| Author | Message | ||
     Roderick |
I am going to ask this mostly rhetorical question to 'you Americans', by that I am asking from the immigrant's perspective. In a dictatorship, the people have no power to impose their individual assessments of their leadership, at any level. People assess each other all the time. From strangers, to co-workers, to friends, and to family. So politicians are not immune. But it is the imposition of a person's assessment is what distinguish a dictatorship from a democracy. The imposition of that assessment is called a 'vote'. The protection of that right to vote is what ensure the democratic process in the long term. That is why dictators often exploited that right to gain power and immediately they squash it to keep themselves in power. Anyway, my question to 'you Americans' is: What happened to that intellectual assessment each one of you must do, either in the privacy of your mind or in a discussion among friends and acquaintances, for candidate Barack Obama? Your frustration and tiredness of eight years of B43 is not sufficient to absolve you of that responsibility. Nothing any politician have done does. In a dictatorship, at least the denial of a vote give you good cause to figuratively throw up your hands and wash yourself of that responsibility. But you are living in what is reputed to be the oldest functional continuous democracy in the world. You live in a society where each aspiring leader, at any level, must vie for your attention and hopefully your vote. You have routine 'regime changes' at all levels, or at least the very real possibility, instead of the theoretical ones, of those 'regime changes'. There is no way anyone can bypass anyone else's intellectual gate for each person is his/her own invincible gatekeeper. If I can assess a person as a possible lifelong mate, I can certainly assess someone's ability to make reasonably sound decisions that could affect my life for the next 4 years. So from an immigrant's perspective, it is puzzling to me that a candidate like Barack Obama, so devoid of any significant experience in leadership and business acumen, two vital elements given how the US is a capitalist society, managed to convince so many Americans to abandon their responsibility of intellectual assessment of a person, to gain the Presidency. | ||
| Sifo |
So from an immigrant's perspective, it is puzzling to me that a candidate like Barack Obama, so devoid of any significant experience in leadership and business acumen, two vital elements given how the US is a capitalist society, managed to convince so many Americans to abandon their responsibility of intellectual assessment of a person, to gain the Presidency. Same thing from a third generation American. It's complete bewilderment to me.  | ||
| Hootowl |
One word: Sheep. OK, two words: Ignorant Sheep. | ||
| Sifo |
Even the sheep are freaked out this time around... | ||
| Kenm123t |
Rod Welcome ! We are not a Democracy we are Constitutional Republic pure democracies tend to end in mob rule. Our Founders understood despot and the myth of The Divine Right of Kings. Our founding documents set for a form of government that separates the powers of government in a way that prevents one group from consolidating powers in any one branch. Obama has used the Executive Orders power to excess inorder to further his agenda . What you are seeing in action on Badweb is what the founders invisioned an active engaged electorate to reign in abusive Employees. We have to remind politicians often that they are not rulers but mere employees for a time of service. Read theOriginal Arguement ( the Federalist Papers in modern english) Obama and most elected officials should be required to read and understand as a condition of office. If most Americans took them to heart a line of folks with tar feathers and pitch forks would ring DC a 100 people deep. | ||
| Fb1 |
  Source: http://www.therightscoop.com/the-numbers-that-show -obamas-economy-isnt-working-literally/ | ||
| Roderick |
We are not a Democracy we are Constitutional Republic pure democracies tend to end in mob rule. Yes, you are a democracy. Democracy is both a goal and a process. When you empowered your people to select your leader, aka 'rule by consent', you are a democracy. Your Constitution is the measure on which no one is supposed to bypass, your government's built-in checks and balances system, your independent judiciary, and your free press are mechanisms to restrain your leaders and that gave you the label 'constitutional republic', but your country's essence is that of a democracy. From my experience and observation of foreigners, what you are made them envious of you and frightens them at the same time. They are envious because of the freedoms and rights you have. Many if not most of them cannot even differentiate between a 'freedom' and a 'right' but as they hear you speak so casually about them they are confused. Do you have any idea on how wonderful that made your country? And they are frightened because they do not know if their societies can handle such power. They hid that fear out of pride and because they do not want me to notice. But I did noticed. Barack Obama is the worst candidate the American people have elected into office at a time of great national distress. No one is ever truly prepared for the office every American child fantasized about, but at the very least the American people should be diligent in selecting a President with the necessary skills and experience highly related to the current problems the country faces. So WTF happened, America? This immigrant want to know. | ||
