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Owl 69/70/75 Offline
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Post: #1
Thoughts
To my republican friends:

The battle over abortion is over. You lost. 42 years ago. We’re not going back.

The battle over gay marriage is over. You lost. We’re not going back.

Don’t spend the next 42 years playing Don Quixote and tilting at lost windmills the way you have spent the last 42. We have some real problems out there that somebody needs to get busy addressing, and it might as well be you. It’s time for you to use that courage God gave you to change the things that can be changed, that serenity God gave you to accept the things that can’t be changed, and that wisdom God gave you to know the difference. There are places where we badly need sanity, so turn your efforts toward them:

Obamacare is a train wreck that will inevitably happen, it’s merely a question of when, not if. It combines the worst feature of our old system (health insurance paid by employers) with the worst feature of single-payer/single-provider systems (government bureaucrats replacing the doctor patient relationship in making individual health care decisions). It will ultimately fail because there is no way possible for it to work. It relies on the failed economic notion that you can on the one hand increase demand while on the other hand constrain supply by reducing the amounts paid to suppliers. That has not worked one time ever in all recorded history, and there is no reason to expect it to produce anything but shortages and queues and reduced quality. So why is it that you’ve had six years now and haven’t come up with anything better? I’ll give you a hint. The Bismarck system has given places like France and Germany and Holland and Switzerland far better health care than any single-payer or single-provider system in the world. And unlike single-payer and single-provider, it actually works in countries with large populations. Heritage pointed you that direction in its response to Hillarycare 20 years ago. You should have passed that then, Clinton would have signed it in a heartbeat, and we wouldn’t be having to endure this now. But that’s water under the bridge. If nothing else, hire somebody who speaks French and translate their law and pass it.

Fiscal soundness starts with a balanced budget. So balance it. Not a balanced budget amendment, a balanced budget. That means you’re going to have to increase revenues, cut defense spending, and cut the vast wasteland that are our welfare programs. Revenues should be easy. Do what Europe does, and what Bowles-Simpson and Domenici-Rivlin recommended. Lower and flatten rates in exchange for cutting out loopholes, and implement a consumption tax. Defense is actually easy too. Armies do two things well—killing people and breaking things. We need a war fighting force, so get rid of everything not related to war fighting. No more nation-building. GWB promised that in 2000, so why did you go 180 degrees the other direction when he and you got into power? You can build a much stronger war fighting force for a lot less money if you simply get rid of everything not related to war fighting. And that includes cutting back Pentagon and consultant levels to the equivalent of what was good enough to win WWII. One more thing, never, ever, ever, ever fight a war that you don’t intend to win. Welfare is the hard one because if you just cut spending for democrat programs, you’re going to get labeled as hard-hearted and mean. But those programs don’t work, so instead of simply spending less on things that don’t work, take a whole new approach. Again, look at Europe where welfare is a safety net and not a redistribution scheme. Enact a few generic programs available to everyone to replace the myriad of focused and means-tested ones that we have now. All that means-testing does is blow up overhead to pay all the gatekeepers, who tend to be socialist sociologist (redundant, I know) bureaucrats that we would be better off without. Pay the money to poor people, and let the PhD bureaucrats go find real jobs, like barista at Starbucks. Do something like Milton Friedman’s negative income tax or the Boortz-Linder prebate/prefund, and go all in with it instead of half-assed like the EITC. That’s a real growth strategy, unlike the “Bush tax cuts,” and growth will cure just about every economic ailment.

After you took over the House in the 2010 elections, on day 1 in 2011 you should have passed French Bismarck health care and either Bowles-Simpson or Domenici-Rivlin or some combination of the best of both (not hard to combine, they both say pretty much the same thing). You would have taken the high ground in the two major debates of the day, and forced Harry Reid and Obama to handle two very hot potatoes. Like abortion and gay rights, that’s water under the bridge, but unlike the other two you can still do something about these things. So do it.

