Absolutely, and amendments that have been used to give the appearance of extending the Constitution's validity have done more to undermine it. The main problem is that if a new Constitution were to be written, it would be written by the same crooks that continue to undermine the current one. Unless the "unthinkable" were to happen.
I can't remember the tune, but the first two words are French and immediately recognizable to anyone who has lived in a country with a terribly corrupt government.
BN, I hear you..and really respect that. I mean to come on here as a Republican and say "well, there was weapons of mass destruction in Iraq...Sadaam used the on his own people" while true..is a nonsense argument. Both parties are so flawed and when a party cant admit they got something wrong, you lead to where we are right now..not trust...AND that lack of trust is going to burn this country. It might be 2 years..or 20 years..but its coming in a big way.
I hear you abzy but the problem I have with an independent is that you really cant stand on the tightrope saying hmmm..I like this..I hate that. Im all about fiscal responsibility and my party has really screwed me there. The democrats? I mean..are some people kidding me? The game of Monopoly has more fiscal responsibility then that party. So...yeah...letdown? Sure...but there isn't much on the other side that stimulates me. A womens choice..of course. The list is very very short.
Dear God...no. Can you imagine this group writing a constitution in this day and age? I cant even...Im speechless. No...don't even bring that up.
Then I'm talking to you too, JW. You are allowing the idea of your principles to justify supporting a party that only gives the appearance of being who you should support. None of them really gives a shit about the world you want, they only give a shit about how much they can make you believe that world is attainable. Dierk made a comment about how antiquated and unsustainable the Constitution is. This entire system of politics is what I think can't be sustained. We have far better means now to understand the will of the people, and yet we are still going to the polls, having corrupt assholes from both sides dare to speak for us, and allowing ourselves to be fooled by the charade. There's a better world at our fingertips, we really have a chance to have a voice now.
False. 25 allegations of violations as charged by a radically partisan organization that demeans its own claims by not drawing the distinction.
Ok..I follow you Abyz..but you go into that voting box and you think to yourself "who gives me a better shot at reducing the deficit or the size of government. Who gives me a SHOT at reducing crime or helping the economy. I mean..I hear you..but you still have a decision to make come election day no? You still have to make a choice other then blowing up buildings (years ago we joked...now Im sure someone just read that and Im on a list)..but all JOKING ASIDE...you get the point
Okay, I just don't get the reference. Whatever, I have a fairly strong suspicion, almost willing to call it a guarantee, that when the most likely "unthinkables" happen -- natural disasters, environmental calamities, terrorist events, financial institutions collapsing -- the result is going to be more like martial law than revolt. Assuming that's what you're talking about. And I'm not really sure I'd call our government "terribly corrupt." We pay our peeps way too well for that. Wasteful, bloated, deceitful and mendacious, and a few dozen other unflattering adjectives, sure. But when's the last time you had to slip the guy behind the counter a fifty to get your drivers license or building permit?
Why perpetuate a failed system? Why go into that voting booth when you know there won't be a difference made, aside from the frivolous ones? Why do you think there have been so many voting awareness efforts over the past 30 years? People began to tune out the rhetoric. They want everyone to pay attention to their play act. They want people to argue on fucking football message boards about how they are fighting each other to make a difference, all the while they are making decisions based on money provided them by special interest groups, not even thinking about how many people have voted for them or thrown hard earned money into their campaign funds. It's a fucking charade. Why support that by participating? The worst meme they have ever perpetrated is " if you don't vote, don't argue." Fuck that. My argument is not sitting in their audience to watch a bad fucking play. I'd rather stand outside, and feel better about it.
Coup d'etat. We pay our peeps too well to decide what pay raises they think they deserve. Natural disasters have been happening regularly for a decade now, nothing has changed. Maybe if that super volcano under Yellowstone erupts, people will take notice, but the only change will be your military state. Our society has been conditioned to be wasteful, bloated, and deceitful. No wonder that the powers that be get away with being the same. I'm not saying that it's bad to not have the type of corruption that allows you to bribe local officials, but comparing the styles of corruption between societies doesn't mean one is right and one is wrong. They are different flavors.
