Republicans are the problem!

[jeffmori7]

Wow...I must admit as a Quebecois, I have pretty much the same view...but reading it in a major newspaper is quite surprising! What do you think of this in the States? For me the political debate is getting worser and worser, and no matter what are our political views, it seems to me that GOP is contributing to it more than Democrats.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lets-just-say-it-the-republicans-are-the-problem/2012/04/27/gIQAxCVUlT_story.html

[Parsad]

Wow...I must admit as a Quebecois, I have pretty much the same view...but reading it in a major newspaper is quite surprising! What do you think of this in the States? For me the political debate is getting worser and worser, and no matter what are our political views, it seems to me that GOP is contributing to it more than Democrats.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lets-just-say-it-the-republicans-are-the-problem/2012/04/27/gIQAxCVUlT_story.html

 

There are plenty of asses on both sides...and I don't just mean because they are stubborn!  ;D  Cheers!

[jeffmori7]

An we must admit we have our champions  here in Canada too :(

[Parsad]

An we must admit we have our champions  here in Canada too :(

 

No doubt!  Cheers!

[Cardboard]

Jeffmori7,

 

You must be really happy with the two major parties in Quebec being socialist: Liberals and Separatists.

 

Once the housing market crashes, employment goes to 10% and the students and all these union leaders and their members turn against guys like you that have saved any money and been responsible then maybe you will regret supporting dividers like Obama, the 99% and other communist rulers.

 

Cardboard

[Parsad]

Jeffmori7,

 

You must be really happy with the two major parties in Quebec being socialist: Liberals and Separatists.

 

Once the housing market crashes, employment goes to 10% and the students and all these union leaders and their members turn against guys like you that have saved any money and been responsible then maybe you will regret supporting dividers like Obama, the 99% and other communist rulers.

 

Cardboard

 

Obama is no more a divider than the other Democrats or Republicans.  I was laughing about how Mitt Romney was saying that Obama is politicizing Osama Bin Laden's death.  So, it's perfectly fine if he takes the blame for the economy, which was handed to him on a silver platter during the greatest economic upheaval since the Great Depression, and none of the credit for finally killing the most wanted man in American history! 

 

This is the politics and nonsense in Washington.  No one coming together and everyone dividng everyone else!  If anybody thinks only one party is guilty, then they've got their head up their butt and don't want to admit the truth.  This is the way it has always been!  Cheers!

[JEast]

I have the belief that when we are younger we truly have faith that there is a difference in the two party system, at least in the US.  As one gets a little older, one realizes that there is little difference at all.  Case in point with the recent Hedge Fund legislation in the US.  Potentially great for the Hedge Fund industry, and I like it, but being supported by the Democrats and pushed by Obama.  The political backbone of all parties have gone topsy-turvy!!  :)

 

Cheers

JEast

[Parsad]

I have the belief that when we are younger we truly have faith that there is a difference in the two party system, at least in the US.  As one gets a little older, one realizes that there is little difference at all.  Case in point with the recent Hedge Fund legislation in the US.  Potentially great for the Hedge Fund industry, and I like it, but being supported by the Democrats and pushed by Obama.  The political backbone of all parties have gone topsy-turvy!!  :)

 

Cheers

JEast

 

Yeah, I would agree with that assessment.  There is tremendous overlap in ideologies now.  The Liberal party in British Columbia would have been the Conservative party 15-20 years ago.  Obama is considered an extreme socialist Democrat, yet his stance on many economic policies, national defense and foreign policy is more conservative.  You can't paint any one party or individual with the same brush.  People have to actually vote for the individual candidate now!  Cheers!

[Guest valueInv]

I have the belief that when we are younger we truly have faith that there is a difference in the two party system, at least in the US.  As one gets a little older, one realizes that there is little difference at all.  Case in point with the recent Hedge Fund legislation in the US.  Potentially great for the Hedge Fund industry, and I like it, but being supported by the Democrats and pushed by Obama.  The political backbone of all parties have gone topsy-turvy!!  :)

 

Cheers

JEast

 

Yet, that have trouble getting bills passed. Even when something is passed, it is so horribly distorted and full of holes that it is no longer meaningful.

[cayale]

 

 

Yet, that have trouble getting bills passed. Even when something is passed, it is so horribly distorted and full of holes that it is no longer meaningful.

 

Tom Friedman is not my favorite but this piece resonates with me:

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20120425/ARCHIVES/204251007

 

[jeffmori7]

Cardboard!

 

I will answer you as I find your affirmation quite funny..so far, I am pretty sure I won't vote for the Liberals (even if I'm with them on the university tuition raises), I have never been a separatist but will probably vote for them at the next election, more by default than by conviction!

 

I just want to say that I am quite proud of our Quebecois values as opposed to the States and some parts of Canada nowadays. Come on with your communism! That, and Obama, and the 99%, that is not communism, but just the good old social-democracy with a wealth redistribution objective.

 

I am well-living and happy to pay taxes as I have more than necessary to live. I am proud to participate to the universal health system, to an affordable education system and to have a formidable cultural identity. We are probably living above our capacity, I think we must make an effort to reduce our expenses and pay our debt in Quebec, but that is not what cause me not sleep at night.

