What can be done to defuse America?

[TheMastersSon]

What the R's and our media have dubbed Obamacare is nothing but rehashed Hillarycare, and dates from the Clinton administration. Aside from that issue I can't name any many other issues or specific policies associated with her. Her objective record as Sec. of State for four years reads somewhere between non-existent and disastrous, and imo she's addicted to the power of political offices, the particular functions of these offices are a very distant second in importance.

Edited April 30, 2017 by TheMastersSon

[PoorlyAged]

"the only folks that CAN implement this change, are the very folks that this change would be attempting to reign in."

 

A constitutional convention can accomplish the same thing, and we're just a few states away from one being convened for a balanced budget amendment. Once it's underway any other amendments can be offered. Term limits are at the very top of the to-do list.

 

To answer the OP's question, imo defusing starts at home. For a drastic improvement in your quality of life, cut the cord to your cable TV service. We did about 10 years ago and it was easily the best family decision we've ever made. Major reductions in stress levels and conflict.

 

You don't want a Constitutional Convention convened with the current state of affairs. There are absolutely no limits on a Constitutional Convention and one could completely rewrite the Constitution, toss out the first 10 amendments, eliminate the power of the judiciary or make this nation a monarchy.

[TheMastersSon]

 

"the only folks that CAN implement this change, are the very folks that this change would be attempting to reign in."

 

A constitutional convention can accomplish the same thing, and we're just a few states away from one being convened for a balanced budget amendment. Once it's underway any other amendments can be offered. Term limits are at the very top of the to-do list.

 

To answer the OP's question, imo defusing starts at home. For a drastic improvement in your quality of life, cut the cord to your cable TV service. We did about 10 years ago and it was easily the best family decision we've ever made. Major reductions in stress levels and conflict.

 

You don't want a Constitutional Convention convened with the current state of affairs. There are absolutely no limits on a Constitutional Convention and one could completely rewrite the Constitution, toss out the first 10 amendments, eliminate the power of the judiciary or make this nation a monarchy.

 

And if you can make a popular case for any of those proposals, you should imo. But I agree with most fellow Americans I've asked over the decades: add term limits to all federal offices and a balanced budget amendment (with exceptions) and we've got the best system of government in human history. It will be about restoring our Constitution not rewriting or ignoring it.

 

The only extra I'd like to see would be an amendment to explicitly ban unfunded mandates in any form from the government. Everything from state-mandated car insurance to Obamacare is economic enslavement and institutionalized socialism, and regardless of what anyone might claim (including our Supreme Court), our government does not and cannot have the power, short of restitution in legal cases, to mandate private citizens do business with one another. It's a bottomless pit and if we don't fix it very soon it will convert our free republic into something other than a free republic and much more like the former USSR. In some respects it already has. As long as half the global market are free and half are enslaved it's not good news for the free half.

Edited May 13, 2017 by TheMastersSon

[kthompsen]

Probably a nuke from NK would do it. Or at least, it'd defuse us against each other... lol

 

And maybe not even that. The country isn't even the same since GW Bush stood on the rubble of the WTC and America decided to get behind our troops (for Afghanistan at least). When people honored cops and firefighters as true heroes, and not their stupid celebrities. Did you notice how just for a brief second, people had their priorities right? Where the world suddenly seemed less petty? Of course, it died down.. because even that had no sustaining power. And it's even less now.

Edited August 8, 2017 by kthompsen

[TheVampireDante]

Probably a nuke from NK would do it. Or at least, it'd defuse us against each other... lol

 

http://i.imgur.com/GYdL58x.jpg

[JimboUK]

Has anyone tried turning America off and back on again?

[HeyYou]

Has anyone tried turned America off and back on again?

I think america has turned quite a few people (countries....) off, but, doesn't seem to be quite so successful at turning them back on.....

 

And yeah, I think we are in serious need of a reboot.....

[PoorlyAged]

Just a few random thoughts on the topic at hand.

 

The two major political parties in American politics have moved so far from the center that they can legitimately be named as extremist organizations. And the fact that you are thinking of a party just proves the point. The party you are not naming internally is the other extreme.

 

The over valuing of religious belief has too great an influence in political discussion. Government is about a set of laws which allow disparate peoples and their beliefs to live together without killing each other. Nietzsche was right when it comes to governing, "God is dead".

