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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
Stupid voters enable broken government
Thursday, September 29, 2011 5:14 AM
NIKI2
Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...
Quote: Whenever I visit Washington, I can't help but think this is the town that elected a crackhead as its mayor. I know, I know it's not PC to say, but just because it's insensitive doesn't mean it isn't true. But think about this: There is footage of Marion Barry in a room of crack smoke saying, "Bitch set me up." And yet that image, that video did not disqualify him from being seen as a viable political option in the mind of voters. In fact, not only was he re-elected mayor after serving time in a federal prison, today he sits on the City Council, all because he managed to convince enough black people that the video of him with the crack pipe in his mouth was white people's fault. When analyzing what is wrong with our government, allow me to present this example as Exhibit A. Exhibit B would be Newt Gingrich, who cheated on two wives and is the only speaker of the House to have been disciplined for ethics violations. And yet somehow he is running for president of the United States as a religious conservative and managed to get 8% of the votes during last week's straw poll in Florida. Are you freaking kidding me? The fact that he is even on camera discussing the country's sense of morality during the GOP debates should be offensive to any thinking person regardless of party affiliation. And yet someone, right now, is thinking about sending his campaign a check. And who can forget Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who last year, in trying to push a controversial immigration law, said law enforcement officials found headless bodies in the desert, the work of a Mexican cartel. But she was forced to admit that wasn't true, that she had "misspoke." What she didn't speak about was her close ties to the private prisons that were set to profit because of the new law. Ties like her campaign manager and her spokesman being former lobbyists for private prison companies. And despite the obvious conflict of interest, she won easily, saying on election Tuesday, "Tonight, the people have redeemed and renewed America." Nice work, people. I could go on but I think you see what I'm getting at: The biggest reason government is broken is because of voters. Let's face it. A lot of us are just plain stupid. Or at the very least lazy. We want our candidates to use easy-to-digest buzz words such as "family values" or "clean energy" so we don't have to actually invest too much time thinking. We can just slip our brains into auto-pilot and cruise on into November. Do I believe our politicians need to be perfect? No. But damn, you would think people would draw the line at crack. Or blatant hypocrisy. Or just making stuff up as a candidate goes along. Each time Rep. Michele Bachmann insinuates falsehoods into her arguments, as she did earlier this month on the "Today Show" by suggesting HPV vaccinations cause mental retardation, I think: A group of people on auto-pilot in Minnesota did this to us. When you know important debates are influenced by people who don't like being bothered with facts, you question just how many of the country's problems over the years have been caused by people who should not have been involved in the process in the first place. But they are because of us. So can we genuinely complain about government without accepting a lot of the blame? I don't think so. After all, they didn't elect themselves. So if we want government to work, we have to be smarter about our choices. It's one thing to have a population with a variety of political sensibilities; it's another to be a country full of idiots. Too many times we vote and consequently govern like the latter. We have to move away from easy-to-repeat campaign slogans and promises of easy solutions, because we're a country with more than 300 million people, a complicated racial and religious history and the world's largest GDP. There are no easy solutions. So if you're the kind of person who likes to say "I don't follow politics," let me remind you that no one lives in a vacuum and that sentiment epitomizes what is wrong with our government. I don't blame Sarah Palin for thinking she can still toss her hat in the ring. I blame us voters for creating an environment in which a Palin or a Gingrich or even a reality TV star like Donald Trump can feel as if they can run and even be taken seriously. Last week I was bombarded with e-mails from readers who said Social Security should be protected because they paid into it, but they didn't care about Medicaid or Medicare because the government pays for those. And in 13 months some of these people will be voting for president. You want to know what's wrong with government? I just presented you with Exhibit C. http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/27/opinion/granderson-broken-government-voters/index.html?hpt=hp_bn9
Thursday, September 29, 2011 5:17 AM
ANTHONYT
Freedom is Important because People are Important
Thursday, September 29, 2011 5:21 AM
Thursday, September 29, 2011 5:22 AM
BYTEMITE
Thursday, September 29, 2011 5:26 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Niki2: I dunno, Anthony. I think it depends on your definition of "thinking" voters... Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani, Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”, signing off
Thursday, September 29, 2011 5:31 AM
6IXSTRINGJACK
Quote:Originally posted by AnthonyT: Hello, The 'thinking' voter hasn't done much better. Stupid government enables broken voters. --Anthony _______________________________________________ "In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner
Thursday, September 29, 2011 5:34 AM
Thursday, September 29, 2011 5:35 AM
FREMDFIRMA
Quote:Originally posted by AnthonyT: And now, don't you occasionally find yourself wishing that the chair had a switch on it?
