Chuck, you're exactly right about making it easier to run for office. Right now it's a pain unless you're an incumbent or you have powerful friends.

 

As for the effects of slavery... it's an apt comparison because government IS slavery. It is a certain form of slavery, one that derives its legitimacy primarily from the sloth and fear of the majority of people.

Agreed, Mrcool. I also agree the rules should be the same for everyone and that the American people need to believe in candidates other than the Donkey and the Elephant. That kind of "change" ie: 3rd parties getting elected might sew its seeds in electing Senators and Governors first... Once those elected officials perform well, a Presidential candidate might actually stand a chance...

:PJay, sloths are honorable wild creatures! They may be slow, but they're stealthy. Comparing Sloths to the General Public is just unfair!:laugh3:

Yes, the power of incumbency is part of the problem without a doubt. But maybe even more basic than that is just getting people to vote. It helps if there's someone who actually stands for a broad base of support with real ideas and policies that count for something other than what the big money backers want, but even so - it needs to be easier for people to register - standardized registration, and every adult citizen should have the right to vote, regardless of their skin tone, record, community. Plus, no more disenfranchisement schemes - what's gone on with Rove and Gonzales with their manipulations is disgusting and smacks of earlier times when Johnson stole the election in Texas, or when Daley rigged the machine in Chicago. Those two should spend time in the slammer!

:PJay, sloths are honorable wild creatures! They may be slow, but they're stealthy. Comparing Sloths to the General Public is just unfair!:laugh3:

Yes, the power of incumbency is part of the problem without a doubt. But maybe even more basic than that is just getting people to vote. It helps if there's someone who actually stands for a broad base of support with real ideas and policies that count for something other than what the big money backers want, but even so - it needs to be easier for people to register - standardized registration, and every adult citizen should have the right to vote, regardless of their skin tone, record, community. Plus, no more disenfranchisement schemes - what's gone on with Rove and Gonzales with their manipulations is disgusting and smacks of earlier times when Johnson stole the election in Texas, or when Daley rigged the machine in Chicago. Those two should spend time in the slammer!

Our ID's and drivers licenses ought to be our voter registration cards. We ought to be able to vote over the phone, on line, and at the grocery store... Seriously! But just once of course

Mountainloafers, I wholeheartedly agree! Here, all we need to do is go to the polling place, show the poll workers our Driver's license or photo ID, and state our address when asked. And anyone without a license needs to be issued a state ID if they are a citizen.

It would be nice if there were machines to vote everywhere, but insuring honesty - it's probably best to have clear polling places or voting at the courthouse early, etc. just to keep things on the up-and-up..

Interestingly, I had watched a program on the voting machines, many of which were easily hacked in 2000 and 2004 - they used an old prototype Tandy memory card - nothing really proprietary about it, and quite easy to hack and infiltrate with a virus that miscounts the vote - plus that virus could be spread from machine to machine. Can't recall if those same machines are still being used, but it's a possibility.. I'm leaning back in favor of well-designed hand ballots and manual re-counts in close contests or recounts. Machines are fine, if there's some guarantee of a verified solid checked copy on record, and a way to undo a mistake while voting.

 

"When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."

 

~Benjamin Franklin

 

When my mom was growing up in Germany, she would ask by grandpa "who did you vote for?" and she says he would chuckle and say "for money!"

 

And that's the basic truth of the matter in the presidential elections today. Most people vote out of their wallets. So what candidates like Barack do is pander to these classes by giving these tax breaks (I should say handouts as 30% of the population don't pay taxes anyway...)and then compensating for it by enormously hiking taxes on the richer minority, by what I've seen of the commercial this is justified because these rich businesses deserve to be punished! It's you're fault this woman can't make her mortgage payment, it's you're fault that we have rampant unemployment, so we're going to stick you with these taxes until you've learned your lesson...

What's funny is how some voters think if we take all the rich peoples' money, there will be enough to make everyone in America well-off. That's simply not true. If you took all the money from the top 400 richest people in America, and divided it equally among everyone in the country, that would only be about $2,500 per person.

