Broke People in America

Let's see when moderates that libs like run as Rupublicans for president, Gerald, Ford 1980; George Bush 1992 (he ran as a conservative on Reagan's coattails in 1988); Bob Dole 1996; John McCain 2008; Mitt Romney 2012, they did not work too well. Conservative Reagan had two of the biggest landslides in history. Bush 41 ran on his coattails as a conservative in 1988 (he was really a moderate and that is how he ran in 1992), G W Bush ran as a conservative in 2000. In 2004 he was reelected as a wartime president, but was drifting left. Moderate Republicans really have worked well for Republicans the last 37 years. BTW, I thought Sandbox was essentially open too, not limited to non-political talk.

i was thinking a lack of one. on the other hand...not a day goes by i don't feel im being forced to be a muslim or an atheist. but i am an atheist...but i wasn't forced.

organized religion is the root cause of most of the world's troubles. and greedy corporations. Originally Posted by Juan Pablo de Marco

Too much power is root cause of most of the worlds troubles. Not religion. It doesn't matter who holds that amount of power. Be it a church, a goverment, a union, a corporation, ect. Power is the problem.

i was thinking a lack of one. on the other hand...not a day goes by i don't feel im being forced to be a muslim or an atheist. but i am an atheist...but i wasn't forced.

organized religion is the root cause of most of the world's troubles. and greedy corporations. Originally Posted by Juan Pablo de Marco

I would have said organized Muslim religion ....

One of the main issues the Republican party has is its leaders,, Rush Limbaugh, he is way to polarizing to most people.

Money is the cause of most trouble/root of all evil.. money=power

Too much power is root cause of most of the worlds troubles. Not religion. It doesn't matter who holds that amount of power. Be it a church, a goverment, a union, a corporation, ect. Power is the problem. Originally Posted by threepeckeredbillygoat

Too much power is root cause of most of the worlds troubles. Not religion. It doesn't matter who holds that amount of power. Be it a church, a goverment, a union, a corporation, ect. Power is the problem. Originally Posted by threepeckeredbillygoat

Amen!

...and greedy corporations. Originally Posted by Juan Pablo de Marco

The purpose of a corporation is to make money. Most of them try to achieve that goal by providing goods and services that people find necessary or useful and are willing to pay for. A side effect is that they use some of the money to hire people and provide them jobs. Would you like this to stop?

A corollary is that when corporations don't make enough money they can no longer provide goods and services that people need. Then they stop making money altogether. The word for this is "bankruptcy". A side effect is that people lose their jobs, benefits, and pensions. This is usually considered a bad thing, especially by those losing their jobs.

People in America have the means by virtue of our Constitution and Bill of Rights to have the government they want. And to the extent they are involved, they get the government they deserve. Most Dallasites don't even know who their mayor is, or who sits on the city councils. But special interests -- and not just corporations -- know, and they're working that side of the street 24/7. If you feel something sticking up your ass, there's somebody who's a lot more involved right behind you shoving it in good and hard. Overused cliche, but so true -- we have met the enemy and he is us. It ain't Bush; it ain't Obama; it ain't the rich people. Which begs a question: if Republicans are the party of big business, why do corporations give a lot more money to Democrats? And if the Iraq war was about oil, why are we fracking? And don't get me started on Halliburton and Dick Cheney. He's long gone; they're still in the Mideast. I'm not necessarily a Tea Party guy, but their movement does show what can happen if people just decide to spend a few hours a week learning about public issues. Same for civil rights groups (no, not Sharpton, Jackson and the other ethno-profiteers). [End of rant].

i was thinking a lack of one. on the other hand...not a day goes by i don't feel im being forced to be a muslim or an atheist. but i am an atheist...but i wasn't forced.

organized religion is the root cause of most of the world's troubles. and greedy corporations. Originally Posted by Juan Pablo de Marco

ironic that you are an Atheist, because you seem to believe the famous Biblical line that "the love of money is the root of all evil"...

you didn't say it that way, but organized religion and greedy corporations operate and thrive from that template

Republicans may not get another candidate in office after the bush mess.

All I know is that I make a ton of money in the stock market when a democrat is in office. When a republican is in office I don't do very well. Hurts the republicans when the last face of a republican in office was a baboon.

In 2008 the voters allowed a Trojan Horse to move in. In 2012, the majority decided to let the'horse' stay. Thus the birth of the end of this country we were born into, happened.

It won't be an overnight transition. Perhaps our generation will survive, but I worry for my daughter and especially for my grandson.

For the first time, our generation will not be able to bestow a better life for our off spring, and this will ripple even further when their generation passes on.

Future scholars will examine when the wheels came off. It happened in 2008 when Barry Sotoro became president..

In 2008 the voters allowed a Trojan Horse to move in. In 2012, the majority decided to let the'horse' stay. Thus the birth of the end of this country we were born into, happened. Originally Posted by Ramjet

You have to go way way way back in the calender to find when it went to shit. Our government was never intended to be a huge and powerful force over its people. It turned into that waaaaay before Bush or Obama.

With regard to special interests and political parties, both parties are always trying to gain the support of special interests for one reason. They need the money to be able to run campaigns. This is something that I happen to know about because I give about $50,000 to campaigns and PAC's every election cycle. Politics runs on money in our current system and always will until we get public financing of elections. Then, and only then, will either party be able to run a truly populist campaign.

