Why do we stand by as the govt. robs us blind?

[retrospooty]

Its not at all about this latest stimulus bill either - This crap has been going on for at least 50 years, probably alot longer.

Rep and Dem congress members ALL take kickbacks from companies and in turn vote in bills that make their corporate friends money. Either by bills passed that favor them, or by directly buying products at rediculous rates. We have all heard of stories of $400 flashlights and other similar gross expenses.

All of our vast wealth is thrown away year in, year out, one administration after the next. We (liberals and conservatives) all sit here fighting each other, and blaming the other side, while ALL of the govt. robs us blind. Both sides are unforgivably crooked.

Divided and conquered we are... =(

 

[dphantom]

Originally posted by: retrospooty
Its not at all about this latest stimulus bill either - This crap has been going on for at least 50 years, probably alot longer.

Rep and Dem congress members ALL take kickbacks from companies and in turn vote in bills that make their corporate friends money. Either by bills passed that favor them, or by directly buying products at rediculous rates. We have all heard of stories of $400 flashlights and other similar gross expenses.

All of our vast wealth is thrown away year in, year out, one administration after the next. We (liberals and conservatives) all sit here fighting each other, and blaming the other side, while ALL of the govt. robs us blind. Both sides are unforgivably crooked.

Divided and conquered we are... =(

You don't have to. Vote them out of office. Run yourself. I know all that is hard and getting harder as our government becomes more controlling, but if we don't do something now, we will have less and less say going forward.

 

[Fear No Evil]

Obama said he was going to change this, and he hasn't done a THING to change it. If anything its worse than ever. Yet he somehow seems to have a large % of Americans thinking otherwise. Its sad.

But you are right, both sides are to blame.. its just that Obama and the democrats basically have full control right now with very few people asking for accountability from his administration.

 

[shiner]

Shhhh.....American Idol is on.

 

[retrospooty]

Originally posted by: dphantom

Originally posted by: retrospooty
Its not at all about this latest stimulus bill either - This crap has been going on for at least 50 years, probably alot longer.

Rep and Dem congress members ALL take kickbacks from companies and in turn vote in bills that make their corporate friends money. Either by bills passed that favor them, or by directly buying products at rediculous rates. We have all heard of stories of $400 flashlights and other similar gross expenses.

All of our vast wealth is thrown away year in, year out, one administration after the next. We (liberals and conservatives) all sit here fighting each other, and blaming the other side, while ALL of the govt. robs us blind. Both sides are unforgivably crooked.

Divided and conquered we are... =(

You don't have to. Vote them out of office. Run yourself. I know all that is hard and getting harder as our government becomes more controlling, but if we don't do something now, we will have less and less say going forward.

??? It doesnt matter- The new replacements do the same thing. Its just the way it works in this country. Those that try to change it get shut out and are made powerless. The grip on power is tight, and unrelenting.

 

[dphantom]

Originally posted by: retrospooty

Originally posted by: dphantom

Originally posted by: retrospooty
Its not at all about this latest stimulus bill either - This crap has been going on for at least 50 years, probably alot longer.

Rep and Dem congress members ALL take kickbacks from companies and in turn vote in bills that make their corporate friends money. Either by bills passed that favor them, or by directly buying products at rediculous rates. We have all heard of stories of $400 flashlights and other similar gross expenses.

All of our vast wealth is thrown away year in, year out, one administration after the next. We (liberals and conservatives) all sit here fighting each other, and blaming the other side, while ALL of the govt. robs us blind. Both sides are unforgivably crooked.

Divided and conquered we are... =(

You don't have to. Vote them out of office. Run yourself. I know all that is hard and getting harder as our government becomes more controlling, but if we don't do something now, we will have less and less say going forward.

??? It doesnt matter- The new replacements do the same thing. Its just the way it works in this country. Those that try to change it get shut out and are made powerless. The grip on power is tight, and unrelenting.

Then what about you?

 

[winnar111]

Because change came to Washington and the new guy will pay off our mortgage and put gas in our tank.

