akward paragraphs.
Ya know... for the longest time, I have loathed the machinations that are "de rigeur"in the political arena... but i always loved the energy and challenge of politics. But not any more.
It's become an ugly, divisive and derisive construct. Vile and vicious talking heads like Coulter, Hannity, Savage, and the odious Rush Limbaugh have made rational dialog with opposing viewpoints almost impossible. The weak bleatings of Air America served only to embolden the obnoxious right... IF you could pick up their station in the first place.
The selection of candidates both Democrat and Republican is so weak its laughable. Now made even more so by the political theatrics of Freddy. Give him credit, he sure does know the entrance is the thing, so don't be surprised if he creates his own entrance music. (you know that distinctive sound at the beginning of Law & Order?)
I find myself repulsed by the depths to which people have sunk in their attemps to invalidate those who oppose their viewpoint. It serves no purpose other than to weaken us as a nation, and lessen our chances of progressing to a better tomorrow. Although to be very candid, Ithink George W Bush has already fucked us as a nation far beyond our ability to recover anytime soon. We're still paying off the debts incurred by the Reagan Administration military buildup in the 80's. The Pyramids will be rubble by the time we pay off the debts incurred by the Bush Administration.
I really wish there was a way to limit our elected representatives to people with integrity.
But this society has become far too self-serving, selfish, and self-absorbed. I am repulsed by the levels of greed and inconsideration that have become not only tolerated behavior, but PREFERRED!
Whatever happened to our integrity as a people, as a nation?
Presidential Adminstration and the military build up". Yes, I do agree we are being shoved canned speeches given by poorly constructed candidates. I do like Huckabee, though.
You see my friend, the reason I take exception to your agrument on President Reagan is that:
1. The military was a mess after Vietnam. Drugs were rampant and little details such as brass not being polished was "de rigeur" among the troops. The merit promotion system was a political matix based on who you knew was simply not fair and bad for leadership. The military infrastructure was anachronism to another era and the equipment was running on deferred maintenance.
Do you remember the failed mission to rescue the hostages that crashed in the Persian Desert during the Carter Administration? We were a weak nation, spiritually and militarily.
2. Reagan transformed the military and made it once again a mean and lean fighting machine. He was truly a great Commander-in-Chief and I was proud to have served under him. The list of his accomplishment is too long for this thread, but trust me, he was great.
3. Reagan was not canned. His credentials as an anti-communist fighter spanned three decades.
The military expenditures though costly rewarded this nation with these benefits:
a. A victory in the Persian Gulf War that allowed the oil to flow. The low energy costs in the 1990s is one reason this nation prospered during this decade.
b. The Peace Dividend. Due to the fact we no longer needed large standing armies as during the peak of the Cold War, Clinton was able to decrease military spending. This allowed Clinton to invest in our debt which continued to lower interest rates. Lower interest rates allowed companies to acquire venture capital at a lower cost. The access to credit is what makes businesess run.
c. Our military is still living off the research and development from the Reagan Administration.
Finally, do not forget President Reagan and Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill worked together on many tough issues to make this nation better such as:
1. Social Security.
2. Immigration.
3. The environment. The Comphrensive Environmental Regulatory Liabilities Act (CERCLA) i.e. superfund was passed to clean up places like Love Canal, New York. SARA Title #3, which required businesses to identify and control toxic hazardous substances and communicate to proper authorities. Remember Bopal?
I have said enough?
regards,
Breaker
-- Modified on 9/6/2007 11:12:13 PM
My comments re: Reagan were as a comparison to the recklessness of the Bush administrations fiscal policies that have more than doubled the national debt in a mere 6 years.
I grant you, there is something to show for all the spending during the Reagan years, but lets pick that up in another thread.
1) Vietnam. Bitterness and failure there caused a rupture between the parties.
2) Assassinations: JFK, RFK, MLK. Especially the first one caused major distrust between the government and the people.
3) The Carter administration: The debacle during this time might not have been totally his fault, but he still mismanaged things so much, while the Democratic Congress treated him with contempt and blocked policies which might have helped. Shameful.
4) The Iranian hostage crisis: The first time a free country openly rejected us; we experienced really being hated. It's here that we lost our benevolence with the rest of the free world. Foreign aid dried up and we became reticent of mediating impartially.
I think a problem, though not a trauma, is racism. Any residual will to help people domestically is blocked by thoughts of spending one's money to help "those people."
These have left us divided and resentful of each other, and disregarding of the rest of the world.
is the greatest opportunity for us to transcend this nation into the greatest civilization ever to occupy this earth. When we are able to look beyond our prejudisms, and treat our fellow man as brothers and sisters, God will Bless us beyond our dreams.
