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"Pledge to America": Drinking Sand
The Republican "Pledge to America" doubles down on the Bush/Reagan policies which brought this country to its economic and ethical knees.
And yet, one of the great paradoxes of politics in this silliest of seasons is how Republicans, whose policies created the Great Recession, can be getting traction in the polls because people are angry about the recession the Republicans created.
It's as if a bunch of lemmings, having somehow survived the suicide swarm to the cliff, elected once again to follow the same lemming leaders who nearly destroyed them.
And it's not just any Republicans people are following, mind you, but Tea-Partiers - mostly middle class whites who espouse a particularly virulent brand of the Republican's middle-class-eviscerating policies.
How can this be? Aaron Sorkin provided the answer in The American President. Explaining rapidly falling poll numbers, presidential advisor Lewis Rothschild says:
People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand.
Americans are now drinking the sand.
They're drinking sand because no one in the Democratic Party is offering water. Obama is offering - at best - damp sand. Half-baked health reform that is increasing costs in the short term; financial reform that doesn't actually reform much, leaving too big to fail, restoration of Glass Steagal and other essentials on the cutting room floor. That sort of thing.
Yawn.
And Congressional Democrats? Debate the Republicans on whether tax cuts for the middle class should be held hostage until the uber rich get additional tax cuts on income above $250 thousand? Oh, my heavens no. The Republicans might say mean things about us.
Please.
Meanwhile, pundits talk about the enthusiasm gap as if it were some ineffable mystery.
They're drinking sand because no one is telling them it's sand. Only rarely does a Democrat stand up and say, "Look, folks, the Republicans have been pushing policies that have taken money from your pockets and put it in the ample pockets of the uber-rich, the corporations, the privileged few."
This should be easy.
Republican policies have dominated this country for more than three decades now, including, sadly, the Clinton/Rubin/Summers era. In that time, the share of wealth controlled by the richest 1% has tripled, while wages have flat lined.
In the same time frame, Republicans - and yes Clinton - have largely deregulated industry and corporate America. The result? Collapsing mines; exploding off-shore wells; entire towns destroyed by mining tailings; poisoned toys; an epidemic of poisoned food - eggs, vegetables, meat, you name it. Eating is becoming like playing Russian roulette.
Not to mention the complete collapse of our economic system due to an orgy of unconstrained greed fed by this deregulation frenzy.
Meanwhile, climate change - the most serious threat humanity has ever faced - is being all but ignored, and a dangerous and costly dependence upon foreign oil and fossil fuels continues unchecked.
Leadership is grounded in values. Because Democrats have no values - or refuse to espouse them - Republicans have America drinking sand.
Elections are, or should be, about choices, and the choices should be clear, but if only one side is talking, the people have no choice and they will drink the sand.
The Republicans have done their best to make this election about fear and hate. That is their brand of sand.
Democrats are cooperating nicely, by refusing to engage in a values debate.
The only question is, why?
For many people the answer is simple: voters don't really have a choice; the political process is nothing more than a Kabuki dance in which both sides represent corporate America and the uber-rich, while playing their respective roles in public.
That answer is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Believing it makes it so.
But even if it's true, we, the people are the only power capable of changing that reality. We can start by refusing to drink the sand.
We can become the leaders we demand. We can organize to pressure corporations with our choice of what we buy-and what we won't buy.
At the end of the day, we are the source of wealth to such societal leaches as the Koch brothers. It does no good to bemoan their influence while we feed their coffers.
It does no good to gripe about Fox News' bald-faced lies, then purchase goods from those who advertise on Fox.
And if money is the lingua franka of politics, collectively, we can provide a campaign war chest greater than any corporate America can provide to candidates who adhere to progressive principles after the campaign. In the age of the Internet, such things are possible.
What we need is to organize - to bring together in a collective force, those who are tired of drinking the sand, and to stand together at the microphone and proclaim and demand an alternative to the two party beach blanket bingo that has stolen our country from us.
