Yeah, worst Congress ever is definitely true, but when I voted for Obama back in 2008 I didn't think I was voting for a moderate Republican from the 1990s.
Yeah, worst Congress ever is definitely true, but when I voted for Obama back in 2008 I didn't think I was voting for a moderate Republican from the 1990s.
Well considering the alternative in both '08 and this past election season, moderate republican with an interest in bipartisanship is infinitely better than "tool of a power-hungry GOP."
I think "interest in bipartisanship" is up for serious debate. He can't actually be as inept as he appears to be with repeatedly hamstringing his own programs appealing for Republican support that NEVER comes, then enacting the hamstrung version anyway. It feels like so much theater for our benefit.
I'm waiting to see him support mom and apple pie just to see how many republicans suddenly decide mom and apple pie is unamerican.
Apples are red. Red is the color of communism. Therefore, apple pie is communist! Moms nurse their infants. Nursing those who are incapable of taking care of themselves is part of communism. Therefore, moms are communist!
If you love mom and apple pie, you are a pinko commie bastard! Why do you hate American so much?
I can't decide if the political landscape today makes me want to quit politics altogether or get more involved in it.
As much as the former really irks me and makes me want to lecture at you, I could sympathize with either option at this point. It really does seem futile.
I can't decide if the political landscape today makes me want to quit politics altogether or get more involved in it.
I've decided to get more involved in it. I don't think I'll make a difference, but there must be some aspect of this that isn't getting covered by the media. I don't think it's a cover up or anything, just that this particular aspect of incompetence might not be commercially viable for news to cover.
I can't decide if the political landscape today makes me want to quit politics altogether or get more involved in it.
As much as the former really irks me and makes me want to lecture at you, I could sympathize with either option at this point. It really does seem futile.
I honestly think we have to wait like, a decade until politics will start changing for the better again. Get some new blood into congress, people will have figured out the corruption, etc.
I can't decide if the political landscape today makes me want to quit politics altogether or get more involved in it.
As much as the former really irks me and makes me want to lecture at you, I could sympathize with either option at this point. It really does seem futile.
I honestly think we have to wait like, a decade until politics will start changing for the better again. Get some new blood into congress, people will have figured out the corruption, etc.
We'll all be better off once most of the old white people in power die off.
I gotta say, I'm not really getting the pessimism too much. Congress is a fuckfest and the filibuster rules in the Senate are broken, but the last election revealed some serious cracks in the right-wing stranglehold on American political discourse, not the least of which is rapidly changing demographics.
America has always consisted of three political blocs in two parties; you've got Left, Right and Dixie. At any given point, either Left or Right is too small and has to align itself with Dixie and the religious extremism/social conservatism that comes with. It used to be Left + Dixie in one party and Right in opposition, then it flipped creating the bizarre Supply Side Jesus cult of the modern republican party, but the moral majority... isn't, anymore. As the last election revealed, they are no longer a large enough block that pandering to them is an election winner and they keep getting smaller, and the Republican Party is going to be dragged kicking and screaming into a more moderate stance over the next ten years; they have absolutely no choice in the matter. By demographics alone, the dominance of the far right over America is finally coming to a halt, and the writing on the wall, and the denial, is a contributing factor to the stonewalling of federal-level political process.
Heck, ironically enough, I think the breakdown of the political process on a federal level is a contributing factor to the unraveling of the drug war and advance of gay marriage at a state one. Either way, things are getting better in the States a lot faster than they are getting worse.
I can't decide if the political landscape today makes me want to quit politics altogether or get more involved in it.
As much as the former really irks me and makes me want to lecture at you, I could sympathize with either option at this point. It really does seem futile.
I honestly think we have to wait like, a decade until politics will start changing for the better again. Get some new blood into congress, people will have figured out the corruption, etc.
We'll all be better off once most of the old white people in power die off.
I used to think this, too, and then I saw all the people in my generation slowly turning to the dark side, and I'm not so sure now.
I gotta say, I'm not really getting the pessimism too much. Congress is a fuckfest and the filibuster rules in the Senate are broken, but the last election revealed some serious cracks in the right-wing stranglehold on American political discourse, not the least of which is rapidly changing demographics.
America has always consisted of three political blocs in two parties; you've got Left, Right and Dixie. At any given point, either Left or Right is too small and has to align itself with Dixie and the religious extremism/social conservatism that comes with. It used to be Left + Dixie in one party and Right in opposition, then it flipped creating the bizarre Supply Side Jesus cult of the modern republican party, but the moral majority... isn't, anymore. As the last election revealed, they are no longer a large enough block that pandering to them is an election winner and they keep getting smaller, and the Republican Party is going to be dragged kicking and screaming into a more moderate stance over the next ten years; they have absolutely no choice in the matter. By demographics alone, the dominance of the far right over America is finally coming to a halt, and the writing on the wall, and the denial, is a contributing factor to the stonewalling of federal-level political process.
Heck, ironically enough, I think the breakdown of the political process on a federal level is a contributing factor to the unraveling of the drug war and advance of gay marriage at a state one. Either way, things are getting better in the States a lot faster than they are getting worse.
