The State of the Union 2015

[Waraji]

lol You didn't remember?

[Mazmaz]

is she real life

[notorious bum]

Nadar missing the point of populist fanfare and exposing the hypocrisy and flimsy promises made last night, so uncool:

Ralph Nader on What was Missing in President Obama’s State of the Union Address
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/1/2...at_was_missing -@32:30

[Yabby]

Everybody Serra, everybody. Everytime "the new Republican congress you elected". Bitch, voter turnout, or lack thereof, is what got you elected.

I'm normally on the left side of most issues, but they did get elected. A lack of voting, to me, is the same as voting. Mainly because people were calling it for the R's, meaning people who didn't vote knew that not showing up was giving it to them. I'm growing older, and I'm now starting to make real money (seeing the taxes taken out of my check is now more than triple of what i used to make a few years ago) it is getting harder and harder to defend people now. I vote to help the middle/lower class, but if the people in it don't vote... why the fuck am i fighting for them....

I know gerrymandering takes a big role in this, but there is a limit to that argument. I always considered people who don't vote to their economic interests fools, and i'm getting to the point where i'm becoming that fool. A fool defending people who don't care enough to vote in people that support their ideals.

They now have the Senate and House, we elected them. Even if we didn't vote directly for that person, the majority of our voting peers did. Now we have to deal with it.


Edit: I do agree that she drove that statement home..... as they all do/will for the next few years.

[Salodin]

I think you underestimate the power of voter disenfranchisement. I'm no authority on the matter though, I'm sure bum or some one else will come educate you soon.

[Waraji]

I don't really think it's all voter disenfranchisement, it does have a lot to do with the attitude the current populace has. I'm a social liberal but a fiscal conservative, so the only way I can see the budget ever being balanced is by cutting entitlement programs, flat tax on everyone with no loop holes, and tax breaks for low income earners based on reasonable analysis of a livable level of income.

We can all agree that we could really use a complete restructuring of government economics in order to get people motivated to actually work. Don't want to starve, you better work bitch. The current problem with government really has been a compounding clusterfuck thats been building up for a long time now.

[Yabby]

I think you underestimate the power of voter disenfranchisement. I'm no authority on the matter though, I'm sure bum or some one else will come educate you soon.

I'm sure they will, but I think (Once again personally, i welcome someone to prove me wrong) that disenfranchisement is less of a problem compared to other reasons why people don't vote.

Education (Even with based middle school education they went over the importance of voting)
Laziness
People that think it won't matter (Once again education)
Think both parties suck (Education.... there is normally another party, if people really started to vote instead, we might pull away from the two party system (Not likely))
etc

You can only blame the right so much for voter turnout.

[wipers]

With the election coming in 2016 I expect next to nothing getting done. Which is pretty much the way it is all the time.

[Salodin]

I only need to blame them enough to count for the 1-2% needed to have kept them out of office :3.

[notorious bum]

Dems received an overwhelming majority of the votes for Senate and House, I think I posted a video about that in another thread from the RT program The Big Picture. It was something to the tune of 20 million votes over the past 4 years. Gerrymandering is how those seats were gotten. The lack of clear differences between the two parties in many cases also plays a part, of course.

[Tyrath]

https://vine.co/v/OIADTEhu2U6

Best part imo.

[Yabby]

If Gerrymandering is one of the only reasons for these kinds of losses, why didn't the Dem's focus on that while they were in control? Unless they are benefiting from it was well?

Edit: Sorry getting off topic, I would like to see that RT on gerrymandering tho. I'm looking for it but google isn't helping me much.

[Salodin]

Gerrymandering isn't one of the only reasons, but it stands to reason that if it wasn't for gerrymandering the people in control right now would not be.

And you just don't pay attention. They try to combat it all the time, it's just so bad right now that it's hard to fix because the people benefitting from it don't want to fix it. Two groups fighting for representation don't both equally favor from it.

[notorious bum]

Here's the video I was referencing about the voter numbers

[Yabby]

I don't follow the news as much as i would like, but i can't remember the last time i heard anyone trying to take down gerrymandering that in currently in office. So you are right that i may just be missing it, or the news isn't reporting on it. I'm sure the people benefiting from it wouldn't want to change it, but from a party standpoint, if my party was losing overall just so a few people could keep their seats.... well i would remove them anyways. That is the big reason i get mad at the left, they are a bunch of pussies that don't stick together for shit. At least the right will stick together no matter how batshit something sounds, and force people to think like them.

I'm not saying i want the left to be 100% like that, but every election i see them turn on each other for shit they should be supporting. I'm not talking about the primaries ether, people that have won primaries trying to act like they hate the president in an attempt to be more conservative. That is when people won't come out to vote for them.

Edit: Thanks for the video link

[BaneTheBrawler]

Edit: Sorry getting off topic

I'm fine with the direction this thread is taking. When I intervene, it is typically because the derail has an existing active thread, has taken on a vitriolic tone, been covered many times before, or provoked an unusually large slew of reported posts. This is, thus far, none of those things.

Y'all are doing well, keep it up. Civil, informative discussion. Good stuff.

[kuronosan]

I don't know who that is did she attend a community college too ?

He might as well promise free fiber optic internet to low income households if you are "promising" two years of free college.

Show me statements and statistics that prove a community college education immediately means a failed leader or future.

I'll be waiting.

[tyven]

community college is the fucking jam. if my kid doesnt have a scholarship he is definitely going to community college for first 2 years

[BerenTebogo]

community college is the fucking jam. if my kid doesnt have a scholarship he is definitely going to community college for first 2 years

This.

[notorious bum]

HCC is where I was taught by an 80yr old Harvard Grad English Professor, who owned a strip club, and provided political commentary akin to Noam Chomsky. The frequency of quality professors at CCs seems to be pretty consistent from all the conversations I've had over the years.