karling07
Daemon Poster
- Messages
- 1,099
EDIT: PLEASE just take the 10 mins to read through this. It will make me feel like I didn't just waste an hour writing it 
Hi all, I know there are a lot of election threads on here already, but I am making this new topic because I believe there is something very serious that needs to be said about this 2008 election and I welcome all comments/criticisms, but please if your main arguments are anything like "John McCain is old" or "Obama is a terrorist", please just refrain from replying. And finally, if you are going to negative rep me for a post on my political point of view, fine; I'd rather that what I have to say gets out there than lose a few imaginary points on the forum.
And finally, I do not consider myself democrat or republican; no single party can include everything that I personally believe in (and I doubt it can for anyone), but because the only way to get things done politically in this country is with a party, then I will tell you now, you are going to see a liberal slant to what I write. I don't call it a bias - because this isn't about me being a democrat or a republican, it's about the facts and how they prove one side to be more correct. Not a bias.
I think a lot of people do not understand how unbelievably important this election is. We are currently the biggest debtor nation in the world (we used to be the greatest creditor nation), we owe trillions of dollars to countries all over the world with no democracies and no respect for human rights (we literally owe more money than there is MONEY IN THE WORLD), we are stubbornly fighting a war that General Petraeus himself has said there is no victory in, we have millions of Americans who cannot afford healthcare to keep families and children healthy, our education system is flawed and lags behind many others in the world, and most of all, America has slipped from once being the most powerful nation in the world. We will NEVER be as powerful as we were 8 years ago; this is a simple fact, and it is true both economically and for our general standing in the world and how other countries respect us. We have lost so much in the past 8 years, some of it deserves blame, some of it does not. But what we MUST see is that if we don't act soon, America's time is up.
Economically, we have trusted the Reagan policies of the "trickle down" effect and we are now seeing the detrimental effects of that flawed theory. When a country allows a HUGE percentage of its money to be controlled by a very small amount of people/corporations, corruption and greed start to destroy the capitalistic system we rely on and we are stuck in a situation where only SEVERAL of these giant companies fuck up, and the entire COUNTRY must pay. Because of a few giants on Wall Street, your economy is nearing a recession. This is not how the great American economy is meant to function, it must change. It must have a stable growth that relies on the people, the consumers, not the greed of a select few individuals. This is NOT about more government intervention. It is about REGULATION. If you let these people run wild with no regulation, they will cut corners and break rules to get to the top. And YOU will pay for it. Deregulation doesn't work, this is why the DJI has plunged into the depths of the 20th century. So THINK before you vote, before you support a candidate, WHY would you want more of this? Why let these huge companies benefit while we continue to suffer? It isn't about the size of the government, it is about fairness of the market, and being loyal to the Constitution. Barack Obama wants to change the system; he wants regulation and fairness on Wall Street. John McCain does not - read his economic policies on his website, they discuss nothing of regulation (although his economic policies change rapidly, so it is hard to tell what exactly he does support. Which leads me to my next point.) America needs a leader who exerts confidence. Without this, the economy will never recover. Bush gives us the impression of a beaten old man who just wants out, and the market continues to plunge, because he has no idea what to do. McCain gives off the EXACT same type of erratic uncertainty that terrifies investors and buyers. The economy will never recover under a McCain/Palin administration because people can never be confident. Obama has confidence and rightly so because he not only understands the economy to the fullest extent, he also surrounds himself with the most intelligent and relevant people in the field. The economy NEEDS Obama.
Also related to the economy; taxes. Nobody likes them, and most republicans simply vote republican to make sure their taxes don't go up. Well, guess what, this isn't a party issue anymore - it's about the individual. George W. Bush managed to raise taxes on Americans and double our national debt. This is why so many republicans feel betrayed by him, because he essentially disobeyed the fundamental reason many voters supported him. But now, we must look beyond the fact that we don't want to pay taxes. Nobody wants to, but think about it this way; our debt is EXACTLY like a credit card. The longer we don't pay it off, the worse it gets. So your unwillingness to pay taxes now is going to lead to your children paying the most ridiculously high taxes Americans have ever seen. Because guess what, money DOESN'T grow on trees. Republicans can say they're going to lower taxes, but WHAT EXACTLY is their plan to pay back our trillion dollar deficit? They don't fucking have one. They lie to you and they will continue to lie to you with their promises of low taxes, in exchange for what? Another exponential increase in our national debt? It doesn't matter that we are in a time of economic crisis, taxes are NOT something we can delay! Until America is in a safe standing with the amount of money we owe, the economy will struggle to recover. Republicans CONTINUE to borrow money, leaving the next president in a deeper hole of shit than the last. Clinton managed to clean it up pretty well, but Bush has absolutely destroyed any progress we once had. Again, McCain WON'T CHANGE THIS! Obama will. He will help middle class Americans who are struggling with the economy so they can flourish. But he will not help those corporations who do not deserve tax cuts. This is not some sort of communist theory, in fact it is in the foundation of our country in a little document called the Constitution - the rich pay more to help benefit the country. I can't find the exact part where it says "presidents will promise huge tax cuts to businesses and people who don't deserve them so they can get votes". But it's gotta be in there somewhere, because McCain and Palin keep citing it. Bottom line, there is no magic way to pay back trillions of dollars, and until you can think of a better way, it is paying taxes. If you have no desire to so, think at least of the next generation, because they will have to pay more because of you. And by this point, these taxes will be so high that the entire economy will be crippled and we will never be able to focus on our internal infrastructure, only paying off our debts. Doesn't this scare you?