JW and Abyz - I respect y0u both as posters, but this thread is sounding way too crazy for me. I'm in my 50s and I've witnessed some crazy politics, eras, and issues in this country, from the assassinations in the 60s, to Vietnam, to Watergate, to stagflation in the 70s and 18% mortgages, to gas lines, to the Iranian crisis, Reaganomics, terrorist acts, 9/11, multiple wars in the Middle East, etc. I have never ever ever seen such crippling partisan politics as I have seen the last 6 years. That is what is ruining this country. The Republican Party has shifted so far to the right that it has gone off the deep end. Throw in gerrymandering that guarantees that over 90% of Congress is re-elected (mostly Republican in what is rapidly becoming a Democratic country), and the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which allows money to buy influence and elections like never before, and you have today's problems. It is not politics as normal and it is not the Constitution that is the problem. It the wack jobs way to the right that are running (and ruining) this country despite representing a shrinking minority. As for the deficit, it is the result of spending trillions of dollars on the Iraq war that just blew up in our faces and deep tax cuts that have resulted in the lowest tax rates and the lowest tax revenues as a % of GNP since before WWII. Want me to go on? The social issues faced by this country and the positions taken by the far right are downright disgusting. We have mass shootings three times a week, but the NRA still controls the dialogue and nothing is done about it. We have people rejecting science. We have a party blocking immigration reform for completely selfish reasons - they know that if citizenship is granted to the millions already here for good means more Democratic votes, so continue the same strategy - stall, block, confuse, obfuscate, create fear. We have the worst health care system of almost any developed nation, but any attempt to fix it or improve it or provide health care for the 50 million Americans who don't have it is portrayed as a "government take over" of health care, which is complete BS. Obamacare is a Republican plan thought up by Nixon in the 70s and implemented successfully by Romney in Massachusetts, but because Obama and Dems wanted it, it is portrayed as the scourge of the Earth. The Republicans would rather see this country fall to pieces just to blame Obama and the Dems than do the right thing. I find that sickening. Just my two cents.
JWWS, you know I respect you as a poster, but you only recognize the faults of one side of the equation. I recognize every single problem you just listed. But you apparently are not willing to realize that the donkey side is so far to the left that we are on the verge of becoming a communist state. Wholesale spying on our own populace, state governments using the term "terrorist" so loosely that it can be applied to peaceful protests, the NDAA being snuck in without protest that allows US citizens to be detained without trial indefinitely, a person who blew the whistle on criminal acts by our government being considered an enemy of the state, and terrorists overseas again being armed by our government for corporate purposes, door to door weapons confiscation in many states. Not to mention the fact that city police are being provided war machines free of charge for population control. You are only keeping score for your own team, and the fact that you consider only half of the government your team means that you have bought into the false game of never calling your government as a whole into question. Wake up.
Is it weird that I agreed with every word Joe Willie said about the right AND every word Byz said about the left?
You are not alone man..... I have become so disgusted by the bullshit in the country with the politics that I am leaving in a few months. I'm moving to Asia. I know the politics aren't any better in most of those countries but at least they don't pretend to be either. Sorry I have 21K in student loans that I was sucked into by this everyone should get an education bullshit we are fed from the time to we are children to the time we graduate high school. The cost of college is fucking ridiculous and student loans just feed into the bullshit. The govt is garnishing my fucking wages because I can't afford to pay the extra 200 dollars a month they want from me so because they are such nice people they are garnishing 250 dollars a month. I had to stop making contributions to my 401K and change my tax status so I could afford to eat. Can I garnish my wages back because I certainly don't remember giving the go ahead to steal my tax dollars to bail out the UAW I mean GM? I don't even use my fucking degree. College is the biggest scam out there and I learned it the hard way. Now I know some may disagree but for my major I needed 42 elective credits.... 42. that is 3 semesters worth of bullshit classes. I needed English I, II and III. English I is high school English. same with Math. Really I need another year of high school math to get my degree in Communications? As if 4 years of it weren't enough. My Junior math class in high school was more difficult than my college math class. I never for all the years I was in high school got an A in math....college algebra.... holy shit I got an A. I could have gotten my degree in 2 fucking years without all the bullshit classes I was forced to take to get my degree. My son better get a scholarship because I'm still going to be paying my loans back by the time he is in college. It's all a giant fucking scam... democrat, republican. same wolves different fucking suit.
This is 100% correct. I don't know when foreign policy became this conflict of "good vs. evil." Sadam was a bad dude, but the only way to bring some form of stability in that region is to have an iron-fisted dictator running the show. He kept the tribes in check now they're just warring with each other in his absence. You want stability in that region? Back the biggest baddest dude out there and let him seize control. Everyone was shitting on France for not supporting us in the Iraq war. Well, they were RIGHT all along. Let them kill each other. Whatever. I don't know why we gave a shit in the first place, Iraq holds like a measly 5% of the world's oil.