I'm a Democrat. And I'm continually disappointed that liberal Democrat never have a real shot in Presidential primaries. Where are people like Bernie Sanders, Sheldon Whitehouse, Elizabeth Warren, Barbara Boxer, etc.? I'd lover for any of those folks to have a real chance in a Presidential primary. But instead, we get corporate moderate Democrats like Bill Clinton, Obama, Hillary Clinton, etc. We haven't had a true liberal at the head of the ticket since George McGovern in 1972. And unfortunately, he ran a horrible campaign.

Get money out of the equation so that candidates don't have to suck up to folks that can contribute $250,000 a year to the party, and $50,000 and year (not per cycle) to the candidates. These are the big guys. I know lots of them, but I can't run with these guys. They are the ones who call the shots for both parties. And we'll never get real liberals until we get rid of that system.

As for the Republicans, they are a party in decline and headed for extinction if they don't change on social issues. Abortion and marriage equality are the two issues that are killing them right now. I think that they could get away with being opposed to immigration reform for a while, but they can't keep loosing the young vote on marriage equality and abortion or they will eventually go the way of the dinosaurs. I think if they don't change, they will eventually splint into two or three sub parties. The bat-shit crazy Bible thumpers for whom abortion and marriage discrimination are the only issues that matter. Then the classic country club Republicans who want immigration, so long as they don't get to vote, and want fiscally conservative economics at the Federal level. And them maybe, a small slice of libertarians. But the libertarians are likely to find a home with the country club types who are socially more liberal. I think eventually, the Bible Thumpers will be the odd man out and will quit politics and become a smaller and smaller segment of society. But that fracturing process may take 25 - 50 years to fully play out.

With regard to special interests and political parties, both parties are always trying to gain the support of special interests for one reason. They need the money to be able to run campaigns. This is something that I happen to know about because I give about $50,000 to campaigns and PAC's every election cycle. Politics runs on money in our current system and always will until we get public financing of elections. Then, and only then, will either party be able to run a truly populist campaign.

I'm a Democrat. And I'm continually disappointed that liberal Democrat never have a real shot in Presidential primaries. Where are people like Bernie Sanders, Sheldon Whitehouse, Elizabeth Warren, Barbara Boxer, etc.? I'd lover for any of those folks to have a real chance in a Presidential primary. But instead, we get corporate moderate Democrats like Bill Clinton, Obama, Hillary Clinton, etc. We haven't had a true liberal at the head of the ticket since George McGovern in 1972. And unfortunately, he ran a horrible campaign.

Get money out of the equation so that candidates don't have to suck up to folks that can contribute $250,000 a year to the party, and $50,000 and year (not per cycle) to the candidates. These are the big guys. I know lots of them, but I can't run with these guys. They are the ones who call the shots for both parties. And we'll never get real liberals until we get rid of that system.

As for the Republicans, they are a party in decline and headed for extinction if they don't change on social issues. Abortion and marriage equality are the two issues that are killing them right now. I think that they could get away with being opposed to immigration reform for a while, but they can't keep loosing the young vote on marriage equality and abortion or they will eventually go the way of the dinosaurs. I think if they don't change, they will eventually splint into two or three sub parties. The bat-shit crazy Bible thumpers for whom abortion and marriage discrimination are the only issues that matter. Then the classic country club Republicans who want immigration, so long as they don't get to vote, and want fiscally conservative economics at the Federal level. And them maybe, a small slice of libertarians. But the libertarians are likely to find a home with the country club types who are socially more liberal. I think eventually, the Bible Thumpers will be the odd man out and will quit politics and become a smaller and smaller segment of society. But that fracturing process may take 25 - 50 years to fully play out. Originally Posted by TexTushHog

Wow - President Obama is not a liberal? I would hate to see what you have in mind for this once great country if a "real" liberal ever got elected. What other liberal programs are left to do, anyway? You people seem to have gotten everything you want already in Detroit, and aren't willing to even admit it was liberalism that sank the ship.

Tex, In the past, both parties have predicted the decline and disappearance of the other party. Nothing new here,

Wow - President Obama is not a liberal? I would hate to see what you have in mind for this once great country if a "real" liberal ever got elected. What other liberal programs are left to do, anyway? You people seem to have gotten everything you want already in Detroit, and aren't willing to even admit it was liberalism that sank the ship. Originally Posted by Jewish Lawyer

No, Obama isn't a liberal. He's a trianuglating weasel just like Clinton. Do you see single payer health care like they have in every other democracy in the world? Do you see expansion of social programs? Do you see real efforts to increase jobs like aggressive expansion of the money supply and real stimulus spending (instead of a stimulus that is 1/4 of the short fall in demand)? Do you see real liberals being appointed to the Federal bench? Do you see the Senate doing away with the filibuster? He's a weak sister.

But there is hope on the horizon. HRC is running (an will win in 2016). She'll be the same a Obama in terms of ideology, but perhaps more sure handed. But a sure handed moderate isn't that exciting to me. But after that, the Democratic bench is deep and mostly with really good liberals. I'm most excited about Elizabeth Warren, but there are others as well.