Are you Scared?

[Bodhi]

I am.

I cringe at the future this country is making for ourselves.  It scares me that the two party system has become so self serving that any attempt by the population to strike back is quickly or quietly swept away.

Mark my words.  If it is one of the two parties that strangle this nation that gets in power again in 09 we (the nation) will continue to be ignored....

[Meatwad]

Talking about OsamaBama or Half-wit Hillary?

[Bodhi]

No Meat, you could add Giulliani (Anti-Guns Rights Advocate) or most all other Republicans to this mix....

I am seriously disappointed in what is there to inherit this nation...  it's almost like a diseased herd....

[eagl]

Read Heinlein's first novel (last published, but first written) "For us, the living".

Take the lecturing about the "right way to do things" with huge grains of salt, but pay attention to the governmental and social problems he highlights as the things that are wrong with the US.

Then remember that he wrote the book in 1939.

Basically most, if not all, of the problems he lists in the book are still considered the problems we face today.  They seemed critical back then, and we're still bumbling around in the dark almost 70 years later.

I'm not saying that all, or even most of the ideas in the book are correct (although there are a number of things that I think he is right about) but a lot of the problems he highlights are the very same evils that are dragging down the US today.

Even if you disagree with the politics, this book is a must-read.  Doubly so if you like sci-fi and/or any of the other books Heinlein wrote.

[Bodhi]

Eagl, I am not a huge sci-fi fan.  I will pick this up though for giggles.  I still think "1985" is probably the closest... or maybe even "Minority Report" (shudders from thought and the lead actor).

I am flat out disguted with our system.

[eagl]

Originally posted by Bodhi
Eagl, I am not a huge sci-fi fan.  I will pick this up though for giggles.  I still think "1985" is probably the closest... or maybe even "Minority Report" (shudders from thought and the lead actor).

I am flat out disguted with our system.

When you read the book, remember that it was written at a time when social reform was a huge topic and the US was going through some massive changes.  Heinlein understood the faulty premises behind communism and "true" socialism, and he was involved in a political movement designed to wrest control of the economy from the banks and give the govt the authority to directly address poverty without resorting to pure socialism or communism.  In the process, he proposes radically reducing the government's ability to interfere with the lives of people who aren't actually harming anyone.

The book was therefore a fairly thinly disguised series of lectures on how a hypothetical society in 2087 might have solved some of these social and governmental failings.  What makes it truly interesting is that although the US has changed a bit since 1939, in large part the problems are still the same.

So don't expect "good" science fiction...  Instead, read it as a look back in time through the eyes of an intelligent visionary who was unafraid of proposing radical fixes to some of our stupider and more dangerous social problems.

[Maverick]

Well if you are giving up on the society and country I understand the UK is a great respecter of civil liberties.

I'm not willing to give up on the country, this isn't the first time we have had problems with lousy politicians. I have a bit of faith that there will be a corection in the problem.

[Saxman]

The party system wouldn't be so bad if people actually EXERCISED their freedom to chose, rather than letting themselves be railroaded up the bellybutton by the party line.

All you need to do is look at THIS board to see how frelled up we are as a nation. The Conservatives bash the Liberals just because they're Liberals, the Liberals bash the Conservatives just because they're Conservatives. NONE of the rabid sheeple bleating what the parties have crammed down their throats are even willing to stop and at least CONSIDER what the other side is saying before lighting up the napalm and Molotov Cocktails and letting fly at each other.

Blame it on the politicians all you want, the AMERICAN PEOPLE are still the ones that are letting them get away with ****ting on the Constitution and wiping their tulips with it, and disregard what's good for the PEOPLE, rather than what's best for their own agendas and the special interest groups they're bending over for all for their political muscle (be it the bleeding hearts, the ultra religious right, etc). Maybe if the majority of Americans actually exercised their voice in the government RESPONSIBLY instead of vomiting up the party line bull**** they've allowed themselves to be force-fed things might actually IMPROVE around here.