 

[dphantom]

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Obama said he was going to change this, and he hasn't done a THING to change it. If anything its worse than ever. Yet he somehow seems to have a large % of Americans thinking otherwise. Its sad.

But you are right, both sides are to blame.. its just that Obama and the democrats basically have full control right now with very few people asking for accountability from his administration.

Obama has been in office a month so we wouldn't see much "change" anyway. But I don;'t believe at all he will actually change anything except to drive his liberal programs backed by the House and Senate. Otherwise, it will be business as usual.

 

[halik]

It's not just kickbacks from companies, it's kickbacks fromwhoever has money. If you have enough cash for lobbyists and campaign donations, you'll get your legislation through.

As a European and and a US citizen (as of 2008 mind you), I was always amazed this is the way the system runs. If you want true democracy, you'd have all the representatives run off of public funds and donations would be illegal. The fact that you can give someone reelection money just SCREAMS conflict of interest to me.

 

[retrospooty]

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Obama said he was going to change this, and he hasn't done a THING to change it. If anything its worse than ever. Yet he somehow seems to have a large % of Americans thinking otherwise. Its sad.

But you are right, both sides are to blame.. its just that Obama and the democrats basically have full control right now with very few people asking for accountability from his administration.

True... but this has been going on since before Obama was born. Its not about him or his administration. Its all of them.

Obama isnt the cure, he is just another cog int he wheel. Honestly... I think if Obama REALLY started taking steps to change it, he would wind up mysteriously assasinated like Kennedy. more to the point, the powers that be would have him eliminated for not cooperating.

 

[retrospooty]

Originally posted by: winnar111
Because change came to Washington and the new guy will pay off our mortgage and put gas in our tank.

Yes, thank you... What a valuable input... Can you take off your partisaned hat just for ONE post ? You sound like Bush, Bush and Reagen didn't rob us blind ???

Pfapfff. Its not about what side, its ALL of them.

 

[StageLeft]

I haven't thought about this in great depth but my initial impressions are that lobbying should be immediately and thoroughly illegal. It amounts to nothing more at all than vote buying and completely corrupts this country's political system.

If a politician gives me $100 to vote for him that's illegal, but it's not illegal for me to donate $5000 to him to buy signs, get re-elected, and then as a thank-you to pass a bill directly in my businesses' best interest that ultimately makes me $20k? It's a travesty, isn't it?

 

[winnar111]

Originally posted by: retrospooty

Originally posted by: winnar111
Because change came to Washington and the new guy will pay off our mortgage and put gas in our tank.

Yes, thank you... What a valuable input... Can you take off your partisaned hat just for ONE post ? You sound like Bush, Bush and Reagen didn't rob us blind ???

Pfapfff. Its not about what side, its ALL of them.

Even if they did, at least they shattered the Soviets and Saddam in the process.

 

[spacejamz]

How does that saying go about how power corrupts? this is just human nature at work, which is why we are all pretty much screwed...

no matter system you put in place, there will ALWAYS be someone or group who will take advantage of the system... some people will always twist the system to their benefit and some people will always get screwed since you can't make all of the people happy all of the time.

on that note, i can't what to see what happens when today's self entitltement generation takes charge in the future....

 

[retrospooty]

Originally posted by: winnar111

Originally posted by: retrospooty

Originally posted by: winnar111
Because change came to Washington and the new guy will pay off our mortgage and put gas in our tank.

Yes, thank you... What a valuable input... Can you take off your partisaned hat just for ONE post ? You sound like Bush, Bush and Reagen didn't rob us blind ???

Pfapfff. Its not about what side, its ALL of them.

Even if they did, at least they shattered the Soviets and Saddam in the process.

thank you for at least illustrating that you are part of the problem, not the solution. /rolls eyes

 

[retrospooty]

Originally posted by: spacejamz
How does that saying go about how power corrupts? this is just human nature at work, which is why we are all pretty much screwed...

no matter system you put in place, there will ALWAYS be someone or group who will take advantage of the system... some people will always twist the system to their benefit and some people will always get screwed since you can't make all of the people happy all of the time.

on that note, i can't what to see what happens when today's self entitltement generation takes charge in the future....

