I agree SM...about the divide..and the politicians are the ones who perpetuate it, and the people fall for it, time and again. Our own president is drawing the party lines...how does that bring us together as a nation? It doesn't.
As for the "dying repub party". This same stuff gets touted when a party is in office. The same thing has been said about the dems, whent he repubs were in office. It always cycles, it will again, you'll see. I know you'd rather think that the repubs will die off, so that's fine....but I disagree.
The typical view is that the repub party is the more fiscally responsible one. I don't necessarily think that's true..but those old stereotypes hang around. If we continue to see our economy plummet, people will get nervous and put a repub back in to "fix" the economy. We'll just have to wait and see, but my own very unofficial prediction is, depending on what Obama does...and who runs in 2016, we'll see a power shift then, or in 2020.
Once the tea party loses ground, I believe we will be back to where we need to be, as a party.
Hm. Well, if we are done bashing the various parties---- I can't imagine why anyone is happy with the government on either side.
I'm so disenchanted with Washington. And I'm actually disturbed--- no joke-- with the direction our society is going. And I envision a dim future.
And this is Polly Anna speaking. I've never been a pessimist. But in truth, the disdain and dislike of the 'other' party on both sides makes me feel really hopeless. What do we need to feel like one country again?
I'm not sure what exactly perpetuates this divide. There is a lot of blame spouted in one direction or another but I really don't think anyone is blameless in it. Until people change how they do things in earnest, we'll sink further and further down.
Fair enough.... I can appreciate that.
LOL, Well lets face it, when your leaning over the cliff on the extreme right, even a moderate looks extreme to you. LOL right or left
I'm sure you were typing while I typed.
My point is simple.What you see as far left, I see as left leaning.
It's all about individual perspective.
We live in very different parts of the country and people's views differ by what is the accepted norm.
I really don't disagree with anything Maddow said. (I did not go check the link that was posted.)
You posted above that you didn't know of any far left people in congress and I named 10 or so... no comment on that?
Perhaps, it's all relative.
I don't consider Boxer and Feinstein to be of the far left.
They represent my area, and we are progressive and left leaning.
Boxer is one of my favorite long term politicians though I liked her better before she'd been in DC for so long.
Feinstein voted for war, she often goes along with the big money guys. I didn't vote for her when she ran for supervisor or mayor in SF long ago.
She is literally in bed with big money interests.
However, I prefer her to every Republican who has gone up against her for the senate.
Without wanting to spend hours searching, here are two brief clips from very different sites, both posted in early 2011..
(You may not like Maddow but she is highly educated and if you read her books, it's clear she is very knowledgeable.)
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0731/America-s-big-shift-right
America's big shift right
Why the country's conservative drift, on a wide range of issues, has accelerated.
"I don't remember, ever, in my 45 years in this business, the debate in Washington being [almost solely], 'What are we going to cut?' " says Sal Russo, a top strategist for the Tea Party Express and a longtime Republican consultant who worked as an aide to Gov. Ronald Reagan and advised Hatch's 2000 presidential bid. "Washington is different than anything I've seen in 45 years."
http://www.politicususa.com/maddow-obama-stopping.html
First Rachel Maddow explained how the center of American politics has drifted to the right over the last 50 years, “The story of modern American politics writ large is the story of your father‘s and your grandfather‘s Republican Party now being way to the left of today‘s leftiest liberals. If Dwight Eisenhower were running for office today, he would have to run, I‘m guessing as an independent, and not as some Joe Lieberman, in between the parties, independent. He‘d be a Bernie Sanders independent.”
Later Maddow added that even Ronald Reagan would not pass today’s Republican purity test, “On the right, the process that has dragged the political center to the point where Dwight Eisenhower would be denounced as a socialist now, Ronald Reagan wouldn‘t even pass a Republican purity test, he‘d be the guy they excluded from the debates for being a wingnut, that process is still very much intact. On the right, things are working sort of the way they always have, if not faster.”
My guess is the republicans will not regain office for a long time. They are totally out of the ballpark in what the country is about. They are a dying party. Many of whom are up for re election in the coming primary, such as Rick Scott, Mitch McConnell and many other misfits. My guess is, their days are numbered.
One of the main reasons Tan Man cannot get a deal is his tea partiers in the party. Oh well, Its his job to get it done and my guess is he will but not till the very last minute.
Respectfully, I present you with some of the democrat parties biggest lefties....
Boxer and Feinstein from your state, if Im not mistaken, Harry Reid, Durbin, Schumer, Kerry, Franken, Rockefeller..... You're pressed to go much further to the left that those guys.
You can differ but dear, I lived through it.
I'm done too.
The country has drifted so far to the right that people like Nixon would sound like lefties today.
I respectfully beg to differ, OH. While there may be extremist type tea party goofballs (and I truly think they are on their way out...hopefully soon) in office, as a whole....right now, and in recent years, the country has slanted more to the liberal side.
It cycles. My guess is, either after Obama, or after the next dem president after him, we're going to see "control" being taken back by the repubs. It has always cycled back and forth, for many different reasons.
