How to reduce cost of government[W:155]

[Senter]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I seem to recall that during the W Bush years right wing extremism showed up on the scene. In response, liberal/left politics moved farther from center to leftward.

I can't call it "left wing extremism". I don't think national healthcare, a return to more progressive taxation, ending corporate buy-outs of our elections, concerns for the effects of wealth inequality, raising the minimum wage to what it should be with inflation adjustments, and revisiting trade agreements with an eye on how they have harmed the middle class are extreme. They're more like corrections that may solve some persistent problems by doing what has been done before to solve some of the same problems.

 

[mmi]

moderates are now pretty much gone, leaving only the far left and the far right.

I agree with Senter that there is very little if any representation of the extreme Left in Congress. The problem, imo, is a combination of the fifty of so members of the Eff Up caucus in the House who may not be extreme Right but who have a no-compromise teabugger attitude, as well as the apparent unwillingness of the GOP leadership in that body to stand up to those intransigents. Mr Ryan does have a better record on this than did Mr. Boehner, who I generally respect, but a lot of day-to-day business still can't get done.

>>I don't want either extreme to have full power and neither do a lot of others. That's why the electorate votes half and half.

I appreciate the thought, but I don't agree with the analysis. I figure the electorate in each district largely votes the way it wants to without regard to the issue of divided gubmint. Severe gerrymandering and the advantages of incumbency have made it very likely that Republicans will maintain control of the House in the next two Congresses.

 

[fmw]

totally stupid!!! when the electorate sends equal numbers from each party to DC of course nothing gets done. This is something a child could grasp. What is wrong with you? Do you think SCOTUS appointments are similar from each party? Republicans were 100% against Obamacare and Stimulus. 1+1=2

What purpose is the personal insult? I want nothing to get done. Partisan laws are always bad. Non partisan laws will pass or fail on the merits no matter the lean of the congress. My job is not to try to determine the lean of the supreme court. My job is to adapt to what it does. I want less government. I can't have that so the result of an election is immaterial because nothing else matters to me politically. Continuing down the current path is indeed stupid. We will continue down the same path no matter who is president. I want no part of it. If you are planning a revolution designed to gut the federal government, then sign me up.

 

[James972]

If you are planning a revolution designed to gut the federal government, then sign me up.

why would you want to gut it all when it it is half Republican?????????

 

[fmw]

why would you want to gut it all when it it is half Republican?????????

It is too big, too incompetent, too corrupt. What does partisanship have to do with it? I'm not a republican.

 

[mmi]

I'm not a republican.

They wouldn't have you either, eh?

 

[fmw]

They wouldn't have you either, eh?

I didn't ask.

 

[mmi]

I didn't ask.

You should try. They need all the help they can get. And they have money.

 

[DA60]

What purpose is the personal insult? I want nothing to get done. Partisan laws are always bad. Non partisan laws will pass or fail on the merits no matter the lean of the congress. My job is not to try to determine the lean of the supreme court. My job is to adapt to what it does. I want less government. I can't have that so the result of an election is immaterial because nothing else matters to me politically. Continuing down the current path is indeed stupid. We will continue down the same path no matter who is president. I want no part of it. If you are planning a revolution designed to gut the federal government, then sign me up.

He insults everyone and almost everything (it seems).

I just ignore him.

 

[DA60]

Reduce the size of government.

Human nature - such as it is - means that ALL forms of federal government will always be corrupt...INCREDIBLY corrupt.

The only way to fight it - short of direct voting on everything (which I am for) - is to severely limit the size of government and make it almost completely transparent...which almost no politician will agree to.

Socialists are so incredibly naive...even Bernie Sanders. He says government is VERY corrupt and yet his solution is to make government far, FAR larger.
It's ridiculous.
You don't fix corruption by giving the corrupt entity more power...you give it less until it proves it can be trusted.
That falls under 'well duh'.
But Socialists/Krugmanites refuse to learn this.

The problem today is not too little government...it's that government/central banks are virtually out of control and have virtually no idea what they are doing.

