Another Rant - Another Poll

[Ken]

Here's another rant from yours truly....

In the past several years, I've observed countless events which have convinced me that elected and appointed officials at all levels of government have lost sight of the fact that their role is to serve the public.

Public officials have feathered their own nests at the expense of the people. With the exception of the corporate thieves that government just spent Hundreds of Billions of Dollars bailing out, government (elected and appointed) salaries and fringe benefits are far greater than those in the private sectors.

At every level, government officials act as if the average citizen is a complete idiot who needs to be told how to live every minute of his/her life.

They constantly increase taxes and mandate the things we must purchase with the few after tax dollars we have left. They conjure up new fees for anything they can think of.

They rely on the courts to reinterpret the Constitution to deprive us of many of the rights and liberties we have held near and dear.

They attempt to regulate virually everything we do. Individual freedom and privacy are threatened at every level, and we have allowed it to occur by returning the same con artists and crooks to office election after election. Everyone wants to pass a new law. Nobody wants to repeal the thousands of lousy ones we already have on the books.

I believe that a growing minority is fast becoming more and more vocal about the way government has forgotten the reason it exists in the first place. When enough people finally scream, "I’M MAD AS HELL AND I’M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANY MORE!" I think we're gonna' see some drastic changes in the way things work in this country. I hope I'm still alive to see it happen.

So let me ask you - which of the following statements most accurately describes our relationship with our government today?

1. Our government officials serve the will of the people.

OR

2. The people serve the will of our government officials.

[panch0]

We are being used, well atleast a bunch of us are. The greatest invention that they have going for them is the tv and radio. I swear that I know so many people that just regurgitate what Oprah, the view, and other people in the mainstream media say. You can tell cause all they know how to do is repeat the talking points of their side. Both side of gov are guilty of this. And the American people take what they say as the gospel truth. It makes me sick and really tees me off. Rant over.

[pocomoonskyeyes]

I do not trust ANY Politician of any party For any reason. That is as simple and polite as I can say it. I want to see some of the crooks serve time,or failing that meet some college student armed with a Samurai sword.innocent

[rebel]

Bragg -the- banned made a similar stand about economics. His political statements cost him his membership. Good luck with your venture.

I do like your points and I liked Bragg's.

[Winnie]

It's been happening over here for years, you're just catching up!

[Pal334]

This is an interesting poll. I think I vote 1/2 for each. And as I say to the public at large. Use your vote, or don't waste my time complaining.

[LostOutrider]

If your vote was as effective a tool as that statement implies, then I'd agree with you.

I voted 2 - without much surprise. I've never much believed the system to work any other way. Maybe it is a generational block?

[your_comforting_company]

without ranting for a whole day, the way the country operates is the same principal that the country was founded on. The current state of affairs IS the american dream. Do as little as possible and get rich doing it. George Washington, Ben Franklin, Andrew Jackson.. none of them were 'poor folk' looking out for the interest of the people they came here with. They were all well off already and came here to have more power, control, and people to exploit. Not to mention the natural resources they could export back to the old country.
nuff said.

[Pal334]

Individually it would be like P***ing in the wind. But when ALL responsible citizens excercise theirr RESPONSIBILITY to participate in the democratic process, then it is an awesome weapon being wielded like our founding fathers intended. It is for each to determine their own fate in conjunction with their neighbors. As long as our citizens abdicate their responsibilities to a small portion of the electorate (those that actually vote), this slide downwards will continue. Just one mans opinion

[Rick]

Your comforting station - I'll buy into your first two sentences. You are spot on. That is the American dream. I'm completely confused why folks vilify individuals that succeed in that goal. As to the Founding Father's being rich, not entirely true. Many were, but remember that most of the country's wealthiest were loyal to Britain, not the new America. If you do an even comparison, you'll find the Founding Father's, on the whole, were much less wealthy than the Loyalists. Some were even considered small farmers by the standards of the day.

Wealthy folks enjoy the status quo and generally do not vote for change. That would be a very quick way to get "unwealthy".