Does anyone in this nation even UNDERSTAND the implications of "Of the PEOPLE, by the PEOPLE, for the PEOPLE."

I guess that's the one failure of any Republic. When government rests in the hands of the people, the ones who are TRULY to blame is not the system itself, but the ones who PUT those making the ****-up of things in power. Until the sheep grow wise to the sheppard, the cycle of stupidity will never end.

[lasersailor184]

Originally posted by Bodhi
I am.

I cringe at the future this country is making for ourselves.  It scares me that the two party system has become so self serving that any attempt by the population to strike back is quickly or quietly swept away.

Mark my words.  If it is one of the two parties that strangle this nation that gets in power again in 09 we (the nation) will continue to be ignored....

I highlighted the ironic word for you.

The two party system never became anything.  It always was.

[rpm]

While I am not a fan of Barrak Obama, I do find it quite offensive that Republicans would try to twist his name into that of a known terrorist that killed over 3,000 Americans.

Not only is it wrong, it is sick and down right UNAMERICAN!

This just proves how petty and selfish the "conservatives" are. Slander a man just on his name. Sad.

[Holden McGroin]

Originally posted by rpm
I do find it quite offensive that Republicans would try to twist his name into

So do I undestand correctly that you take offense at MoveOn too, or is it just Republicans you take offense with?

[E25280]

Originally posted by rpm
While I am not a fan of Barrak Obama, I do find it quite offensive that Republicans would try to twist his name into that of a known terrorist that killed over 3,000 Americans.

Not only is it wrong, it is sick and down right UNAMERICAN!

This just proves how petty and selfish the "conservatives" are. Slander a man just on his name. Sad.

Ted Kennedy called Barak "Osama Obama" and "Osamabama" while trying to introduce him at one of the rallies a while back.  Any references I have heard after that point are continuing to polk fun at Kennedy, not trying to compare Obama to Osama.

But I am not hooked into the more radical types that might be doing what you describe.

BTW, the left is just as guilty of "slandering someone because of his name."  Ever hear of  "General Betrayus"?

[cav58d]

I flipped on Hannity and Colmes between a duel commerical break in the Yankees and Cowboys games, and heard a Republican say he would not support McCain, Giullani, Thompson and a sleu of other candidates, because they claim to be Christian, yet would not make any decisions along the lines of the Catholic Church and the Popes stance.........LUNACY!  This base is just as bad as the other base...

What really gets me lately is that I constantly hear people flinging around "We are the wealthiest and how great that is"....How great is it?  I mean really...It sounds nice to say we are the wealthiest, but IMO it doesn't do many of us much good.

My two most important qualitys that I would look for in a candidate would be 1-  Someone who listens to and entertains the idea of opposition, and is even willing to cross party lines to make the right decision for the United States....and 2-  Someone who is willing to work for the people of the United States first!  We have done a lot of great things (and er...bad) for people around the world, but we still have our handful of problems at home.....Maybe we can address them too.

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

It was CNN that first called him Osama, just so you know. And it was the Clinton camp that started the Barack HUSSIEN Obama trick.

Alas, it matters not.

For the record, I am NOT scared. Angry? Yes. Disgusted? Yes. But not scared. I'm disgusted as much with so called conservative Republicans, who are weak on illegal immigration and the war on terror, and high on pork and growing a government already to large and ineffective, as I am with Democrats so weak on illegal immigration and the war on terror, as well as so bloated on pork, that they offer me no alternative to the poor excuse for conservative Republicans.

It's not that I'm happy with GWB, or most of the other Republicans. It's that Pelosi, Reid, Gore, Clinton, Kerry, and the rest of their ilk offer me even less.

[cav58d]

Originally posted by rpm
This just proves how petty and selfish the "conservatives" are. Slander a man just on his name. Sad.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... ...."Dubya" or


Would I be reaching if I took your quote and replaced "conservatives' with liberals....?