So who's next?

Dont forget about the Thailand red shirts last year.

Sad to say they got slapped down early though

shootemwon wrote: »

I see a bunch of people in comments section from the news stories sayin ? like "Now it is time for us, the American people, to rise up against the corporatist plutocracy which has hijacked our democratic system". Talk about wishful thinking.

That's your calling shootem! ? is sending you signs that it's on you to start the revolution!!!!


Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Jesus is laying his sword handle in your hands, are you willing to grab it or let this moment pass you by?!

shootemwon wrote: »

You know, as frustrated as I am with the system, I still believe our democracy, though not perfect, has the capacity to work. It's the pitiful lethargy and ignorance of the American electorate that has allowed us to go down this road. No, we don't need to "rise up" against the US government, we need to vote like intelligent adults and stay informed through our own diligence. I know this is no more likely than a successful armed rebellion against the American government, but that's the American public's fault. Not the government's, not the corporations. That's why "rising up" does not seem justified to me.

Everyone hates that corporate lobbies bankroll political campaigns, yet we can observe that the more campaign funding a candidate has, the more likely they are to get additional votes. That means people hate the corporate influence, but those same people will still be swayed by campaign ads paid for by the corporate lobbies. The ignorance of the average American voter is the only reason that big campaign donations are so prized by our elected officials.

Yea I agree with you. While the government had no qualms about allowing it to be bought out and transformed from the what it should have been, the people are the blame and are the ones that allowed it to happen. The concept of democracy and our system is golden. We just need to quit being lazy voters and look at who we're really voting for and quit siding with dems or repubs just because our parents voted that party.

ThaChozenWun wrote: »

Yea I agree with you. While the government had no qualms about allowing it to be bought out and transformed from the what it should have been, the people are the blame and are the ones that allowed it to happen. The concept of democracy and our system is golden. We just need to quit being lazy voters and look at who we're really voting for and quit siding with dems or repubs just because our parents voted that party.

I don't know if "golden" is exactly the word I'd use, but in the past it worked a lot better and it still does in a parliamentary system, which I'd prefer. The inherent problem with Democracy is that the majority of people are just too stupid to be making decisions about how the country should be run. What's changed in America (as opposed to a parliamentary system like England) is that the political parties used to be very powerful (as they still are in England).

We've weakened the clout of the party organizations with 2 big things. First is that we now let the public vote in primary elections to choose nominees, and second is campaign finance reform laws. This is why special interest now has so much influence. In the past, elected officials depended on their party's organization (Democratic National Committee, Republican National Committee, and the House/Senate Campaign Committee) to fund their war chest and get them re-elected, not to mention, before primary elections, if you ? the party off too much, they'd just boot you off the ticket. That may not sound like a good thing, but it's the lesser of two evils because now the parties have been weakened to the point where the elected officials have to look elsewhere for campaign funding, and that elsewhere ends up being special interest money.

Look at the how they had to butcher and water down the Healthcare Reform bill because members of Obama's own party refused to vote for it unless they got kickbacks for their state and amendments to appease their corporate donors. If we still had the old way of doing things, Pelosi and Reid would have been able to say "Uh, how about we don't do that, and you vote for it the way it is, or else we can find someone else to run for your seat next time". Gully.

ThaChozenWun wrote: »

Totally Agree. I still think the concept of democracy is golden though lol....

And I remember right after Obama chopped the hell out of health care reform watching a former member of British parliament speaking about it and was like America has turned into a bunch of sissies, had it been 1940 when other countries had universal healthcare and people couldn't afford health insurance people would be in the streets taking action to get free health care and members of the democratic party would be getting kicked out if they didn't support it. He was telling the truth too, try telling someone in France, Britain, or Cuba they don't get free healthcare anymore or that you're going to give them healthcare that they have to pay over 35% of their annual income on just for a ER visit or Ambulance ride.

They got strong parties in France and England. When you vote for a candidate of any given party, the expectation is that they're going to represent that party's platform, and since the parties are strong and there's no primary, the party leaders will see that they do just that. In America we got it twisted (though somewhat justifiably so since we have a 2 party system). Americans think it's good to elect people who promise not to be guided by the party platform, and instead "view each issue individually". If there's no core ideological values that are consistent from issue to issue, then it's a sure bet that they're doing whatever is most beneficial and expedient for their own interest.

This takes it back to what I previously said about democracy's major problem being that most people aren't smart enough. You can remedy that when you have strong parties, because the party leaders stamp out the cheap panders to anti-intellectual and visceral populism. So regardless of which party is getting the most votes, none of the parties are gonna let retards from the Tea Party capture a bunch of seats and then push their delusional agenda on the rest of the people.