I am an Independent. I have been told that I am a "classic Libertarian, " but I have no idea what that actually means. I know that I think according to common sense and facts even if I don't like the facts. I am not obliged to "like" the facts and I don't always choose to accept them.
I refuse to align myself with ANY Party because I will do my own thinking and make my own decisions. I detest BOTH of the Republicans and Democrats, equally, that have laundered about 200B through Ukraine, Israel, Iran, Afghanistan, the CDC, the World Health Organization, NATO, the UN, and............I make my point. And, I am voting OUT every elected official that renewed FISA and gave another $60.8B to Ukraine.
I am very concerned that our Nation - once the greatest Nation on the planet and now a weak and impotent collection of lunatics - will never recover. At this moment in time, our country has become 1938 Berlin.
I am old enough to remember the Carter years; the days of fuel rationing and soaring inflation. As bad as things seem today, I can remember a time very much like today economically. Also, coming from the 70's, I remember the latter days of the sexual revolution well enough to say that it is not much different than what we are witnessing today, just a different marketing scheme. I will, however, state that the slide into irrelevance we are currently witnessing is on a far faster pace than the aforementioned era, but it is, as the Bible says, "nothing new under the sun."
Will I see a radical change to right the ship in my lifetime, probably not. However, that is where "discipleship" and education come into play. If this nation is to experience a resurgence, it will be because men and women take the time to teach the younger generations the folly of the popular wisdom of the age and the benefits of the wisdom of experience that comes to us through history. Without a radical shift in thought, the slide will continue and the results will be the complete degradation of society.
I too remember the Carter years, but in general, I don't ever recall things being this bad. Yeah, economically, things were a mess; but socially/morally, things weren't like this. Were there occasional riots or instances of unrest? Sure. Think Rodney King, Overtown, etc. But those were generally isolated incidents. We also were still quite patriotic back then. Even elementary schools taught patriotic songs and patriotic history. Never (or very, very rarely) would you hear the average American back then shouting "death to America." Such rhetoric would only come from fringe, disturbed individuals - not large groups.
As for your second paragraph, I have for a while planned a post about the topic. It should be coming soon (within the next couple of weeks).
Yes, we had an economic mess. We had worries of running out of oil and global cooling. But we didn't seem to have the atmosphere of today where trust in the authorities is at an all time low. While this also ripples across the entire world, not just the USA.
We also tend to forget that we were only 20 years removed from the days of MLK and the Civil Rights movement, not to mention the KKK was still a very real part of the American consciousness. While we tend to "revere the good ole' days," they weren't always good. Think Vietnam and protesters that chanted death to American soldiers as they spit on them and regaled them with monikers such as baby killers et al. While I admit we are sliding headlong faster than previously, I am not convinced our political and economic climate is that much more removed from that era or the height of the cold war on the global stage. We are also viewing everything through the skewed lens of 2024 instead of how we would have seen things in 1960, or 1970, or 1980. We have the benefit of history, as much as we seem to ignore it at our own peril.
Yes, I believe many of the younger adults don't realize that in the late 70s and early 80s we had worse inflation than the Biden Administration induced disaster.
Humans have "short memories" because there is such a turn over that as a society we tend to forget even the relatively recent past.
It's a long, slow slide, which is why I have not been concerned about "disaster" happening "next week". It's the "future" that worries me.
The past four years has been a wild ride! Looking at the pessimistic side it's easy to see the grim and be very concerned. But I try to balance that with realizing the majority of people are clueless and contribute to overall general inertia so life continues on with the slow slide into tyranny.
This slide into the abyss has been gathering steam since Reagan's Administration. After the Baby Bush, the slide became inexorable - unstoppable. The only way for this to end is for everything to hit rock-bottom and only then will the clueless normies wake up and stand fast. Sadly.
It is human nature to organize into groups ("us vs them"). Thus it seems wise to design a system that minimizes the harm that such organizations can do.
First, let's eliminate listing political party on a ballot. Simply list the candidate's name.
Next, in all political proceedings, let's stop reporting tallies by party. Funding for Urkraine? 78 votes yea, 37 votes nay - no reporting of how that vote splits out by party.
Education! Teach our children the dangers of parties.
Funding - Eliminate the government funding of candidates (which no doubt mostly goes to the major party candidates). "Only candidates seeking nomination by a *political party* to the office of President are eligible to receive primary matching funds". "The 1040 federal income tax form asks taxpayers whether they'd like to designate $3 of their taxes paid to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund" Why do we fund this hateful advertising? Ever notice your state tax return also has this?