| Aesquire |
Roderick While not arguing with your judgment on Obama, We Do NOT run our government by direct Democracy. That leads, every damn time to Bad Things. See France, and the Terrors. The founding dudes deliberately built checks on power into the system, some, true, a bit obsolete, they are over 200 years old, and many just plain ignored. You really want to know what happened? How we got to this dishonest man, and his preaching of class hatred? Begin with a deliberate effort, quite successful, to make our education system centralized, useless, and scrubbed of all traces of History, civics and rationality. Together with class after class, year after year, of "journalism" students taught by marxists and marxist wanabees, steeped like bad tea in lies, ambition, and the belief that it is a journalist's purpose to shape news, not report it. Finally, Obama, himself, the immense riches of the neomarxists who finance him, and the greedy who fund him in return for what in the "real world" would be obvious and blatant Quid Pro Quo. ( see Solyndra, etc. etc. etc. In fact, it seems that EVERY green energy company that has recieved massive funding of our money is a big donator to this Prez. ) Obama is well versed in the tactics of Saul Alinsky. I strongly suggest you read his book "Rules For Radicals". It was the subject of Hillary's thesis, my introduction to the truth of Communism and the Progressives, and Obama's closest thing to a Bible. ( when one worships oneself, books other than biographies are superfluous. ) | ||
| Fb1 |
Roderick: Do you have any idea on how wonderful that made your country? Yes, some/many/most of us do. Barack Obama is the worst candidate the American people have elected into office at a time of great national distress. In my opinion, Mr. Obama is the worst candidate the American people have elected period, crisis or no crisis. So WTF happened, America? This immigrant want to know. 1. Complacency, in large part; we (many of us, anyway) are a "victim" of our success as a nation, and have grown complacent and soft and lazy and have simply stopped paying attention. Sadly, many of us just care about free pie. The mid-term elections in 2010 signaled an unmistakable change in the "not paying attention" aspect of the equation, however, and I predict we will see a Republican landslide in November. There are still many lazy, complacent Americans in this country. But I predict they will be vastly outnumbered at the polls by hard-working patriotic folks who are finally paying attention again. 2. Freedom of the press is guaranteed by our 1st Amendment. The problem becomes, then, how to keep the press from becoming corrupt, which the mainstream media in this country most certainly is. A free press means very little if the stuff they tell you isn't true. These are difficult times we live in from an information standpoint; it's hard to filter out the truth amongst all the noise, particularly if one is getting their "news" from the television. Right now the so-called "alternate" media is our only truly free press. The rest of the mainstream media, with few exceptions, are just profit centers and spin dispensers. Thanks for your contributions to this discussion; I hope you continue to participate. Best, Ferris | ||
| Cityxslicker |
It is the last scene of Animal Farm; where farm animals look inside and see that the original rules have all been changed and that the pigs are completely indiscernable from the filth they fought to gain freedom from. Damn George Orwell .... prophetic old salt. | ||
| Roderick |
We Do NOT run our government by direct Democracy. Of course not. But my point is that even though you run your government through agents, aka 'Representatives' and 'Senators', the fact that your system have such allowances through local electoral processes mean you are a democracy. If they fails you or at least you perceived that an agent failed you, there is a replacement process: the election cycle. Your democracy is real, unlike the dictatorships that have the thinnest of veneers of the democratic process only with the inclusion of the word 'Democratic' in the names of their countries. ...make our education system centralized, useless, and scrubbed of all traces of History, civics and rationality. If you want your people to have a unified sense of patriotism, historical sense of where they came from, and a deep passion for civic duties, then at the very least you must have a central source of knowledge, if not a central administration, where your teachers, mentors, and parents can draw upon and dispense. The communists realized this necessity, perhaps you should too. Shared tactic does not equal to shared ideologies and/or motivations. Re-insert what was removed. Debate what was suppressed and ignored. I strongly suggest you read his book "Rules For Radicals". I read it years ago, long before it became famous (again) at this current time. It is on my bookshelf somewhere. | ||
