General Politics Thread

[JP golf]

I've decided to run for president....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I can play more GOLF!!!!!   Wooooooo!!!!         _{(that's all I got)}

[Patch]

I have decided that there is no such things as the Donkey or Elephant parties. The are one in the same. They both are now the new "Greedy Party"  and are in business for themselves and their handlers. 

Yes I am being facitious.......I think 

[jbishop15]

14 hours ago, newtogolf said:

You should really review Sharia Law as I believe you will find it even more oppressive and oppositional to your views than you find Christianity.

@newtogolf I moved my response to this thread in the interest of keeping the other one on-topic. 

I don't support sharia law, so I'm not sure at what you're getting at. I don't support any religious influence at all. But I also think that blaming Muslims who have no desire to murder and kill for the crimes of those who do is stupid and unfair. 

This idea of Christianity as a religion of peace is a new interpretation, and an incorrect one at that. Christian law, for lack of a better phrase, restricts women's rights, discriminates against LGBT people, and a whole host of other things. Christianity has been used for thousands of years to justify oppression against essentially anyone that wasn't a straight white male; it has been used to justify class privilege, and any number of world problems. 

But you don't hear people saying," Oh, those Christians! Can't trust any of them!", though perhaps we should, if we were to apply your logic. 

I am not about to condone punishment of hundreds of millions because thousands are committing crimes. 

[saevel25]

The system is more F'd up then I thought. When upwards of 2/3rds of a congressman's time is spent fundraising. The more influential you are the more your dues are to the party and the more you need to fundraise. It's amazing anything ever gets done or the fact that anyone ever runs for congress. I am absolutely shocked that the government has lasted this long. 

You have to be absolutely insane to want to be a glorified fundraiser when you really want to do is actually legislate and do some meaningful work. 

 

[nevets88]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

The system is more F'd up then I thought. When upwards of 2/3rds of a congressman's time is spent fundraising. The more influential you are the more your dues are to the party and the more you need to fundraise. It's amazing anything ever gets done or the fact that anyone ever runs for congress. I am absolutely shocked that the government has lasted this long. 

You have to be absolutely insane to want to be a glorified fundraiser when you really want to do is actually legislate and do some meaningful work. 

 

I mentioned in the Trump thread how f**ing insane our election process is and in dire need of a rethink, it's not dissimilar to our infrastructure. You see the airports, highways and cities in Europe and Asia and I look at our cities and just feel like we're falling behind the world. Don't even get me started on broadband. WE'RE FALLING BEHIND.

[Patch]

I think it is some what amazing that the GOP elete are forming some sort of "dictatorship" by not allowing  Trump voters a choice. 

[Lihu]

On August 27, 2015 at 5:02 AM, Phil McGleno said:

I hate political threads. All they do is take a group of people who should celebrate having one thing in common-golf-and divide them and make them call each other names and hate each other. Occasional political topics are one thing. A thread for them is another. I will not be participating except to encourage others not to participate. - We already get enough negativity in our lives. Celebrate golf here at TST.

Agree with Phil. , not criticizing this thread, though. As a moderate, I'm uncomfortable with the extremes. No one on this site has shown me in any posts that they are at those extremes. I have seen heated debates over similar views which really surprised me, so because of that I agree that we should discuss and celebrate golf.

@Gator Hazard change parking lot to golf course in your joke.

 

[saevel25]

27 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

I mentioned in the Trump thread how f**ing insane our election process is and in dire need of a rethink, it's not dissimilar to our infrastructure. You see the airports, highways and cities in Europe and Asia and I look at our cities and just feel like we're falling behind the world. Don't even get me started on broadband. WE'RE FALLING BEHIND.

It's hard to compare because you have Britain which is about the same land size as Michigan, but with 7x the population. 

That is where I think people say, "Well Germany has this, or Japan has that, or Britain has this."

Well you give Michigan 7x more population and they might more tax revenues for their state to do stuff. The US is a fricken HUGE country. We have a ton of infrastructure spread out over a larger area. We do not have very high population density. 

It's not an apples to apples comparison. The GDP of Britain is 2.6 trillion. GDP of Michigan is 462 billion. Same land mass that needs to be developed and maintained for 5.6x less the economy. Yea, tell me how that is going to work. 

Yes, we are lagging behind and partial because we have a strong federal government . The locals can't do much because money is trickled down through the bureaucracy. The Feds can't adequately allocate the money because the country is too damn large for them to handle. If the Feds actually let the states and locals become the primary drivers for their own programs and infrastructure then things would be much better. Nope, the feds have to get their hands into the cookie jar.

How the heck does one congressman from Ohio, who spends 25% to 66% of his time fundraising have time to meet with the people they represent to adequately do their job for their district. 

So much more stuff needs to be done on the state and local level. 

 

16 minutes ago, Patch said:

I think it is some what amazing that the GOP elete are forming some sort of "dictatorship" by not allowing  Trump voters a choice. 