The War in Iraq is being fought by the bravest soldiers in the world and our troops deserve the respect of every American. But you do not have to support the war to support our troops. The biggest problem with Iraq is that we did not, and do not, understand their culture. Bush invaded without understanding HOW the country works and not seeing that we cannot simply "convert" them to a democracy. This is why generals in the war have deemed it "unwinnable". There is a point where you must stop the young soldiers from dying, stop the innocent civilians from being murdered, stop the attempts to turn other countries into our own, and admit fault. In Vietnam, we stayed longer than we should have; we believed we had passed the point of no return, but failed to realize that the "victory" we sought did not even exist. So because of this, thousands of soldiers continued to die for the same exact end cause. Why do we not LEARN from history? We always say we will, and then we revert back to the exact same ways. Documents have now been surfaced that show Bush ordering the CIA and military to destroy evidence that shows there were NO WMDs in Iraq to begin with. Bush was GIVEN this information before invading, and chose to invade anyways. Yes, good things have resulted from the war - Saddam was dangerous and needed to be taken down, but a unilateral invasion was NOT the answer. (quick history lesson; the only weapons Iraq ever had was chemical/bio weapons, the most painful and slow weapons available. Guess how they got them - America. Reagan decided that Iran and Iraq were both bad, so he gave these weapons to both sides.) So instead of staying in this country while it destroys our economy and our people, we need to start thinking about how to GET OUT. The Bush administration (I use this term, because Bush himself STILL believes Iraq was a good decision and that he will be remembered as a hero for doing the right thing even though it was unpopular...) finally acknowledged this and is actually USING Obama's pull out plan. It seems McCain is the only one left who thinks there is something to be won there. Our resources are needed elsewhere, and the rest of the world is waiting for the old America to return. The America that wouldn't invade a country unilaterally with absolutely no pre-existing knowledge and reason. The best we can do now is form a plan to leave that will let Iraqis be safe and Americans come home. Obama wants to do this in his first term. Give him the chance.
See next post... I'm out of characters
Hi all, I know there are a lot of election threads on here already, but I am making this new topic because I believe there is something very serious that needs to be said about this 2008 election and I welcome all comments/criticisms, but please if your main arguments are anything like "John McCain is old" or "Obama is a terrorist", please just refrain from replying. And finally, if you are going to negative rep me for a post on my political point of view, fine; I'd rather that what I have to say gets out there than lose a few imaginary points on the forum.
And finally, I do not consider myself democrat or republican; no single party can include everything that I personally believe in (and I doubt it can for anyone), but because the only way to get things done politically in this country is with a party, then I will tell you now, you are going to see a liberal slant to what I write. I don't call it a bias - because this isn't about me being a democrat or a republican, it's about the facts and how they prove one side to be more correct. Not a bias.
I think a lot of people do not understand how unbelievably important this election is. We are currently the biggest debtor nation in the world (we used to be the greatest creditor nation), we owe trillions of dollars to countries all over the world with no democracies and no respect for human rights (we literally owe more money than there is MONEY IN THE WORLD), we are stubbornly fighting a war that General Petraeus himself has said there is no victory in, we have millions of Americans who cannot afford healthcare to keep families and children healthy, our education system is flawed and lags behind many others in the world, and most of all, America has slipped from once being the most powerful nation in the world. We will NEVER be as powerful as we were 8 years ago; this is a simple fact, and it is true both economically and for our general standing in the world and how other countries respect us. We have lost so much in the past 8 years, some of it deserves blame, some of it does not. But what we MUST see is that if we don't act soon, America's time is up.