Thursday, September 29, 2011 5:37 AM
Quote:"Stupid Government", whether from the right or from the left is nothing more than an episode of American Idol. Mindless entertainment and persuasion.
Quote:It's what 99% of what the RW forums here are based on.
Thursday, September 29, 2011 5:39 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Niki2: Unfortunately, Anthony, you're right insofar as your argument goes. But people who pay attention have no chance of making their vote heard as long as there are enough stupid voters out there who buy into the buzz words and propaganda. If there were ENOUGH thinking voters to have power, I believe things WOULD be different. I vote for the "lesser of two evils" and I will again, because I'm only GIVEN two viable choices; if thinking people did the nominating (or even got active in getting someone sensible NOMINATED), it would be different. JMHO. Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani, Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”, signing off
Thursday, September 29, 2011 6:01 AM
Thursday, September 29, 2011 6:34 AM
M52NICKERSON
DALEK!
Thursday, September 29, 2011 6:46 AM
Thursday, September 29, 2011 11:28 AM
RIONAEIRE
Beir bua agus beannacht
Friday, September 30, 2011 3:48 AM
GEEZER
Keep the Shiny side up
Friday, September 30, 2011 4:50 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Geezer: Yep. Time for a return to literacy tests, poll taxes, property ownership requirements, loyalty oaths, etc. so only the right people get to vote. Sorry, but if you want a democracy, you gotta put up with people voting however they will. If you can't sell your vision, it may be the wrong product, or you may be telling the wrong story. BTW, Marion Barry being returned to the D.C. Council by the voters in his (mostly African-American) ward, after his crack arrest and more recent troubles with the IRS, might be looked upon as supportive of Herman Cain's contention that Blacks are brainwashed.
Friday, September 30, 2011 5:02 AM
Friday, September 30, 2011 5:26 AM
SIGNYM
I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.
Friday, September 30, 2011 7:16 AM
Friday, September 30, 2011 7:19 AM
Quote:Originally posted by m52nickerson: See, no one is arguing which side is right, or that voters are stupid because they don't vote for a particular side.
Quote:The issue is that people vote but take no responsibilty for the flaws of government.
Friday, September 30, 2011 8:01 AM
KWICKO
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)
Quote:Originally posted by Fremdfirma: Quote:Originally posted by AnthonyT: And now, don't you occasionally find yourself wishing that the chair had a switch on it? Occasionally ? I still like my exploding collars idea. -F
Friday, September 30, 2011 8:20 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Geezer: I'm not arguing that any particular side is right, either.
Quote:Originally posted by Geezer: But the argument is being made by the article Niki cited, and apparently by Niki herself, that "Stupid voters enable broken government". This leads to the question "What are we to do with those stupid voters?" Unfortunately, "stupid voters" usually ends up being defined as "People who don't vote as I would". And the result of anyone controlling who can vote, by poll tax, literacy test, etc. is that the folks who don't vote the 'right' way - in the opinion of those controlling - don't get to vote. The only answer I can see is to let folks vote for Barry or Bachmann if they wish, but try to convince them it's not the best idea. If you have any other suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them.
Quote:Originally posted by Geezer: Or support the government they elected. This has been pointed out here as one of the problems with Pres. Obama's term so far. Many of his supporters, once he was elected, said "Our job here is done." and left him to try to deal with Healthcare and other issues without grassroots pressure and support.
Friday, September 30, 2011 8:22 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Bytemite: It still seems like blaming the victims to me. If someone is dumb enough to get conned, they're still a victim, aren't they?
