and pillaged long ago by such tyranny. Now, get a grip. We've got some tea to toss overboard...
tyranny in three simple steps #1 get one half of the country to hate the other half, which in turn, #2 destroys any shred of community #3 instill "draconian" laws such as censorship, over taxation, and ( in America's case) make guns illegal.......which in turn, renders the general population hopeless spice it up a little with some executive orders that were "prepared fresh " only one term prior heat in a pressure cooker with homegrown acts of terrorism bada bing bada boom! this recipe yields 305,661,163 people at your beck and call, usually at gun point ( or fear there of) serve hot or cold enjoy!
So what we have here is a government that isn't working. Maybe we should learn from our neighbors to the North? Canada has a working government, that actually takes care of its people. But we are becoming more like our neighbors to the South where the rich rule and live in luxury while the average guy works like a slave. You don't see Canadians jumping over fences and walls to get into the USA, wonder why that is?
MOney. At the bottom of the feed trough you got the many and they are give tidbits from the lead local animal who in turn is fed by the upper animal or candidate. i had no ide that this country was so corrupt, I always thought and heard about Chicago, but man it is all over the place. Down here you know the same is going on, but as long as each gets their piece of the pie no one complained or at least the ones that could. I cannot tell you how much is going on. Obama better take a look at the connection between the IRS, attorneys and cpas. The "offshore" hidden assets has moved to the mainland. It is really sad when most of the normal people try and do right, but it has taken over the entire country. It's no longer 'can you believe they did that", it's" "can you believe with haven't been doing that". It is uncontrolled as you and many others have brought to our attention and it must stop. could Obama's speech about the "no lobbyist" rule really mean something or lip service or the sam old same old. The only way we can change it is by using the ballot and also the law, which may not have been totally ruined as still dedicated professionals ready to risk life, limb and job to do "the right thing". Have a great 2009.
Part of it is our being accustomed to think of them as being our public servants--and there's a joke if you ever heard one! Part of it is just how little most of us understand how our government is supposed to work, and how it actually is working--and not for a single one of us normal people. Plus, lots of us don't have a clue about keeping an eye on what they are doing, or that we have the right, indeed the obligation to communicate with our representatives, and to be listened to. And, we have been conditioned over the past decades to identify with the highly dichotomous images of the parties, conservative versus liberal. Especially since they have become so tremendously divergent, and their adherents so vocal, and so partisan, The liberals cannot tolerate disagreement, and the conservatives can scarcely bear the blind idiocy of the opposition. Sadly, we concentrate so much on our differences, that we never seem to notice how badly our politicians are screwing us. Which is probably the whole point of the plan.