How does the GOP maintain the level of support they do?

[New Nassrau]

Politics is about compromising. If the Democrats won't compromise, neither will the Republicans.

Like how the Democrats bent over backwards and all but surrendered during the debt ceiling debacle, Boehner proudly proclaimed he got 98% of what he wanted. That's not compromise. That's the democrats surrendering, and yet to this day I hear how Obama isn't being bipartisan enough. He needs to stop being so accommodating to people who'll never vote for anything he does. Fuck the republican party and their obstructionist bullshit. I'd rather see progress attempted than see us backslide due to congressional Republican jackassery.

Well, there are arguments for both sides. I mean, with an all Democrat or liberal people in power, then the US will will turn on Israel, waste its money on deadbeats, and lose its ideals that made it America in the first place.

[Mavorpen]

Politics is about compromising. If the Democrats won't compromise, neither will the Republicans.

Democrats have done nothing BUT compromise. I realize you don't live here, but at least know what you're talking about.

Please explain how cutting regulations so it's more affordable for companies to hire new workers is ''fucking over the working class''. The Republicans are trying to help the working class, while the Democrats are trying to strangle the employers with regulations to make sure that they can't hire anyone.

Because it hasn't worked. The companies you and Republicans are talking about are large corporations, who DON'T hire and who just ship their work overseas. What the government NEEDS to do is decrease regulations on small businesses. I will admit that the government does indeed overregulate small businesses. But here's the funny part, corporations LOBBY the government to do this. You'll see why giving corporations more money is a shit idea. It's not just Democrats "strangling employers" it's Republicans, and Republicans more so.

As opposed to Democrats who want to steal from the rich to fund some project America can't afford.

This is extremely ambiguous, and probably because you have no clue what's going on in America.

Are you saying that regulation is good? Regulation is exactly what is keeping the economy in such a storry state.

Bullshit, giving more money to people who don't spend is keeping our economy back. By the way, yes regulation is good. For instance, the EPA has saved us trillions of dollars. Some regulations are shit, I admit. Saying regulations period are the reasons behind our economic problems is complete bullshit, especially when it comes to banks.

I thought you were supposed to list reasons why the Republicans are bad..?

I thought you were supposed to be providing reasoning behind your posts.

It's much better than forcing everyone trust the big, bloated, inefficient and bureaucracy-chocking government the Republicans want to create.

Fixed.

[AustriaHungaryBohemia]

Well, there are arguments for both sides. I mean, with an all Democrat or liberal people in power, then the US will will turn on Israel, waste its money on deadbeats, and lose its ideals that made it America in the first place.

"Turn on Israel"? Please. If any of the actions the US ever took towards Israel can count as "turning on" them, then I have seen more vicious betrayals from hippie pandas. And anything that would actually count as "turning on Israel" would be political suicide.
What exactly are "deadbeats" and "American ideals", in your opinion?

[Socialist EU]

I find it hard to believe it would be possible to say anything more transparently nonsensical.



I stand corrected.

Wait, don't you come from a country with a rigorous multi-tiered universal healthcare system?

Aren't you ultimately talking about things you know nothing about?

I wasn;t going to mention this so nicely so I just didn't say it... but I really can't stand it when people who can get a regular checkup or even go to the ER without worrying about paying for food later on in the week try to comment on the state of the US system of Healthcare. I haven't seen a Dr. in 4 years or a Dentist in 6 or more because I quite simply cannot afford to and some privileged punk from (insert country with socialized medicine here) tells me that I don't deserve too!

A horrible state of affairs, and given the fact that Europe generally has more radical leftists, it's rather embarrassing to see Hippo espouse such right-wing opinions. All I can say is that these problems for Americans won't be solved anytime soon, (or at least in the near-term anyway) and not if class collaborating US bureaucratic unions have anything to do with it,(of course this is a problem in Europe as well, to a lesser degree).

Two things that will help in the medium to long term is an increasingly radical response from the left in Europe, thus, putting a left-wing pressure on US politics and American unions no longer funding the democrats!

The other question should be, How do the democrats maintain the level of support from the unions?

[Khadgar]

Like how the Democrats bent over backwards and all but surrendered during the debt ceiling debacle, Boehner proudly proclaimed he got 98% of what he wanted. That's not compromise. That's the democrats surrendering, and yet to this day I hear how Obama isn't being bipartisan enough. He needs to stop being so accommodating to people who'll never vote for anything he does. Fuck the republican party and their obstructionist bullshit. I'd rather see progress attempted than see us backslide due to congressional Republican jackassery.

Well, there are arguments for both sides. I mean, with an all Democrat or liberal people in power, then the US will will turn on Israel, waste its money on deadbeats, and lose its ideals that made it America in the first place.

