...He said what?

Woody Allen actually said that it would be good if President Obama could be dictator for a few years. For this statement to come from Woody Allen is not all that surprising but it makes me wonder how many others feel this way. I mean how many people are watching this President along with the congress and senate dismantle so much of what many of us took for granite...or granted if you prefer and thinking "Wouldn't it be grand if Obama was our Dictator?". It seems many of the actions of this government as of late serve more to stand in the way of progress and to cause confusion and division. Is this just an inept government and president or is it by design? I mean are we looking at another Carter style government or are we looking at something more sinister...or not?
I also wonder how many other countries are watching silently as we are being destroyed from within rubbing their greedy little hands together waiting for the spoils.
One last question: Do we as Americans, be they democrat, republican, independent, etc, etc have the wherewithal, The balls as it were to push this country away from the precipice to which it is heading.
Don't get me wrong, I don't blame Obama as there is plenty blame to go around and most of it belongs squarely with us the American people for letting our elected officials get away with murder or stupidity if that is the case, but the pace appears to have really picked up under our latest leadership.

So what are your thoughts on the state of affairs of the USA at this time in history and would you like to see Obama as a dictator?

I have noticed a tendancy over the last ten to fifteen years for governments everywhere to become more meddling and dictatorial. I've also noticed a shift away from entering politics to serve ones country, and towards entering politics to line ones pockets and power grab.

Certainly our last government was pretty controlling. We have microchips in our bins, an explosion of CCTV cameras and a very strong political "thought police" agenda. A classic example of that was Gordon Brown being caught, live on TV in the election run up, calling a woman who questioned Labours immigration policy a bigot. Its not bigoted to question a policy thats allowing Lord knows who to enter our country without even the bare minimum of checks, its common sense. I, and most others, are not anti-immigration, but we are against uncontrolled immigration. And all three main political parties have been fiddling their expenses with the best of them, so none are above reproach there. But, I digress.

I dont think this problem is solely happening in the US. I think there has been an explosion in the state and in state control in both Europe and the US over the last decade. And I agree, the worst thing is that we're letting it happen and I dont see a clear way out of it.

Frankly, most of the main political parties are interchangable, so theres no real alternative other than some of the fringe parties, but most of them are focussed on one or two issues (UKIP for example) or are just not viable choices. So that leaves starting ones own party, joining the other fringe parties and trying to take on the big guns without much funding.

Stubear for Government! :D

Its an interesting topic, thats for sure, and I'm interested to see what happens over the next few years. Especially with our new Conservative/Lib Dem coalition government.

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Originally Posted by JMS

I mean how many people are watching this President along with the congress and senate dismantle so much of what many of us took for granite...or granted if you prefer and thinking "Wouldn't it be grand if Obama was our Dictator?".

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Your statement is so generic that it's absolutely meaningless.

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Originally Posted by JMS

It seems many of the actions of this government as of late serve more to stand in the way of progress and to cause confusion and division. Is this just an inept government and president or is it by design?

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Since I can't read your mind I'll just say you are making no sense to me. I don't have the same impression from the current government. BTW the president is part of the government, so the 'and' above is just illogical.

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Originally Posted by JMS

I mean are we looking at another Carter style government or are we looking at something more sinister...or not?

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Huh? What happened during Carter that was analogous to today?

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Originally Posted by JMS

I also wonder how many other countries are watching silently as we are being destroyed from within rubbing their greedy little hands together waiting for the spoils.

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That's easy - all of your enemies and almost all of your friends.

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Originally Posted by JMS

One last question: Do we as Americans, be they democrat, republican, independent, etc, etc have the wherewithal, The balls as it were to push this country away from the precipice to which it is heading.

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Where exactly is it heading? You're being extremely vague, so your questions are ill defined and impossible to answer. But I'm pretty sure you don't really seek answers, just to stir yet another controversial political thread.

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Originally Posted by JMS

So what are your thoughts on the state of affairs of the USA at this time in history and would you like to see Obama as a dictator?

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I wouldn't want to see anybody but me as a dictator. The state of affairs of the USA at this time in history is 'nothing new under the sun', or 'business as usual'.