| Reindog |
Hi Roderick, Thank you for contributing and it is refreshing to hear an "outsiders" viewpoint. All you other voyeurs, chime in. This discussion on Badweb is really important as I agree with FB1 that the upcoming election is vital to the very future of America. We want to hear what you think. Do not take YOUR responsibility lightly. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
I have to confess, initially I thought O would be good for your country. Evidently I was wrong. When we had an election here earlier this year, I thought that the French public wouldn't be so stupid as to elect a lefty having seen what happened the other side of the pond. Evidently I was wrong. You have an election coming up, do the right thing. I've got another 4 1/2 years to go. We're going to be moving again next year, I'm planning on being as self-sufficient as I can possibly be. | ||
| Fb1 |
I have to confess, initially I thought O would be good for your country. Grumpster, I'd be interested in learning about why you thought 0 would be good for the US. Care to elaborate? FB | ||
| Pwnzor |
Grumpster, I'd be interested in learning about why you thought 0 would be good for the US. Care to elaborate? I'll throw my 2 cents in here. I didn't vote for him, but when he was elected, I chose to have hope about the situation. I hoped he would at least motivate people to do something positive, whether it be for or against his administration policies. I hoped all kinds of things, what else could I do? I voted against him, but he won, so I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Every day we learn more and more about him. Every day he does more to destroy our country. Every day he appeases our enemies, assures them they will be able to whittle away at us little by little until we are unrecognizable. Every day my resolve grows stronger. Every day I prepare for what may come next if he is reelected. Every day I encourage people to throw the bum out. He may yet prove to be history's greatest monster. | ||
| Aesquire |
Your democracy is real, unlike the dictatorships that have the thinnest of veneers of the democratic process only with the inclusion of the word 'Democratic' in the names of their countries. Thank you for clearing that up for me. Your point as to the "one man, one vote, one time" nature of "democratic reform" in the third world is well taken. And quite accurate. Our trouble here is that the leftists, in specific the neo-marxist Progressives, took over the education system by deliberate design for the last century. "taking it back" will require sweeping changes in government which I alas do not see happening. The current propaganda from this admin tells people that the 'R's want to ban abortion, contraception, and put the women back into barefoot and pregnant status. No matter your views on the morality of these things, IM not so HO it is simply none of our business what others do with their genitals. I think that is a majority view. I am painfully reminded of Bill Clinton's success for quite some time to cover his crimes against the Constitution and American interests by changing the subject to Monica. He never was convicted of crimes no one can deny. By making this election about sex, and not the fascism, corruption, and simply wrong economic philosophies of the Prez, the D's may be successful at retaining power, to the detriment of our nation, and the rest of the planet. Who will defend the people of the planet from the Islamists and their Russian and Chinese suppliers, if not us? Vladimir would be more than happy to rule the world, and it seems Obama is more than happy to help him. | ||
| Pwnzor |
Psalm 109:8 | ||
| Fb1 |
He may yet prove to be history's greatest monster. +1 | ||
| Fb1 |
Anybody here read the American Thinker? Thoughtful, articulate, and often absolutely frightening commentary from the intellectual right. Here's one from just this morning that should give every American some serious pee-chills:
The article goes on, in great detail and with many hyperlinks for further study and review, to present Dr. Beatty's concerns. Pay close attention, America; our founding principles are being severely tested... | ||
| Kyrocket |
My wife says that I'm a mix of Archie Bunker and Clint Eastwood's character in Gran Torino, she says it kind of tongue-in-cheek but I'm kinda proud of it. | ||
| Gregtonn |
A 0 campaign commercial starring Bill Clinton says 0 wants to rebuild America from the ground up. Probably one of the most honest commercials of the season. Whats the first thing you have to do to build anything "from the ground up"? You have to destroy what's already there. One has to wonder how the 0 constitution would read. G | ||
| Kyrocket |
