I’m not sure if I was specific enough in my description but I will do my best to explain what I mean… Currently there are a lot of political races going on around the country for various government positions (Governors, Senate Mayor Etc.)

Normally when political season gets going I tend to roll my eyes because although I am interested in the issues that go on, I tend to get annoyed quickly when the campaign ads begin to circulate because it seems more and more like the issues that people care about often take a back seat to political grandstanding of what I call an “Us vs. Them” type of scenario being Republicans vs. Democrats or vise versa.


The question that always comes to my mind in an election year is will someone be elected based on what their agenda is to solve issues that trouble many or will someone be elected strictly based on political affiliation?

Although there are independent candidates I feel that those candidates don’t get the adequate air time to state their case as someone who is running in one of the two parties.


What also runs through my mind is why are some candidates allowed to flood the airways with campaign ads (Assuming they have the financial backing to do so) and some candidates aren’t strictly because they don’t have the finances to afford air time, should elections be contested on an even playing field?


Currently, I live in a state that has been flooded with campaign ads for various elections. It is at the point where I can’t turn on a local station without either seeing a commercial for a candidate or hearing about it daily on the news.

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts about current politics in America and whether or not you feel the current political system needs to be revamped?

What’s your Opinion? Please be respectful…

Well, most Independents will tell you that their goal is not to win (though it would be nice) but to have an influence on the other two parties.

What I really dislike about the system is that it's bipartisan. I wish that there were no parties. People would actually have to delve further into candidates to know what they are all about. I think that would fix a lot of things.

NotJon : Part of me also wishes they would do away with the party system and go to a more individual based system but when I think of what could potentially happen if such an event occurred I think back what my idol George Carlin use to say about honesty in politics. He use to go on these entertaining rants about how if honesty were introduced into American culture the whole system would clasp.

I wonder out loud sometimes now that it’s been two years since his passing what he would be saying about the current economy and the arguing on both ends of the political spectrum and how the Republicans have basically been given the nickname of “The Party of NO!” since President Obama took office. It makes me wonder out loud sometimes if all of Carlin’s dialogue about the system slowly breaking down was actually a vision he saw coming though I don’t think it’s gotten as bad as Carlin predicted it would.

They've only become the party of no if you watch the leftist media tell the story. I've seen plenty of suggestions from lots of different republicans on how to solve a lot of the issues the US is facing but they don't get the air time.

I would love to see the party system be done away with. I'm tird of seeing the votes being cast based on party affiliation. And candidates barely get noticed if they aren't in either of the major parties.

I've heard it put like this: The 2 parties are like 2 crime families in a city. They don't really care who is in "control" at any given time just as long as no one comes along to screw up the sweet deal they've got going.

geeogree : If you ever heard about all the stories about the government trying to stop organized crime it makes you think of how you put the 2 crime family analogy to the political system…

Thank you for giving me my laugh today I agree with you… The movie Find Me Guilty comes to mind about how the government has been trying to KO organized crime for years. Vin Diesel did an excellent job in that movie as a mobster… If any of you haven’t seen the movie I highly recommend it.

Politics are way too corrupt here in America. That's why I align myself with the conservative view point instead of the republicans or the democrats and Independents. Honestly All three parties are the same these days. I do think that the Republicans have learned a bit of a lesson after losing 2008. So I do think there is more hope for them.

Hoochman : Well I don’t know if they have learned a lesson or not because it seems like the Republican party have nothing else better to do than bash anything and everything that President Obama is attempting to get done. It could strictly be a case of them as a party going against anything that impartial observers would see as potential progress because it isn’t affiliated with their party.

It does annoy me sometimes when I hear people say that what ever Obama is trying to do to get our economy going again and or fix problems that he inherited but he’s not doing it quickly enough for their liking. Lets face it, Obama inherited quite a mess and there is realistically no real “Quick fix” to the problems. It also annoys me that even after Obama was elected by wide margins that no one really on the other end of the political floor so to speak has offered to legitimately work with him to get things done.