Progressives are fond of making snide comments about the poor misguided Tea Partiers. And yes, they are being manipulated by the plutocrats like a bunch of slack-jawed yokels at a three card monty festival. But at least they are acting on their passions, however misguided. We progressives are sitting on our hands and whining about the "system."
Yes, it's time to organize. It's time to act. It's time to get mad. And it's long past time to quit drinking the sand.
We might fail, and the plutocracy might prevail despite our best efforts. But they will surely prevail if we do not confront them.
And if we don't, then it's time to shut up and accept the status quo.
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104 Comments so far
Show All"Republicans, whose policies created the Great Recession, can be getting traction in the polls because people are angry about the recession the Republicans created. "
It's the policies of both Democrats and Republicans that created the recession. Remember Clinton repealing the Glass Stiegal Act?
Voting for either major corrupt political party is like voting for cancer. Progressives will not be propagandized by the likes of you to vote for the Democratic cancer instead of the Republican cancer. Cancer is cancer and cancer kills. Withhold you vote!
"It's the policies of both Democrats and Republicans that created the recession."
Bingo
Exactly. But there is more.
A little over one year ago and just before the Tea party started making noise, I said on this forum (I was AGG then) that since Obama needed to be portrayed as the valient, tragic figure who fought for progressive reform but was not supported by his party, a NEW, fake third party needed to be created by the elite to funnel the rage of congressional gridlock back to an eventual Republican victory. It's working. Most people understand that the corporatocracy owns the dems and repubs. However, the media has done their level best to hide the fact that the tea party is also a corporate creation. How do I know? Mainly because they support unending wars.
The electoral fix is in. Particpation gives legitimacy. I will not participate unless I can vote for a Green Party candidate, period.
Yes, withhold your vote... and let the Tea Party voters who WILL vote decide EVERYTHING! Half the eligible voters don't vote NOW. They "withhold their vote"... and look where that has gotten the nation. Politicians will not even pretend to care about progressive causes. Kinda like now.
No, the right-wing will be HAPPY to have progressive voters NOT VOTE! AT ALL! Maybe have just right-wing friends and family vote. Then disband voting altogether. Let the Bush family become hereditary kings. No need to worry about voting, then.
No, there are too many other issues on any ballot; propositions, local political positions, tax measures. And there is some vital difference between the major parties, though it is not so great a difference as one would wish. Even Ralph Nader admits that now. And it is very foolish to pretend otherwise.
Believe me, if there were no Republicans, there would be far more progressive policies in this country. Yes, there would still be the damned DLC and the Blue Dongs, but they would be very much a minority and not be in the driver's seat, as they are now.
Whereas I am no fan of the weak-willed Democrats and their dissembling pols, I am also no fool about what is possible to get done, as opposed to what is desired to be done. And the Republican Platforms (their 'Contract ON America' and their current 'PLAGUE To America') are FAR worse than even what we have now with the Dim Wonks.
Republicans have been the bane of the last quarter-century, indeed, they have Led this nation down a path of destruction (yes, it is a direction that was not more forcefully opposed by spineless Democrats, who apparently were afraid they might lose their jobs or be attacked by people with great power. But these fears, after all, are common human failings.)
What is needed now are not calls for progressives to impotently 'withhold your vote'! What a laugh! What is needed is for strong leaders to come out of the Left who can take hold of the public awareness and inspire people to vote their REAL values and move the nation to the Left. Any takers out there? Please?
What is needed is a real VIABLE third party, or the takeover of the Democratic Party (the Republicans are too far gone to change, and are now too dangerous to the nation). And no I do not count Old Nader and No Chance McKinney as viable, or inspiring. Is that the best there is from the Left? Pretty pathetic.
But no voting by Progressives? The Republicans and the Neo-Con Rabid-Right are jumping for joy at the prospect. So don't vote. Cut your nose off, spite your face. And spit into the wind. But don't complain when you get what you get.
Thanks, FVHorn! My thoughts and sentiments exactly! And it is nice to know that someone else has also already picked up on the "Plague to America" title I saw as soon as it was announced by the Boner and the Republicants.
