Out of Pod Experience

So, I don't want to get too far off. And I seriously appreciate your view on the topics. There are a few things I would mention, though and then I'll stop because while I enjoy discussion, this can spiral into argument real fast and I'm not into that. I snipped a bit of the quote, so I hope nothing looks too far out of context.

First, "the US might have been intended". The current problems are a product of ambitious/greedy people in government bowing to
the interests of companies. I'm not going to say corporations, because your narrowing the field too much. Corporations are out to make money. True. If we (the US) stuck with our founding principles, we wouldn't be worried because the free markets would self-regulate. But, to address the first part, the US was intended to be one thing. It's not that thing right now because politicians ignore and twist the law and "we the people" do nothing to stop them. The intent doesn't need to change, we need to move back to the intent.

Second topic, taxes are a separate issue. If you're talking income tax, that's not even 100 years old in the US. That's a whole different topic. The US is not supposed to have an income tax. Each publicly funded area has taxes to cover it. Corporate taxes=military budget, tires/oil/gas = budget for maintaining roads, etc... Constitutionally, INCOME tax should not exist. Like I said, that's a whole other story and one that needs a lot of explanation for those who think we can't operate without income tax.

Free education. Nothing is free. The money MUST come from somewhere. Whether you are taking it in the form of taxes or printing the money out of thin air. This is redistribution of wealth in both cases. The same goes for healthcare. It's not a right. It didn't

I see where you're going with the anti-corporate thing, but that's something of a distraction. They are out for money. Period. But the constitution is supposed to be a shield against their monetary ambitions. Americans have basically failed in keeping that particular shield up. They've forgotten what their basic and most fundamental law says. And more importantly, they have forgotten WHY those laws were made the way they are. They're still applicable. Math and money haven't really changed in 200+ years.

Again, I'm sorry for wall-of-texting. It's a topic I have studied extensively and this health care business just brought it out of me. Thanks so much for those that read. For the American's here, have a great Independence day next week! For everyone else, much respect and I hope you have a great weekend. Mine will be filled with pew-pew. :)

Yup, electoral college... where someone can be president even with a minorty vote

That's pretty stupid though when you think about it

I don't want the US to be a "real" democracy. Real democracies are little better than mob rule. The rule of law doesn't matter in them, just the rule of having the largest numbers at any given time. Then you've got the problem where a large part of the population relegates itself to being a rubber stamp which makes things even worse.


Republics are better overall, when they are properly set up. Sadly, the US republic isn't properly set up in part to gerrymandering and in part because too many twits who run for congress and get elected don't give a crap about the constitution. Likewise if we never passed the amendment that let senators be popularly elected (another failure), the majority of the states would have instructed their senators not to let this thing pass and it would have been DOA.

The big problem with the US is too many people either want the government to run everything and too many like Chief Judas Roberts don't have the balls to stand up to them. If he had any balls or any brains, he would have realized that the constitution doesn't authorize congress to buy a product or risk taxation if you don't. The commerce clause has been distorted and perverted beyond original intent and frankly it people like Chief Judas Roberts who are in part to blame for it.



So...

When are we going to be forced to buy and eat lots of sugar, red meat, and alcohol and smoke lots of tobacco products in public to make everyone as sick as possible? I mean health nuts are tax dodgers... they are avoiding buying profitable treatments to Big Medicine and Big Insurance with all their healthy ways. Big Medicine and Big Insurance really need to do something about healthy people now.

I like the precedent.

Since I could be forced to be responsible for my health and purchase health insurance, I look forward to the day when everybody is forced to be responsible for their security and purchase a gun.

Will this happen?

So far, since it's perfectly OK for most people that birth control can be taxpayer-funded, I am still waiting for my taxpayer-funded ammunition. We even have it in the law of the land that firearms are to be maintained for the security of a "free state".


But lo and behold, I don't see that.

Little do the orcs over there in Mordor (Washington DC) know, that the one thing fueling the fires more than anything is a "double standard".

But I expect nothing less from a country that has a "black congressional caucus" and it's not called racist.

In the end I hope this is the end of American Exceptionalism, that ideal that America is special and great and can do no wrong. As America goes down the same socialist/fascistic death spiral as any other country, people will finally wake up. The country is on the way out, but de-coupling the concept of "liberty" from the idea that "United States government equals liberty" is my mission. There is nothing special about American and being an American but the concept of liberty and the protection of the most minor of minorities - the individual - is way more important. These ideals I hold high while, on the upcoming July 4th, I will watch people stuff their fat faces and go on in their zombie sleepwalk wondering if theirs will be the bones I might see bleaching alongside the highway someday.

Freedom will survive America.

There's a lot of stupid in this thread and I look forward to the lock. I see a lot of "capitalism is bad" yet we have not seen real capitalism for over a century. "socialism is trouble" they say. We have not had real socialism either.

If we had real capitalism, the "too big to fail" banks would have been allowed to fail. They were bailed out. If we had real socialism, then the money taken to bail out the banks would have been used to bail out the people.

But you can go on fighting amongst yourselves over this little thing.

It could also end up making Paul the ticket holder instead of Romney if the RNC felt the need. It's incredibly unlikely of course, but I'd be laughing myself silly if it happened.

Anyway, a number of states will probably just go forward and nullify. A number of other states may also secede by yearend at this rate, but that's outside this discussion. (I'll remind that I'm normally an optimist.)

BTW, the only 'true' democracies were these guys:

Already happened

The game had been rigged for years and years. It is clearly not in the interest of the people to do what the government is doing in US, and have been doing ever sin WWII.

The next election is a farce like any other. Totally meaningless.

Most Americans can't even fix their own weight problems... this is over them

Only in America would so many overweight, diabetic people with heart disease be upset that they're gonna have free healthcare.

Still fun to read these kind of comments. You'd think Europe was some kind of third world country where the homeless crowd all the public places in the hundreds and hospitals offer care on the level of the Spanish inquisition. Europe would possibly be on fire 99% of the time because of massive social uprising against the oppression of mandatory insurance and all that. Obviously that horrible little socialistic influence has ruined the continent and caused a massive exodus to the US where life is so much better.





Sorry.... Just had to do it. I just find it funny that so many Americans think that this is the end of the world. I can understand the arguments against it though and this is possibly a change that's coming too fast, especially with the rapidly changing political climate in the US where pretty much every 4 years there's a complete turnaround of plans. For that matter, i wonder how the US would fare if there were more than 2 parties to vote for.