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I say this as a political agnostic, someone who thinks both Democrats and the GOP, liberals and conservatives alike cannot be trusted with something so important as governing the nation.
But Democrats and Obama swept into power in 2008 not because of the power of their ideas, but because of the general revulsion at the Bush presidency. So they continued forging ahead with the ACA, despite the fact that a large majority of Americans did not want it in its present form.
That's not to say that Americans didn't want some healthcare reform. But the gut instinct of the American people told them that this was a bad, bad piece of legislation and that the administration wasn't competent enough to handle its launch.
Again, we have chronic underemployment in this country. Even though the unemployment rate is back almost to where it was before the meltdown, the wage levels aren't nearly as high and the workforce participation rates are at 35-year lows, what does the Obama administration push? Letting millions of illegal immigrants stay here, threatening to do it by executive order if necessary.
You'd have thought the huge reversals in the 2010 mid-terms and the continued Democratic erosion in 2012 would have sent alarm bells ringing. Instead, the S.S. Obama increased speed, heedless of the iceberg field that lay directly ahead.
I say this as a political agnostic, someone who thinks both Democrats and the GOP, liberals and conservatives alike cannot be trusted with something so important as governing the nation.
But Democrats and Obama swept into power in 2008 not because of the power of their ideas, but because of the general revulsion at the Bush presidency. So they continued forging ahead with the ACA, despite the fact that a large majority of Americans did not want it in its present form.
That's not to say that Americans didn't want some healthcare reform. But the gut instinct of the American people told them that this was a bad, bad piece of legislation and that the administration wasn't competent enough to handle its launch.
Again, we have chronic underemployment in this country. Even though the unemployment rate is back almost to where it was before the meltdown, the wage levels aren't nearly as high and the workforce participation rates are at 35-year lows, what does the Obama administration push? Letting millions of illegal immigrants stay here, threatening to do it by executive order if necessary.
You'd have thought the huge reversals in the 2010 mid-terms and the continued Democratic erosion in 2012 would have sent alarm bells ringing. Instead, the S.S. Obama increased speed, heedless of the iceberg field that lay directly ahead.
People make mountains out of mole hills. As if this is the first time this ever happened, when it pretty much happens in every cycle since I've been paying attention.
Mid-term election always slide towards the opposing party of the lame-duck president. Always. The Dems won big when Reagan was in office with a 200% approval ratings.
It's not a big deal. Don't read too much into it.
I don't know any Democrats who are panicking aside from those who want to use this opportunity to raise money or get TV ratings.
This Republican is going to fix spelling. It's "bait".
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Originally Posted by KaaBoom
• Social Security
• Medicare, Medicaid, Healthcare Reform, Food Safety
• New Deal, Great Society, Peace Corp, Vista, Job Corp
• Civil Rights, Women’s Right to Vote, Equal Rights, The Voting Rights Act, Equal Pay Act, Motor Voter
• Consumer Protection, FDIC, Banking and Wall Street Regulations, SEC, Federal Reserve System, Anti-trust Legislation
• Funding for Science, Medical and Engineering Research, Space Exploration, NSF, NIH
• Support for Public Education, Head Start, School Lunch and Breakfast Programs
• NLRB, 8 hr. Work Day/40 hr. Work Week, Overtime, Unemployment
• Protection for the Environment, Increased Numbers and Support of National Parks and Wilderness Areas, Endangered Species Act, FEMA
• Veterans’ Benefits, GI Bill
• UN, NATO, Marshall Plan
• Vehicles Safety Requirements, Reduced Emissions, and Fuel Economy Standards (CAFE)
• TVA, Federal Loan Program, PBS, NPR, the Internet
• Economic Growth (Democratic Presidents: Roosevelt through Obama)
All of these things you listed represent growing government and increasing government intrusion into people's lives.
All of the people who have commented on this thread thus far have missed out on the real reason why the Republicans gained so much power in this election. It's ALL ABOUT FREEDOM.
I'm a professional musician and singer, and with it having been Veteran's Day yesterday, most of my shows in the last few days have contained some patriotic songs, including one of the most requested - "God Bless The USA". There's a line in that song which goes "'cause the flag still stands for freedom, and they can't take that away". Everybody loves that line. Why? Because we all want freedom. All of this big-government crap has represented a loss of our freedom. Most people's biggest problem with Obamacare is that it is on more thing that has been foisted upon us - one more thing we are forced to do. Buy this product, which is sold by the companies that are in our pockets and on our speed-dialers, or else you will be punished by having to pay an extra tax. Anytime one is forced to do anything, that represents a loss of freedom. Anytime one is restricted from doing something he wants to do (such as forego health insurance if he is healthy enough not to see any chance of needing it, like ME), that is a loss of freedom.