God, please don't turn this thread into a Trump thread. That Trump thread was closed for a reason. 

[Gator Hazard]

32 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Agree with Phil. , not criticizing this thread, though. As a moderate, I'm uncomfortable with the extremes. No one on this site has shown me in any posts that they are at those extremes. I have seen heated debates over similar views which really surprised me, so because of that I agree that we should discuss and celebrate golf.

@Gator Hazard change parking lot to golf course in your joke.

 

Huh? What joke? How ya been man?

[Lihu]

4 minutes ago, Gator Hazard said:

Huh? What joke? How ya been man?

The two gators one small and one big with the diet of democrats. Small one shaked the crap out of them before eating them leaving nothing but a hole joke?

Been good, slow internet and jet lagged. . .

[Patch]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

It's hard to compare because you have Britain which is about the same land size as Michigan, but with 7x the population. 

That is where I think people say, "Well Germany has this, or Japan has that, or Britain has this."

Well you give Michigan 7x more population and they might more tax revenues for their state to do stuff. The US is a fricken HUGE country. We have a ton of infrastructure spread out over a larger area. We do not have very high population density. 

It's not an apples to apples comparison. The GDP of Britain is 2.6 trillion. GDP of Michigan is 462 billion. Same land mass that needs to be developed and maintained for 5.6x less the economy. Yea, tell me how that is going to work. 

Yes, we are lagging behind and partial because we have a strong federal government . The locals can't do much because money is trickled down through the bureaucracy. The Feds can't adequately allocate the money because the country is too damn large for them to handle. If the Feds actually let the states and locals become the primary drivers for their own programs and infrastructure then things would be much better. Nope, the feds have to get their hands into the cookie jar.

How the heck does one congressman from Ohio, who spends 25% to 66% of his time fundraising have time to meet with the people they represent to adequately do their job for their district. 

So much more stuff needs to be done on the state and local level. 

 

God, please don't turn this thread into a Trump thread. That Trump thread was closed for a reason. 

Just speaking my mind. 

[newtogolf]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

It's hard to compare because you have Britain which is about the same land size as Michigan, but with 7x the population. 

That is where I think people say, "Well Germany has this, or Japan has that, or Britain has this."

Well you give Michigan 7x more population and they might more tax revenues for their state to do stuff. The US is a fricken HUGE country. We have a ton of infrastructure spread out over a larger area. We do not have very high population density. 

It's not an apples to apples comparison. The GDP of Britain is 2.6 trillion. GDP of Michigan is 462 billion. Same land mass that needs to be developed and maintained for 5.6x less the economy. Yea, tell me how that is going to work. 

Yes, we are lagging behind and partial because we have a strong federal government . The locals can't do much because money is trickled down through the bureaucracy. The Feds can't adequately allocate the money because the country is too damn large for them to handle. If the Feds actually let the states and locals become the primary drivers for their own programs and infrastructure then things would be much better. Nope, the feds have to get their hands into the cookie jar.

How the heck does one congressman from Ohio, who spends 25% to 66% of his time fundraising have time to meet with the people they represent to adequately do their job for their district. 

So much more stuff needs to be done on the state and local level. 

Congressman, senators and the POTUS don't really do all that much, they are figure heads who have speech writers and teams who do all the real work.   The elected officials get to go on CSPAN to cast their votes and read speeches other people wrote for them.  Beyond that they strive for network airtime and of course make fund raising appearances.  

All levels are government are operated inefficiently because there's not motivation for the individuals to operate more efficiently.  Some may try to make a difference but are quickly brow beaten into mediocrity.  It doesn't help that most government employees are protected by unions who by their nature ensure that nothing runs too efficiently.   

 

[saevel25]

A cool visualization of how polarizing the country has gotten. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/04/23/a-stunning-visualization-of-our-divided-congress/

 

[saevel25]

A very cool intake on political polarization and how both sides can combine the good of both sides and work together. 

 

 

[saevel25]

The great welfare chart for the US Government 

The idea of Basic Income anyone? (please read the whole article with an open mind before typing a response. )

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/universal-basic-income/

 

[nevets88]

3 hours ago, saevel25 said:

The great welfare chart for the US Government 

The idea of Basic Income anyone? (please read the whole article with an open mind before typing a response. )

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/universal-basic-income/

 

I recently read about a version of the concept in a science fiction series (The Expanse - the concept actually made it into the tv show), Freakonomics talked about it recently too.

[saevel25]

20 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

I recently read about a version of the concept in a science fiction series (The Expanse - the concept actually made it into the tv show), Freakonomics talked about it recently too.

If we had to have a welfare system. I rather send a person a check and let them take ownership of it. Then if they F'd it up they only have themselves to blame. 

Also, it gets rid of that ugly graph I posted 

 

[saevel25]

Not sure if this is a political stance but. I am adding it to my agenda. 

NO MORE STANDARDIZED TESTING!!!