This country truly needs a third and most preferably progressive political party, but it needs to come out of the more progressive folks in the Democratic Party. The Greens have given it a somewhat miserable effort at becoming a real third party but don't seem to understand that they have to really establish a LOCAL base of support before they can try shooting for the moon.
Unfortunately, the Democraptic Party wonks have an uncanny ability to usurp and exploit the more Progressive idea(s) de jour enough to get the people they want elected and then regress back to the old corporate-political machine ways. There are some real progressives out there but they get beaten down so badly by the money-raising game that they can barely survive, much less progress.
It is not a new or original thought but it is a truism. It is impossible to under estimate the intelligence of the American public.
Thanks John for trying to make it clear what the issue is.
Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" also illustrates the issue very well.
Arundhati Roy talks about Empire needing us more than we need them.
A few suggestions
grow your own food, you won't be self sufficient but its a start. Invest the money you budget for food and support a local (organic) farmer.
Get to know your neighbours, trade food for services, or services for food. There has to be a plumber, sparky or chippie somewhere close.
Walk and talk with your neighbours
Play board games, especially those not sold at Walmart or Target.
Switch off the TV and internet.
Buy less, shop at thrift stores, try and fix what is broken or make it yourself.
Barter, trash pick
Reduce your dependence on the drug industry by eating better, gardening, walking , biking and being social, face to face not facebook.
Start an association to make your area better. Clean up a park or untended area.
Support a local politician not just a national or state one. They all have to start somewhere.
Read books, that you can borrow from a library. Try history, its very revealing. Don't just read what is on the best seller lists.
Finally, if you can, keep chickens........
And how do these acts decrease unemployment? Decrease homelessness? Give everyone adequate health care? Get us out of Afghanistan? Keep us from entering the Middle East again? Prevent the abuse and exploitation of our immigrant population?
No one is abusing or exploiting immigrants that come to America. They usually have a sponsor or can simply go to the nearest immigration office if that happened.
Seems to me a "citizens' union" is needed. Workers (private & public sectors), small business operators, farmers, unemployed become members. as leaders arise, organize into "locals" (zip code areas). Elect stewards, foremen, reps and such.. Pay 10 dollars a month union dues. sponsor one unemployed member @ 10 dollars a month until he gets work.Write "the mission statement". keep it short, simple, to-the-point (probably applied variations of "promote the general welfare, establish justice,provide for the common defense"). Get constitutional lawyer members to help with this. Schedule & hold OUR OWN elections (this is our shadow gov't). sponsor ONLY candidates who belong to/uphold the citizens' union). work to get 50, 60, 70 million members or more, to become the biggest, most powerful & informed voting block (goodbye political parties). work on "the vision" (what kind of nation do we want?).Start our own magazine(Towards a More Perfected Union?) , & sponsor "citizenship education" classes (to prevent ever again falling into the current unorganized disarray that leads to collapse).
Sounds a lot like ACORN. How do you keep a few smart Guy's or Gal's from turnig it into ACORN?
>^^<
Elective offices? As you point out "hey! they're acting like ACORN", they lose their office in an election? You've actually pointed out a principle; if the moral status of the citizenry is, in the main, pretty piss poor, we're screwed, no matter what we do (hence the suggestion for citizen education courses in this citizens' union; we're "apprentice citizens").
In themselves they don't. But if everyone made a real effort to abide by the principals reflected in the whole earth movement there might just be enough to go around. Are we all so mean and base that we can't stop the useless greed that has griped our corporations? Pepsi does marvelous things for sea turtles while poisoning the human population with fake sugar. Ronald Macdonald House is a fantastic program but it's sponsor has dismal record of pollution and poor nutrition.It is blatantly unfair to single out these two as an example for there are so many more.
These are strategies for bailing out of the system, not for correcting it. It's intrinsically a good thing - in isolation, but insufficient, and frankly, a little self-indulgent.
Be an activist. There is no alternative but to roll up the sleeves and get involved in a common cause, a concerted action. You can go home to your chickens when the day is over.
And if the president were Obama he would say,"Who do these f--king morons think they are, demanding water. They'll drink sand and be glad they are getting sand because the other side is offering them salt, not to drink but to rub in their wounds."