 

The branches of American government need to stop passing rules that improve their lot over those of the 'common man'. The salary, health care, retirement etc rules for those that are elected to the branches of American government are so far and above what they legislate for the people that those in government are literally living under a distinct set of laws.

 

If you want to change political opinion, start with your own understanding. What is that old saw? "The more I know, the more I know I don't know". The parallel to this is "If you would change the thinking of others, start by thinking".

 

People don't seem to hear very well if you scream at them. If you really want folks to listen, whisper.

 

 

Your vocabulary shapes your thinking, and vice versa. 'Political Correctness' is about changing vocabulary and thinking. If people stop throwing words of hatred at each other, the words will eventually disappear from the lexicon along with the thinking they engender.

 

'Guns don't kill people'. Sound familiar. It's true. The continuation is 'People kill people'. That's half true. Ignorance, hate, fear, anger, jealousy; these are just some of the reasons that 'people kill people'. They are also the reasons that people treat each other shabbily and contemptuously. Cure the disease, and the symptoms will dissipate.

 

Elmer's First Law of Politics: "When evil politicians are in power, they will do and say anything and everything they must to remain in power".

 

First corollary to Elmer's First Law of Politics: "When evil politicians are not in power, they will do and say anything and everything they must to undermine the politicians currently in power".

 

Second corollary to Elmer's First Law of Politics: "The politicians currently in power view the politicians currently not in power as evil.".

 

Third corollary to Elmer's First Law of Politics: "The politicians currently not in power view the politicians currently in power as evil".

 

Fourth corollary to Elmer's First Law of Politics: "Evil politicians don't think of themselves as evil".

 

Fifth corollary to Elmer's First Law of Politics: "Politicians are evil".

[kthompsen]

Yeah, I don't think bringing up Nietzsche in terms of politics is all that helpful. lol

 

And I don't just mean the loose connection to Hitler or Goebbels. I won't go for the obvious.

 

I mean, I think Nietzsche's true "Superman" was none other than Conan. Someone like that at least..which was Robert E Howard's intention (Conan's creator). Someone with almost childlike disregard for civilization and the will to power to beat it over the head. It's sounds cool for a second, but that's about it.

 

Religion.. this is difficult to address without screwing up the thread. You may not like religion, but at the very least, it has communal values. That can be helpful in bringing people together. It can be harmful too, but in America, it hasn't been harmful like other periods in history.

 

If religion has got ya down (and I don't blame you at times), think of some other periods where it really uplifted the country. Martin Luther King Jr. comes to mind. Or maybe just by pointing him out, I can neutralize what you're saying a little. Sometimes it's bad. Sometimes it's good. :smile:

Edited August 10, 2017 by kthompsen

[HeyYou]

Politicians are Evil. THAT I would most certainly agree with, considering it seems to have become the national passtime to vilify the 'other guys', regardless of if you are in power or not. It also seems to be political fashion not to pass laws that help the people, but to UNDO what your predecessor (of the other party) did. And the minority partys' sole purpose in life becomes making sure the party in power doesn't get anything of significance done. Currently, the government only seems to pass laws that benefit THEM. Of course, they have been doing that for the last several decades..... If you aren't wealthy when you go in to congress, you most certainly are by the time you come out.... and NOT from the nice salary that they are able to legislate themselves.......

 

Our GOVERNMENT is our biggest problem in this country. They try and legislate morality. For the last three or four decades, they have been more interested in dictating how we live our lives, rather than finding ways to improve them. And each and every additional step they take makes our lives WORSE, not better. Why does it happen that way? Because it puts more money in THEIR pocket. (all of them, doesn't matter which party)

 

Want to improve the country? Improve the government. Think you can do it with your vote? Think again. If it hasn't become patently obvious that our votes don't mean a tinkers damn any more, then you need to crawl out from under your rock, and take a look around. Things need to change, but, attempting to work within the system is doomed to failure before you even start, as the only folks that have the ability to change anything, are the very same folks that benefit the most from NOT changing anything. Term limits? Salary caps? Campaign finance reform? None of that will happen under the current conditions. Much as Trump may want to do some of it, congress won't pass it.