Don't worry too much though, one day your guys will be in power again and you'll be once again happily oblivious to such questions.

When asked about the best type of electoral system, W H Auden said something along the lines of: "How about a dictatorship with regular executions"

atleast a dictator could get something done, as opposed to making plans for ten years ahead that the next guy gonna cansel anyway

oh and death penalty for failing to be reeleckted

Well we had a virtual dictator right before Obama, a pair of them actually. I wasn't crazy about that but if I had to choose I'll take the one we have now.

I know it is early here and probably one reason the only answers I see are from people outside the US.

I look at it this way.. if we were a true capitalist system the government would not have gotten involved and left those businesses to fail who did not due their due diligence and were more about the almighty profit more than good business practices. Basically the banking industry took a page from Enron to try and make more money. When that idea failed so should have the banks that invested heavily into it. That is why the FDIC was born in the Roosevelt era to protect the people from idiot banks.

They also should have let the auto makers take their hits as well, even though I live in Michigan and have seen how hard it has hit my family that depended on that industry.

As far as Obama as a dictator I would not want to see any President become a dictator. I think the 2 party system we have is extremely flawed as if you are not Republican or Democrat you really have very little chance in this country currently and even then it is like 2 high school cliques that don't get along so nothing ever really gets accomplished unless there is a major public outcry and they are afraid of losing their seat.

If our government was truely for the people and doing everything in the best interest of the people then maybe they should start funneling some of those funds to the people instead of to business and industry. Is it the peoples fault that a bank did not due their due diligence and gave a risky loan , no. If you want the economy to get kick started give the common man 100,000 dollars and the majority will end up paying off most of their debt which in turn would allow them to have more disposable income. That in turn would have allowed the banks to be helped by removing bad debt from their balance sheets and probably help the auto industry as well since more people would have had the disposable income to buy a new vehicle. It also would have been cheaper than the TARP as well for the government.

As Gugi said that it is pretty much status quo here in the US and we should prepare our children as well because I am sure it will happen again during their life time.

Sorry for the Rant. :soapbox:

All the problems we have today are the fault of the people. People just become more and more pig headed and stupid. They allow business to control the country, they believe any lies that are told to them, they have very short memories, they don't learn from history and they only care about themselves.

Personally I think this country is doomed.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

All the problems we have today are the fault of the people. People just become more and more pig headed and stupid. They allow business to control the country, they believe any lies that are told to them, they have very short memories, they don't learn from history and they only care about themselves.

Personally I think this country is doomed.

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I agree with your assessment. I don't know about doomed but it already bears little resemblance to the country we grew up in. Basically the world as we knew it is doomed.

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I agree with your assessment. I don't know about doomed but it already bears little resemblance to the country we grew up in. Basically the world as we knew it is doomed.

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We read history books about countries who were great powers and are now second and third rate entities and wonder about that. We all are in the unique position of living that experience in this country right now.

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Originally Posted by JMS

Is this just an inept government and president or is it by design?

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I think it is both. A malevolent half-wit can cause a lot of problems, even when its nefarious designs are faulty

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Originally Posted by JMS

I mean are we looking at another Carter style government or are we looking at something more sinister...or not?

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I doubt it is anymore sinister. We are just closer to the black hole now than we were 30+ years ago because it's easier to fall down than to climb up

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Originally Posted by JMS

One last question: Do we as Americans, be they democrat, republican, independent, etc, etc have the wherewithal, The balls as it were to push this country away from the precipice to which it is heading.

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As a whole, no. It depends on what those with the balls are capable of doing, and what those without the balls are capable of undoing. Without a huge turnover in Congress to let new politicians with the right balls (drupal-less) in, it will be very difficult to see a major change in direction away from the downward spiral

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Originally Posted by JMS

So what are your thoughts on the state of affairs of the USA at this time in history and would you like to see Obama as a dictator?