Yes, I remember during those years when Obama had a democrat majority, and the US Israeli war. The massive handouts to anyone who wanted money and the accompanying hyperinflation.

Wait..

That didn't happen did it. Huh, why it's almost as if the Democratic party isn't stupid. Now, the Republicans hand out money like crazy, mostly to cronies like Halliburton, all on the up and up, no bid contracts to deal with the wars they started. Wars that were basically excuses to give money to important backers. Isn't that odd?

[New Nassrau]

Well, there are arguments for both sides. I mean, with an all Democrat or liberal people in power, then the US will will turn on Israel, waste its money on deadbeats, and lose its ideals that made it America in the first place.

"Turn on Israel"? Please. If any of the actions the US ever took towards Israel can count as "turning on" them, then I have seen more vicious betrayals from hippie pandas. And anything that would actually count as "turning on Israel" would be political suicide.
What exactly are "deadbeats" and "American ideals", in your opinion?

Well, like giving money to people for nearly a year, and still can't find jobs... the extremely high pensions(Why does Greece have debt again?), and losing American ideals like self supporting natures, yet the government now wants to be in everyone's lives. as said by Thomas Jefferson,

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

[Socialist EU]

Politics is about compromising. If the Democrats won't compromise, neither will the Republicans.

Democrats have done nothing BUT compromise. I realize you don't live here, but at least know what you're talking about.

Please explain how cutting regulations so it's more affordable for companies to hire new workers is ''fucking over the working class''. The Republicans are trying to help the working class, while the Democrats are trying to strangle the employers with regulations to make sure that they can't hire anyone.

Because it hasn't worked. The companies you and Republicans are talking about are large corporations, who DON'T hire and who just ship their work overseas. What the government NEEDS to do is decrease regulations on small businesses. I will admit that the government does indeed overregulate small businesses. But here's the funny part, corporations LOBBY the government to do this. You'll see why giving corporations more money is a shit idea. It's not just Democrats "strangling employers" it's Republicans, and Republicans more so.

As opposed to Democrats who want to steal from the rich to fund some project America can't afford.

This is extremely ambiguous, and probably because you have no clue what's going on in America.

Are you saying that regulation is good? Regulation is exactly what is keeping the economy in such a storry state.

Bullshit, giving more money to people who don't spend is keeping our economy back. By the way, yes regulation is good. For instance, the EPA has saved us trillions of dollars. Some regulations are shit, I admit. Saying regulations period are the reasons behind our economic problems is complete bullshit, especially when it comes to banks.

I thought you were supposed to list reasons why the Republicans are bad..?

I thought you were supposed to be providing reasoning behind your posts.

It's much better than forcing everyone trust the big, bloated, inefficient and bureaucracy-chocking government the Republicans want to create.

Fixed.

Nice job! I know more about US politics than him and I don't live in the US, although, I do go to Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! if I want to find out about US political news.

[Socialist EU]

"Turn on Israel"? Please. If any of the actions the US ever took towards Israel can count as "turning on" them, then I have seen more vicious betrayals from hippie pandas. And anything that would actually count as "turning on Israel" would be political suicide.
What exactly are "deadbeats" and "American ideals", in your opinion?

Well, like giving money to people for nearly a year, and still can't find jobs... the extremely high pensions(Why does Greece have debt again?), and losing American ideals like self supporting natures, yet the government now wants to be in everyone's lives. as said by Thomas Jefferson,

"The bourgeois democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are have willing towork and give to those who would do not."

Fixed. Besides, the unions could play a useful role in helping those in need, but they'd need to be run by the working class instead of the union bureaucrats!

[Khadgar]

"Turn on Israel"? Please. If any of the actions the US ever took towards Israel can count as "turning on" them, then I have seen more vicious betrayals from hippie pandas. And anything that would actually count as "turning on Israel" would be political suicide.
What exactly are "deadbeats" and "American ideals", in your opinion?

Well, like giving money to people for nearly a year, and still can't find jobs... the extremely high pensions(Why does Greece have debt again?), and losing American ideals like self supporting natures, yet the government now wants to be in everyone's lives. as said by Thomas Jefferson,

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

Tom never said that. A quick google search would have told you that:

http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferso ... -quotation

This exact quotation has not been found in any of the writings of Thomas Jefferson. It bears a very vague resemblance to Jefferson's comment in a prospectus for his translation of Destutt de Tracy's Treatise on Political Economy: "To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, -€˜the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, & the fruits acquired by it.'"[3]

[New Nassrau]

Well, like giving money to people for nearly a year, and still can't find jobs... the extremely high pensions(Why does Greece have debt again?), and losing American ideals like self supporting natures, yet the government now wants to be in everyone's lives. as said by Thomas Jefferson,

"The bourgeois democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are have willing towork and give to those who would do not."