It does make you feel sometimes that there is just too much corruption and incompetence going on in Washington for anything productive to get done… It reminds me of what Carlin use to talk about when he would discuss why he doesn’t vote. In so many words he took the argument of if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain and basically stripped it down and dismissed it by saying If you vote and you elect dishonest, incompetent people, you are responsible for what they have done, you voted them in, yet I (Carlin) on the other hand, who did not vote am by no way at fault for the mess that you (The voter) have created and therefore I can complain all I want.

This isn’t a direct quote obviously but the man bless his soul knew how to get a point across… What really bothers me about the current landscape is that in the case of the Republican party it seems like their soul intention is to bash and stand in the way of what ever the Obama administration can do to make progress where as in my opinion the Republicans more or less sat back for the last eight years and remained quiet as the previous administration slowly put the country in the hole that it is now economically and socially in regard to discussing politics.

Maybe it is more of a vague wish of mine but I wish we as a country could get to the point where we are succeeding on most areas specifically the economy and where we can see politicians regardless of what side of the floor they represent engage in a realistic dialogue that ultimately results in some semblance of progress rather than the constant grand standing and personal attacks you see on campaign ads.

bvd1022 : That's good that they oppose everything that Obama puts forth. It shows they are learning. Learning to stick to its core principles instead of become liberal. Obama is just another politician who wants power. His plans only enhance government power instead of help the middle class.

The system is too thoroughly corrupted to turn it back around. The whole thing just needs to be reset and start fresh. Corruption breeds more corruption, so in order to have any chance of rooting it out, we would have to elect new, uncorrupt people to almost every position all at the same time. The problem is we elect a new president every 4-8 years and a third of congress every 2 years.

Political parties contributed to the problems we have, but were ultimately unavoidable because they are a form of assembly. Every political system needs to be reset eventually. If I may quote Thomas Jefferson, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is it's natural manure."

Hoochman : Well although it could be good that they stick to their principals it doesn’t help the country as a whole when it seems like they say well he’s not with us so we’ll go against him strictly based on that and not about the actual issues. I feel that we need regulation to a degree because the country has been damaged over the last eight years both economically as well as people’s general opinion both in and out of the United States. If they as a party were to work with the president and let the voters see if he can accomplish what he was elected to do it might help them in the long run when they have candidates seek election. If they continue to be viewed as “The Party of No” it won’t help the party long term. They should show that they can compromise in favor of trying to reach a common goal or at least that’s how I see it.


Lagslayer : You make a valid point… I am one that feels if there weren’t a term limit on the presidency as long as the president continued to be re-elected every four years that there is a better than 70% chance that Bill Clinton would still be in office… If there were to be a reset of the political system I think that is one rule that I’d like to see done away with realizing of course that it has it’s drawbacks but if someone is elected to office and does well and leaves things better off than they found it then why fix something that isn’t broken?

Corruption is definitely a problem that should be addressed… I feel that if the politicians are well meaning and sincerely want to get things done they would address corruption as it obviously leaves a bad taste in the mouths of voters and more troublesome has turned people off to the concept of voting because it gives the impression that voting is meaningless if their all corrupt.

You would think that those who not only seek office but are already in office would want to address what they probably see as a stereotype and show the citizens that politicians aren’t always corrupt. I often find myself thinking what Canada has that they apply to how they do things in their country because you never hear anything negative about Canadian politics or health care. One drawback I can think of is I hear that the taxes in Canada are expensive but I haven’t personally heard anything negative.

It would be interesting to see if the United States could look at how they do things and see what they could do as elected officials to make things better here.

bvd1022 : Sorry I was a away for a while. Anyways, I don't at all think that they're against Obama because of party differences. I fully believe they keep opposing him because they know that if his bills get passed, it will have serious short and long term damage. And I don't think siding with Obama will help because its pretty clear people don't like what Obama is doing. I think its the fact that the republicans keep turning liberal that hurts their election chances. The people want a good conservative (whether he manifests as republican, democrat, or independent, although most likely a republican) who has good values, believes in limited government and limited regulation so that there can be a better chance at success and less government power in someones life, and lower taxes so that they have less financial difficulty and less government.

