Screw the Republicans and the Democrats

[Roto Rooter]

When do we get our country back?

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America...

[Steve]

Make me king.

[chancellor]

When do we get our country back?

1. When you run for office and make a positive contribution.
2. When you work for candidates who will make a positive contribution.
3. When you vote for candidates who will give your country back.

Let's say you can't do number 1. Anyone can do number 2 - find a school board race, alderperson, state representative....and so on, and support them into office. Knock on doors. Help build a website. Make calls.

3's even easier, though a stunning proportion of the population doesn't even vote in major local elections.

[Lucky]

When do we get our country back?

I hear and read this a lot, and I often wonder...from whom do we get back our country?

Many people express this sentiment, but I think they often have very different ideas about what it means. What does it mean to you?

[cardboardbox]

I hear and read this a lot, and I often wonder...from whom do we get back our country?

Many people express this sentiment, but I think they often have very different ideas about what it means. What does it mean to you?

the thread title didnt make it obvious enough?

[baldgriff]

From whom???

There are any numbers of "whoms".

For me its about getting our political system fixed - stopping the partisan politics and getting the PEOPLE that sit in Congress to work together - rather than voting the party line and pandering to those with the deepest pockets.

The major parties are about the business of making money and staying in power. Its about counting seats, and making sure the party wins enough to hold either house. Working for their own platforms and against the other party. Yet both need each other - as long as there is an arguement they can stay in business. Why fix the issues - its the arguement that keeps them in business.

[B-Fly]

the thread title didnt make it obvious enough?

Of course, most of us either self-affiliate as Democrats or Republicans, or have pretty consistently supported one or both of those two parties through our votes. So chancellor's prescriptions presumably still apply.

As to the R v D monopoly on government power in the US, one should presumably look for a grass-roots third party that reflects one's general views and that would appear to have a platform capable of attracting voters, and one should support the building up of that party and the candidates of that party, starting local and then expanding to running credible candidates for state and national elections.

I think the development of a credible national third party or fourth party could potentially be a good thing, in that it would tend to compel more cross-party collaboration even if the farthest right or farthest left party proves averse to compromise. That said, I'm lucky enough to have most of my own political viewpoints pretty well reflected in the platform of one of the two existing credible national parties, so it's a bit less of an imperative for me, as I can mostly just lend my support to Democrats.

[Hornsby]

You all need to read your history better, it's pretty much always been like this. Partisan bickering, back door deal, shady politics, and shadier politicians. It's just a whole lot more public now because of the mass communication explosion. About the only time that the three bodies work together is in times of great Nation need or peril...otherwise, it's business as usual.

[B-Fly]

You all need to read your history better, it's pretty much always been like this. Partisan bickering, back door deal, shady politics, and shadier politicians. It's just a whole lot more public now because of the mass communication explosion. About the only time that the three bodies work together is in times of great Nation need or peril...otherwise, it's business as usual.

And yet most of the world's peoples would benefit tremendously from having the freedom and stability that our government institutions, executive, legislative, judicial and straight-up bureaucratic, have managed to secure and sustain. Go back to the preamble. In relative global terms, we're in decent shape on most of those measures. Our union will never be perfect, but it remains "more perfect" than most. And the anti-big-government crowd doesn't want to credit our big government's role in the continued stability of our increasingly large and complex nation, but there it is.

[Hornsby]

And yet most of the world's peoples would benefit tremendously from having the freedom and stability that our government institutions, executive, legislative, judicial and straight-up bureaucratic, have managed to secure and sustain. Go back to the preamble. In relative global terms, we're in decent shape on most of those measures. Our union will never be perfect, but it remains "more perfect" than most. And the anti-big-government crowd doesn't want to credit our big government's role in the continued stability of our increasingly large and complex nation, but there it is.

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.
Sir Winston Churchill
British politician (1874 - 1965)

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