Yes, says Joe Biden. They don't know how lucky they are that we offering them sand. They should stop whining and start drinking. But Mr. President I think they would be happier if we offered them some Kool Aid.
"...and after all, our sand IS moist."
It should be, we've been pounding it long enough.
Apparently Emma Goldman was right. If voting changed anything it would made illegal. Go ahead and vote if it makes u feel better is what I tell people but, for now on if I do vote it won't be for anyone or any party that doesn't represent my views to some degree I can stomach. Right now neither D or R's meet that standard even remotely.
"Apparently Emma Goldman was right. If voting changed anything it would made illegal."
Along that same line here is a little gem from Mussolini that nicely describes were we now find ourselves.
"Democratic regimes may be described as those under which the people are, from time to time, deluded into the belief that they exercise sovereignty, while all the time real sovereignty resides in and is exercised by other and sometimes irresponsible and secret forces. Democracy is a kingless regime infested by many kings who are sometimes more exclusive, tyrannical, and destructive than one, even if he be a tyrant."
Please, do not NOT VOTE. Go to the polls, express your displeasure with the MSM candidates, and don't vote candidates with a D or an R by their names. Tell your friends what you're doing, that you choose to "throw your vote away" and send a message that way rather than stay home and not vote. Want to shake things up, get four of your dispirited friends to go and throw their votes away rather than not vote at all. If the votes are not counted by a paperless machine, the third party surge will make headlines. (If you're voting on a paperless machine, your votes will probably be counted as Repulican.) Demand a paper ballot!
Demand and be TASED! what country do you live in? Where I vote we go thru metal detectors then go Qiuetly fill out the form shove it into the big reader/shreader. then quietly leave.
Who want's to be TASED?
>^^<
Thanks for the reality jolt. I forgot we live in a country that routinely tortures. Better start work on that survival shelter.
They'll just spot it on the sattelites and send out a DEA crew to reduce your odviously unAmerican hideout.
>^^<
nobody likes you, everybody hate's you, So smile :)
From which end?
I knew a guy who went in to vote and wrote in "Vacancy" for every office.
I've become convinced that the most pressing issue facing us is Labor reform.
If companies are able to wantonly lay off workers and abuse those who remain, wringing the sweat out of us with the fear of unemployment, it locks all our energies into an actual struggle to survive.
Thus engaged, we have no time or energy to pursue reform in health care coverage, environmental regulation or military endeavors. Progress in these other areas depends on creating and sustaining employment _ along with adequate compensation _ and on constraining that employment to reasonable hours & amounts of work.
I'm not sure how to proceed. Republican officials have long ago disappeared over the 'Free Market' horizon into some bizarre Ayn Rand fantasy land, and Democratic officials are either cowering or have joined the Other Side, & no amount of pressure is going to change anything. A workable third party could happen if enough folks believed it would. But they definitely won't, and the Tea-baggers have enough clout to keep a genuinely Liberal third party spinning its wheels. Contemporary Unions are an industry in themselves, and are tied by a hostile regulatory environment. The Media are beneath mention in this equation.
The only thing I could think of would be a grassroots movement on a massive scale to create more confidence among the Labor force and fear among employers, but it appears virtually impossible. I'd sure love to hear ideas.
Here's a couple.
Stop giving and supporting the giving of American jobs to foreign citizens, legal or illegal.
Demand that whoever is in power restore the tax and trade policies that protected American jobs and allowed our economy to grow to the best in the world.
Unions at this time are part of the problem, not part of the answer. Like it or not, they are emulating their counterparts in industry.
And the first "free trader" that suggest "protectionism" is anathema....punch him in his lying face.
Agreed, absolutely. Do you know why there's such resistance to the idea of punishing illegal migrant workers, rather than their employers? I can see why the Corporate overlords resist that _ keeping your workforce illegal and fearful means cheaper wages _ but I'm not sure why the Rabid Right body politic resists it so much, what their philosophy is on that.
The Rabid Right is the same as the left on this topic. It benefits them in donations and jobs for themselves.
