[Pops]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pup55', 'I')n the case of the Republicans, they manage to get 100 electoral votes every time by convincing the hillbillies in the US SE that they should vote against their own economic self-interest because of "values", i.e. religion, guns, abortion,

[SpringCreekFarm]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'I') don't if he does but I do

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pup55', 'I')n the case of the democrats, it is at least intellectually honest: The voters are voting themselves benefits from the treasury. Vote for me and I will give you money. In the case of the Republicans, they manage to get 100 electoral votes every time by convincing the hillbillies in the US SE that they should vote against their own economic self-interest because of "values", i.e. religion, guns, abortion, while at the very same time, the majority of welfare recipients in the US are white. True. .

[PrestonSturges]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SpringCreekFarm', '
')What I find interesting about this graph is that way back when Reagan took office you see the debt really start to grow. After his term, you see that Bush 1 kept that same trend at almost the same accelerated rate. When Clinton took office you notice that during his term, the graph starts to round off and flatten out a little giving the impression that things were starting to change for the better. Of course after Bush 2 came in you see that line jump skyward again increasing the debt ever skyward.

Along with this accelerated debt, the table was set for the next president to have to deal with:

An over extended war in Afghanistan.
A war based on lies, in Iraq.
A Medicare drug plan that was meant to enrich the drug companies.
Two tax cuts that were meant to gain Bush political capital but ended up sending the revenue stream on a downward trend at a time when the wars were draining the coffers.

So.....................?
Let's be honest here........

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pup55', 'I')n the case of the democrats, it is at least intellectually honest: The voters are voting themselves benefits from the treasury.

[prajeshbhat]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')If they got on their knees in the House of Representatives and begged forgiveness of the hillbillies for the crimes and disrespectful, meanspritited attitudes that they have directed their way, maybe the Democrats could get them back. An "I'm sorry, we didn't mean to trample on your most precious of Constitutional rights and we'll never do it again." might go a long way to getting those votes back. Many used to vote Democrat, heck, I used to vote Democrat. Its funny, the Democrats ridicule the hee haw'esque culture at every turn, stomp on what those folks cherish, and expect to be able to buy them off with a few hundred bucks a month. Not a chance in h...

[AgentR11]

So, if you do not respect what others cherish, why would they vote for you?
If you ridicule them at every turn, why would they vote for you?

What the democrats offer in terms of economic assistance isn't even in the ball park of what it would cost to buy these people.

Put in other words, you would rather demean and trample on these folks, rather than have their vote, simply because they prefer to live a lifestyle you can't understand. They're no threat to anyone, nor a threat to power. Just admit it, yall do it for pleasure.

[Pops]

One thing I find curious is how the dems have retreated or at least become mostly silent on many of the social issues that still consume the guns and bible crowd, like guns and gays and abortion and even civil rights somewhat.

I kinda think it's partly because dems are younger and not particularly interested in the old battles. Not that they don't have their own biases but like the Turning people say they are just more pragmatic than the boomers.

Too, I think Bush II focused dems attention on the more real dangers from the right's trend toward "nation building" and "homeland security" and "corporate personhood".

Or maybe I'm just projecting because those things worry me

[prajeshbhat]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')So, if you do not respect what others cherish, why would they vote for you?
If you ridicule them at every turn, why would they vote for you?

What the democrats offer in terms of economic assistance isn't even in the ball park of what it would cost to buy these people.

Put in other words, you would rather demean and trample on these folks, rather than have their vote, simply because they prefer to live a lifestyle you can't understand. They're no threat to anyone, nor a threat to power. Just admit it, yall do it for pleasure.

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'I') kinda think it's partly because dems are younger and not particularly interested in the old battles. Not that they don't have their own biases but like the Turning people say they are just more pragmatic than the boomers.

[AgentR11]

Love Carlin, great video but he is wrong, but doesn't discuss why. As much as the result may or may not make any difference in what the politicians are like; bean counters at your local county services office use the by-precinct vote counts to decide which areas get priority on pot holes, ditch clearing, bug spraying, etc. They don't really care WHO the precinct voted for, just the over all count.

Why might you ask?

