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Sitting on the Fence...A Barbed-Wire Fence

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Post  Church1ll Fri Jan 29, 2010 2:05 am

I've come across quite a few news articles lately that contain the following comments, not quoted as chances are you've seen them before also:
  • "Obama and the rest of the Democrats are moronic cowards who would rather talk to terrorists than shoot them"
  • "I felt safer when Bush was president"
  • "People, namely conservatives, keep forgetting that Obama inherited the current state of affairs from Bush and so it is not his fault"
  • "Obama in one year doubled the deficit"
  • "Government health care is socialism"
  • "Republicans winning seats of office is proof the American people are sick of Obama"
  • "Who voted in Obama? I surely didn't"
  • "You're a redneck"
  • "You're a pussy"

Okay, so the last two weren't needed but I'm willing to bet you can figure out which of those is directed to who. Now, I was not a Bush fan. I also am not an Obama fan... or of any politician for that matter.

Now, I'll take each of those little quotes (save for the last two) and give a quick rundown of why I feel the statement is completely or somewhat wrong or vice versa.

The first topic I'd like to get into involves the first two of those not-really-but-yea quotations, and that is terrorism and America. First of all, allow me to describe what terrorism is in a very simple manner: terrorism is at its core the act of instilling fear into an individual or population through frightening and/or violent acts. Basically, terrorism works when the target individual/population is scared shitless. Back to the topic, terrorism is working 50/50 in this country. On the one side we have the idiots who proclaim that the number one thing to do is stop al-Qaeda, many of whom didn't even know of the existence of al-Qaeda until some time after 9/11. These same people are also the ones who call liberals in general "moronic cowards" and all other forms of the word "pussy." What they do not understand however is that this is EXACTLY what terrorists want. They WANT us to go overboard with our "protections" because it takes away time and money better spent on more important things. Did anyone notice how al-Qaeda did not take any responsibility for the underwear bomber guy until after everyone began questioning our safety, until people began to panic all over again? This wasn't like a next day declaration either, this was around TWO WEEKS after the fact. Now, the reason those particular people continually go out of their way to bash people who offer a more diplomatic solution (aka one that doesn't involve bombing the fuck out of a third world country) are because they are terrified, no thanks to the media and out of control defense spending. They are terrified of a handful of guys living in caves. In other words, a good chunk of our nation, one that prides itself as the greatest and most powerful on earth, is terrified of cave men. Yes, terrorist can strike anywhere at anytime. So can lightning if there is a cloud anywhere in the sky. And, believe it or not, you have a better chance at being struck by lightning than being in a terrorist attack in this country. Now, for the other side of the fence. Liberals have an odd way of thinking, and that is both good and bad. On the one hand, no one really knows what the fuck they want to do about terrorism and on the other...they don't know what the fuck they want to do about terrorism. It's a complete mystery (at least, to me it is. Someone help me out here). But liberals don't use their over sized guns to solve all their problems, which is what adds to the "wtf" factor of liberals and terrorism. My idea? Don't just ignore it, but don't respond to it either. If a couple of psychopaths decide to blow up a building, the men and women of this nation will stop them before the plan even ends. Over time terrorists will view this as a greater defeat than us just bombing the crap out of them...something that they do to themselves anyway.

The next thing I'd like to get in to is the current state of the economy, in other words, the next two quotation things in the list. I'm not going to lie, I absolutely suck when it comes to economics so you guys will be correcting me a lot here. First off, yes, the current state of the economy started with Bush's uncanny ability to burn through money faster than most celebrities. BUT Obama did double (if not more) that deficit Bush handed off to him. Here is where people seem to get lost in this, and it is understandable because it makes no sense to idiots who listen to Rush Limbaugh all day; you must spend money to make money. Allow me to expand: say you want to get in to the stock market. Let's not focus on all the crazy shit that goes with that for the time being. Say you want to make a bit of cash by selling several shares of one Big American Corporation of America, Incorporated. Well, you don't have any shares of BACAI. Sitting on your ass with what you have isn't exactly making you money. So now what? The logical way of getting money out of this is to buy a few stocks. In other words, you must spend money. A few months goes by, BACAI gets even bigger and more ridiculous than its name and you sell your stocks making back what you put in and then some. The BACAI gets hit by AIG-esque CEOs and the whole shebang goes down the shitter. Everyone wins! (Not really.) The economy is much the same way. The people need to, but never will, accept the fact that "Washington's out of control spending" will eventually pay off. It takes time, and even more patience.

This next one I've argued far too much, but it needs to be said: government health care is not socialism. Do not give me the whole "it's government forcing us to buy something we don't need, which is socialism" because by that logic just about everything you own that is required by law to own is also socialism. Car insurance comes to mind, but I'm tired of arguing that point and so I won't. What gets me the most is what people don't seem to understand, and that is medical bills are fucking insane. Medical bills can and will ruin you financially unless you are quite wealthy. Allow me to use myself as an example. One way of "curing" Crohn's disease is through an infused medication called Remicade. When I first started taking this medicine five years ago, it cost $25000 EACH INFUSION. If I wanted to stay alive I had to have this done every six-eight weeks. There's fifty-two months in a year, making that between $216666-$162500 a year just for medication that takes up as much shelf space as a bottle of eye drops. If my family didn't have insurance, I'd either be homeless or dead. Now this same medication is about a tenth of the actual price, but it is still expensive. Health insurance is something people seem to think is only for teachers and the wealthy. That mentality is exactly WHY Obama and the liberals want this health care plan passed. They want YOU to be HEALTHY without having to worry about paying medical bills. An interesting comment was posted by someone that really caught my attention and it went something like "the reason they [senators, congressmen, etc.] won't pass the health care bill is because they fear the American people will no longer have to pay for their [senators, congressmen, etc.] health insurance. I think if they had to worry about medical bills , this wouldn't even be an issue and the bill would have been passed already." In a way, the commenter is absolutely right. Senators, congressmen, and the like do not live the way 90% of Americans live. They do not know what it is like to worry about having the money to pay bills on time and whether or not their jobs will be there tomorrow (unless, of course, it is election day). Which brings me to my next point...