 

[fmw]

You should try. They need all the help they can get. And they have money.

No thanks. I don't believe in any value from having political parties. I think they should be made illegal.

 

[James972]

No thanks. I don't believe in any value from having political parties. I think they should be made illegal.

Of course that's very very irrational. The modern Republican party stands for freedom just as Jefferson's Republican Party stood for freedom in 1800!! Are you opposed to freedom??????

 

[James972]

The only way to fight it - short of direct voting on everything (which I am for) -

why would you be for that. Its mob rule. Our Republican govt is conceived on the notion that people are too stupid to understand the issues and vote intelligently on them.

 

[James972]

It is too big, too incompetent, too corrupt. What does partisanship have to do with it? I'm not a republican.

Republicans agree so why not support them??

 

[fmw]

Republicans agree so why not support them??

Because I do not support the concept of political parties. By the way I don't think they agree. If they did, they would have done something about it.

 

[fmw]

Of course that's very very irrational. The modern Republican party stands for freedom just as Jefferson's Republican Party stood for freedom in 1800!! Are you opposed to freedom??????

No, I'm opposed to political parties.

 

[James972]

No, I'm opposed to political parties.

so you want the Girl Scouts to represent freedom and not the Republicans??

 

[fmw]

so you want the Girl Scouts to represent freedom and not the Republicans??

Yes, that is exactly what I was thinking.

 

[mmi]

Jefferson's Republican Party

Jefferson was a Democratic-Republican.

Its mob rule. Our Republican govt is conceived on the notion that people are too stupid to understand the issues and vote intelligently on them.

I figure fwm means "direct democracy," not "direct voting."

The U.S. is a democratic constitutional republic. There are a lot of stoopit voters, but they're nevertheless empowered to vote. We do, as you very clumsily suggest, have a representative, as opposed to a direct, democracy.

The "republican" designation basically just means that we are not a monarchy.

so you want the Girl Scouts to represent freedom and not the Republicans??

They'd do a much better job, imo. And they have some pretty good cookies.

 

[Moderate Right]

No thanks. I don't believe in any value from having political parties. I think they should be made illegal.

I'm in favor of a law eliminating all political parties and people just run a campaign on their own individual thoughts and ideas. I also had a dream about being an astronaut or a major league baseball player. So far none of these dreams have come true but at least with the last two I still have a chance.

 

[Moderate Right]

so you want the Girl Scouts to represent freedom and not the Republicans??

That's the best idea I've heard in a long time. Let's put the Girl Scouts in charge of everything! Will they still be allowed to sell cookies or would that be a conflict of interest or an abuse of their power?

 

[James972]

That's the best idea I've heard in a long time. Let's put the Girl Scouts in charge of everything! Will they still be allowed to sell cookies or would that be a conflict of interest or an abuse of their power?

notice how you have to become a clown to change the subject rather than tell us how the principles of freedom should be spread if not by Jefferson's Republican Party.

 

[Moderate Right]

notice how you have to become a clown to change the subject rather than tell us how the principles of freedom should be spread if not by Jefferson's Republican Party.

I heard a saying once that whenever you point your finger at someone your thumb is pointing back at you. I would be careful who you are calling a clown as it might just be a reflection in the mirror you are looking at.

 

[James972]

I heard a saying once that whenever you point your finger at someone your thumb is pointing back at you. I would be careful who you are calling a clown as it might just be a reflection in the mirror you are looking at.

nice try at changing the subject!!!! Who do you think you fooled except yourself??

For 4th time:
"Notice how you have to become a clown to change the subject rather than tell us how the principles of freedom should be spread if not by Jefferson's Republican Party."

 

[Moderate Right]

nice try at changing the subject!!!! Who do you think you fooled except yourself??

For 4th time:
"Notice how you have to become a clown to change the subject rather than tell us how the principles of freedom should be spread if not by Jefferson's Republican Party."

I don't respond to questions that biased and partisan or to people who call me a clown. I am more on your side than the other side but I must admit that most of your posts are embarrassing and do more harm to our side than they do to help it. I wish you would seriously think about that.