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I would like to see Obama as the dictator of his own facebook page or something along those lines. He is such a great social reformer and community network facilitator I think he could really do well there, and not cause much serious harm like he can where he is now

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Originally Posted by gugi

Don't worry too much though, one day your guys will be in power again and you'll be once again happily oblivious to such questions.

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*yawn*

Ever the boring cynic, gugi. Fly back up to your lonely perch where you can study us illogical creatures from afar

I have yet to see you offer any creative ideas in your responses in Mark's 'stirring' threads - please do not bore me with your next reply. I came all the way out of hiding in the desperate hope that you will not disappoint :)

The problem with kicking all the bums out of congress as inviting a thought as it may seem and bringing in radically different people is you really don't know where these people are coming from and what they really stand for and what I would see is just increased polarization over what we have now. Besides no matter who you get in there as long as our system stays the same it will break them like a mustang and before long they will be like all the others.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The problem with kicking all the bums out of congress as inviting a thought as it may seem and bringing in radically different people is you really don't know where these people are coming from and what they really stand for and what I would see is just increased polarization over what we have now. Besides no matter who you get in there as long as our system stays the same it will break them like a mustang and before long they will be like all the others.

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Better the devil you know huh?

Problem is with anyone we elect is we tend to be trusting of the people we elect and stop paying attention. This inattention bites us in the ass every time.
Maybe instead of trusting what we are is arrogant. We hold our own opinion in too high esyteem. I mean hell, we believed in them enough to vote for them and we couldn't possibly be wrong now could we!?

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

We read history books about countries who were great powers and are now second and third rate entities and wonder about that. We all are in the unique position of living that experience in this country right now.

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I'm in agreement. We absolutely WILL live that experience in this country for many reasons, none of which could be undone overnight even if the populace woke up tomorrow and reclaimed this country from the government or some such thing. Some reasons I can think of:

• Production of goods in large part are gone from this country and won't return if or until this country comes full circle after being third rate for generations. At that point our great great great grandchildren would line up to work for pennies a day and the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) would be too fat and lazy to really give a crap about taking pride in producing anything any more.
• The TOTALLY bogus myth that population control is a good thing worked and worked very well in the U.S. and Europe. So much so, that there won't be a population size large enough in a generation or two to be an economic power anyway. China will implode for this very reason as well with the one child per family mandate, but not before such a policy will impact the U.S. and Europe.
  
  • I still can't figure out why it's ok for millions of women to eliminate synthetic estrogens in the form of birth control from their bodies into the water supply affecting other humans and animals that happen to want to drink or live in said water, but I guess that's their choice.
• The U.S. in general has gotten lazy and sedated. The fault of the individual? Partly. But not without influence. I got rid of my TV over five years ago and I would NEVER go back to having one or watching one in my own home. I drive home at night sometimes and I really do get a sick feeling in my stomach when I see the eerie pale blue flickering light emanating from most every household along the way to mine. Seriously, I get a sick feeling. It's not right.

Heck, I think the changes in the U.S. are quite simply precautionary and preemptive measures put in place by the handlers for a time in the not too distant future when a very highly probable uprising for lack of most everything finally happens and the SHTF. It's been awhile, but I recall stumbling across some video of thousands of concrete above ground mass grave style containers being installed by the government in I believe Indiana or Illinois and Georgia if not other places. Why?

Preemptive Precautionary Planning.

And no, I don't wear a tinfoil hat nor do I think my house is bugged, etc.

Chris L

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Originally Posted by hoglahoo

I have yet to see you offer any creative ideas in your responses in Mark's 'stirring' threads - please do not bore me with your next reply. I came all the way out of hiding in the desperate hope that you will not disappoint :)

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I have a great creative idea - how about instead of parroting the unsubstantiated propaganda of foxnews, a thread on stuff that matters, i.e. discussion of policy.
You can't be too bored though - you haven't deleted any of your posts yet.

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Originally Posted by gugi

I have a great creative idea - how about instead of parroting the unsubstantiated propaganda of foxnews, a thread on stuff that matters, i.e. discussion of policy.
You can't be too bored though - you haven't deleted any of your posts yet.

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When Lee puts you in your place you should remain there Ivan ;):p