As to little interest in "punishing" illegal immigrants, I believe most of us think that its not their fault we have greedy businessmen, politicians, political organizations. Sure they are criminals, but are we going to "round them up" as the illegal lobby suggests, of course not. Send squads of police to put whole families behind barbed wire for our fault? Not in America.
You punish those that are responsible, the employer and the politicians and shills thery bought. Do that and you solve the problem. No job, no government benefits, folks go home for the most part and some become citizens.
The exception would be the violent and repeat criminals they are releasing back on to our streets.
Whoa, sorry, I got it backwards in my post. I meant to ask why there was resistance, at least on the ground among the hardline right, to punishing the employers. I agree with you. I'm just wondering why the supporters of the hard right resist the concept of punishing the employers, but seem very eager to nail the migrants themselves _ it may come down to racism in some cases, or a question of whether it's easier to feel anger at a foreigner than a company. Thanks for your reply.
I thought that might be the case due to prior posts you have made.
Racism has very little to do with it. The right is the same as the left in protecting the employers...they are paid to. Its that simple. Plus there are many more on the right benefitting directly I'd say.
I certinally won't sit still for another 15 million getting amnesty! I will go to war, with anyone who gives up anymore of my jobs or my Country. 30yrs of this shit is too much! this World is on it's knees due to the machinations of the fatcats who consider themselves gods of creation. Their not Bullet proof, or immune to large heavy objects dropped on their armord cars.
Keep pushing! we're against the wall and can't get much flatter.
DIM BULB/RC:
Certinally = certainly
anymore = any more
on it's knees = on its knees
Their not = They're not
armord = armored
If you graduated high school, it was only because the English teachers wanted to get rid of you.
"If you graduated high school, it was only because the English teachers wanted to get rid of you."
LOL
Rose,
Thank you for that one....lol
"Stop giving and supporting the giving of American jobs to foreign citizens, legal or illegal."
Mighty,
That would certainly look after the immigration problem. Essentially it would close the borders of the United States. No need for folks to apply to live in the United States anymore. The only folks who would come to the United States would be people of independent means...(Rich folks) You must rethink that one...But I think I know what you mean
"Demand that whoever is in power restore the tax and trade policies that protected American jobs and allowed our economy to grow to the best in the world."
I always believed in regulated economies. Import the goods you need and export surpluses...(Remember other nations will be doing the same..no more dumping corn in Mexico...etc. etc. )
"And the first "free trader" that suggest "protectionism" is anathema....punch him in his lying face.'
You would never hear that from me Mighty..
I try not to write much so I will not even attempt to respond to your comment regarding unions only to say that they were definitely the front line soldiers in the creation of the American middle class. Perhaps you could expand on your comment re: organized labor here in the United States and its contribution to the current mess we find ourselves today...
Gotta go back to to what I was doing....can't do two things at the same time anymore...Very, very close to the big 60. Gotta pay the rent..lol
Thomas Gilbert
"Stop giving and supporting the giving of American jobs to foreign citizens, legal or illegal."
The illegal part I will never rethink...it is anathema to any civilized country that wishes to survive, the legal part, I simply meant the importation of foreign workers under H1B (and other) programs that replace American workers at lower wages. As to someone coming here legally, on their own to work if there is a job for them or to become a citizen...the more the merrier. Its that fresh blood that keeps us ticking!
"I always believed in regulated economies. Import the goods you need and export surpluses...(Remember other nations will be doing the same..no more dumping corn in Mexico...etc. etc. )"
Other nations are practicing protectionism in almost every corner of the world except the dopes in charge here. And we shouldn't be dumping corn (or anything else) in Mexico or anywhere else. NAFTA is as responsible for holding down the Mexican people as their elites, rich and government policies of dumping labor here in cahoots with businees ans the schnooks that view themselves as "enlightened"
Unions were extremely important in the early years of the last century. They helped bring business abuses to heel. For the most part. as far as I can tell, big unions now betray their own workers for their own profit. They seem to spend more time on politics than they do looking after their members interests.