Now to my democrat friends:

Class-warfare demagoguery may be a great way to turn out your base and win elections, but it’s a horrible model for running a country. You’re taking us where Europe tried going in the 1950s and 1960s and it damn near ruined them. They learned their lesson. Today they are more social democratic than socialist, and you need to do the same. What’s the difference between socialist and social democrat? Drop the redistribution mantra. All you’re going to accomplish is the same thing Europe did—driving away investment capital and strangling our economy. Why is it on the one hand you criticize the “rich” and corporations for moving investment and jobs overseas to get lower costs, lower taxes, and less intrusive regulations, but on the other hand you seem to believe that the way to get them back is higher costs, higher taxes, and more intrusive regulations? Are you really stupid enough to believe that has a chance of working? Do you want the economy to fail? Or are you simply so committed to your ideology that you don’t care whether it works or not? You’ve created your permanent underclass of reliable democrat voters. Now it’s time for you to decide whether you really care about helping those people or just want to keep them trapped and voting you into power until you retire. It’s time to quit dividing—no matter how good politics that may be—and start uniting.

Now to both democrats and republicans:

I don’t see either one of you even talking about doing any of the things that we truly need, much less making any moves toward actually doing them. The first one of you that moves in that direction will get my vote. And until one of you makes that move, neither of you will.

The end.
06-27-2015 10:34 AM
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RiceLad15 Offline
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Post: #2
RE: Thoughts
Agreed on most accounts. Republicans generally need to recognize that continuing to fight over social issues distracts a lot of voters and ensures that many of them (myself included) don't even think about voting for them in an election.

I would love to see both parties produce legitimate candidates that don't seem to be tied to major corporations/benefactors and that appear to genuinely want to do what they believe is best for the country, and not in furthering their or their backer's ambitions. No matter where you stand on the polo tal spectrum, I think most will agree that Paul and Sanders are the two best candidates in that regard.

It would be nice, and I think it is critical, to begin discussing solutions to what ails the country, rather than just what ails the country. Which I am pretty sure you agree with me on.

I wouldn't be surprised if in the next two to three election cycles, we see this occur. I think the rise of Sanders on the left illustrates that there is desire on the left for this, and the continued support for both Paul's does the same for the right. Hopefully this can push both parties in the correct direction, but I am not optimistic. Too much money at stake for the big name candidates.
06-27-2015 04:13 PM
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Antarius Offline
Say no to cronyism
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Post: #3
RE: Thoughts
(06-27-2015 04:13 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  It would be nice, and I think it is critical, to begin discussing solutions to what ails the country, rather than just what ails the country. Which I am pretty sure you agree with me on.

Id love to see the end of the Primary system; all major and serious candidates stand and run in the general election. This allows for candidates to stand on their actual positions, and not have to pander to the left and right in order to knock off the Elizabeth Warrens and Ted Cruzs of the world. The system in place leaves no space for solutions or compromise.

(06-27-2015 04:13 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  Republicans generally need to recognize that continuing to fight over social issues distracts a lot of voters and ensures that many of them (myself included) don't even think about voting for them in an election.

This.

And this links back to my above point. A lot of it is pandering. Ted Cruz isn't dumb - his degrees and achievements show that; he gets more press and publicity acting like the loon that he comes off as being.
06-27-2015 08:37 PM
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ausowl Offline
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Post: #4
RE: Thoughts
Thought of this thread when I heard Jim Webb announced for president. He might be too populist for y'all's taste, but he's positioned himself as independent. No clue where his primary votes would come from (absent an indictment of H Clinton).
07-02-2015 04:45 PM
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Caelligh Offline
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Post: #5
RE: Thoughts
(06-27-2015 10:34 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  ...That means you’re going to have to ... cut defense spending...

I'll say. Maybe cutting defense spending will help out with that Fourth Amendment problem we're having, too.
07-03-2015 12:18 PM
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