In general, the same people who vote, are also the same people that are likely to call 583 times about dirt blocking the culvert.
That's annoying. Easy solution, clear their culvert first, and they stop calling.

[PrestonSturges]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR11', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pup55', 'I')n the case of the democrats, it is at least intellectually honest: The voters are voting themselves benefits from the treasury. Vote for me and I will give you money. In the case of the Republicans, they manage to get 100 electoral votes every time by convincing the hillbillies in the US SE that they should vote against their own economic self-interest because of "values", i.e. religion, guns, abortion, while at the very same time, the majority of welfare recipients in the US are white. True. .

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrestonSturges', 'I') say start balancing the budget by cutting these area off from the $1.30 they get for every $1 they put in. Then if Massie Coal wants anyone to work in their mines, they can raise wage 50% so that people actually want to live there.

You know nobody gets puffed up with false "pride" like someone that is completely dependent on others. In fact, when see that sort of behavior, start looking for the dependency, as in a drug addict that is sponging off their family.

[PrestonSturges]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR11', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrestonSturges', 'I') say start balancing the budget by cutting these area off from the $1.30 they get for every $1 they put in. Then if Massie Coal wants anyone to work in their mines, they can raise wage 50% so that people actually want to live there.

You know nobody gets puffed up with false "pride" like someone that is completely dependent on others. In fact, when see that sort of behavior, start looking for the dependency, as in a drug addict that is sponging off their family.

[EnergyUnlimited]

I wonder why DOW is down?
Maybe traders don't believe that Congress will pass agreed bill...

[AgentR11]

Life expectancy? Is this a doomer board, or are we only just pretending for purposes of advancing a political preference?

No, seriously.

[prajeshbhat]

The liberals have done a lot more for the common people than the republicans. It was Franklin D Roosevelt (Democrat) who pulled the US out of depression. It was the powerful labor movements that created the most prosperous society on earth. It was the liberals who fought for social freedoms and equal treatment for gays, women and minorities. Certainly the american social conditions has improved a lot for anyone who is a not a white straight male.
I think Jim Kunstler best describes the problem with the current democratic leadership. These people are very highly educated from the best universities in America. They overestimate their managerial skills and believe that they can solve a complex problem with even more complexity.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Obama health reform bill only illustrated the fatal weakness of progressive politics these days – the irresistible impulse to address issues of excessive complexity with added complexity. While most of the overt stupidity in our politics resides on the right, an equally disabling hubris and grandiosity reside in the political left. I suppose people who graduate from very selective and expensive colleges, and receive immense reinforcement from colleagues who preceded them there, develop an inflated sense of their ability to effectively manage things, especially complex things. Many of these young, bright people cannot believe that our creaking and foundering systems won’t yield to their managerial tinkering, and the net effect must be to turn them into very cynical careerists with nothing left but personal ladder-climbing and wealth accumulation – hence, the disgusting biographies of figures such as former public servant Lawrence Summers and Mary Shapiro of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The political left in America makes up in cynical cowardly avarice for all the mendacious stupidity on the political right, so we end up at this moment in history with a perfect blend of every bad impulse in human nature and none of the virtues.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR11', 'I')f they got on their knees in the House of Representatives and begged forgiveness of the hillbillies for the crimes..

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('prajeshbhat', 'T')he liberals have done a lot more for the common people than the republicans. It was Franklin D Roosevelt (Democrat) who pulled the US out of depression. It was the powerful labor movements that created the most prosperous society on earth.

[AgentR11]

Again, I don't disagree that democrats have done more economic good to the lower 75% class people; but if you pay someone money, does that give you the moral authority to beat them with a baseball bat whenever you feel like? I don't think so. Thus there exist limits to the value of that economic good. The one computing that value is the recipient. The recipients have decided in many places that the value of that economic good the democrats offer is less than the value of that which the democrats wish to take away, destroy, or denigrate.

In other words, the Dems are bidding hundreds, for something that is worth thousands to the owner.

Sorry, no sale.
Lower what you wish to destroy or demean, and you might find yourselves in the market again.

Fortunately for the Republicans, the Dems are too full of themselves and their self righteousness to ever stand down on social issues that are of high value.