Friday, September 30, 2011 9:28 AM
Friday, September 30, 2011 1:33 PM
Saturday, October 1, 2011 3:51 AM
Saturday, October 1, 2011 7:46 AM
Saturday, October 1, 2011 8:55 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Fremdfirma: I'd say nationalize broadcast but historically that's a bad idea,
Saturday, October 1, 2011 9:48 AM
MAL4PREZ
Saturday, October 1, 2011 10:28 AM
CUDA77
Like woman, I am a mystery.
Quote:Originally posted by mal4prez: This makes me think of two things: 1. When Princess Diana died, all of England and much of the world bitched and moaned about the evil paparazzi. I felt I was the only one thinking: stop buying every rag that prints a picture of Di, you morons. Then the photographers would stop chasing her. But the idiots just went out and bought more. Yes, stupid people. Incapable of connecting cause and effect. Incapable of deciding NOT to be a part of the cause. 2. I was just reading about Perry and his "skepticism" of climate change, which reminded me of old threads on RWED. Otherwise intelligent-seeming posters stated their belief that scientists make all this up so they can get funding. Ok, wait... Must get this off my chest... Scientists falsify their research for money, but Big Oil and its politician leeches (Perry) would never do such a thing? Scientists who have tenured jobs falsify their research for money, but Big Oil, with employment and income that depends solely on profit, would never do such a thing? Scientists who work for educational institutions falsify their research for money, but Big Oil which exists purely to make a profit would never do such a thing? Scientists who might make 100K or so a year falsify their research for money, but Big Oil controlled by managers/stock holders with million dollar bonuses/incomes funded by company profit would never do such a thing? Scientists who must submit their work to peer-reviewed journals falsify their research for money, but Big Oil that only needs to stand up to the rigorous standards of Faux news would never do such a thing? BTW, which science classes did Perry take in college? How were his grades? Talk about stupid. I really wish Perry would hold a town hall meeting in my town, and give me the mic. Yes, I blame voters for being stupid and getting us into this mess. Reagan I can excuse, but Bush? In 2004 no less? Stupid stupid stupid. It gives me an odd and dark sort of comfort, actually. If America crashes and burns, it's because we've earned it. Any society that puts Bachmann or Palin or Perry or Cain in charge is only a danger to the world and should clean the slate and start over. I only hope the crash and burn, if we don't wise up and avoid it, isn't too ugly. The fall of Rome was followed by 1000 years of darkness... ----------------------------------------------- hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left
Saturday, October 1, 2011 10:41 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Cuda77:
Saturday, October 1, 2011 10:49 AM
DREAMTROVE
Saturday, October 1, 2011 3:35 PM
Quote:Then we have voter fraud. The pro-awl crowd proves that really it wasn't 3 people saying axe, but one person jumping around the room saying axe three times, and two people saying awl, and 7 people who wanted to live, then they have a huge uphill battle to fight to show that we have in fact decided for the left hand, and we each get an awl in our brain, regardless of how each of us individually voted.
Saturday, October 1, 2011 3:36 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Niki2: And yes, 6ix, it's subjective, but which of the Republican candidates do you figure is the lesser of two evils? I shouldn't ask, because you already expressed a preference for Ron Paul, but in my subjective opinion, they are ALL nutcases...so far.
Saturday, October 1, 2011 3:43 PM
Quote:Originally posted by mal4prez: This makes me think of two things: 1. When Princess Diana died, all of England and much of the world bitched and moaned about the evil paparazzi. I felt I was the only one thinking: stop buying every rag that prints a picture of Di, you morons. Then the photographers would stop chasing her. But the idiots just went out and bought more. Yes, stupid people. Incapable of connecting cause and effect. Incapable of deciding NOT to be a part of the cause. 2. I was just reading about Perry and his "skepticism" of climate change, which reminded me of old threads on RWED. Otherwise intelligent-seeming posters stated their belief that scientists make all this up so they can get funding. Ok, wait... Must get this off my chest... Scientists falsify their research for money, but Big Oil and its politician leeches (Perry) would never do such a thing? Scientists who have tenured jobs falsify their research for money, but Big Oil, with employment and income that depends solely on profit, would never do such a thing? Scientists who work for educational institutions falsify their research for money, but Big Oil which exists purely to make a profit would never do such a thing? Scientists who might make 100K or so a year falsify their research for money, but Big Oil controlled by managers/stock holders with million dollar bonuses/incomes funded by company profit would never do such a thing? Scientists who must submit their work to peer-reviewed journals falsify their research for money, but Big Oil that only needs to stand up to the rigorous standards of Faux news would never do such a thing? BTW, which science classes did Perry take in college? How were his grades? Talk about stupid. I really wish Perry would hold a town hall meeting in my town, and give me the mic.
