We are all blind fools adrift

As I watch these slap fights in this forum and across the media, I can not help but think that we are all wrong. The real problem is the American political system itself and not one party or the other. Demopublican it does not matter. Both parties have been hijacked from every day voters by corporations and special interests. These are the entitites who are really running things. Candidates serve as mere puppets, and when we do not like one, they simply dispose of him and bring in a new one, dancing him around in front of us and singing songs of how everything will be ok. Only, while we sit around mesmerized by the show, the entities are rifling through our pockets and emptying our wallets. My point is this, sure a politician may say he cares about average americans, whatever the fuck that means, he may even believe it, but, after the election is over and he has said his acceptance speech, cried a little, and kissed his wife, the president goes into the same back room as every other president has, where a room full of cigar smoking Edward G. Robinson types congratulates him and tells him "This is how it's gonna be see" "You're gonna fuck everybody over and abandon you're promises see" "Yeah, that's the ticket" etc. Meanwhile the special interests and corporate entities are happy to wag the dog by letting us blame problems on the scapegoats. Well Played...

I would cast the net a bit wider, myself. Imo you are describing problems universal to human political organizations beyond the size of village/tribe, where everybody knows everyone else. Being in a community has strong moral guiding power for people, and this nation is no longer a community or even a federation of communities. Behold decadence. cn

cannabineer said:

I would cast the net a bit wider, myself. Imo you are describing problems universal to human political organizations beyond the size of village/tribe, where everybody knows everyone else. Being in a community has strong moral guiding power for people, and this nation is no longer a community or even a federation of communities. Behold decadence. cn

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Which is why we should dismantle most of the federal powers and give them back to the states...

Then have the states give power back to the counties, etc...

Finally local government should give most of the power back to the people.

Politicians will kiss your ass for your vote and then stab you in the back when in office......Once they get the power, it's about controling us, not giving us freedoms

NLXSK1 said:

Which is why we should dismantle most of the federal powers and give them back to the states...

Then have the states give power back to the counties, etc...

Finally local government should give most of the power back to the people.

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My problem with this is that it doesn't have a provision for dealing with extragovernmental empire builders. cn

The government put us 16 trillion in debt, not extragovernmental empire builders...

NLXSK1 said:

The government put us 16 trillion in debt, not extragovernmental empire builders...

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Some would say the bankers had an even bigger hand in it. They're an odd hybrid, neither in nor outside of government. cn

cannabineer said:

Some would say the bankers had an even bigger hand in it. They're an odd hybrid, neither in nor outside of government. cn

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The bankers got out of control because the government allowed it (freddie mac & Fannie Mae) are quasi-governmental corporations. If there had been no safety net there is no way that those secondary mortgage companies would have relaxed the mortgage standards to the extent they did. Corporations are greedy but they are also usually into self preservation and not economically suicidal.

NLXSK1 said:

Which is why we should dismantle most of the federal powers and give them back to the states...

Then have the states give power back to the counties, etc...

Finally local government should give most of the power back to the people.

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Maybe one day you will get your wish and you can own black people again

NL, corporate interests have raided the government coffers through varied means such as lobbying, fat contracts, price gouging, and ludicrous tax breaks to name a few

FlowerPower! said:

Name calling isn't allowed here - fp!


Oh, wait.....that isn't enforced here- that happens over at grasscity

LOL!!

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Got banned from grasscity eh?

NLXSK1 said:

The bankers got out of control because the government allowed it (freddie mac & Fannie Mae) are quasi-governmental corporations. If there had been no safety net there is no way that those secondary mortgage companies would have relaxed the mortgage standards to the extent they did. Corporations are greedy but they are also usually into self preservation and not economically suicidal.

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Imo the self-preservation instinct in American corporations is blunted by the very short time horizon. It's about the upcoming quarterly report.
Also, corporations are the purest empire-builders in the West today. I would not waste a moment pretending they think of people as anything other than commodities: customer base, labor base, human resources etc. cn

NLXSK1 said:

Got banned from grasscity eh?

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yeah, for some stupid fucking shit....at least you can say whatever u want here......that's why I come back

cannabineer said:

Imo the self-preservation instinct in American corporations is blunted by the very short time horizon. It's about the upcoming quarterly report.
Also, corporations are the purest empire-builders in the West today. I would not waste a moment pretending they think of people as anything other than commodities: customer base, labor base, human resources etc. cn

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You are over generalizing things.

Most businesses are corporations for legal protection purposes. The vast majority are small businesses.

NLXSK1 said:

You are over generalizing things.

Most businesses are corporations for legal protection purposes. The vast majority are small businesses.

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But the large ones have disproportionate power. They set the sociopolitical tone, not the restaurants, radiator shops or boutiques. cn

cannabineer said:

But the large ones have disproportionate power. They set the sociopolitical tone, not the restaurants, radiator shops or boutiques. cn

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They are beholden to their market, their investors and their stock holders... They do not have the power you think they do in most cases.

NLXSK1 said:

They are beholden to their market, their investors and their stock holders... They do not have the power you think they do in most cases.

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Ive been telling Washington for years that lobbing is out of control, it's only getting worse. They have money.

NLXSK1 said:

They are beholden to their market, their investors and their stock holders... They do not have the power you think they do in most cases.

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Now you've joined me in generalizing. No big; it's hard to make a discussion simultaneously correct and simple.

But I would have to observe that insurers have much more power than gets routinely discussed. They are the principal force shaping things like healthcare and product design.
I would add the philosophical musing that pure government and pure commerce are both socially destructive forces. The problem is maintaining a homeostasis, since opportunists will upset the balance in the quest for advantage. The most enduring feature of the socioeconomic landscape of the past 5000 years is the ephemeral nature of even the most perfect states and societies, because last century's winning formula/compromise has been eaten hollow by this century's players. cn

NLXSK1 said:

You are over generalizing things.

Most businesses are corporations for legal protection purposes. The vast majority are small businesses.

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you're parroting republican talking points, and you accuse him of overgeneralizing?

UncleBuck said:

you're parroting republican talking points, and you accuse him of overgeneralizing?

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I recited a fact that republicans site bucky...

You dont need to hang off my nuts to show me you care.