I also say, make ballot access easier, and don't allow parties to create slates of electors. There should be one slate of presidential electors and, according to the Constitution, they should be appointed as the state legislatures see fit (and should be independent). Likewise, return to having those electors vote only for president - vice president (again, according to the constitution) is the candidate who gets the second most votes.
We do need to go "back in time" in my opinion for the elector process! I don't know much about how hard it is to get on a ballot. RFK Jr. is making some noise about it and it seems to be a *major* effort for even a high profile candidate like himself.
I say also eliminate corporate funding of candidates, and out-of-state funding going to candidates. Only individuals who live in a state where a candidate is running should be permitted to provide financial support to that candidate; after all, that candidate is running for the privilege of representing those individuals - no one else.
Yes!!!! There should be a limit to campaign donations and ZERO corporate donations for all candidates.
We also need lobbying reforms.
I was reading something last week. Our founding fathers had real jobs outside of lawmaking. They stayed in boarding houses or with relatives when Congress was in session. How can anyone afford to maintain a townhouse in DC AND a home elsewhere????????
They also weren't in DC as often (took more time, money, and effort), so they spent far less time legislating (because there isn't much about which they're supposed to be legislating).
Great thoughts, but I question the practicality of enforcing things like out of state funding of candidates. Wouldn't that be fairly easy to conceal? I suppose we could make it illegal but that gives advantage to the "criminals" that will work around it.
It would be difficult to enforce and easy to conceal. Those intent on doing it would likely have the money to pay someone to "launder" the donations for them. Any donations of any type could be outlawed. Restrict campaigning to door knocking and free and equal airtime from the networks, then monitor any candidate's personal finances. Not really sure how else to eliminate the influences. Really difficult to avert corruption of one form or another.
For every countermeasure I can conceive, I can postulate a counter-countermeasure.
It is difficult to create foolproof systems. Often it seems best to just make it "illegal" and hope that "watchdogs" will keep an eye on it. We just need to help the watchdogs and make sure their efforts aren't wasted.
I'd sure like to eliminate "door knocking" and I find air time on networks to be worthless. Let the candidates campaign using social media and good old snail mail (keep the post office in business!) then it's easy for us to trash (recycle) crap we don't want.
What bothers the heck out of me is that 99% of political campaigning is meaningless "sound bites". All it is really is "name recognition" (popularity contest).
The problem with trying to fool-proof anything is that there's always a greater fool.
And yeah - the majority of American voters are too ignorant to vote for anything other than sound bites and name recognition. It is truly a sad state of affairs.
I have to go back and see where the change occurred, but lobbying would virtually end if you limited the time spent in D.C. and forced candidates to spend the majority of their time in their state, particularly their district and their statehouse. If lobbyists had to worry about literally traveling the entirety of the nation in order to lobby for their cause nationally, a lot less backroom deals would occur and the business of America would be far more transparent, to say the least.
That may have been true in the past, but travel now is relatively fast and inexpensive, unlike the days of our founders. I could see large corporations avoiding the travel costs by hiring people in each state to do the lobbying.
I actually see that becoming cost prohibitive. 500+ Reps and Senators in over 500+ cities and towns scattered across the nation, with a majority not near a metro airfield and many not near a regional airport, I actually see the logistics being very difficult to navigate. On the flip side, hiring people and locating them near these reps at least keeps these business dealings in the open, at least where it concerns the people they are supposed to be representing. There is direct accountability to their constituents, no longer able to hideout in the backrooms of the D.C. powerbrokers. I can at least dream, but I doubt it will ever happen.
Reagan was the last time I felt like I wasn’t just voting for the lesser evil. Perhaps I was still too young at that time to have recognized the party pattern of putting in place the one the party elites wanted. Since then I’ve felt like the parties just put up the next brown nosed chosen one in line.
The parties control the whole election process. They made the rules so no one else can take away what they have taken from the people. The parties have also imposed burdens--taxes and inflation--upon the people as the boot on their collective necks to keep them so busy trying make ends meet that they cannot effectively participate in government. This became crystal clear when inflation demanded women enter the workforce en masse so a family could maintain its standard of living. The parties have also fostered ever increasing dependence on the government to provide things that individuals are capable of providing for themselves. However, government imposed inflation has facilitated the dependency in which the dependents will ultimately be disappointed because the government will be unable/unwilling to meet the need when the time comes. What made America great was the fierce independence of its people and the freedoms that permitted that independence. The parties have eroded our freedom and the independence of many. We have become a land where the minority rules and the majority have become unwitting slaves.
I am an Independent. I have been told that I am a "classic Libertarian, " but I have no idea what that actually means. I know that I think according to common sense and facts even if I don't like the facts. I am not obliged to "like" the facts and I don't always choose to accept them.