Quote: Yes, I blame voters for being stupid and getting us into this mess. Reagan I can excuse, but Bush? In 2004 no less? Stupid stupid stupid.
Quote: It gives me an odd and dark sort of comfort, actually. If America crashes and burns, it's because we've earned it. Any society that puts Bachmann or Palin or Perry or Cain in charge is only a danger to the world and should clean the slate and start over.
Saturday, October 1, 2011 4:42 PM
Saturday, October 1, 2011 4:48 PM
Quote:Originally posted by 6ixStringJack: Seriously..... is this "Change" working for you?
Sunday, October 2, 2011 1:56 AM
Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: Why can't it just require that airwave media provide a free set amount of advert time to credible candidates.
Quote:So, how do we stop corporate and religious brainwashing?
Sunday, October 2, 2011 2:14 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Kwicko: Quote: Yes, I blame voters for being stupid and getting us into this mess. Reagan I can excuse, but Bush? In 2004 no less? Stupid stupid stupid. What I said back around 2005 or so was that I could forgive someone for voting for Bush once, as a youthful indiscretion or a mistake, but to vote for him TWICE? That took not just ignorance, but aggressively stupid malice.
Quote:Quote: It gives me an odd and dark sort of comfort, actually. If America crashes and burns, it's because we've earned it. Any society that puts Bachmann or Palin or Perry or Cain in charge is only a danger to the world and should clean the slate and start over. Okay, I don't mean to harp on it, but THAT was pretty much the point Gino was trying to make way back when. And honestly, if you think that a "clean slate" is going to happen without several million deaths at a minimum, you're dreaming. His solution was political assassination, if I recall, or targeted bombing. Seems horrific, but it's "cleaner" than utter chaos, I have to say.
Sunday, October 2, 2011 4:10 AM
Tuesday, October 26, 2021 4:05 PM
JAYNEZTOWN
Wednesday, October 27, 2021 10:15 AM
Quote:The Dark Enlightenment, also called neo-reactionary movement (sometimes abbreviated to NRx), is an anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian, reactionary philosophy. In 2007 and 2008, Curtis Yarvin, writing under the pen name Mencius Moldbug, articulated what would develop into Dark Enlightenment thinking. Yarvin's theories were elaborated and expanded by Nick Land, who first coined the term Dark Enlightenment in his essay of the same name. The term "Dark Enlightenment" refers to the Age of Enlightenment, in a pejorative sense. The ideology generally rejects Whig historiography—the concept that history shows an inevitable progression towards greater liberty and enlightenment, culminating in liberal democracy and constitutional monarchy—in favor of a return to traditional societal constructs and forms of government, including absolute monarchism and other archaic forms of leadership such as cameralism. In July 2010, Arnold Kling, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, coined the term "neo-reactionaries" to describe Yarvin and his followers. ... The intellectual dark web (IDW) is a loosely-defined informal group of commentators who oppose what they regard as the dominance of identity politics, political correctness, and cancel culture in higher education and the news media within Western countries. Those who have been linked to the IDW have come from both the left and right of the political spectrum. Sources differ on the nature of the IDW, with some describing it as left, and others as ideologically diverse, but nonetheless united against primary adversaries hailing predominantly from progressives, including postmodernism, post-structuralism, Marxism, and political correctness. ... In philosophy, the natural order is the moral source from which natural law seeks to derive its authority. Natural order encompasses the natural relations of beings to one another in the absence of law, which natural law attempts to reinforce. This is related to karma. In contrast, divine law seeks authority from God, and positive law seeks authority from government. The term is used by Hans-Hermann Hoppe in his book, Democracy: The God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order, to defend anarcho-capitalism. The term is used by Friedrich Hayek in his writings. Social Darwinism refers to various societal practices around the world and defined by scholars in Western Europe and North America in the 1870s that applied biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics ... Neo-nationalism, or new nationalism, is an ideology and political movement built on the basic characteristics of classical nationalism. It developed to its final form by applying elements with reactionary character generated as a reaction to the political, economic and socio-cultural changes that came with globalization during the second wave of globalization in the 1980s.Particularly notable expressions of new nationalism include the vote for Brexit in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum and the 2016 election of Donald Trump as the President of the United States. Paleoconservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism in the United States stressing American nationalism, Christian ethics, regionalism, and traditionalist conservatism. Paleolibertarianism was a libertarian political activism strategy. It was developed by American anarcho-capitalist theorists Murray Rothbard and Lew Rockwell in the American political context after the end of Cold War. From 1989 to 1995, they sought to communicate libertarian notions of opposition to government intervention using messages accessible to working and middle-class people of the time.
