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The United States is one of the most partisan countries in the developed world. There are two very distinct political ideologies that are diametrically opposed to one another. Add to that the vast distance that the federal government controls, which means people from states with entirely different cultures, histories, and demographics, have to all live under the same set of federal laws. Case in point: The distance from Los Angeles to Columbia, South Carolina is greater than the distance from London to Moscow (and the cultural difference is greater too). Yet, while the Europeans have over 50 independent nations, over here people in San Francisco have to live under the same federal laws as those in Charleston.
What does this mean for us? That we're all unhappy. We are all living under policies we don't want to live under (Health care is the best example, an odd mixture of public [democratic] and private [republican] that make us get the worst of both worlds and the benefits of neither).
Why are we so naive to think that someday things will be better? Are we that shortsighted to believe that "if we can just win this next election, everything will be ok!" Lets just be honest here, we will NEVER be happy living together. Every 4-12 years someone from the other party will gain office, and the majority in congress will shift, and they will remove old policies and implement new ones that will make half the nation ecstatic and leave the other half seethingly bitter and angry. This means no policies will ever be in place long enough to have a real effect, there will always be constant congressional gridlocks so very little will ever get done, and our taxation and economic regulatory systems will constantly be in flux.
When we will all realize that our country isn't "too big to fail" and that completely independent, smaller regional nations would be much more effective. Why can't people in Oregon smoke pot? Why can't kids in Alabama pray in schools? Why can't Arizona enforce it's own immigration laws? Why are Californian's paying for and engaged in a war both of their senators voted againts?
One day you will all wake up and realize this union needs to be divided. I just hope we can do it without any bloodshed.
With yer choices I would rather live in a separate country. I know there is more than just 2 different ideological choices as well. In my view I believe the country will become balkanized within 100 years.
Party doesn't mean much to me. I'm more interested in ideology. If your ideology is government is the problem and is always bad, don't run for public office.
True. I don't belong to a party because no one fits my beliefs 100%. I support Ron Paul because he is the closest to my beliefs and the best we can do right now.
True. I don't belong to a party because no one fits my beliefs 100%. I support Ron Paul because he is the closest to my beliefs and the best we can do right now.
Location: I live between Myrtle Beach SC and Raleigh NC.
393 posts, read 652,572 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by UNLV09
The United States is one of the most partisan countries in the developed world. There are two very distinct political ideologies that are diametrically opposed to one another. Add to that the vast distance that the federal government controls, which means people from states with entirely different cultures, histories, and demographics, have to all live under the same set of federal laws. Case in point: The distance from Los Angeles to Columbia, South Carolina is greater than the distance from London to Moscow (and the cultural difference is greater too). Yet, while the Europeans have over 50 independent nations, over here people in San Francisco have to live under the same federal laws as those in Charleston.
What does this mean for us? That we're all unhappy. We are all living under policies we don't want to live under (Health care is the best example, an odd mixture of public [democratic] and private [republican] that make us get the worst of both worlds and the benefits of neither).
Why are we so naive to think that someday things will be better? Are we that shortsighted to believe that "if we can just win this next election, everything will be ok!" Lets just be honest here, we will NEVER be happy living together. Every 4-12 years someone from the other party will gain office, and the majority in congress will shift, and they will remove old policies and implement new ones that will make half the nation ecstatic and leave the other half seethingly bitter and angry. This means no policies will ever be in place long enough to have a real effect, there will always be constant congressional gridlocks so very little will ever get done, and our taxation and economic regulatory systems will constantly be in flux.
When we will all realize that our country isn't "too big to fail" and that completely independent, smaller regional nations would be much more effective. Why can't people in Oregon smoke pot? Why can't kids in Alabama pray in schools? Why can't Arizona enforce it's own immigration laws? Why are Californian's paying for and engaged in a war both of their senators voted againts?
One day you will all wake up and realize this union needs to be divided. I just hope we can do it without any bloodshed.
You make very valid points but accordingly the states do not need to be divided but "States Rights" should be recognized as stated in the original Constitution of the United States. At this time they are watered down by the Federal governments intrusion into individual States laws, legally enacted by local legislatures. That is the problem.
Neither choice is appropriate. i would rather continue to fight it out every four years.
Agreed. When the two party system WAS functioning properly, both sides kept the other in check. They kept each other from destroying themselves. It worked, when it was allowed to work.
Right now we just need to get the MONEY out of politics.
Would you rather live under the "other" party forever, or divide the country? The United States is one of the most partisan countries in the developed world.
No; it's not.
Quote:
There are two very distinct political ideologies that are diametrically opposed to one another.
Nope; you're wrong there too.
Well aside from the nutjob's found only at the fringe and edges.
The VAST majority, easily 60-70% of us, are in the moderate middle...
and in nearly universal agreement with each other on all but the rather few hot button social issues.
Issues that only some of those same nutjob's on the fringes and edges work so diligently
to inflate the importance of and use to create the sense of division you describe.
hth
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