I refuse to align myself with ANY Party because I will do my own thinking and make my own decisions. I detest BOTH of the Republicans and Democrats, equally, that have laundered about 200B through Ukraine, Israel, Iran, Afghanistan, the CDC, the World Health Organization, NATO, the UN, and............I make my point. And, I am voting OUT every elected official that renewed FISA and gave another $60.8B to Ukraine.
I am very concerned that our Nation - once the greatest Nation on the planet and now a weak and impotent collection of lunatics - will never recover. At this moment in time, our country has become 1938 Berlin.
Hmm... maybe 1931 Berlin?
I am old enough to remember the Carter years; the days of fuel rationing and soaring inflation. As bad as things seem today, I can remember a time very much like today economically. Also, coming from the 70's, I remember the latter days of the sexual revolution well enough to say that it is not much different than what we are witnessing today, just a different marketing scheme. I will, however, state that the slide into irrelevance we are currently witnessing is on a far faster pace than the aforementioned era, but it is, as the Bible says, "nothing new under the sun."
Will I see a radical change to right the ship in my lifetime, probably not. However, that is where "discipleship" and education come into play. If this nation is to experience a resurgence, it will be because men and women take the time to teach the younger generations the folly of the popular wisdom of the age and the benefits of the wisdom of experience that comes to us through history. Without a radical shift in thought, the slide will continue and the results will be the complete degradation of society.
I too remember the Carter years, but in general, I don't ever recall things being this bad. Yeah, economically, things were a mess; but socially/morally, things weren't like this. Were there occasional riots or instances of unrest? Sure. Think Rodney King, Overtown, etc. But those were generally isolated incidents. We also were still quite patriotic back then. Even elementary schools taught patriotic songs and patriotic history. Never (or very, very rarely) would you hear the average American back then shouting "death to America." Such rhetoric would only come from fringe, disturbed individuals - not large groups.
As for your second paragraph, I have for a while planned a post about the topic. It should be coming soon (within the next couple of weeks).
Yes, we had an economic mess. We had worries of running out of oil and global cooling. But we didn't seem to have the atmosphere of today where trust in the authorities is at an all time low. While this also ripples across the entire world, not just the USA.
We also tend to forget that we were only 20 years removed from the days of MLK and the Civil Rights movement, not to mention the KKK was still a very real part of the American consciousness. While we tend to "revere the good ole' days," they weren't always good. Think Vietnam and protesters that chanted death to American soldiers as they spit on them and regaled them with monikers such as baby killers et al. While I admit we are sliding headlong faster than previously, I am not convinced our political and economic climate is that much more removed from that era or the height of the cold war on the global stage. We are also viewing everything through the skewed lens of 2024 instead of how we would have seen things in 1960, or 1970, or 1980. We have the benefit of history, as much as we seem to ignore it at our own peril.
Yes, I believe many of the younger adults don't realize that in the late 70s and early 80s we had worse inflation than the Biden Administration induced disaster.
Humans have "short memories" because there is such a turn over that as a society we tend to forget even the relatively recent past.
It's a long, slow slide, which is why I have not been concerned about "disaster" happening "next week". It's the "future" that worries me.
Perhaps. Waiting for the U.S. equivalent of Kritallnacht - the Summer of Love didn't count. It wasn't specific enough.
Hopefully we will avoid anything really serious like that.
That's my hope, but everything that I am seeing today is grim.
The past four years has been a wild ride! Looking at the pessimistic side it's easy to see the grim and be very concerned. But I try to balance that with realizing the majority of people are clueless and contribute to overall general inertia so life continues on with the slow slide into tyranny.
This slide into the abyss has been gathering steam since Reagan's Administration. After the Baby Bush, the slide became inexorable - unstoppable. The only way for this to end is for everything to hit rock-bottom and only then will the clueless normies wake up and stand fast. Sadly.
It is human nature to organize into groups ("us vs them"). Thus it seems wise to design a system that minimizes the harm that such organizations can do.
First, let's eliminate listing political party on a ballot. Simply list the candidate's name.
Next, in all political proceedings, let's stop reporting tallies by party. Funding for Urkraine? 78 votes yea, 37 votes nay - no reporting of how that vote splits out by party.
Education! Teach our children the dangers of parties.
Funding - Eliminate the government funding of candidates (which no doubt mostly goes to the major party candidates). "Only candidates seeking nomination by a *political party* to the office of President are eligible to receive primary matching funds". "The 1040 federal income tax form asks taxpayers whether they'd like to designate $3 of their taxes paid to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund" Why do we fund this hateful advertising? Ever notice your state tax return also has this?