Hoochman : Well, some people might have an opinion that what Obama is trying to do will have damaging effects but to be fair I think that he deserves an opportunity with limited opposition to see what he can get done. He is two years into his term yet if you really think about it he hasn’t had a chance to accomplish much. I think primarily the reason for that is because he’s been attacked so much whether it is what his religion is or, whether or not he was born in this country or not he has been under nearly constant attack.

It seems that the culprit of most of the attacking are what are call the “Extreme” republicans who really had no legitimate basis for either argument and from my perspective served as nothing more than coming up with scare tactics which turned some people off to what Obama intended to do even before he got out of the box really.

The problem I see with the Republicans isn’t so much their views or so much their opposition but when they allow the “Extreme” portion of the party to render such pointless rhetoric as a means of turning voters off those who are well meaning Republicans should step in and hold those people accountable and focus strictly on the issues and not scare tactics.

I have never seen a president go through as much scrutiny as Obama has gone through and it’s only preventing any real progress from being made. I think that the republicans should focus on what’s best for the country and work on getting results. Constant opposition in the worst recession since the great depression will not in the long run win the Republicans any favor if they want to have majority power.

I know that some will never be convinced to vote on what’s better for the country and will vote strictly based on party affiliation but I prefer to take a common sense approach and look at both ends of an argument before I make up my mind. The way I see it non-regulation in regard to the financial industry is what got the country in the predicament that we’re in now and we need some form of regulation to not only recover but to ensure that the circumstances that led to the recession never happen again.

In terms of Healthcare I don’t know whether Obama’s plan will change the landscape that much but I would like to see Cancer cured during my lifetime. It bothers me that considering all the advances in technology that we have now and will have as time goes on that there really hasn’t been an undisputed cure for any disease yet you see all these stories either online or on the news about people leaving the country to get treated and in some cases cured of what ever ailment because they didn’t trust the American Healthcare system.

It doesn’t add up in my mind and I think that if the insurance companies are going to charge insane rates for health coverage that there should be adequate measures to ensure that people actually get cured rather than treated where what ever symptoms will likely resurface in some from later on. If Obama’s plan will serve as a catalyst to finally see diseases cured one day I am all for it.

bvd1022 : Yes every president deserves opportunities. He has had opportunities, but failed use them. I think the right wing has legitimate reasons for saying his legislation is damaging, they've read the bill's he's put forward. Whenever I've watched a debate on one of Obama's bills, the right actually quote the bill and site the page number so I could go to it later and read it myself, whereas the left just praises the bill. I also think opposition is good if the thing you're opposing is harmful. The thing that hurts the republicans is that they keep moderating to the democrats side. Regulation is ok depending on what you regulate and how you do it. On something like finances or anything related to the economy you gotta be careful about regulation. In a free economic system there isn't supposed to be much regulation. In an economic crisis government interference period should be kept to a bare minimum. And yes healthcare needs a change. But not a big overhaul.

Hoochman : I respect your opinion but I have to disagree… On the surface he has had opportunities but what I meant is opportunities without constant bashing by the opposing party. If he were given adequate time to do what he needs to do to accomplish his agenda it might work out for everyone’s benefit in the long run.

It seems that he is at least willing to work with the other side to accomplish a common goal where as toward the end of George W. Bush’s term it seemed like what ever congress or the senate tried to accomplish as far as passing bills was automatically vetoed by him without basis other than what seems to be his planting his flag and saying he has power and that’s that.

I agree with out that regulation of the financial system needs to be carefully done and carefully managed. I remember watching an interview that Jon Stewart did with Jim Cramer and I pretty much agreed with every point that Stewart put on the table. If Stewart wasn’t a comedian people would and perhaps still should take him seriously because he seemed like the only one to take the financial industry to task without having a personal stake or a network agenda motivating his statements.

