When a nation gets greedy and spends money they haven't got; we would have to be pretty naïve to believe that either a Democrat or a Republican would be smart enough to fix it. Time my friends is the only thing that can fix the mess we are in now. We all did it to ourselves, or allowed others to do it to us. We are all to blame.
 
Grandpa13.

No, it's all Raptor's fault.
 
pazuzu

yup, u'r right.
 
we are trusting sheep that have too much on our plates like raising families and going to work every day to constantly and vigilantly watch over our "trusted" friends in Washington. AND,, we have no direct say in what they do, anyway. Nothing. we can only watch. so why watch??
 
think of government like this:
 
You own a chain of resturants,,, you cannot be there yourself to run it so you hire people to do it.
 
the problem is,, you are NEVER there to run it. never.
 
so when the people you hired KNOW you cannot check up on them , they steal you blind - like that never happened even when the workers WERE being watched.
 
Now, can we fire them...?
 
sure but,,,
1) we'll never recover what they took or recover FROM that loss
2) we have yet to put a system in place - a system of accountability and oversite that will try to watch their every move AND to be able to OVERRIDE what they do when it is clearly fraudulent - like the bridge to nowhere or war with Iraq. And until we do,,, the people we hire will keep right on doing it forever, no matter WHO we hire. I think it is human nature. because even if we catch them,, so what? they get away with MILLIONS before we do, so do they care that they finally get caught ?? no.
 
As the ancient Romans once mused as Rome regressed from being the worlds most powerful empire,,,, "Who regulates the regulators?"
 

 
 
 
So whats the answer? I sure don't know.
 
D

An EXCELLENT question.
 
I'm working on it!
 
now let me see,,,, If I just call Senator Kenenedy for help here...
 

You have a chain of 10 restaurants, get rid of 9 of them,you only need one to make a living.
 
grandpa13

Every year two melon growers harvest and take their melons to the market.
 
They sell the melons for $1 each and can't figure out why they aren't making a profit.
 
They go home and look at the books and realize the melons have a production cost of $1.
 
Their conclusion is that in order to make a profit they need to buy a bigger truck.
 
 
 
 
 
 
In an election earlier 5 wolves and one sheep all vote on what's for dinner. I wonder who won.

 
I always was for states rights

 
the democrats. they rigged the election

by the way,,, just for a second go back to the resturant chain example,,, just to show you how "weird" (for lack of a better word) our perspective is on government;
 
John F. Kennedy was a renowned president, IMO. He once made the following famous quote:
 
 
Now, how would you feel if you hired a high-priced CEO to run your resturant chain, and he comes up to you and says,,,,
 
 
game-set-match
 
 
 
 
 

I would say; I am going to sell my restaurants and you can take a hike. Don't let the door hit you in the ass when you leave.
 
grandpa13

why haven't you revolted?

UNDERSTANDING POLITICS & BUSINESS AROUND THE WORLD
 
 
 
USA DEMOCRAT
 
You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for being
successful. You vote people into office that put a tax on your cows, forcing you to sell one to raise money to pay the tax. The people you voted for then take the tax money, buy a cow, and give it to your neighbor. You feel righteous. Barbara Streisand sings for you.
 
U.S. REPUBLICAN
 
You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. So?
 
U.S. LIBERTARIAN
 
You have two cows. You would have more cows but the government interfered. Your cow ownership is covered by the 2nd Amendment. Everything is covered by the 2nd Amendment. You wonder what kind of drugs your cows like to use.
 
SOCIALIST
 
You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor. You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow. Your cows enjoy the highest standard of living in the world.
 
COMMUNIST
 
You have two cows. The government seizes both and provides you with milk. You wait in line for 5 hours to get it. It is expensive and sour.
 
AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows. You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one. You force the 2 cows to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when one cow drops dead. You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses. Your stock goes up. You give yourself a 5 cow stock option as a reward and then set up an offshore corporation to shelter the milk.
 
FRENCH CORPORATION
 
You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows. You go to lunch and have a bottle of wine. Life is good.
 
JAPANESE CORPORATION
 
You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains. Most are at the top of their class at cow school. 40 years later you get milk.
 
GERMAN CORPORATION
 
You have two cows. You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour.
Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year. They then try to invade France.
 
