Many of the Republicans candidates in the upcoming mid-term elections are VERY much to the right of the majority of this nation. It is only the economic mess created by the last administration and not fixed by the current administration that could possibly get any of these cave men and women elected...
"We need to phase Medicare and Social Security out."
—Sharron Angle, Republican Senate candidate in Nevada
"There should not be [a federal minimum wage]. That is not within the scope or the powers that are given to the federal government."
—Joe Miller, Republican Senate candidate in Alaska
"I am pro-life. I don't believe in the exceptions for rape or incest."
—Ken Buck, Republican Senate candidate in Colorado
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It is not "only the economic mess created by the last administration." For one thing, the current admin hasn't just not fixed it. They've made things much, much worse. And you're ignoring the fact that they've been pushing through an agenda that the majority of Americans don't want. As for the specifics:
Angle - She's essentially correct. The fact that most politicians are afraid to say anything about it and just want to kick the insolvency can down the road doesn't change reality. It is impossible for Social Security and Medicare to continue as they are without bankrupting the nation. Anyone who thinks otherwise either doesn't know the facts or is an economic imbecile.
Miller - And? What's your problem with his view? What part of the U.S. Constitution do you believe authorizes congress to set a federal minimum wage? Can each state set their own minimum wage? Sure. Why is it the fed's business?
Buck - I realize you staunchly disagree with his position. But if one believes that a human life begins at conception (which I assume he does), then it's the only logically consistent position to take.
The current administration most certainly has NOT made things much worse. And they have NOT been pushing through an agenda that most Americans don't want. Just saying things don't make them so.
In my opinion (notice the qualifier there), the ineffectiveness of the administration is due in large part to the do-nothing Republicans in Congress. Never before has a group so effectively entrenched itself into doing nothing to work with the other side and simply used a filibuster (in ways it was never intended to be used) to stop everything the other side tried to do. And yes, if the other side, in this case the Dems, were more in lockstep with each other, they could have overrode much of the dig-in-their-heals and do-nothing approach the Reps took. Alas, the Dems are not quite as single-minded as their counterparts across the aisle.
And if this country EVER wants to get serious about solving its insolvency problem it will start cutting where the majority of the problem is - DEFENSE.
Typical short sighted nut case vision. Hard to believe idiots like this csm can work and function.
Most reputable economists(even on the left) will tell you entitlement programs will be our downfall unless we reform them; this is the majority of the problem we face.
This being said, I agree with you, csm, in that there is much in the Defense Department we could cut. One thing which rarely gets mentioned when discussing health care and how much better the Europeans are at supplying care than we are is the fact we supply the vast majority of the defense of Europe. If the Europeans had had to defend themselves during the Cold War I doubt the separate countries would have the wonderful health benefits they do now.
There is no good reason why we need to be in most of the countries we have troops stationed(except for the fact that Washington is consolidating power from all over the world, this is only one way). We could slowly(I said slowly)back away from NATO(Germany is already getting comfy with the Russians and France will follow), we should let the Japanese defend themselves(this might just jumpstart their moribund economy), forget about Taiwan, slowly back away from South Korea(if the countries around N. Korea(China, Russia, S. Korea, Japan) can't handle this two bit nation, I'm sorry)and in the end repatriate all of our troops from around the world, we could once again just become one nation in this world. No more World's Policeman. I can think of many problems this would solve.
One thing I would keep is the US Navy and all of it's abilities. Nothing protects free trade throughout the world like the US Navy.
Yesterday on NPR some gentleman made the statement that a libertarian's foreign policy is basically isolationism. If you want to consider free trade with everybody on an equal basis(tariffs, etc.) isolationism, then we have an argument. I don't think we need to meddle with others countries, but trading with others isn't isolationism. It is actually kinda nice.
This "nut case" knows that the largest part of our national budget is military spending. And much of it is being spent to fight a cold war that no longer exists.
That said, entitlement programs are costly, too. And better manaing them, as well as better managing what we spend overall would be a good thing.
But here is something to try. When you get a Rep or Tea Partier talking about cutting costs, press them to name just ONE program that they will cut. You'll almost never get an answer.
How many Tea Partyer's do you listen to? I agree with you about Republicans, but ask any TP and they will start with the Dept. of Education and Energy. And that is just the start.
http://www.warresisters,org/pages/piechart.htm
Try this site,csm. These people believe as you do(as I do)that our current defense posture is too expensive and that it is counter-productive.
Please take a look at the box titled "Government Deception". They consider this pie chart a deception BECAUSE it includes the entitlement programs such as SS and Medicare. I fail to see how this is a deception as these are liabilities our government has taken on and either have to be paid for or reneged on. As you will see SS, Medicare and Medicaid constitute a much larger porion of the total federal budget than defense.
Just finished an article from ProPublica(no right-leaning rag, for sure) titled "The New Democrats: The Coalition Pharma and Wall Street Love" authored by Sebastian Jones and Marcus Stern posted on 10/25/10. The main gist of the article is the rise of an organization called the New Democrat Coalition and their ties to Big Pharma and Wall Street.
I think you need to read this, csm, because you have a tendency to lay the whole obstructionist stance at only the Republicans feet. Apparently this isn't even remotely so. The swamp definitely has not been drained; it has only changed color. As the Democrats rail against Citizen's United(and I am still in agreement with that stance as far as public corporations go), the backroom lobbying has gone on unabated with the Democrats picking up where the Republicans and K Street left off.
On November 2nd I will do my duty and listen to my heart and brain; and rest assured if the candidate has an R or a D after their name they will not get my vote. Any outsider candidate has never, ever been the fucking problem.
I will certainly do my duty. That commences with taking total control from the DNC and giving them competition for power. Voting for some guy who has not shot at stopping the corrupt DNC is pointless.
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