I also say, make ballot access easier, and don't allow parties to create slates of electors. There should be one slate of presidential electors and, according to the Constitution, they should be appointed as the state legislatures see fit (and should be independent). Likewise, return to having those electors vote only for president - vice president (again, according to the constitution) is the candidate who gets the second most votes.
We do need to go "back in time" in my opinion for the elector process! I don't know much about how hard it is to get on a ballot. RFK Jr. is making some noise about it and it seems to be a *major* effort for even a high profile candidate like himself.
I say also eliminate corporate funding of candidates, and out-of-state funding going to candidates. Only individuals who live in a state where a candidate is running should be permitted to provide financial support to that candidate; after all, that candidate is running for the privilege of representing those individuals - no one else.
Yes!!!! There should be a limit to campaign donations and ZERO corporate donations for all candidates.
We also need lobbying reforms.
I was reading something last week. Our founding fathers had real jobs outside of lawmaking. They stayed in boarding houses or with relatives when Congress was in session. How can anyone afford to maintain a townhouse in DC AND a home elsewhere????????
They also weren't in DC as often (took more time, money, and effort), so they spent far less time legislating (because there isn't much about which they're supposed to be legislating).
Great thoughts, but I question the practicality of enforcing things like out of state funding of candidates. Wouldn't that be fairly easy to conceal? I suppose we could make it illegal but that gives advantage to the "criminals" that will work around it.
It would be difficult to enforce and easy to conceal. Those intent on doing it would likely have the money to pay someone to "launder" the donations for them. Any donations of any type could be outlawed. Restrict campaigning to door knocking and free and equal airtime from the networks, then monitor any candidate's personal finances. Not really sure how else to eliminate the influences. Really difficult to avert corruption of one form or another.
For every countermeasure I can conceive, I can postulate a counter-countermeasure.
It is difficult to create foolproof systems. Often it seems best to just make it "illegal" and hope that "watchdogs" will keep an eye on it. We just need to help the watchdogs and make sure their efforts aren't wasted.
I'd sure like to eliminate "door knocking" and I find air time on networks to be worthless. Let the candidates campaign using social media and good old snail mail (keep the post office in business!) then it's easy for us to trash (recycle) crap we don't want.
What bothers the heck out of me is that 99% of political campaigning is meaningless "sound bites". All it is really is "name recognition" (popularity contest).
The problem with trying to fool-proof anything is that there's always a greater fool.
And yeah - the majority of American voters are too ignorant to vote for anything other than sound bites and name recognition. It is truly a sad state of affairs.
What value is a "democratic" election if 90% of the citizens know nothing about candidates other than their name (and party affiliation)?
Removing the party affiliation should at least nudge people toward knowing *something* about a candidate.
I have to go back and see where the change occurred, but lobbying would virtually end if you limited the time spent in D.C. and forced candidates to spend the majority of their time in their state, particularly their district and their statehouse. If lobbyists had to worry about literally traveling the entirety of the nation in order to lobby for their cause nationally, a lot less backroom deals would occur and the business of America would be far more transparent, to say the least.
That may have been true in the past, but travel now is relatively fast and inexpensive, unlike the days of our founders. I could see large corporations avoiding the travel costs by hiring people in each state to do the lobbying.
I actually see that becoming cost prohibitive. 500+ Reps and Senators in over 500+ cities and towns scattered across the nation, with a majority not near a metro airfield and many not near a regional airport, I actually see the logistics being very difficult to navigate. On the flip side, hiring people and locating them near these reps at least keeps these business dealings in the open, at least where it concerns the people they are supposed to be representing. There is direct accountability to their constituents, no longer able to hideout in the backrooms of the D.C. powerbrokers. I can at least dream, but I doubt it will ever happen.
Reagan was the last time I felt like I wasn’t just voting for the lesser evil. Perhaps I was still too young at that time to have recognized the party pattern of putting in place the one the party elites wanted. Since then I’ve felt like the parties just put up the next brown nosed chosen one in line.
Sometimes, things are exactly as they appear.
The parties control the whole election process. They made the rules so no one else can take away what they have taken from the people. The parties have also imposed burdens--taxes and inflation--upon the people as the boot on their collective necks to keep them so busy trying make ends meet that they cannot effectively participate in government. This became crystal clear when inflation demanded women enter the workforce en masse so a family could maintain its standard of living. The parties have also fostered ever increasing dependence on the government to provide things that individuals are capable of providing for themselves. However, government imposed inflation has facilitated the dependency in which the dependents will ultimately be disappointed because the government will be unable/unwilling to meet the need when the time comes. What made America great was the fierce independence of its people and the freedoms that permitted that independence. The parties have eroded our freedom and the independence of many. We have become a land where the minority rules and the majority have become unwitting slaves.