Wednesday, October 27, 2021 12:50 PM
Wednesday, October 27, 2021 1:22 PM
Sunday, October 31, 2021 3:47 PM
Quote:Democrats are democracy
Quote:It is estimated that Stalin is responsible for the deaths of 43 million people and the Soviet Union as a whole for 63 million
Quote:Researchers have since suggested that the story may have been an attempt to explain the existence of various human languages; others claim the tower is pure myth, a metaphor. There is evidence, however, which suggests that the tower was was constructed under the watch of the great King Nebuchadnezzar II In 586 BC, in a bid for world supremacy, he laid siege to Jerusalem, which was 500 miles to the west. His army sacked the city and captured the most highly-skilled and highly-educated citizens. These people were then brought to Babylon as prisoners of war, and forced to work for Nebuchadnezzar — the start of what is now known as the Babylonian captivity. Crucially, however, as the Smithsonian Channel's documentary, 'Secrets Unlocked: Tower of Babel', noted: "While in Babylon, the captives became known as the Jewish people — the very authors of the Bible." It was from this that another theory about the tower's later destruction was floated: that the captives went on to write of its destruction in a bid to "rewrite their history". Experts believe that the Jews held captive in Babylon after the siege saw the huge tower being built and were at first mesmerised.
Quote:Among three nations whose democratic transitions had inspired the most hope, Myanmar and Sudan have seen generals roar back, sacking civilian leaders and suppressing street protests, while in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring a decade ago, the president seized wide-ranging powers. Military juntas have also grabbed power in the West African nations of Guinea, Mali and Chad, while in Afghanistan, Taliban insurgents seized power after a US troop withdrawal brought the quick collapse of the Western-backed government.
Monday, November 1, 2021 4:40 PM
Saturday, November 6, 2021 7:04 AM
Sunday, November 21, 2021 3:05 PM
Sunday, November 21, 2021 5:37 PM
SECOND
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
Quote:Originally posted by JAYNEZTOWN: Our military didn’t lose the war in Afghanistan, our politicians did https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2021/11/21/our-military-didnt-lose-the-war-in-afghanistan-our-politicians-did/
Friday, November 26, 2021 8:05 AM
Quote:California is a multicultural patchwork with countless examples of existing enclaves such as Chinatowns?, Tehrangeles and Koreatown in Los Angeles?, as well as the many Chicano and Mexican neighborhoods?. Beyond existing designated enclaves, there are broader de-facto pan-enclaves with examples including Asian American areas in the San Gabriel Valley and parts of Northern Orange County, both South and East Asian areas throughout the Silicon Valley, African American areas in Historic South LA and parts of Oakland and Richmond in the Bay Area, and the heavily Jewish parts of LA’s Westside and San Fernando Valley. You could even make the case that many European American areas in California are beginning to function as enclaves. Examples include the Sacramento Suburbs in Placer County, Clovis in the Fresno metro, parts of Marin County and Central Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Luis Obispo on the Central Coast, South Eastern Ventura County, South Orange County, and North San Diego County.
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