Most of y'all probably don't live with your parents. Why did you move out? Chances are, it's because living with them would not provide you with the freedom you desired in your lives. Deep down, we all want freedom. We're sick of watching the government dictate what we can and can't do. The general consensus of opinion is that Democrats stand for big government and Republicans stand for big business. I'm not a fan of either, but I will take big business over big government any day of the week because I have a choice of whether or not to patronize a particular business. If I hate Wal-Mart, I can buy groceries and clothes elsewhere. If I hate ExxonMobil, I can buy gasoline elsewhere. If I hate Monsanto, I can buy organic / non-GMO food from local farmers and markets. I have a CHOICE. Choice equals increased freedom. With big government, there's no escaping it. There's no choice. When we got Obamacare, like it or not, we were all subjected to it. If the election was a referendum on Obamacare, it's not because people didn't think that health care needed to be reformed. We all know that health care needed to be reformed. But the way to do it was to GET THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF IT, not to put the government into it even more. Let the American people handle this one. Stories abound about doctors who have tried to make health care more affordable and accessible - often it's the government that stops them from doing what they're doing even though it's not harmful to the people nor unscrupulous in any way.
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Originally Posted by Shirina
Yeah right. Now that the GOP has control of both houses, NOW they'll suddenly be concerned with "fixing" things. Never mind the number of GOP candidates who ran in 2012 on the platform of "getting rid of Obama" and nothing more.
Do you know WHY they did that? It's not because Obama is half black. Most of us are beyond that garbage. It's because we knew from before the election of 2008 that Obama was an inexperienced neo-Marxist who was going to give us all kinds of big-government policies if he was elected.
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Originally Posted by Shirina
Yeah, they sure did a lot of "fixing" when their attitude revolved around "I'd rather see the country fail utterly than to see Obama succeed." The GOP was more than willing to throw America and everyone in it under the bus just to stroke their own irrational hatred of this president.
Ask any GOPer why he dislikes Obama and I guarantee you that it will come down to freedom.
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Originally Posted by Shirina
Since the GOP did nothing but try and obstruct just about every piece of legislation introduced by a Democrat since 2008 - and since the GOP constantly shut down the government, or threatened to, whenever they didn't get what they wanted, "fixing" things now is a dollar short and a day late.
When freedom is on the line, why would they give in?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shirina
The ONLY reason why the GOP managed to take control of both houses is because far too many Americans have woefully short memories.
It's because Americans are sick of the Democrats' policies. Plain and simple. Nothing more, nothing less.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shirina
Sure, NOW the Republicans will sit up straight and actually play the game the right way - but only because they want to turn the next 2 years into a big public relations stunt. They want to strut around like peacocks saying, "See? See? Look what we can do if we have ALL the power." Never mind the Democrats could be just as effective if Obama hadn't needed to fight tooth and nail against non-stop obstructionism.
You sound like a Democrat. If the situation were reversed, with a conservative Republican president like Reagan or either of the Bushes in office, and one of the two houses of Congress under Republican control, wouldn't you be rooting for any Democrats who tried to stop this conservative agenda by standing up for what they believe in, even if it meant a temporary "government shutdown"? Wouldn't you want your team to flex its muscles so that they might actually get some concessions on what they want, rather than just waving white flags and giving in to the entirety of the other team's agenda?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shirina
But no ... the 20 minute American attention span won the day for the GOP.
I'll agree with this one. Americans crave freedom. All they remember is "Obamacare and Obama = less freedom". If the Democrats would go back to their old ways of being small-government, freedom-minded politicians, and away from their current incarnation as big-government nanny state supporters, they would find themselves in much higher favor universally.
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Originally Posted by Jo48
All of which Repubicans would like to end in the name of "less government". They never met a social program or safety net for ANYONE they liked. Survival of the RICHEST.
Of course not, because most (if not all) social programs are unfair and idiotic. Though I agree, for example, that our elderly must be cared for even though they become unable to provide for themselves, I don't agree that the government should force the American taxpayers to pay for the elderly. Let their families take care of them. Let private charitable organizations take care of them. Elderly people were taken care of long before social welfare programs - I see the evidence of that whenever I look at really old gravestones. I guarantee that Prudence Hancock, who lived to be 95 and died in 1898, wasn't working and earning her own keep that whole way. At some point, her family, her church, her friends, et al. took care of her. And don't underestimate American generosity - in the late 1800's, a devastating drought wiped out a lot of Texas crops and the farmers appealed to the government for a financial bailout. President Grover Cleveland (a DEMOCRAT!!!) wrote back and said that it was not the responsibility of what was then called the "General Government" to do such things. So the farmers looked to the American public... and proceeded to raise SIX TIMES the amount of money they requested from the government! If our taxes were lower because we weren't being forced to pay for social welfare programs, we'd have more income to give away to charity... and then, what is now being done by government welfare programs would be done (better) by private charity programs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jo48
I am old enough to know these things run in cycles. Americans need to learn their "don't know what you have got, until it's gone." Hopefully, they will wake up in time before it's too late this time.