Economically, we have trusted the Reagan policies of the "trickle down" effect and we are now seeing the detrimental effects of that flawed theory. When a country allows a HUGE percentage of its money to be controlled by a very small amount of people/corporations, corruption and greed start to destroy the capitalistic system we rely on and we are stuck in a situation where only SEVERAL of these giant companies fuck up, and the entire COUNTRY must pay. Because of a few giants on Wall Street, your economy is nearing a recession. This is not how the great American economy is meant to function, it must change. It must have a stable growth that relies on the people, the consumers, not the greed of a select few individuals. This is NOT about more government intervention. It is about REGULATION. If you let these people run wild with no regulation, they will cut corners and break rules to get to the top. And YOU will pay for it. Deregulation doesn't work, this is why the DJI has plunged into the depths of the 20th century. So THINK before you vote, before you support a candidate, WHY would you want more of this? Why let these huge companies benefit while we continue to suffer? It isn't about the size of the government, it is about fairness of the market, and being loyal to the Constitution. Barack Obama wants to change the system; he wants regulation and fairness on Wall Street. John McCain does not - read his economic policies on his website, they discuss nothing of regulation (although his economic policies change rapidly, so it is hard to tell what exactly he does support. Which leads me to my next point.) America needs a leader who exerts confidence. Without this, the economy will never recover. Bush gives us the impression of a beaten old man who just wants out, and the market continues to plunge, because he has no idea what to do. McCain gives off the EXACT same type of erratic uncertainty that terrifies investors and buyers. The economy will never recover under a McCain/Palin administration because people can never be confident. Obama has confidence and rightly so because he not only understands the economy to the fullest extent, he also surrounds himself with the most intelligent and relevant people in the field. The economy NEEDS Obama.
Also related to the economy; taxes. Nobody likes them, and most republicans simply vote republican to make sure their taxes don't go up. Well, guess what, this isn't a party issue anymore - it's about the individual. George W. Bush managed to raise taxes on Americans and double our national debt. This is why so many republicans feel betrayed by him, because he essentially disobeyed the fundamental reason many voters supported him. But now, we must look beyond the fact that we don't want to pay taxes. Nobody wants to, but think about it this way; our debt is EXACTLY like a credit card. The longer we don't pay it off, the worse it gets. So your unwillingness to pay taxes now is going to lead to your children paying the most ridiculously high taxes Americans have ever seen. Because guess what, money DOESN'T grow on trees. Republicans can say they're going to lower taxes, but WHAT EXACTLY is their plan to pay back our trillion dollar deficit? They don't fucking have one. They lie to you and they will continue to lie to you with their promises of low taxes, in exchange for what? Another exponential increase in our national debt? It doesn't matter that we are in a time of economic crisis, taxes are NOT something we can delay! Until America is in a safe standing with the amount of money we owe, the economy will struggle to recover. Republicans CONTINUE to borrow money, leaving the next president in a deeper hole of shit than the last. Clinton managed to clean it up pretty well, but Bush has absolutely destroyed any progress we once had. Again, McCain WON'T CHANGE THIS! Obama will. He will help middle class Americans who are struggling with the economy so they can flourish. But he will not help those corporations who do not deserve tax cuts. This is not some sort of communist theory, in fact it is in the foundation of our country in a little document called the Constitution - the rich pay more to help benefit the country. I can't find the exact part where it says "presidents will promise huge tax cuts to businesses and people who don't deserve them so they can get votes". But it's gotta be in there somewhere, because McCain and Palin keep citing it. Bottom line, there is no magic way to pay back trillions of dollars, and until you can think of a better way, it is paying taxes. If you have no desire to so, think at least of the next generation, because they will have to pay more because of you. And by this point, these taxes will be so high that the entire economy will be crippled and we will never be able to focus on our internal infrastructure, only paying off our debts. Doesn't this scare you?
The War in Iraq is being fought by the bravest soldiers in the world and our troops deserve the respect of every American. But you do not have to support the war to support our troops. The biggest problem with Iraq is that we did not, and do not, understand their culture. Bush invaded without understanding HOW the country works and not seeing that we cannot simply "convert" them to a democracy. This is why generals in the war have deemed it "unwinnable". There is a point where you must stop the young soldiers from dying, stop the innocent civilians from being murdered, stop the attempts to turn other countries into our own, and admit fault. In Vietnam, we stayed longer than we should have; we believed we had passed the point of no return, but failed to realize that the "victory" we sought did not even exist. So because of this, thousands of soldiers continued to die for the same exact end cause. Why do we not LEARN from history? We always say we will, and then we revert back to the exact same ways. Documents have now been surfaced that show Bush ordering the CIA and military to destroy evidence that shows there were NO WMDs in Iraq to begin with. Bush was GIVEN this information before invading, and chose to invade anyways. Yes, good things have resulted from the war - Saddam was dangerous and needed to be taken down, but a unilateral invasion was NOT the answer. (quick history lesson; the only weapons Iraq ever had was chemical/bio weapons, the most painful and slow weapons available. Guess how they got them - America. Reagan decided that Iran and Iraq were both bad, so he gave these weapons to both sides.) So instead of staying in this country while it destroys our economy and our people, we need to start thinking about how to GET OUT. The Bush administration (I use this term, because Bush himself STILL believes Iraq was a good decision and that he will be remembered as a hero for doing the right thing even though it was unpopular...) finally acknowledged this and is actually USING Obama's pull out plan. It seems McCain is the only one left who thinks there is something to be won there. Our resources are needed elsewhere, and the rest of the world is waiting for the old America to return. The America that wouldn't invade a country unilaterally with absolutely no pre-existing knowledge and reason. The best we can do now is form a plan to leave that will let Iraqis be safe and Americans come home. Obama wants to do this in his first term. Give him the chance.
See next post... I'm out of characters
