"This board is really going to hell in a hand basket."
The politics seen on this board are nothing more than a reflection of the politics seen in the country in general.
This election cycle bears a fair amount of similarity to the mud-filled 1828 election, right down to the incumbent who was painted as having "stolen" the previous election.
America certainly has its share of problems, but I don't think the mutual dislike our political parties have for each other is among them. I'd be more worried if they actually started to like each other since then they wouldn't cancel each other out anymore.
I don't like the Deomcrats because of their pandering to left-wing fringe groups.
I don't like the Republicans because of their pandering to right-wing fringe groups.
I don't like either of them because of their reliance on Big Money (regardless of its source).
I tend to agree with G. Washington's assessment that political parties ultimately serve only to harm the country. In fact....any beauracratic entity seems to harm the country since they tend to become self-serving. At some point "constituents" turn into mere "voters" (or, for the business-minded, "customers" become "consumers"); after which time true representative democracy is lost. We live in a time when elected officials of both houses now largely serve as representatives of their respective parties (right down to the "D" or "R" after their names), rather than representatives of the people who elected them. Regardless of whether you identify with one of these parties, this is not a good thing. The USA is in dire need of MAJOR campaign reform, yet I don't see it happening because the people running the show are the ones who need the fix. Eventually something will have to give, and I hope it happens sooner rather than later.
J_A_B