Fixed. Besides, the unions could play a useful role in helping those in need, but they'd need to be run by the working class instead of the union bureaucrats!

We can't argue with each other as we are on different sides of the spectrum! We will never convince each other!

[Luziyca]

The GOP maintains the amount of support they do by hiring the Taliban to punish those that oppose the GOP.

[Socialist EU]

"Turn on Israel"? Please. If any of the actions the US ever took towards Israel can count as "turning on" them, then I have seen more vicious betrayals from hippie pandas. And anything that would actually count as "turning on Israel" would be political suicide.
What exactly are "deadbeats" and "American ideals", in your opinion?

Well, like giving money to people for nearly a year, and still can't find jobs... the extremely high pensions(Why does Greece have debt again?), and losing American ideals like self supporting natures, yet the government now wants to be in everyone's lives. as said by Thomas Jefferson,

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

Perhaps, the only thing we likely have in common is our disdain for the democrats, for different reasons of course.

[Ashmoria]

Like how the Democrats bent over backwards and all but surrendered during the debt ceiling debacle, Boehner proudly proclaimed he got 98% of what he wanted. That's not compromise. That's the democrats surrendering, and yet to this day I hear how Obama isn't being bipartisan enough. He needs to stop being so accommodating to people who'll never vote for anything he does. Fuck the republican party and their obstructionist bullshit. I'd rather see progress attempted than see us backslide due to congressional Republican jackassery.

Well, there are arguments for both sides. I mean, with an all Democrat or liberal people in power, then the US will will turn on Israel, waste its money on deadbeats, and lose its ideals that made it America in the first place.

you were *that* close to being specific.

not that i agree with the first one (or its importance), and have to figure out in my head what you mean by the second (expand the social saftey net) but the 3rd is utterly meaningless unless you specify what ideals you are talking about and exactly how the democrats would lose them.

[New Nassrau]

Well, there are arguments for both sides. I mean, with an all Democrat or liberal people in power, then the US will will turn on Israel, waste its money on deadbeats, and lose its ideals that made it America in the first place.

you were *that* close to being specific.

not that i agree with the first one (or its importance), and have to figure out in my head what you mean by the second (expand the social saftey net) but the 3rd is utterly meaningless unless you specify what ideals you are talking about and exactly how the democrats would lose them.

as for the third, I have always remembered that America had the "Do it yourself" kind of attitude. I remember talking to my Grandmother, and she said it was shameful to get welfare from the government back then, but now with the expanding welfare, pension, and the government wanting people on food stamps, America is losing one of its original ideals

[Frisivisia]

"Turn on Israel"? Please. If any of the actions the US ever took towards Israel can count as "turning on" them, then I have seen more vicious betrayals from hippie pandas. And anything that would actually count as "turning on Israel" would be political suicide.
What exactly are "deadbeats" and "American ideals", in your opinion?

Well, like giving money to people for nearly a year, and still can't find jobs... the extremely high pensions(Why does Greece have debt again?), and losing American ideals like self supporting natures, yet the government now wants to be in everyone's lives. as said by Thomas Jefferson,

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

Greece has debt because of shitty borrowing and being part of the EU, not because of pensions. This myth that welfare recipients "don't want to work" is bullshit. Have you ever received welfare? It's humiliating, and makes one want to work a whole lot more.

[New Nassrau]

I'm getting out of this debate, tis' pointless as nobody will change each others' minds

[Ashmoria]

you were *that* close to being specific.

not that i agree with the first one (or its importance), and have to figure out in my head what you mean by the second (expand the social saftey net) but the 3rd is utterly meaningless unless you specify what ideals you are talking about and exactly how the democrats would lose them.

as for the third, I have always remembered that America had the "Do it yourself" kind of attitude. I remember talking to my Grandmother, and she said it was shameful to get welfare from the government back then, but now with the expanding welfare, pension, and the government wanting people on food stamps, America is losing one of its original ideals

we gave that up 80 years ago. we decided that keeping people alive. not having them die for lack of emergency treatment. making sure that everyone gets the chance for an education, keeping kids alive and well, was better than the spirit of independence that leads to suffering and death.

[Frisivisia]

I'm getting out of this debate, tis' pointless as nobody will change each others' minds

Because debate is about convincing, not discussing ideas. What a utilitarian view.

[Frisivisia]

as for the third, I have always remembered that America had the "Do it yourself" kind of attitude. I remember talking to my Grandmother, and she said it was shameful to get welfare from the government back then, but now with the expanding welfare, pension, and the government wanting people on food stamps, America is losing one of its original ideals

we gave that up 80 years ago. we decided that keeping people alive. not having them die for lack of emergency treatment. making sure that everyone gets the chance for an education, keeping kids alive and well, was better than the spirit of independence that least to suffering and death.