As I said before it is unrealistic to expect a quick fix to the problems that got us in this hole but, I feel that constant opposition and even at times contradicting statements are not going to get us out of the hole any faster. If you remember when Bill Clinton was in office that people did not automatically take to him either and I feel that it could be a similar scenario with Obama. Clinton was a good president and beyond things that had nothing to do with the country coming up the country was much better in several areas even to where we had a surplus economically during his eight years in office.

What I think actually does more damage for the Republicans other than being labeled “The Party of No” is the memories of what the last eight years were like in office and what seems to be reluctance by the party to hold “Extremists” accountable for statements that make the party as a whole look bad especially when often there is no legitimate basis other than going against an administration that is not with their party’s affiliation but also, a reluctance to learn from the mistakes of the last eight years which is why the Republican party is struggling now.

What’s unfortunate is that behind all the grandstanding and nonsense there are people on both sides of the political landscape that are quite well meaning that get lost in the shuffle. I do believe that if a vast majority actually read plans that politicians put forth to pass through the Senate and Congress and were not influenced so much by media that something might actually get accomplished and would disprove Carlin’s slogan of “Garbage in, Garbage out” in regard to American Politics.

bvd1022 : Every president gets bashed, believe it or not Obama isn't the most bashed and hated. The man's had time to get stuff done. There are certain things that don't require the approval of the senate or the congress. He also has the votes. I also don't think he is all that willing to work with the other side because even certain members of his own party don't follow him, even some of the most liberal commentators around that endorsed him have criticized him. And whenever he tries to compromise it seems like he only does it to get all of his party to vote with him. Jon Stewart can be funny, but I hate how late night political satirists become political commentators. I really don't think the right wing opposition comes from party affiliation, but from policy. I also don't think opposing Obama or memories of the last eight years are gonna hurt election chances. I think Obama and the democrats are hurting their own chances though. Democrats are in extremely tight races in they're own state that I don't think they will win. And I do agree that you can't fix a big problem over night, but we're still in the hole and things are still getting worse in some areas. I really don't buy the extremist scare tactics talk because by the time they started arguing against the democrats they weren't trusted and were hated, and the democrats including Obama still had decent approval ratings, so I think the Democrats are doing all this themselves wtr to scrutiny and the extremist talk. Yeah that's true, there is a lot of misinformation out there and the media has basically abused its power.

we need to stop picking people based on their party affiliation and start picking people based on the principles they have. And I don't mean religion. Anyone can claim to be Christian and go to church twice a year (Obama).

I would like people with principle to be elected this November. People who actually want to improve the country as a whole and not cater to special interest groups or extreme philosophies.

I actually would love to have an honest person in office for once. I don't care if he says "Hey, I'm going to f*** up everything to line my own pockets" at least they are telling the truth.

I also believe parties should be done away with. They cause nothing but problems and dissension. "Oh hey the rival party is supporting this....lets just say no numerous times and act childish because we don't like them and just want votes. Screw what's actually important." and people wonder why I don't care to vote.

Hoochman : Again I respect your opinion but I have to disagree in part… As I said on the surface he has had time but how often has he had to defend one thing or another either in regard to his agenda or worse his background? I am not one to draw comparisons but when George W. Bush was in office it seemed like he made decisions with almost blatant disregard for opposing opinions and thus it slowly brought the country to it’s knees economically and, in the public’s general perception of politics.

If I were President Obama I would use the President George W.’s tenure as a way to fend off the constant bashing by simply questioning the credibility of the Republican party as a whole but in a respectful way. For eight years the party seemingly sat back and let Bush do as he wished with what he wanted to do without as much as questioning his motives and or wisdom.