A union that pushes benefits for their members past the point of the employee's value or the employers ability to pay has done no one good and only harm results. If anyone thinks GM and Chrysler's problems are solved they are nuts.
There are though, many local and small unions that are still doing the job they were meant to be doing. Its a shame their honest labors are tainted by the corrupt behavior of the large unions.
I'm working on doing one thing at a time!
Mighty,
Thank you for the clarification...I assumed that you were suggesting what you very clearly stated in your response to me....
As to you comment re: legal/illegal my comment was somewhat tongue in cheek. (For over 30 years I was the only non-citizen in my household..lol..I was afraid that I would have to return to Canada by myself....Actually for the past 11 months we are all now citizens...I get to vote also.... (Took my damn good old time about it)
Take Care Mighty
Thomas
Thanks my friend! WE love Canadians in any case. You and GW among others keep me on the straight and narrow.
People looking to assign blame for the 2008 market crash should look back to the Community Revitalization Act of 1977, which was passed during the Carter Administration by an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress, and the 1990s, when that statute was substantially strengthened during the Clinton Administration. On the basis of that statute, the Federal Government put pressure on banks to lend money to minorities and others whose credit was poor and thus was born the subprime market. Dodd and Frank blocked efforts to bring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to heel, and that led to the securitization of weak mortgage credits. The banks, which had initially resisted making unsound mortage loans, dropped their opposition when they reakuzed they could take all that garbage, bundle it up into securitized instruments, and dump it over the side. The banks, for their part, were overlevered and left holding the bag when the mortgages began to go into default. But all of it started not with the Republicans, but with the Democrats, who wanted to expand home ownership to minorities and other uncreditworthy people, no matter what the systemic consequences for the banking system and the Nation at large.
I trust that you are not suggesting that was the only reason for the Housing bubble?
HORACE: May we soon expect some bashing of ACORN from your astute mind, too?
You have it all backwards. Your post reflects RIGHT WING talking points... it's an updated version of blaming the poor.
While loans were made to many who could not afford them--and do not leave out the white couples who went for $750,000 homes thanks to ARM mortgages and no money down--who were never in a position to own such an item, either. This is but a portion of what went wrong. And any real economists had to know what the end-game would be when they got this scam going. Its modus operandi is not new in principle, only (in this case) in magnitude. That's why those who cared about the state of the nation managed to get Glass-Steagall passed in the first place. An intelligent fire-wall was erected to separate speculation from banking. BOTH parties took it down because both parties whore to obtain big business money, first to finance their campaigns, and next to send them through the prosperous revolving door that allows them to by turns "regulate" and then "serve" specific industries.
The real culprit here is the hybrid of Wall St professional gamblers merged with bankers, crossed with real estate hot shots. Taken together = a deadly mix that was trafficked like a weapon of mass financial destruction. Diabolical minds dreamt up the loan instruments that were virtually worthless and yet peddled all over the globe. Sure, if homeowners kept up the scam, it would have taken far longer for the balloons inflated with hot air to burst, demonstrating the fact that they were devoid (all along) of any substance.
And every and any time the subject of "illegal aliens" comes up, there is Mighty Mite reminding us of his letter of the law prejudices. He is morally blind to the fact (due to former Marines programming, specifically allotting blessings only to children of the homeland) that once a government is allowed to go after a specific population, then EVERYONE is potentially at risk. History has this lesson indelibly written in blood and tears. The US and its AWFUL government is hardly exceptional when it comes to the naked abuse of power. Giving an already armed-to-the-teeth government yet more power, when it's spit on The Constitution, Bill of Rights, Habeas Corpus, AND the Geneva Conventions is like begging for torture. You may be a masochist, but most of us prefer FREEDOM. You'd happily hand it over under the guise of economic security. It' a fraud, Mr. More. Time to wake up!
It's sad, bordering on tragic, that so-called left posters identify with the uniformed guards rather than those targeted for extreme prejudice, and/or oppression.
Nope SR, there is nothing prejudiced at all in refusing to support citizens of another country nor in refusing to allow them top take jobs our citizens need. Nor driving down wages. No prejudice at all.
