Full faith and credit and showdownarama 2013

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by jasong

Government shutdown explained in the form of rap.

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Thanks, but no thanks....

[jasong]

Originally Posted by R.D. Silverman

The Republicans are being driven by the Tea Party.

These people are Libertarian Anarchists. They do not want any government
at all. Their base principle is: I own it, therefore I make the rules and can
do whatever I want.

And they care for noone but themselves.

Libertarian anarchist? I haven't really been following the news, but that statement either proves you need a dictionary or aren't thinking in a totally rational fashion. A libertarian is someone that believes we shouldn't have more government than is absolutely necessary, with the precise definiton of "absolutely necessary government" up for debate. Anarchist means no government at all, or at least not in a form that most people would equate with organized government.

They're mutually exclusive terms. Libertarian views may seem like anarchy, but most people who accuse others of being anarchists probably have never lived in an anarchy in the first place. It's like the evil demi-god status of people like Hitler, if you suggest that some things in the US Hitler would've liked more than what was going on in his Germany, people automatically assume you're a lunatic and won't even discuss it rationally anymore.

Truth be told, we're all human beings with differences of opinion, and while some of us may be more or less informed than others, it's a very widespread and mistaken view to think people are screwing with us for the pure hell of it.

Now matter how much we may like or hate Tea Party people, they are most certainly NOT trying to destroy the country.

Here's the key thing it helps for people to realize at all times. In the exact moment someone says or does something, they believe they're doing the right thing. This is true 100% of the time. They might regret their decision a split second later, but very few people are intentionally screwing with the well-being of other people in the country. I'm sure Obama was being very sincere when he said Republicans are holding the American people hostage, but that doesn't make him sound any less moronic to Republicans. And Tea Party activists aren't automatically totalitarianists simply because they won't compromise with Democrats.

We're all human beings and are fully capable of being saints or demons or somewhere in between, depending on the circumstances.

[jasong]

Originally Posted by R.D. Silverman

Agreement.

It all stems from ignorance. Which is not a big surprise since you will
find tea baggers located in the least educated regions of the U.S.

I suggest you think about the word bigot while looking in the mirror.

I also have a theory about why they hate Obamacare.

(1) They despise him because he is black.

I despise him because I think a large number of received votes are BECAUSE he was black. I know you weren't thinking of me in particular, but that's different from hating someone because they are black. One is blaming his presidency on racism and one is racism with fewer complications in the mix.

(2) During the recent election Republicans running for office routinely
opposed Obamacare as a matter of course. They fed a lot of false and
misleading propoganda about the ACA to their base as part of standard
politics in an election. Now, they can't back off from their position.
And the ignoramuses who constitute the Republican party swallowed the
propoganda.

I don't read the news a lot, gets me too hot-tempered, I generally side with Republicans because I prefer their wrongness over Democratic or liberal wrongness. Kinda like siding with a wife-beater instead of a mass murderer. No offense intended to battered women.

However, it has been law for 3 years, was upheld by SCOTUS, and 40+
previous attempts to repeal it have failed.

MOVE ON. Fight over something else.

Makes sense on it's face, as I said I don't read the recent news all that much.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by jasong

Makes sense on it's face, as I said I don't read the recent news all that much.

But always happy to cash that welfare cheque, huh?

[jasong]

Originally Posted by R.D. Silverman

I agree in principle, (partially) but I believe that a large part of
why they got elected has more to do with the anti-abortion, anti-gay,
anti-black, anti-everything ideology of Republicans in general.
They want to turn this country into a Christian Theocracy.
I imagine that it would be a horrible tyranny; possible worse than Iran
and Saudi Arabia.

BTW:

Obama won. Twice.

We need term limits.

You sound like you live your life according to video game logic. Christians are unilaterally bad, so we must assault them in every way possible. It suits me to think they're bigots, so I'll paint them with a wide brush.

This type of attitude is the very reason we're in a shutdown. You're a fallible human being and so is everyone else, including me. The US constitution was written, in part, BECAUSE people are fallible. They even gave it clauses to allow for their OWN fallibility. What will destroy this country is when people continue to mentally raise their importance above other people's.

I may not agree with your opinions, but I realize that your value as a human being is exactly equivalent as mine. We might not have the same life experience or have the same amount of knowledge, but we are all important. That's one of the main points of the US constitution, the notion that people are important BECAUSE they're people. It's the reason capitalists don't automatically object to their taxes paying for my medication, and why it's so incredibly popular on tv to show news stories about good Samaritans. Because people matter no matter how different they are from us.

[jasong]

Originally Posted by R.D. Silverman

Republicans need to bring back Barry Goldwater

"Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.
.....
The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom.... I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are?... I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of "conservatism."

The saying between a rock and a hard place comes to mind. If you have two people arguing, and neither budges, what has been accomplished?

And I'm not saying Christians are in the right, that's just the normal direction I go. I totally understand that compromise is necessary, but let's not assume the Christians are the only jerks involved in the process.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by jasong

And I'm not saying Christians are in the right, that's just the normal direction I go.

Then you are a fool.

There are many other directions....

[jasong]

Originally Posted by chalsall

"The Adobe Flash Player is required for video playback.
"Get the latest Flash Player.

Thanks, but no thanks....

I didn't have that problem, you might want to figure out a way to prevent scripts from running on the Youtube site. I usually just hit reload when I get that message on Youtube.

[jasong]

Originally Posted by chalsall

But always happy to cash that welfare cheque, huh?

I guess you're assuming I enjoy being unemployed? Tell you what, how about you take the mood swings and the life-shortening medicine that I have to take to prevent myself from hallucinating, and I'll take your life.

If I had a sudden miraculous recovery from my illness, that would be very much better than my "early retirement" via the government. Getting the free money is nice, I won't deny that, but I'd prefer the reason for the free money didn't actually exist for me. The cost is definitely not worth the reward, if I had a choice.

Oh, and no offense taken, everybody's faceless on the Internet. :)

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Then you are a fool.

There are many other directions....

Sorry... That was unnecessary. And unneeded. And unhelpful.

My sincere apologies.

At some point in time all humans will have enough space, water, food, shelter and security so that we all feel comfortable.

Sadly, this idealistic situation is likely many (many!) years in the future....

[jasong]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Then you are a fool.

There are many other directions....

I know I'm a fool. The admission of one's foolishness is the beginning of wisdom. Think of all the wisdom in the world, from philosophy to physics, and all the ways to recombine it, and then reconsider whether you know for a fact your opinion about the shutdown is correct.

If one blind man leads another, they will both fall in a ditch. But what happens if they refuse to admit they're blindness.

I see many ditches in your future, many of them avoidable.