I mostly-to-somewhat agree with this, but the major chink I see in this reasoning is that much of the Left is actually convinced that Obama is left leaning. The goalposts have been very successfully moved for the average American and I just don't see them going back any time soon. For example, the average American thinks the TSA is an effective agency keeping aviation safe.
Honestly call me callous, but if you join a known terrorist group, go to a country they are active in (or fighting the US in!), talk about destroying the US/other people elsewhere and acting on those wishes. You deserve to get Missiles up your butt.
I have problems with pulling people off the street in other countries (and the US) and holding them indefinite on flimsy evidence or torturing people (and pre-emptive war without international support) I.E. Why I did not like Bush. But I'm no dove.
I mean we still shot and killed Americans who joined the Nazi's during World War II, I don't see a problem with this.
And if you can do this without putting Soldiers lives on the line more power to them.
Obamas cool, he uses RC planes to murder insane amounts of people, and he's going to get away with it.
We used DC planes to do the same thing for ages before that. It's nothing different or new.
I think the culture surrounding it has changed significantly, in that we barely pretend to need any excuse to act unilaterally, ignoring the sovereignty of inconvenient nations, and totally discarding due process or any semblance of it, including for our own citizens.
Honestly call me callous, but if you join a known terrorist group, go to a country they are active in (or fighting the US in!), talk about destroying the US/other people elsewhere and acting on those wishes. You deserve to get Missiles up your butt.
I have problems with pulling people off the street in other countries (and the US) and holding them indefinite on flimsy evidence or torturing people (and pre-emptive war without international support) I.E. Why I did not like Bush. But I'm no dove.
I mean we still shot and killed Americans who joined the Nazi's during World War II, I don't see a problem with this.
And if you can do this without putting Soldiers lives on the line more power to them.
The problem is when you have to rely on a self-interested agency to report these things to you, and there's no viable impartial oversight body.
I think the culture surrounding it has changed significantly, in that we barely pretend to need any excuse to act unilaterally, ignoring the sovereignty of inconvenient nations, and totally discarding due process or any semblance of it, including for our own citizens.
Er, laws of war. Look them up sometimes. Although, I concede that the whole ignoring the sovereignty of nations we're not at war with is a trouble precedent. Taliban Afghanistan -- okay, as we all but formally declared war on them. Drone strikes in Pakistan are much more problematic.
Honestly call me callous, but if you join a known terrorist group, go to a country they are active in (or fighting the US in!), talk about destroying the US/other people elsewhere and acting on those wishes. You deserve to get Missiles up your butt.
I have problems with pulling people off the street in other countries (and the US) and holding them indefinite on flimsy evidence or torturing people (and pre-emptive war without international support) I.E. Why I did not like Bush. But I'm no dove.
I mean we still shot and killed Americans who joined the Nazi's during World War II, I don't see a problem with this.
And if you can do this without putting Soldiers lives on the line more power to them.
The problem is when you have to rely on a self-interested agency to report these things to you, and there's no viable impartial oversight body.
Unfortunately, that's how pretty much all wars are handled. You've got to rely on the Department of Defense's and CIA's (which, mind you, is not part of the DoD, but part of a separate cabinet-level department) own intelligence to figure out what the targets are when executing a war.
The drone program is in the most literal sense both different and new.
True, if you get extremely literal. However, what's the effective difference between a high-altitude bombing run against a nation with no effective air defenses and a drone attack? Or even a pre-programmed, autonomous cruise missile attack? Both of these technologies have been around for decades.
Comments
Moms nurse their infants. Nursing those who are incapable of taking care of themselves is part of communism. Therefore, moms are communist!
If you love mom and apple pie, you are a pinko commie bastard! Why do you hate American so much?
America has always consisted of three political blocs in two parties; you've got Left, Right and Dixie. At any given point, either Left or Right is too small and has to align itself with Dixie and the religious extremism/social conservatism that comes with. It used to be Left + Dixie in one party and Right in opposition, then it flipped creating the bizarre Supply Side Jesus cult of the modern republican party, but the moral majority... isn't, anymore. As the last election revealed, they are no longer a large enough block that pandering to them is an election winner and they keep getting smaller, and the Republican Party is going to be dragged kicking and screaming into a more moderate stance over the next ten years; they have absolutely no choice in the matter. By demographics alone, the dominance of the far right over America is finally coming to a halt, and the writing on the wall, and the denial, is a contributing factor to the stonewalling of federal-level political process.
Heck, ironically enough, I think the breakdown of the political process on a federal level is a contributing factor to the unraveling of the drug war and advance of gay marriage at a state one. Either way, things are getting better in the States a lot faster than they are getting worse.
I have problems with pulling people off the street in other countries (and the US) and holding them indefinite on flimsy evidence or torturing people (and pre-emptive war without international support) I.E. Why I did not like Bush. But I'm no dove.
I mean we still shot and killed Americans who joined the Nazi's during World War II, I don't see a problem with this.
And if you can do this without putting Soldiers lives on the line more power to them.
I don't agree that things haven't changed.