The tea party doesn't stand a chance long term..not unless the repubs don't care about not having a prayer to win elections. The tea party does NOT represent the average conservative in this country.
The tea party nuts put people in office. Do you see any anarchists in office, or strong pro-Occupy people in office ?
I don't see any far left people in congress.
The country has drifted so far to the right that people like Nixon would sound like lefties today.
Here's an article I ran across the other day, that points out the 10 people most responsible for the fiscal cliff, and how each one contributed. Yes, Obama is one of them, and it most certainly lays the majority of the blame on Bush. Click through the slide show to see who the people are and their role.
http://money.msn.com/investing/10-who-led-us-to-the-fiscal-cliff
I, too, kind of saw this as a "test" for both the administration and Congress, because I was hoping they were serious about working together, for the good of the entire country. So far, imo, they have all failed miserably. Lines drawn, and absolute refusal to cross them, rarely helps anyone.
Just because Obama won the election, doesn't mean that everyone who voted for him stands behind all of his policies. That's pretty near impossible for any President to have 100% backing from 100% of the people who voted for him. I'm sure there are plenty of people who voted for him would agree to have some programs cut, but not others, specifically, those that they benefit from the most.
I agree with NG - I don't think either the President or Congress is taking into consideration that 1/2 the country holds one view, the other 1/2 holds the opposite and they have to be able to come together.
We, the people, are the real "hostages" here.
" I don't see him compromising on his hard lines any more than the GOP has."
He doesn't have to com[promise. He ran is WHOLE ELECTION on raising taxes and HE WON!!!!!!!!!! His line is drawn and it's staying there. The majority of Americans voted for him on that and are still behind him on that particular issue today. The sooner the repubs realize that, the faster we can move FORWARD as a country and get economy booming again, our spending and deficit in order
^^ This is basically my entire point.
The sooner the repubs realize that, the faster we can move FORWARD as a country and get economy booming again, our spending and deficit in order
Right...like I said:
I think he'd be content to build a brick wall on the aisle, personally, with a sign on our side that reads, "we won...we're in charge, deal with it."
Just because he won the election doesn't mean it's okay for him to be unreasonable. Again, he's the leader...he set this ridiculous tone of nonsense proposals that both sides are going back forth with. Plus, the stuff he "ran on" has changed a few times already....including doubling the amount he stated in his campaign for tax hikes...and the addition of more spending in the form of stimulus funds.
I can IMAGINE if Romney has won and took this same stance...there would be outrage.....I can guarantee you all wouldn't be saying..'Well, he won the election, so he can do what he wants. He doesn't have to compromise".
Having an advantage and being completely unwilling to budge are two seperate things.
I wish the repubs would cave...just get it over with. Someone has to. Just gave, let him "win" his campaign he's busy with....and we'll deal with the consequences.
I, too, am just disgusted with the whole lot of them...
Without the ability to compromise, you get what we've got here.
I can tell you what *I* meant by test--- it was a test for all of them. That they could come together and hash out a plan with parts of both sides worked into one plan. When I say test, I mean for Congress, Dems, Repubs and the president. I really wanted to see them work better together on important issues. I'm discouraged.
The tea party guy last week got the boot which is a step in the right direction for Republicans but what do we do about the far left that won't budge on their end?? Both ends need to bend in a bit and come together. But everyone---- even here--- just digs in and says the other side is wrong period. Can't there be value in what both sides are saying and an attempt made to work a plan taking parts of each or meeting in the middle on some things?
I'm way over the tax cuts. I don't care at all about them anymore. To me, this was just a sign that our government isn't willing to work together--- still! Even after promising they would. Discouraging to me.
"For many of us, this was his first "test", for lack of a better word, and I think many of us feel he's failing miserably.
How so? I need more specifics please...
"You don't embrace half the country, and flip off the rest of us off."
The rest of you? He's trying to get a tax cut for 98% of Americans which for some odd reason the repubs don't want. How is that flipping "the rest of you" off? well unless you fall in the bracket of the people that make $250,000 or more...Then I guess I could understand that but then again, if you do, you've been reaping the benefits of a tax cut for the last 10 yrs....
He has already compromised on what the repubs want, Medicare. No he will not compromise on taxes and SS. Good for him. I don't want him to and neither does the majority of Americans that voted for him. He has said over and over again that medicare is on the table. In his plan he cut medicare but again, the repubs don't like how he cut it. But yet they won't tell him what they want him to cut. Does anyone here not realize that?! The problem with the repubs is the tea party in the house. They will not get anywhere as long as they continue to let the tea party control them...
" I don't see him compromising on his hard lines any more than the GOP has."
He doesn't have to com[promise. He ran is WHOLE ELECTION on raising taxes and HE WON!!!!!!!!!! His line is drawn and it's staying there. The majority of Americans voted for him on that and are still behind him on that particular issue today. The sooner the repubs realize that, the faster we can move FORWARD as a country and get economy booming again, our spending and deficit in order.