 

I think of me as being at the center of the political spectrum, but what I don't like in politics are all the decisions taken by ideology. This is what I really dislike about the right currently, as much with the Republicans than with our own Conservatives here. For me, the main challenge of the 21st century is to compete against climate change, a universally admitted fact by the scientific community but still denied by most of the conservatives. Harper government has been cutting a lot at Environnement Canada and Statistics Canada so he can continue to govern by ideology instead of relying on studies and fact and they are just laughing of our democratic institutions all the time and this I really dislike. So far, left parties seems less ideological to me in their decision, even if I don't buy the attitude that richness is devil and stuff like that. And I am always reluctant about the right because of the quasi automatic association I have never understand with the religion, against homosexual, with the negation of evolution theory, negation of climate change, etc.

 

I am a scientific, fully rational, and I don't like ideology and partisanship, that's all.

[ERICOPOLY]

And I am always reluctant about the right because of the quasi automatic association I have never understand with the religion, against homosexual, with the negation of evolution theory, negation of climate change, etc.

 

 

Superstition, hate, and ignorance?

 

[jeffmori7]

It is why education is still the key to reduce inequality, increase tolerance and to allow prosperity in a society.

[Packer16]

I think you have misinterpreted the liberal/conservative position on climate change.  Assuming that man made climate change is occuring what can we do about it within the resources we have?  Spending trillons on alternative energy subsidies in my mind versus the alternative uses of that money for social welfare or solving more pressing human needs is the real trade-off.  Bjorn Lomborg provides a pretty good framework for spending versus results.  If somehow the cost of reducing CO2 emmissions is reduced dramatically then the bang for buck may go up but today the bang for buck spending on climate change is pretty small.

 

Packer

[Liberty]

http://lesswrong.com/lw/gw/politics_is_the_mindkiller/

[enoch01]

It is difficult to keep a republic, as Ben Franklin observed.  Today in the U.S. we have increasing concentrations of political power, a cultural melting pot, and a distracted populace that is losing it's ability to think critically.  It is a situation ripe for demagogues on both sides.

 

It is why education is still the key to reduce inequality, increase tolerance and to allow prosperity in a society.

 

Really I think wisdom and virtue are the keys to such things:

 

"In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you."  Warren Buffett

[alwaysinvert]

Breaking news: democrats say republicans are to blame.

[Parsad]

Breaking news: democrats say republicans are to blame.

 

Well, actually I think Robert Kennedy's quote applys:

 

"Twenty percent of people are always against everything"

 

That 20% usually f**ks up the other 80%...be it Democrat or Republican.  Cheers!

[jeffmori7]

Packer, I'm not with you this! This is not just about renewable

energy, it is about the way we conceive, produce, consume and dispose

goods. We have to rethink everything we do. And about energy, it is as

much about reducing consumption than new way of production..and until

you don't include the carbon cost, you cannot think long term and you

will always think that the economical cost is too high. To do nothing

and pray has a pretty scary cost too! And climate change will lead to

a lot of social problems and we should in no view oppose environment

to anything else, it is much interlinked and we have to think of the

generations ahead.

 

Liberty, merci pour le lien. I think this is right to say than on any debate about any matter, you have to stay apolitical and objective. But in this case, it was a debate about politics, lol..

 

Anyway, what I'm saying, and it is just my opinion, probably shared by some, is that I don't like the political debate occuring in Canada and USA, and I have a bias, but for me, it seems that strong right ideology is curently contributing a bit more to the lack of advancement...but as Parsad said, there are some who are always against everything in all the parties.

[SouthernYankee]

You might want to look at some alternative places to read your news, just to get a different view about what is going on. The Washington Post having this editorial should NOT surprise, in fact it would not surprise me if they put it on the front page. I look to read the NY Times whenever I can, because that will usually have the same line of reasoning as the major party on the left, and then I read other places which tend to be more right leaning. Objectivity in the media is a pipe dream!

 

Also, I would urge you to consider which political party has actually voted on and passed a budget this year, how many votes President Obama's budget received in the House of Representatives, and maybe google to find out why the Senate has not even started the committee work on their budget negotiations (fact: Democrats control this chamber).

 

Other than that, I hope Canada is enjoying the NHL playoffs! OUCH!

[jeffmori7]

Southern, I totally agree with you on the media!

 

for the hockey playoffs..my team (montreal) was out before even the start of the season it seems :(

[SouthernYankee]

jeffmori,

 

To be honest, as an Islanders fan, having to root for the Rangers and/or the Devils is not the best thing, but the hockey has been great nonetheless!

 

Cheers!

 

 

[rkbabang]

I'd agree that, in the U.S. anyway, Republicans are half of the problem.

[Packer16]

I agree with you that it needs to be done but a good number of the tangible projects are on the bleeding edge of technology and cost alot of money.  The cost of carbon being one today.  I think there are incremental things that are achievable and can be done for reasonable incremental cost like increased fuel efficiency.  If a list is compiled, then the technology focus can be on reducing the incremental cost.  The large scale change everything approach rarely works, costs alot of money and causes folks to be skeptical of even viable projects because some of proponents make unsupportable claims (like terrible weather catastrophies, etc.).  Just my pragmatic view.

 

Packer 

[AllanG]

My thought is that we need fewer lawyers & more proven private practice businesspeople on both sides of the aisle.  Checks & balances are a very valid system that has worked for decades to help build this country.  We need vision, conviction & objectivity from our congressional leaders not all this posturing & finger pointing.  It's really rather sickening!  :-[