To all - White washing all politicians on any level of government is horribly inaccurate. I've known some very good people that were drawn to public service because of a sincere desire to give back and/or they believed in their convictions and turned them into action. Bravo for them. We could all take a lesson. Rather than sitting around complaining they did something about it. And before you tell me you have served, let me say that white washing all politicians would then have to include yourself. See how dangerous that becomes?

Politicians vote based on one of three beliefs. 1. They vote based solely on their view of what the Constitution expresses. 2. They vote expressly on how their constituents want them to vote. Or, 3. They believe they have more information at hand than their constituents so they vote their conscience. You may argue what percentage vote in what manner but, from an academic viewpoint, those are the top three measures.

If you are unhappy with the current state of affairs then I would suggest you learn all that you can about those subjects nearest and dearest to your heart. Pancho is very correct, in my opinion, that many folks just regurgitate the latest opinion they've heard. Instead, learn your opponents view...better than they understand it. I'll refer you to the Art of War by Sun Tzu. It's a great treatise on both business and politics as well as war.

Learn the voting record of your politicians. Then you can decide whether they serve your interest or not. I'll bet the vast majority of folks that complain about politicians have NO idea how their politicians voted.

Only when you understand the issues and know how your politicians vote can you honestly make an assessment on whether they serve you, personally, or not. Otherwise, you're just regurgitation what you've heard.

I've said all along, I'm a sheeple and I am. I happen to think our government works very well. It could work much better but that's our fault. More people need to become involved in the process by actually taking the time to learn the issues and voting. In the meantime, we continue to see bad politicos weeded out by the media and by their peers, which says a lot about the resilience of the founding principles.

If YOU don't like how things are run, point the finger at yourself first, then at others.

[Canadian-guerilla]

politicians care about 2 things

getting re/elected

getting rich thru " deals "

[Rick]

Now that's funny I don't care who you are.

[pocomoonskyeyes]

Current poll results -
6.25% believe the Government serves the people.
93.75% believe the people serve the government.
That's with 16 people voting 1 versus 15 - Now that's food for thought!!

[finallyME]

Current poll results -
6.25% believe the Government serves the people.
93.75% believe the people serve the government.
That's with 16 people voting 1 versus 15 - Now that's food for thought!!

Not really. This forum attracts people that would rather fend for themselves then wait for the gov'ment. A national poll might turn up different numbers.

[pocomoonskyeyes]

Not really. This forum attracts people that would rather fend for themselves then wait for the gov'ment. A national poll might turn up different numbers.

I'd say you are most likely right We are a kind of "special interest group"! LOL

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny. -Thomas Jefferson


The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
~Thomas Jefferson

I'm liking ol' Mr Jefferson more and more. This was included in an E-mail from one of my daughters in Ohio. BTW she's 12. I had NOTHING to do with this either!!! Wonder what's really on the minds of America's youth.

[SARKY]

I have pondered this for decades, and have come to this conclusion. 80% of us are generally moderates. 10% are radical left and 10% are radical right. For some reason that 20% gets most of the attention and the ear of our representatives. Next: Diversity (the battle cry of the left) is divisive! The only way to control a large population is to divide and conquer. We are being systematicaly divided along racial, ethnic, religious, and language lines. prime example: Jimmy Carter needs to shut his yap! The president is as much white as he is black.... end of subject! More proof: have any of you seen the undercover ACORN tapes where the acorn worker is telling the young lady posing as a prostitute, that she shouldn't teach the under age hookers how to read because an educated person wouldn't want to do this kind of work. Hell they've been doing that to our kids for decades, dumbing them down. "ignorance is bliss"

TJ is my hero, but then so is Voltaire
"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong"

[Ken]

THIS is what we need.

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[Ken]

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[Pal334]

Ken,, I believe I am detecting a bit of discontent?

[BENESSE]

I'm with Pal and Rick on this one.

We've got no right to ***** about the government because we're too lazy to learn and get involved in matters that concern us.
And if we don't like the biased soundbites spoon-fed to us by the media there are plenty of other legitimate sources to tap into IF we really cared enough to invest the time.
Thank god this is still a country where one can bring about change but if we allow the far left or the far right to hijack that privilege, then we have NObody to blame but ourselves.