Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm not a Republican. I'm not a Democrat. But, every four years I'm forced to pick between either a Republican or Democrat as to who I want to be my President. Don't get me wrong, I could write in some guy whose going to get a representative majority of about thirty votes. I could also vote in Kermit the Frog, Bart Simpson, or Batman in hopes that everyone else in the country was paying attention to their political voice while the prominent Republican and Democrat argued over their ideologies.
I'll be honest. I find myself more impressed with fiscal conservatism than I do with egregious government spending. But, let's be real honest. When we're talking about government budgets in 2004 at around two-thousand billion dollars and government budgets in 2009 at around three-thousand billion dollars can either side really hold claim to having any sort of fiscal conservatism whatsoever?
I find myself discouraged with the Republican Party's strict adherence to what they call their "moral base." I find their "moral base" typically to be comprised of a bunch of uber-religious hypocritical demagogues that think injecting Christianity into every nook and cranny of government is going to fix every problem we have. I'm sorry to break it to the Republican Party but the Earth is not 6,000 years old, there are other philosophies of moral relativism outside of Christianity in this world. Evolution is real, so is climate change - it's called scientific investigation - something the base of the Republican Party can't seem to understand. Once the Republicans even attempt to try and detach themselves from pandering to these idiotic ideologies, only then should we even take them seriously. And, yes, Sarah Palin is an idiot.
But, I'm not letting the Democrats off the hook so easily in all of this. The Democrats have squandered nearly every single opportunity they have been given over the past few years. Whether it is has been in regards to pulling troops out of warzones as promised as early as 2004 (and was a major factor in the 2006 primary elections) to providing a health care bill, to even passing simple legislation, they have proven themselves to be wholly ineffective and, quite frankly, I view them to be a bunch of wimps.
Now, a lot of the Democrats' failures have been projected onto President Obama in all of this. Indeed, some of it should. But, President Obama was someone I voted for because he was completely revolutionary, completely different, and his ideologies were far more in-tune with what I wanted to see from an elected candidate in this country. I like the idea of national health-care (there isn't a soul on this forum who knows a thing about political science if they care to call a national health-care plan "socialism"), in fact, I liked almost everything Obama stood for with the exception of his close affiliation with Jeremiah Wright (an affiliation we can all try to deny but know it existed).
Be that as it may, I am not yet willing to hold Obama completely accountable for the complete ineptitudes of our Democrats and Republicans holding office in Congress and the Senate. Let's be straight: They're all completely worthless. Obama is a little progressive for his own party and, let's face it, with the Republicans stuck in an era that existed before Jamestown became one of the first U.S. settlements, we shouldn't dare think they're going to be along for the ride.
The way I see it. We're basically stuck with a President who wants to move forward, truly wants to change things, and truly wants to make this nation great. My detractors can point to a plethora of Fox-related media events they claim would be contrary to this but deep down, they know they're hanging on to some long-forgotten semblance of absurdity just because they like the name "Republican." My excursions aside, we're also unfortunately stuck with a House and Senate that are more locked up than a constipated nun.
This leads me to believe that we have only a few options left. We can support President Obama's initial platform agenda(s) by voting into office elected representatives that are far more progressive than the ones we currently have in office. Or, we can play the Democrat vs. Republican game and just keep things tied up for another three years until Obama is ousted because he "didn't do anything" and we elect an official who is as evenly paced as the rest of our constipated system.
But, if the Democrats suck and the Republicans are still sucking the fecal matter from the toes of George W. Bush and Sarah Palin, how do we find elected people willing to progress this country forward through the House and Senate? Folks, it's long overdue but we need a third party in this country. I don't care if we call it "The Super-Duper Not A Republican or Democrat Party" but we need a third party. We need people to break the mold, we need people to move things along, and we need people to stop pandering to their respective sides.
This forum largely disgusts me because the majority of the people on here throw pot-shots at one another as though they're going to change someone's opinion. Most of you play the "my party is better than yours because <insert some lame excuse here>" and yet most of you don't realize that both of the prominent parties in this country absolutely suck.
Both parties in this country suck. That doesn't mean the way one party sucks makes them better than the other because they suck differently. When you both suck, you both suck. When the elections come around this year, do something radical. Vote for an independent, vote for a no-name third party group. Shake things up a little bit. We are supposed to hold the power in this country. Show our elected representatives that they all suck and that we will kick ALL of them out of office if we don't get something going. Can we all stop pandering to our specific political sides because of a name (Democrat or Republican) that we grew up to vote for? Can we begin to think for ourselves and try to cast out some of these ineffective and corrupt morons we have in office?
It's not even Ron Paul, in my opinion, although I do like the grassroots usurpation he stands for. I'm talking about revolution, yes, but my thing is this:
The vast majority of the voting population in this country is a "swing" vote. That means if we can unite the "swing" vote under a third party, we can really wreak havoc on our two-party system. The two-party system is ineffective - it keeps getting proven every day.
I would like a third party too, but I don't see it happening. So it seems that Ron Paul is the best option. Everyone else is a pawn to lobbyist.
The problem with Ron Paul not belonging to a third party is that he will face the same tie-ups that Obama is facing right now. I think Ron Paul is far ahead of his time as a visionary in direction of the way the country needs to go. I like a lot of what he says and stands for. However, Ron Paul cannot undo the corruption and lobbying power affecting our Congressmen and Senators when he is the Chief Executive. The Congressmen and Senators make the rules as to what is legal and illegal and what is ethical and unethical. If Ron Paul were to start a third party hell-bent on ousting these people out (call them "The Rat Party" for all I care) then I would be behind him.
The problem we are facing right now is that we have a visionary leader in office - Obama is one, I really do believe that. Unfortunately, he's being held back by a constipated system. We need to fix the constipated system first and the best way to do that is with a third party, in my opinion. If Ron Paul, President Obama himself, or someone else with a mild degree of sanity (Sarah Palin and her Tea Party don't count) would like to step up and do that, then they very well may have my vote(s).
But is Ron Paul advocating for a third party or is he seeking to do what he plans on doing while masquerading as a "Republican?" I don't think he's a Republican except in name. Likewise, I don't think Obama is a Democrat except in name.
If Ron Paul would like to break away from the Republicans, start a third party (he has what seems to be enough loyal followers to do so) and would have Congressmen and Senators of said same party calling corrupt officials out left and right, then that is the only way Ron Paul will create a revolution.
Otherwise, he'll end up in the bowels of the same bureaucratic insanity that Obama is stuck in. It's a shame too because I think both Paul and Obama truly want to make things better. I really do.
The problem with Ron Paul not belonging to a third party is that he will face the same tie-ups that Obama is facing right now. I think Ron Paul is far ahead of his time as a visionary in direction of the way the country needs to go. I like a lot of what he says and stands for. However, Ron Paul cannot undo the corruption and lobbying power affecting our Congressmen and Senators when he is the Chief Executive. The Congressmen and Senators make the rules as to what is legal and illegal and what is ethical and unethical. If Ron Paul were to start a third party hell-bent on ousting these people out (call them "The Rat Party" for all I care) then I would be behind him.
The problem we are facing right now is that we have a visionary leader in office - Obama is one, I really do believe that. Unfortunately, he's being held back by a constipated system. We need to fix the constipated system first and the best way to do that is with a third party, in my opinion. If Ron Paul, President Obama himself, or someone else with a mild degree of sanity (Sarah Palin and her Tea Party don't count) would like to step up and do that, then they very well may have my vote(s).
I'm a strong RP supporter, but I have to agree with you on that. So truly it falls on our backs to participate in the government a lot more than going into the booth every 4 years and pushing a button.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