Yup... power corrupts, and ultimate power corrupts ultimately.

I would like to think that someday we could transcend that ... but it doesnt look like it will be in our lifetimes. =(

 

[brandonb]

First of all, you can't elect someone into office without support from the party.

If you run as a republican in an election, and win, and the republican party chairman doesn't like you, they can refuse to seat you and you won't get your position.

I know a delegate from the republican party that would go to conventions, go to all the meetings, etc and he said the level of corruption was very high. You can't ge elected into a position without approval, and the people pulling the strings starts very high in the parties. There is effectively 1 group of people running this country.

What are we going to do? Hopefully wake up before its too late.

 

[Elias824]

well we do need lobbyists to some extent, they are essential just groups of people trying to get their message out to politicians, it can be anything good or bad. There is a HUGE problem though with a system that only has 2 parties. If one dose something stupid we just elect the other one, and repeat over and over again. There are campaign finance laws that prohibit people from giving to much to a single person, but that's very difficult to keep track of.
I have a big problem with this whole entitlement generation too, what happened to "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"

 

[Jaskalas]

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Obama said he was going to change this, and he hasn't done a THING to change it. If anything its worse than ever. Yet he somehow seems to have a large % of Americans thinking otherwise. Its sad.

But you are right, both sides are to blame.. its just that Obama and the democrats basically have full control right now with very few people asking for accountability from his administration.

If you didn't vote third party, then you're also part of the problem. Join us next time.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: Jaskalas

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Obama said he was going to change this, and he hasn't done a THING to change it. If anything its worse than ever. Yet he somehow seems to have a large % of Americans thinking otherwise. Its sad.

But you are right, both sides are to blame.. its just that Obama and the democrats basically have full control right now with very few people asking for accountability from his administration.

If you didn't vote third party, then you're also part of the problem. Join us next time.

Voting third party only works if a candidate is actually big enough to get a real amount of votes, not 100k.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Because Americans, as demonstrated by this forum, have entrenched themselves in political ideologies like they were fucking sports teams. People will support whichever politician or party tells them what they want to hear, even though in practice they all act the same.

 

[Dissipate]

Originally posted by: dphantom
You don't have to. Vote them out of office. Run yourself. I know all that is hard and getting harder as our government becomes more controlling, but if we don't do something now, we will have less and less say going forward.

Who would want to go to work every day with criminals?

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: Jaskalas

Originally posted by: Fear No Evil
Obama said he was going to change this, and he hasn't done a THING to change it. If anything its worse than ever. Yet he somehow seems to have a large % of Americans thinking otherwise. Its sad.

But you are right, both sides are to blame.. its just that Obama and the democrats basically have full control right now with very few people asking for accountability from his administration.

If you didn't vote third party, then you're also part of the problem. Join us next time.

Right; because 3rd party candidates are always better...no thanks!

I've had enough of Pat Buchanon, Ralph Nader, Evan Mecham and Jesse Ventura.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: shinerburke
Shhhh.....American Idol is on.

It's true. Sad, but true.

The other night as I was watching Frontline's The Meltdown on TV, my mom called me and asked if I was watching American Idol. I kid you not.

But on the other hand, a few months ago, I had a phone conversation with my grandmother, who can barely hear her TV, and I swear she knew what was going on in DC much more so than either one of my parents.

 

[Craig234]

Why do we stand by as the govt. robs us blind?

Because people don't bother to organize in groups like moveon.org to get actual political power to force the politicians to follow policies good for the public.

Indeed, as the concentration of wealth has increased, it's only made it harder and harder for the public to change the situation from the public becoming all but powerless.

If you choose policies that limit the concentration of wealth, things work a lot better, it's harder for a small group to dominate. The more it's concentrated, the more it's concentrated, or as the old saying goes, 'the rich get richer'. That's not always the case - under FDR, the rich remained just fine, but had their share of the wwalth decrease.

All it took was a lot of the nation becoming leftists and pushing FDR to adopt some policies to 'compromise' with the left.