 

The government has already spent ten times that amount this year.

 

If Obama institutes socialist policies, money will flee the country and into places with higher growth rates and lower taxes. An analyst on CNBC said 90% of the growth in the world over the next 20 years will occur in developing countries. So it makes no sense to have any of your money in American stocks - it's a bad bet.

Exactly, I heard somewhere that all the money from the richest tier in America wouldn't run this country for much more than a week.

 

Screw this, I'm moving to Ireland!

Can't do that. I have a friend from Poland whose family lives there. The Irish government is encouraging immigrants to move back home because they don't have enough jobs. I want to move to Ireland where my family came from, but guess I'll have to wait or go to Hong Kong.

Can't do that. I have a friend from Poland whose family lives there. The Irish government is encouraging immigrants to move back home because they don't have enough jobs. I want to move to Ireland where my family came from, but guess I'll have to wait or go to Hong Kong.

 

Singapore is a nice choice, I think. The climate is similar to Florida and it has more English-speakers. Very low taxes and a big financial district also make for a good quality of life.

^ Not to mention it's the cleanest city around, just be careful where you stash your gum :D

What about Japan?

What about Japan?

 

Not a good choice from what I've heard. I think Japan has high taxes and high cost of living. But I'd like to visit.

Mountainloafers, I wholeheartedly agree! Here, all we need to do is go to the polling place, show the poll workers our Driver's license or photo ID, and state our address when asked. And anyone without a license needs to be issued a state ID if they are a citizen.

It would be nice if there were machines to vote everywhere, but insuring honesty - it's probably best to have clear polling places or voting at the courthouse early, etc. just to keep things on the up-and-up..

Interestingly, I had watched a program on the voting machines, many of which were easily hacked in 2000 and 2004 - they used an old prototype Tandy memory card - nothing really proprietary about it, and quite easy to hack and infiltrate with a virus that miscounts the vote - plus that virus could be spread from machine to machine. Can't recall if those same machines are still being used, but it's a possibility.. I'm leaning back in favor of well-designed hand ballots and manual re-counts in close contests or recounts. Machines are fine, if there's some guarantee of a verified solid checked copy on record, and a way to undo a mistake while voting.

 

If there were a universal government ID with a barcode we could simply scan our id like you would scan your "member card" at the grocery store and then make your choices. The machine would then print a "hard copy" reciept for you to keep... I know that the idea of a universal ID is a little big brother but, its better than implanting a chip in the population. LOL...

We should take bets on the election. I say Obama gets at least 300 electoral votes.

You think so? CNN.com has it at 277 or so... Id say you are close. I wonder if Florida and NC will go Democrat this time...

 

Obama by 290

Florida will go to Obama, I've seen a lot of Republicans switch sides to him. I was actually surprised by that.

Obama accused those who don't want to pay higher taxes of "selfishness".

 

Take a look at Obama's own charitable contributions since 2000, as a percentage of his total income:

 

 

He only started picking up the pace after he became a millionaire (from his book sales) and he knew he would run for president. Still pretty weak.

He's the definition of a corrupt politician.

How long will it be until Barack gets shot?

Obama accused those who don't want to pay higher taxes of "selfishness".

 

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFdkTxYrCnQ][/ame]

 

This cracked me up... not only is it selfish to not want to pay high taxes, but to have the government step in to take your wealth and hand it out to people who don't pay income tax makes you a good neighbor.

 

Joe: Hey Dan! I just got $500 dollars in the mail this morning, thank you so much for being so unselfish as to let the government distribute your wealth to poor folk like me.

 

Dan: Anytime neighbor! it's the least I can do.

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFdkTxYrCnQ]YouTube - Obama: Wealth Redistribution is Neighborly[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt2yGzHfy7s]YouTube - Obama Civilian Security[/ame]

 

Whoa!

What he is going to change is increasing taxes for the less well off to pay for the lazy layabouts and rich fat cats.

Maybe they'll get a cool uniform too!

 

I hear they might choose this one.

^Make sure they attach the sign "another gestapo officer"...