Yet prior to Obama being elected would you ever see a fellow elected official openly heckle the president during a presidential address of Congress? Or would you see the public on either side heckle a president during a speech regardless of whether those people agreed with what the president was doing or not? I doubt it seriously… Besides being quite rude it doesn’t speak well for the party as a whole when their elected officials conduct themselves in such an unprofessional manner. It seems that because President Obama broke down walls as a member of the opposing democratic party that it gives those in the republican party an excuse to just ignore professional ethics.


It is troubling that these are officials that were elected into their respected positions that the public turns to when there are problems that need to be resolved and yet it seems like the equivalent of a school yard shouting match and that is truly unfortunate and doesn’t speak well of the nation as a whole to the rest of the world. That’s how I see it at least…



geeogree : I agree with you… personally I could care less what someone’s religion happens to be as long as they do what they promised to do when they were elected to office… After all in the United States there is a separation between Church and State and it’s time that those who harp on Obama or anyone for that matter based strictly on their religion and not based on any real legitimate issue remember that in the United States we do have freedom of Religion and let the those who were elected do what they were elected to do.

It would be nice to see the special interest groups and extreme radical movements done away with or at least revamped. There are more effective ways for those who have an issue or protest against something to get their points across and often the special interest and extreme radicals ignore that way of doing things and seem only intent on stirring up noise and not actually accomplishing anything… Hopefully one day we will see people elected strictly based on issues and what they actually do while in office and not based on party affiliation or one party motivated agenda.


Zamiel : It would be great to see an elected official regardless of what level of government their in completely on the up and up… I don’t think that you would see someone come out and say at the outset that their going to screw everything up though… On one hand it would be an interesting change in our political landscape if one were to do that but on the other hand, it might only open a can of worms if someone did that.

Even the most honest person isn’t going to be completely blunt. I do think that Obama at least from what it seems has been quite open about what he wants to do and the problems facing our country right now… I am not comparing the two but in contrast when ever anyone questioned George W. Bush’s agenda or decisions he would normally respond like someone who was power hungry and didn’t care what anyone else thought if it didn’t fit into his vision of how he wanted things to be. I even remember a speech toward the end of his term where he basically yelled at the press “I decide what’s best!” If memory doesn’t mistake me I believe that quote was in relation to Donald Rumsfeld and how people thought he should have been removed from his post and such. Most troubling is that when anyone in Congress or the Senate tried to pass anything through Bush would publicly decree that he would immediately veto what they put before him without hesitation.


I don’t think Obama has sunk to a level like that but I will give him credit for not only trying to put forth what he said he would do but also admitting openly shortly after taking office that the problems that face us as a nation will not be resolved quickly and it may not even be resolved in one term but his goal ultimately was to resolve what he inherited. It was a stand up move from my perspective to see him say that.

bvd1022 : George Bush got ripped to shreds on everything he did, big or little. Everything he did got criticized someone. Blaming George Bush simply will not work anymore. This is Obama's mess now, and its gotten worse under him. And it won't help his election chances to talk about bush. In fact in hurts his chances because it shows that he will not take responsibility. Yes I've seen Bush get heckled by half the congress chamber when he was in not just one guy, but half the chamber. I've even seen the public heckle Bush to. The people who supposedly heckle Obama are concerned citizens wondering what happened to hope and change that was promised. That is really what the tea party is, Americans concerned for their well being as well as wondering what happened to the great campaign promises. Obama hasn't brought about bipartisanship and gone across the isle. All I see is him blaming republicans. Public officials made a bad shouting match during most of Bush's Presidency. And they were far harsher against bush.

Not gonna read through or add anything interesting. Just a statement on my political ideas. I don't really care about politics, as it's just a topic that is for trolling in real life at a family gathering a lot of times, and the people within the very system of all political things are as truthful as a horse that claims to be a guitar player. I find that American politics are the worst in bigots, lies, and simply the scum of the upper class.

We need politics for order, but we never have truly good politicians. It's like what Ghandi said once, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

Basically, this can be put to politics. At least to me.