Unity is the hallmark of our greatest Presidents i.e. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, Eisenhower, JFK and Ronald Reagan. Fifty years ago, President Eisenhower understood the value of our constitution and the rule of law and ordered the 101st Airborne Division to Central High, Little Rock AR to protect nine children and uphold the US Supreme Court Ruling.
Not all Presidents believed in the constitution and the rule of law. When the US Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the Federal government to confiscate Cherokee lands in Tennessee, President Andrew Jackson ignored them. The result was:
1) One of the saddest chapters in American History called the "Trail of Tears" when thousands of Cherokee and Creek Indians died on their way to OKlahoma.
2) It was also a dark day for our third branch of government. The Executive branch i.e. Jackson simply ignored the US Supreme Court. This event contributed to an ugly, divisive and derisive construct known as the American Civil War.
-- Modified on 9/6/2007 10:57:23 PM
I might have been with you on this one. . . had you NOT been so divisive and derisive YOURSELF! ! !
In your examples, it is only the RIGHT that are the UGLY ones. Your scant mention of the LEFT was to simply classify them as WEAK, with no mention at all regarding THEIR INTEGRITY.
There is plenty of derision to go around on BOTH sides. I'm curious as to whether you can't see it on the left or choose not to?
BTW, go far back into U.S. political history, and you will find horrendous mud slinging for the past 230 years.
-- Modified on 9/6/2007 2:58:57 PM
Republican Red thatis!!!!Yeeeaaahhh! The whole country is gonna be red after voting for Fred!!! Yeeeeaaahhh!
Fred is kind of a little Ronald Reagan. But maybe he'll get as strong as Reagan!
Reagan won the cold war single handedly. Vietnam was a battle lost by that cowardly Lyndon Johnson but the cold war was won by the brilliance of Reagan.
Reagan made a bargan with the devil- the democracts in congress. Reagan got to cut taxes so long as he did not cut any domestic social spending! Poof--- Reagan beat the devil!! He proved cutting taxes works even if you don't cut wasteful domestic spending. That means Reagan beat the democrats too!!!!!! yeeeeaaaaaaah!!
akward paragraphs.
Reagan was Governor of the most populus and diverse state in the union, California. Reagan stood up to left-wing zeolots i.e. Fonda, anarchists such as the Vietnam Draft Dodgers, Weather Underground et al and Communism long before he became President. He had proven himself as an able and capable leader.
What is Fred Thompson's claim to fame? A trophy wife, a running skit on Law and Order, a successful lobbyist firm etc. Yep! just what we need, another panderer who will compromise his values to win a vote. Reagan was a leader, because he had integrity.
Sorry Geezer, I see Thompson as a lazy ass, while Reagan was an ass kicker. Thompson may attempt to market himself as Ronald Reagan but as they say in Missouri...SHOW ME.
So far I'm stickin' with Huckabee.
-- Modified on 9/6/2007 10:54:32 PM
Fred Thompson in my opinion is nothing more than a venal schmoozer and ‘poser’
Mike Huckabee has some fresh thinking that is outside as well as inside the GOP box that can draw independent voters.
Ron Paul is also a breath of fresh(unconventional) air coming from the GOP
On the left I find both Denis Kucinich and Mike Gravel the least of the bought and paid for candidates.
fact is, I thought my obvious contempt for the flaccidity of the left would be enough to balance my equally obvious contempt for the right. I'll try to do better next time.
I most certainly CAN see it on the left as well as the right. I can even see some of the weak links in the middle.
You’re damn straight, and were all guilty of falling prey of being “divisive and derisive” with each other; but that is how the forces that have been working to destroy America for well over 100 years have cleverly orchestrated it. Compassion and concern for your fellow Americans quality of life is jingoistically twisted into “Socialism”, and basic business precepts of keeping it in the black is twisted into heartless “Corporatism”, and never should the two meet or work together. In the fighting amongst ourselves the Executive branch now ignores the edicts of the Legislative branch, and every time the legislative branch goes on vacation they vote themselves a pay raise to return to.
A provision of NAFTA that Congress amended two months ago seeing a clear danger to an American industry, jobs and highway safety has been overridden by the POTUS(while Congress was on vacation), and the current appeal filed by the American Teamsters Union to follow Congress's amendment has so far fallen on deaf ears in the San Francisco Court as well as the media in general; as we are instead distracted with updates on the future plans of a besmirched Idaho Senator.
History has shown that governments have often become self serving to themselves rather than to the governed. Our Government has gone so far as to sell off its own sovereignty to an unnamed consortium and let the American citizens tear each other apart in the streets over scarecrow issues.
-- Modified on 9/6/2007 9:16:43 PM