"All you other voyeurs, chime in. This discussion on Badweb is really important as I agree with FB1 that the upcoming election is vital to the very future of America. We want to hear what you think." I think the MSM is really starting to annoy me. This morning on the news, in reference to Romney's blurb about the 47% being dependent on the gov., a female reporter asked another, "is this a category five storm for Romney?" What? Really? From where I sit and work it's the absolute truth. I see people everyday who don't get up until 11:00 and that's not because they're working 2nd shift either. They get up, sit on their front porches, go to the store, take their kids to school, lounge around but never, not once, do they hit a lick of work. They are 100% on the drawl and some of these families are 2nd and 3rd generation welfare mooches. Some of them, the ones who really work the system, make more than I do in a month. Granted, I wouldn't trade my existence for theirs but it just goes to show our program is broken. It's time to sink or swim, I'm tired, as are most working people I know, of towing the line for these ingrates. They live in filth, and cause a blight on the whole community. They bring down neighboring property values and don't seem to care. I came into this job thinking, "these folks need help, all they need is a helping hand." Boy was I wrong, they've had a helping hand for years and years and are content to live like animals. I didn't vote for the current admin. simply because he had not managed so much as the corner tasty freeze. And he's not gotten any better in my opinion, he's a flashy talker but just an empty suit, or as Archie would say, "a meathead". | ||
| Aesquire |
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/322038/obam a-middle-east-victor-davis-hanson Really it's just a mash up of Obama's speeches blaming us, the American people for all the troubles of the world. Only applied to the Middle East. Never going to happen. Mildly funny, until you realize that Obama means to get tough. With You. | ||
| Fb1 |
This morning on the news, in reference to Romney's blurb about the 47% being dependent on the gov., a female reporter asked another, "is this a category five storm for Romney?" Kyrocket, which network was this? | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Fb1, Matt's about covered it. Most people over here saw the previous incumbent as somewhat of a joke, & a bit of a loose cannon. I honestly thought that the succeeding President would be Hilary Clinton, but along came "The Man With The Golden Yap", & like many many others, I thought he would point the USA on to a more egalitarian track while preserving it's core values. (Shit I just read that & I sound like a politician now) Sadly, we've been mis-guided, one can only hope that recovery won't take too long. | ||
| Kyrocket |
Took me a second but I found it. It was Savanna Guthrie (sp?) asking it to "Morning Joe" this morning. She asked if it was a political s##tstorm or just a blip. And who of all people advised the hidden camera operator to go public with it? A descendant of Carter. http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/49070279#49 070279 | ||
| Fb1 |
Most people over here saw the previous incumbent as somewhat of a joke, & a bit of a loose cannon. Most people over here felt the same way.  I honestly thought that the succeeding President would be Hilary Clinton... The blood of Amb. Stevens is on her hands; I think she will be retiring soon. Sadly, we've been mis-guided, one can only hope that recovery won't take too long. If Romney is elected, the recovery will still be painful. It's time to take our medicine. He's the right man for the job and I support him 100%, but the medicine is STILL gonna taste like crap for a while. | ||
| Fb1 |
Kyrocket: MSNBC? What a frikkin' leftwing rag, toilet paper with a pretty pattern embossed on it the whole lot of them, nothing but a shill for the chosen one, corrupt to their core, not worthy of being called serious journalists. I could say more, but I think you catch my drift. Here's a post to Wolfridgerider from me this morning regarding the Morning Joe and MSNBC; easier to post a link to it than type it all out again: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?tpc=4062&post=2263345#POST2263345 Thanks for posting-up the source. That it came from MSNBC explains EVERYTHING.  | ||
| Reindog |
We have given NBC years to practice journalism and but Laurie and I have finally had enough. We no longer tune in to The Today Show although I occasionally check out what the lunatics at MSNBC are screeching about. | ||
| Fb1 |
Took me a second but I found it. It was Savanna Guthrie (sp?) asking it to "Morning Joe" this morning. She asked if it was a political s##tstorm or just a blip. And who of all people advised the hidden camera operator to go public with it? A descendant of Carter. Here's a link to three of the Mother Judas vids. I think Romney should use these in his campaign - what he says in each is right on the frikkin' money:
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