[quote name='Soodmeg']I wish Americans would realize what is good for themselves and their 8 friends (thats not a knock...I read somewhere that the average person has roughly 8 good real life friends) is not representative of the entire American population. The government deserves a lot of criticism but theirs action do have to account for every American citizen, not just the 7 people in your circle.
I think they would change their views just a little if they did.
Like Magus just said, people need to learn that one form of government will not solve anything everything. So unless you have a plan to dwindle down Americas population to about 40 like minded people you will always have to deal with comprises. The lack of being able to deal with comprises is what has killed the country. There are so many people who seemingly would rather see the country burn than to ever give up on their sacred cow.[/QUOTE]
You're a little vague on the whole "compromise" aspect of your argument.
Let's take the recent healthcare debacle for example. What did you percieve as the proposals from the left/right and how would you weigh them against each other?
[quote name='perdition(troy']power to the states allows whats "good for themselves and their 8 friends" to be narrowed down, letting the states give more power to local communities, which allows for more decisions that are less likely to be frowned upon in large numbers because members of the community actually have a voice in what is going on.
just sayin'[/QUOTE]
No. There's a reason why rights and priviliges on a federal level are considered to be the baseline because states have proven time and time again that they would drive that baseline so far down into the ground that they would not even meet the constitution.
"States rights" is also a neo-liberal corporatocratic speech that makes it easier for large corporations to have their way with smaller communities/states and push them around. Sitting around and talking about putting up a stop sign or opening a new LOCAL business is one thing; Megalomart coming and talking about bringing in lower priced products while promising 1000 new jobs that end up displacing 2000 others using tactics we should all be familiar with is another. State are far easier to influence by big business than the federal government. We should make it more difficult for big business, not easier. Also, the United States is a union; not a loose confederation of affilated laissez faire nation states.
[quote name='Soodmeg']Oh, I agree, I was not arguing for or against any one thing in my post. I was simply saying that before people fly off the handle and do their my way is right or the world burns thing just to remember...you are not the only person on the planet.
For example. Here in Detroit. Synder gets elected and does away with the film incentives...this kinda crushes the community. Now since I work in film I am deeply sadden but it was proven a couple times that the incentives actually hurt Michigan more than it helped.
Now at this point Synder could invent a cure for AIDS and people woulds still call for his impeachment because they only know what themselves and their film buddies know. I didnt even vote for the guy but I am not going to call for his head because he made a decision he felt help the entire state rather than just on group of people.
I guess what I am saying is I am sick of the reaction to what people feel is bad government being impeached everyone and everything and install someone that caters just to me.....which of course will cause the other half to do the same thing.[/QUOTE]
I can't help but interpret this as "there are two sides to every story and that the truth is somewhere in the middle" and that is completely faulty reasoning.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, because the story about Snyder curing AIDS sounds more like the kind of conservative circle-jerk that happens when government "kills jobs."
Before I can even get into government I can never get past basic Americans and their logic of
everyone except myself and my personal friends. I think Americans have to fix themselves before we can except the government to run right.
US citizens are a product of the social systems and institutions that they exist in. Telling people to use bootstraps isn't a convincing or useful argument that will somehow make those systems for the better because they don't have the power to do so. These are complex relationships that create self-perpetuating systems, so you can't really say that the problem is any one group, but the ones with actual institutional power.