This is exactly why Republicans were elected en masse. The people didn't know the freedom they had, until it was gone. Many a person did I speak to in 2013, who told me "I voted for Obama last year and now I wish I hadn't".
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Originally Posted by Labonte18
Any republican candidate pretty much needs to just bow out of 2 issues.. They need to say that abortion is the legal and they're not going to try to make it either harder or easier to access. They need to say that gay marriage has been decided by the courts and they're not going to attempt to undo what has been done on it. A third might be Obamacare, which I would recommend running on a 'fix it' platform.
Take those issues off the table.. You swing a whole lot of independents to you.
I don't see how it's possible to fix Obamacare without turning it into something that bears zero resemblance to its currently widely despised form.
Women are flocking to the Republican party in droves
Right because it is only unmarried sluts who want government sugar daddies voting for Democrats. No married woman needs birth control, and her husband will never poor or out of work with a ring on his finger. A wedding ring is all that a woman needs to a blissful existence.
Obama promising he would give illegals amnesty by executive order after the elections, is one of the reasons that many white voters are leaving the Democratic party. He is in effect bringing back racism as a driving force to get voters to vote for Democrats. His doing this, has driven many white voters away from the Democratic Party.
Republicans won in areas of the nation where Whites outnumber non whites. In areas where Whites are no longer the major voting block such as in California, Governor Brown and Democrats won handily. Again partly due to racism. Brown pushed several things through, to give illegals more benefits, and got the non white population to re elect Democrats.
Many people like myself, have watched the Races become more equal over the years, and hoped that racism was behind us. Now we have a president that is pandering to minority races urging them to vote as people of color to vote Democratic. He is promising amnesty to illegal residents, as a method to get non white voters to the polls. This is going to hurt the nonwhite population in this country dividing the races and bringing back racism.
People make mountains out of mole hills. As if this is the first time this ever happened, when it pretty much happens in every cycle since I've been paying attention.
Mid-term election always slide towards the opposing party of the lame-duck president. Always. The Dems won big when Reagan was in office with a 200% approval ratings.
It's not a big deal. Don't read too much into it.
I don't know any Democrats who are panicking aside from those who want to use this opportunity to raise money or get TV ratings.
.
Spin, spin, and more spin.
Actually, approval ratings for Democrats are at all-time lows. More ominously, they are at all-time lows among the youngest voters, not to mention losing good bit of ground among women and Latinos.
Yes, the party of the president often loses ground in the mid-terms. But the hemorrhaging of seats in the past three elections has been striking and without real precedent in modern elections.
• Social Security
• Medicare, Medicaid, Healthcare Reform, Food Safety
• New Deal, Great Society, Peace Corp, Vista, Job Corp
• Civil Rights, Women’s Right to Vote, Equal Rights, The Voting Rights Act, Equal Pay Act, Motor Voter
• Consumer Protection, FDIC, Banking and Wall Street Regulations, SEC, Federal Reserve System, Anti-trust Legislation
• Funding for Science, Medical and Engineering Research, Space Exploration, NSF, NIH
• Support for Public Education, Head Start, School Lunch and Breakfast Programs
• NLRB, 8 hr. Work Day/40 hr. Work Week, Overtime, Unemployment
• Protection for the Environment, Increased Numbers and Support of National Parks and Wilderness Areas, Endangered Species Act, FEMA
• Veterans’ Benefits, GI Bill
• UN, NATO, Marshall Plan
• Vehicles Safety Requirements, Reduced Emissions, and Fuel Economy Standards (CAFE)
• TVA, Federal Loan Program, PBS, NPR, the Internet
• Economic Growth (Democratic Presidents: Roosevelt through Obama)
Meanwhile you couldn't come up with even one thing the Republicans have ever fixed. Republicans are the most epic political failures in the history of the world.
SS and Medicare are broke. Medicaid shouldn't exist. Healthcare reform? Was that one a joke? Great Society? Must be another joke. Voting Rights act is quotas for black districts to guarantee a black representative( our black reps come from white districts). Head start is a failure as are school lunch and breakfast programs. NATO? We carry the load, should leave. Endangered Species, another joke try to get an animal off the list when we have too many. Parks and wilderness, started by republicans. Reduced emissions was Nixon. PBS, NPR, and many others on your list are not the role of government. Space was Eisenhower.
I guess the Dems aren't much for spelling. B A I T
Right because it is only unmarried sluts who want government sugar daddies voting for Democrats. No married woman needs birth control, and her husband will never poor or out of work with a ring on his finger. A wedding ring is all that a woman needs to a blissful existence.
Nothing like a good dose of misogyny to make the right side of the aisle attractive to a female voter. You know, one thing I do look at when voting isn't just the candidate - but also who the candidate represents. If a lot of slimy people with stupid untrue beliefs support a candidate, I doubt very much I would want that candidate representing me.
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