Impeachment

[Diogenes]

What about Obama would define him as a leftist?

His insistence on centralized control and power. Lefties are terrified by the thought of folks being allowed to be independent and manage their own lives.

I have seen it argued that there is a cycle to societal development: from slavery to independence, from independence to prosperity, from prosperity to complacency, from complacency to dependency, and from dependency back to slavery. In the US, prosperity peaked in the middle of the last century and we slid into complacency during the hippie period of the sixties. Complacency peaked with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and now the lefties are hustling us off into dependency while discouraging independence. If Obama achieves his goals, citizens will become subjects in two categories: victims and parasites. And government will again assume the preeminence it enjoyed in the time of the pharaohs.

If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend Eric Hoffer's The True Believer.

 

[Org]

His insistence on centralized control and power. Lefties are terrified by the thought of folks being allowed to be independent and manage their own lives.

I have seen it argued that there is a cycle to societal development: from slavery to independence, from independence to prosperity, from prosperity to complacency, from complacency to dependency, and from dependency back to slavery. In the US, prosperity peaked in the middle of the last century and we slid into complacency during the hippie period of the sixties. Complacency peaked with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and now the lefties are hustling us off into dependency while discouraging independence. If Obama achieves his goals, citizens will become subjects in two categories: victims and parasites. And government will again assume the preeminence it enjoyed in the time of the pharaohs.

If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend Eric Hoffer's The True Believer.

That's insane. Look, leftism isn't just another word for centralization. There are numerous schools of leftist fully philosophy disavowing authority, including the one I identify with. It's like how the right encompasses everything from state capitalism and certain schools of fascism, to anarchist capitalism.

If you genuinely want to begin developing an understanding of leftist political theory and theoretical economics, I recommend a number of titles. Anarchy and Scientific Communism by Nikolai Bukharin -- Socialism: Past and Future by Michael Harrington -- Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

 

[Steelplate]

That's an interesting defense. It might be the case that he had reason to move right, but some of his policies are outright indefensible. Like, preventative detention without trial. I don't know what information would be so powerful to sway one's opinion on that, or why it would be privileged to the president.

Anyway, you've taken this all into hypotheticals, so we just don't know.

What do any of us know? Seriously....we have so many buffers between us and what's really going on in the world. We don't know what threats we are dealing with on a daily basis, we don't know the severity of those threats, and we certainly don't know specifics...location, organization level and tactics of that threat.

The President does, the Joint Chiefs do, the CIA director does, DHS does, NSA does....from there? It's all need to know.

Now....don't take that as I give blanket authority to the President....but, I can tell you....as a former service member that used to have top secret clearance....there's more stuff going on than you know....and much of this stuff comes down to tactics and strategy.

I gave GWB a wide berth(even though many of my liberal brethren didn't) for that very reason.

 

[rocket88]

Instead of wasting precious time worrying about President Obama, who will be in the White House until another Democrat takes his place there in 2017, The old White men who rule the GOP should be focused on trying to survive the massive demographic change which will likely reduce the GOP to a minor, regional party by about 2043.

No one can stop time and/or change.

If you're right it's their funeral. Why do you care?

Unless something changes big time in '14, the GOP's going to jettison the TPers faster than you can say Dubya.

 

[TheNextEra]

On health care he promised that if we liked our healthcare plan, we could keep it. He promised that if we liked our doctor, we could keep the doctor. He promised that costs would go down. Lies, all lies.

The point is Obama has moved more right on issues than left.

 

[obvious Child]

I'm a realist and a Dem, two choices we don't have here at DP. I look at a persons stances on the many issues. They can go R, D or throw their vote away, as with Nader in 2000 Florida. That is our current system.

Voting independent does not mean you throw your vote away. And in most districts, your vote doesn't count. Only a relative few areas in the nation actually have elections where voting matters.

 

[shrubnose]

If you're right it's their funeral. Why do you care?

Unless something changes big time in '14, the GOP's going to jettison the TPers faster than you can say Dubya.

I ask myself the same question sometimes.

I guess that the main reason why I have been reporting on the impending demise of the GOP (I don't really advocate for or against this.)since 2000 is that I have seen what one party rule has done to other countries and I don't want to see that in the USA.




"Better days are coming." ~ But not for today's out of touch, running out of time, GOP.

 

[Diogenes]

The point is Obama has moved more right on issues than left.

Disagreed. Gitmo is open only because there was too much pushback for Obama to close it. Likewise with the attempts to try the detainees in civilian courts. What you see as Obama moving right is what I see as Obama spinning his leadership failures. The only possible exception is drone use which he, like Clinton, uses because he finds it easier to blame others for any mistakes.

 

[Linc]

Voting independent does not mean you throw your vote away. And in most districts, your vote doesn't count. Only a relative few areas in the nation actually have elections where voting matters.

I would go so far as to say those staying home are also making a third-party statement. As for Nader, would all of his votes have stayed home? And Nixon barely wins the popular vote while dominating the EC. Repups have fond memories of the Bullmoose party letting Wilson in.