Criminals are not supposed to be granted special privilages are they? The government is supposed to go after law breakers last time I looked.
You are on the wrong side of this question. And history IS quite clear what happens to any country that abdicates its civic responsibilities. The imorality is siding with business against our own workers.
The evidence is so clear I am puzzled how you can still buy the rhetroric from years ago.
But I still think you're great. :) And thats not a left handed compliment.
Hey, mm,
Have you ever asked yourself why people risk their lives, spend whatever life savings they have, leave their families and homes to come to another country to do what amounts to slave labor in miserable working conditions? These people aren't criminals, they are humans trying to feed their families. I am puzzled as to how you don't look deeper to understand the root of the problem. You should read Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano.
Here you go again. MM has stated, I have stated, Others have stated, We don't give a DAMM what race, color, or barbarian language you speak when you come here.. If your not here L E A G A L L Y you must go. your anchor kids must go, For me I'd tatoo you green so if you tried to return you could be shot onsight.. It would be the law, any green colored peoples must be shot, if you think your cute and want to play Sparticas painting yourself green too bad! We're NOT PLAYING ANYMORE. In order to get this country back in order, we need to clean out the trash. Illeagals, Banksters, any Politicial who has voted for an illegal law, Amnesty for illeagals, ObamsaCare, The Military attack of any nation that has never attacked the USA, Were over burdened with this collective scum and can never repair our country untill their gone.
And there you go again. You always try to dump on the little people. Why is that? I guess it's because they bother you with their existence.
Keep it up. It's good to know where people stand on humanity and ethics. I probably won't ever see you and mickeymouse singing Kumbaya together, eh?
RICHARD: You are a low-life sick fool. Your poor spelling reveals your lack of education, and you have ZERO humanity. At one time "the law" was that it was OK to put people in ovens, or enslave them. The "law" only holds meaning to the extent it reflects humane values.
It amazes me that someone can post as often as you do and show such a flagrant disregard for the remotest capacity TO spell. This deficit reflects a similar lack of substance at the heart and soul level.
ILLEAGALS... sounds like a cross between illegal and the dog breed.
"Burdened with this collective scum." What is it about you, a basic American fool, that makes you feel so shamelessly superior to an outsider?
MIGHTY: I honestly believe that your military training has tainted your capacity to understand the greater humanity that must be part and parcel to this particular issue. Secondly, you may trust in the armed forces (or other uniformed "authority" figures), but I do not. You have a child's "Super Man" concept of the purpose of the military; but that is hardly what the military and all of its armed derivatives represents in America, land of empire, today. To grant this sector yet more powers to divide and conquer people is not much different from accepting a collective toast with the likes of Jim Jones.
I really like you because of your demeanor, but I cannot stress enough that you're harming yourself by entertaining such severe notions of "us" and "them." A national border is not an excuse to hate other or consign him/her to a life of misery. The U.S. and its imperial forces have so much to answer for (given our history of aggressive wars), that the least we can do, as a nation, is to show humanity to those who climbed walls and risked death to make us sandwiches or collect our apples!
We may have to think of a few years of Republican supremacy as a sort of risky, toxic medicine that'll either kill all of us, or shock the body back into shape.
Hopefully it kills quite a few of the right people. I've said for a while now that civil war may be what it takes to unite this country. Just think what would happen if we the people made the corporations pay their fair share of the taxes. We the people wouldn't be paying taxes, and we'd have plenty of money for national healthcare, serious education programs for our children, and advances in science and technology (NOT tied to the Warfare state) which would transform our world. I'd be a martyr for such a cause...
"Just think what would happen if we the people made the corporations pay their fair share of the taxes. We the people wouldn't be paying taxes,"
You are right prices of goods and services would stay exactly the same, our cost of living would not go up and all corporations wouldn't make any profits to be taxed for the
"and we'd have plenty of money for national healthcare, serious education programs for our children, and advances in science and technology (NOT tied to the Warfare state) which would transform our world."
Wait are you maybe suggesting a national flat sales tax? Is that what you mean by fair share of taxes?
And for calling to arms and violence isn't that against your "Warefare state" thinking?