People voting for Republicans instead of Democrats is NOT proof that Obama is losing the American people. Rather, it is proof that the Republican candidate was better than the Democratic candidate. Yes, Obama's rating has been falling to record lows for the amount of time he's been in office. In case no one noticed, we are in a recession. People think of their president with their wallets. If the economy is awesome, no one will care about how good or bad of a president you really are. If the economy is shit, you're under a microscope and anything remotely off will be immediately taken to the utmost extreme to ensure you are humiliated. Democrats don't need to "wake up." They've been awake since Obama got in office and they've been doing work. The president cannot put anything in to law unless the Senate, Congress, and/or House approves first (someone will have to check me on which must approve or if all three do or what).

Finally, on who voted for Obama and the reason people are suddenly so defensive about their voting choice. You, the people, voted for Obama because he promised you change from the Republican party. Change is what you got, subtle may it be. Obama is, in fact, doing things that Bush would never have thought up in a million years. The reason nothing is getting done, or rather SEEMS like it isn't getting done? Everything takes time.

Please comment and correct me...I wrote this half asleep.
Church1ll
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Post  Gustavus_Adolfus Sat Jan 30, 2010 6:03 pm

Well said, I agree on all of your ideas.
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Post  ExoticWhiteMan Fri Feb 05, 2010 5:17 pm

That was a really good post. On the healthcare thing, the actual reforms in the bill would be great. But, the Republican's scream socialism and all go against it. In response, the democrats all have to stand together as 60. Problem being, the Democrats had to stick in side deals for a few bastard Midwestern senators. Because of the deals, the Republican view of too much spending and the healthcare bill sucking ass is somewhat legitimized for the public. At first glance, the Republicans refusing to support reform looks like the culprit for killing it. Or, you could blame the side dealings, or maybe the bill being too far left, or maybe the Republicans trying to make Obama fail by stopping everything, or give yourself a headache by thinking about all that crap.

Personally, I think a lot of the stuff in your post and the problems with the deficit and reform failing is caused by the huge polarization in our politics because we only have the two parties. Since each issue has only two sides, two parties seem fitting if you want the country divided into two camps that each think the other is incredibly retarded. Also, it sucks ass to have two choices that each suck ass because they're not keen on any middle ground. On terrorism, healthcare and spending, a middle ground like you described is what would seem best for the country, but our politicians are failing to delivering something that isn't left or right. Couldn't we just use paramilitary troops in the Middle East instead of sending in over 100,000 of our troops? Can't the reform be taken steps at a time, so at least the most agreeable and needed parts get through?

To be honest, politics in this country is looking more dismal the more I read about it. Maybe term limits, or abolishing the parties and having the politicians run on their own two feet would help. Especially after the Supreme Court ruling, the ads, the campaigns, the parties and the conversations will get more bitter as people pick a side instead of picking a solution.
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Post  Church1ll Tue Feb 16, 2010 1:02 am

I'm going to add a bit to my statement about terrorists and fear. It's amazing how many people are terrified of the extremists in this country. We live in the most powerful nation in millennia, possibly in history, and yet so many people are practically shitting themselves in fear of cave men whose only plan to "stop America" is to blow up a plane and maybe a building. Look, 9/11 was tragic and all, but we are a nation of 300+ million people. A couple thousand deaths isn't exactly putting a dent in our numbers. Also, a few buildings collapsing isn't exactly stopping us either. Yeah, the red tape may prevent us from actually rebuilding anything in a reasonable amount of time, but who gives a fuck, right? We should be laughing our asses off every time one of those clowns announces a "terror plot" and fails. Actually, we should laugh if they "succeed." It's not like we'll be going on our knees begging for mercy. Has a terrorist attack, or rather a non-verbal attack in general, even occurred in the past 8 years (9 come this Sept. 11)?

One other thing I want to point out is how ridiculously stupid some of the more hardcore Obama haters have been with the whole "underwear bomber" or whatever the hell they call him. First off, Obama's administration, no matter how much you want to blame them, could have done NOTHING to prevent that idiot from trying what he did. Would you like to know why? Because the plane came from the NETHERLANDS. The Netherlands, last I checked, are not controlled by the United States. Period.

Also, I will agree that giving terrorists rights is perfectly acceptable. Yes, they threaten our security. Big whoop. This country is chock full of murderers, rapists, and the like and they all get rights. Most of the terrorists we capture haven't done much beyond plotting. Plotting, my friends, does jack shit. People within this country plot to blow up buildings in this country all the damn time. They get rights. In all honesty, giving a supposed terrorist rights makes us not look like a bunch of psychotic animals like the idiots who think that blowing up an airplane cripples a nation are.

Just thought I'd throw that little rant in there.
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