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Zonie63 -> RE: Who do we think we are II ? (7/7/2014 9:27:39 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Musicmystery
quote:
ORIGINAL: KenDckey
Although I agree that a political shakeup is in order, I sincerely hope that it doesn't happen with weapons. I would hope we get law enforcement officer and public officials in office that are motivated by the consititution and the law, not by politics.
Americans also have a culture of blaming while dodging responsibility. They keep electing douche bags, then whine about corruption.
Complaining about government doesn't work. Revolution in this context is just stupid. Americans deciding to take personal responsibility for the world and system in which they live, and doing so in responsible, proactive (vs. reactive Tea Party crap, for example) ways, is exactly what's needed, and the only real solution.
Today's range of 3rd Parties are by and large single issue platforms, better suited to political action committees. A viable 3rd Party needs to have a comprehensive platform, viable strategies for achieving it, and popular and financial support for implementing it.
Instead, what we have today are culture wars (you can't govern for part of the country -- just ask Iraq) that generate opposing unfeasible plans (for example, neither Republican nor Democrat proposals will reduce the national debt except in fantasy land).
But as long as Americans prefer pretty lies, selfishness over sustainability, short term over long term planning, getting the other guy over finding comprehensive solutions, trying to fight the world instead of embracing it, attitude over real negotiation, ideology over vision, we're going to stay stuck where we are, or make it worse.
Will the situation force a crisis? Maybe eventually. But despite our whining, we're very well off, and can afford a very long decline before such a crisis.
I hope we don't opt for that route. In the short run, though, nobody wants to budge from what's already not working.
The reason why third parties generally fail is because too many people see it as a "wasted vote," as they consider their best bet is to vote on the lesser of two evils. What this means is that people typically do not vote for a candidate as much as they're voting against the other candidate.
I agree that the problem lies with the voters. Most are too short-sighted, weak-willed, and simple-minded to be able to vote intelligently. As I said in the other thread with this title, it's too easy to blame the politicians. No doubt the politicians deserve a lot of blame, but the voters need to get smarter.
I think what floors me about all of this is that people who are older and wiser than I am are acting like this is some huge surprise, as if they never saw it coming. During the 80s and early 90s, I had to put up with people stridently talking about how "great" everything was and how "America was better off," and yet, where are all these people now? Why couldn't they see it coming?
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