And welfare is still humiliating.

[Wamitoria]

I remember talking to my Grandmother, and she said it was shameful to get welfare from the government back then

Your grandmother was lying to you. Despite having much larger social welfare programs back in her day, it was not considered to be a sign of shame that you got laid off.

[Ashmoria]

we gave that up 80 years ago. we decided that keeping people alive. not having them die for lack of emergency treatment. making sure that everyone gets the chance for an education, keeping kids alive and well, was better than the spirit of independence that least to suffering and death.

And welfare is still humiliating.

yeah it still sucks. but at least you dont have to pay for food with brightly colored fake money that brands you as a welfare case any more. done right no one knows that you used an EBT card instead of a debit card to pay for your food.

[Greed and Death]

And welfare is still humiliating.

yeah it still sucks. but at least you dont have to pay for food with brightly colored fake money that brands you as a welfare case any more. done right no one knows that you used an EBT card instead of a debit card to pay for your food.

I always made sure to call and EBT and WIC cards debit cards when I cashiered. Their situation is their business none of their fellow shoppers.

[The lepearchauns]

Im trying to grasp my head around how the GOP manages to maintain the level of support they do in America? The GOP has been undermining the US citizens in every way over the past 4 years, and yet somehow they still garner a large amount of public favor. Below Im going to list off how the GOP "supports" Americans.

Spring 2010 Every GOP house member votes against health care reform law that extends coverage to 32 million Americans and forces employers to OFFER health care to employees. Employer offered health care is up to 30% cheaper than individually purchased health care and saves billions on all sides of the service

June, 2010 GOP filibusters bill that would extend unemployment benefits for nearly 1.2 million people. http://voices.yahoo.com/republicans-stop-2010-unemployment-benefits-extension-6243712.html

Late 2010 All GOP representatives sign promise to hold up voting on ALL legislation until Bush tax cut extension includes cuts for those making over $250,000 per year. Such a cut costs the country billions every year. Not passing cuts before they lapsed would cost the average american thousands.

Dec, 2010 GOP Holds up bill that would give 9/11 rescue workers and survivors access to funding to assist in medical care.http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_12/027005.php

Dec, 2011 GOP holds up legislation until the last possible moment that extends a payroll tax cut http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-republicans-cave-payroll-tax-cuts-extension-obama/story?id=15212988#.T-_r0rXeCSo

The GOP doesnt care about you. They dont care about your taxes. They came days away from doubling your taxes TWICE! They dont care about 9/11 rescue workers, they used their healthcare as a hostage. They dont care that you cant find a job, all they care about is winning, or rather, forcing the democrats to lose. No matter what the cost to citizens. Id really like to hear from some conservatives, particularly GOP supporters as to why they still favor the Republican party?

Below are Barack Obamas words pertaining to what I pointed out above. "I'm not willing to let working families across this country become collateral damage for political warfare here in Washington. And I'm not willing to let our economy slip backwards just as we're pulling ourselves out of this devastating recession..."

Because maybe there are some people who don't want a welfare state

Ive been staying out of the discussion...but tax cuts and 9/11 rescue worker health care is supporting a welfare state? Really?

[Virabia]

I for one support GOP because they're actually trying to fix the economy and save the US, while the Democrats are steadily trying to ruin it with big government and irresponsible spending.

The links you posted, they just show that the GOP is actively trying to prevent the government becoming excessively large and bloated. Healthcare is not the government's business. The government doesn't operate supermarkets or clothing stores, why should it operate hospitals or provide any kind of healthcare? Healthcare is a privilege, not a right.

So is free speech a privelage too? Is the access to clean water a privelage too?

If it is, then STFU. For who gave you the right to speak?

If you want to continue talking, then maybe you should see that healthcare, is a right. It isn't even debatable (lest free speech becomes debatable too)

[Hippostania]

So is free speech a privelage too?

No. Free speech is free and does not mean that you have to violate someone else's rights to use it.

Is the access to clean water a privelage too?

No, just like you don't have a right to a PS3 or a television.

If it is, then STFU. For who gave you the right to speak?

Sections 7 and 31 of the Constitution of the Republic of Finland.

If you want to continue talking, then maybe you should see that healthcare, is a right. It isn't even debatable (lest free speech becomes debatable too)

Healthcare is not a right, as it would require the violation of someone else's rights. As healthcare cannot just appear out of thin air, someone has to pay for it. Just like I explained, you're not entitled to a new Ferrari. Why is healthcare any different?