ITALIAN CORPORATION
 
You have two cows but you don't know where they are. Not to worry. The
Germans will find them for you. While ambling around, you see a beautiful woman. You pinch her bottom. You break for lunch. Life is good.
 
RUSSIAN CORPORATION
 
You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You have
some more vodka. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 12 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka. You produce your 10th, 5-year plan in the last 3 months. The Mafia shows up and takes over no matter many cows you really have.
 
POLISH CORPORATION
 
You have two bulls. Employees are regularly maimed and killed attempting to milk them.
 
FLORIDA
 
You have a black cow and a brown cow. Everyone votes for the best looking one. Your brother gets to count the votes. Some of the people who like the brown one best, vote for the black one. Some people vote for both. Some people vote for neither. Some people can't figure out how to vote at all. Finally, a bunch of cow experts from out-of-state tell you which is the best-looking one.
 
TEXAS
You have two cows. One carries a 9 mm Glock and the other carries a modified AK47. They get into an argument over football and end up shooting each other. The NRA announces that guns don't kill cows, football does. You have Corona beers and BBQ. You then have your new cowhide boots polished. Life is good.

Finally; some good sound humor.

 
exactly. now just how does one get out of any obligation to the "government rackets"?
 
there may be no perfect answers but there are _beginnings_.
 
all I know is __for the time being__,,, the only partial solution I have, the only party I know of that I will vote for is - the Libertarians.
 
they, as humans, may end up being corrupt, if in power, but at least they have publicly identified the REAL problems to BIG government and are dedicating to ending those problems and cutting BIG GOVERNMENT down. that is one thing the RepubloCrats would never ever do.
 
Besides the obvious money wasters like the "bridge to nowhere" type of EARMARK that the Libs would clearly END, you also have OTHER whole agencies that are really a total waste, as government in America was never supposed to be invovled in such things IN THE FIRST PLACE, but IS because the powerpig elites can make a handsome profit at running them.
 
- WAR. the founders wanted a country that could protect itself with the use of militias, VOLUNTARY militias that cost us NOTHING, not $trillion state of the art continent anhialators. Get rid of war department or seriously reduce it's size and function, AND also shut down the CIA who cause all the trouble to begin with. this country thrived without the CIA - up to the 1950's, and has been in WAR trouble ever since their creation. We don't NEED THEM! They need US and our money!
 
- welfare. TWO THIRDS of every $ spent on welfare is kept by the ADMINSTRATORS of welfare. just WOW! the Kiwanis, Rotaray, other volunteer clubs, churches and other volunteer orgnaizations can do a MUCH better job. get rid of it. and get RID OF FEMA - those usless bastids. In the interim, just give some of the 1/3 to those volunteer organiizations to help the needy and the real troubled individuals that need help of a differnt kind and would be weened off of welfare altogther. The volunteer orgs would also do a FAR better job at ending the widespread fraud and make sure only the NEEDY get help, not crackheads, alcoholics, and pure phonies that slip between the cracks.
 
 
 
these are but mere __examples__ as to what the Libertarians might do should they ever gain power. you can see right away they would save so much money just in those two departments + earmarks, they could start paring down the debt, and making our SS retirement trust fund viable again (which would one day be privatized)
 
ppl don't realize this. the SS fund is SO depelted that had it have been run by a private organization (no stolen $$), they could DUPLICATE everything SS does AND give you $200,000 the day you retire. _THAT_ is how much has been stolen. all that interest that would have been accumalating, is GONE, forever.
 
so,,, now you know why - for now, I put more faith in the Libertarians than any other political organization. they want badly to end the incredible corruption in Washington and let people keep the money they earn - especially the poor, and LIVE! live FREE again, free from Big Brother Slavemaster.
 
and now you know why presidentail candidate, R Ron Paul the ex-Libertarin, is called "Doctor NO" in Washington circles,, he says NO to everyhting the gut-busters want. And THAT is as a result of his good Libertarian upbringing.
 
The Libertarians may not be perfect but they work IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION TO SAVE AMREICA. they know that singular people like the commander in chief simply cannot be TRUSTED to making the decsions with the $trillion military we have. One good BRIBE/Blackmail to this individual, and OOPS - there goes another country! we have to STOP this insanse corruption.
 
just some rambling thoughts here.