Giving what we know NOW, who should be leading America?

Our country is in crisis. Who do you think should be running it now---Democrats or Republicans?

Be honest, there is no such party as the Tea Party. Every last "Tea Party" candidate is running on the Republican ticket. If elected, they will caucus & get committee assignments from the Republican leadership. So, pick a side.

I believe that the Democrats should continue leading this country right now. Prior to Obama taking office, there had only been 2 Democratic Presidencies in the past 40 years.

From 1994-2006 Republicans dominated Congress. Every since Republicans took out that contract on America, we were in trouble. The Dems won in '06, '08, & along with Obama's election have begun course correcting toward the center. Like it or not, elections have consequences.

Where was this so-called outrage when Bush was bankrupting our treasury? Where was the "Shock & Awe" then? As long as we appeared to be kicking ass, no one cared that "W" created the largest bureaucracy in U.S. history.

Who complained when "Heckuva Job" Brownie was placed in charge of FEMA? George "W" Bush vacationed more than any President in U.S. history. The majority of political scandals have been Republicans (from wide stance Craig, to Vitter, Ensign, C-Street, Pedophile Foley, etc.) over the past 25 years.

It goes to character. From memory, let's discuss the major issues that we disagree on.

The Economy. We can't afford to re-new the "01 & '03 Bush Tax cuts. Alan Greenspan, Bush's Fed Chairman, admitted he had been wrong earlier this year & went on record against renewing those cuts. We would have to borrow another $700 billion to pay for them for just the Top 2% of Americans. Tax cuts aren't free.

Healthcare Reform. Everyone agreed that we were on an unsustainable path. There were just differing opinions on how to handle it. In 10 years, payments to Medicare/Medicaid would balloon exponentially. Most Americans get Healthcare from their jobs because of cheaper group plans.

Real talk: Repubs lied on this plan from the beginning. Where are the "Death Panels" and how many plugs were pulled on Grandma? The Dems should have done it their way 'cause everything that people hate about it, was a compromised, watered-down version to appease the Repubs.

Immigration. Immigration is a 3-part problem. Repubs talk about "border security" but won't entertain penalties & fines for companies that hire illegals. The Dems don't have the spine to pursue the Dream Act. If you're not 100% Native American, you're the descendant of immigrants. Our country has always allowed immigrants to serve in our military as a "fast-track" toward citizenship. Look it up.

The Stimulus. Like it or not, it saved our economy. Until then, we didn't realize how globally interdependent our economy was. 1/3 of the Stimulus was tax cuts. Another 1/3 went to States to help prop up failing state economies that have to balance budgets & subsidize Police, Fire, & Teachers. The last 1/3 went toward "shovel-ready" Road/Construction projects and toward Green Economy projects to help our failing U.S. infrastructure. Remember the bridge collapse in Minnesota. Also, 1/4th of every job lost was a Construction job.

S-CHIP. State Childrens Health Insurance Program. I believe that either you invest in children or convicts. Far too long have the daily cost-per-convict exceeded the daily cost-per-student. I have no problems with this.

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act for Women. Equal pay for equal work for women. I don't have a problem with this. The best qualified should get the job & be paid accordingly.

Gay Marriage. Who cares? As long as they work, pay taxes, & mind their business, who cares? I believe in the Life, Liberty, & pursuit of happiness part. If that's what makes them happy, who cares as long as it doesn't hurt anybody else.

Abortion. For me, this is a privacy issue that doesn't concern the State or federal gov't. If a woman is of age, that's between her, her family, & her God. What other medical procedures do you want the Government outlawing? In the land of breast & butt implants, hair plugs & tummy tucks, lipo & lip surgeries, I believe this to be an individual matter.

It's ironic how many Pro-Lifers are Pro-Death Penalty & anti-welfare!! All seven Tea Party Republicans have declared that they are against all forms of abortion, including in cases of Rape, Incest, & the endangered life of the mother. Again, this has nothing to do with me at the moment.

By the way, many that I've talked with extensively are also against any form of birth control, including condoms & birth control pills. Again, this issue is not a concern of mine. I have used condoms for 25 years and have no problems whatsoever with them.

Finally, the one problem that I have with Repubs today is that they are political cowards. When they were in control, they knew these major issues were on the horizon and ran from them. In the case of Medicare Part D (the infamous Donut Hole), they made it worse. I don't remember people packing guns to Bush rallies talking about "Socialized Medicine."

The hypocrisy of our democracy rarely surprises me. What does is people that want to play ignorant of recent history and argue like they're brand new.

I believe that in this case, 2010, that the Dems are trying to fix what the Repubs broke, and are getting blamed for it!! If not, tell me one thing that the Repubs have lead on or helped solve in the last 2 years of crisis? Don't worry.....I'll wait!!!

What if in 2004, the Dems pulled this crap of undermining an entire presidency. Everyone wasn't in agreement on the Iraq lie, but the Dems didn't try to unfund or dismantle Repubs policies.

From blocking over 40% of Obama's cabinet appointments to sandbagging every piece of legislation in the Senate, the Repubs have systematically tried to ruin this president.

The Floor is yours!!!

Interesting question I believe in a split government.

Holy cow! Just a suggestion and favor. Try and break up your questions maybe in parts for different days. I just dont have the time to answer everything in one standing and dont want to seem like im ignoring other parts. So here goes with much as I can before I have to go.

Democrats are not the democrats of Grover Cleveland. Democrats today are not true democrats and would have considered President Cleveland a right wing nut job. Because he believed in following the constitution to the exactly as it was written and not as it fit their agenda for the day. He wouldnt even build a post office for a state because he believed that was a states responsibility not the governments. So in most regards today's Republicans are far left of President Cleveland also. The Tea Party is just a small step to change what the true meaning of what each party really was in the beginning and its nowhere what it is now. And its not what our founders envisioned.

Well I would say there has only been one true Republican in the last 100 years and even he made mistakes breaking the constitution when it came to immigration and that was Ronald Reagan. All the rest of so called Republicans were basically today's democrats or progressives.

The contract for America was a good start but because we dont have term limits like all politicians they soon lose their way and begin their way back corruption and compromise of their core values.

Oh we were out their yelling and screaming about the spending and the open boarders and other such problems. But like most Americans people dont really want to see the troubles until they are at their front door. Our current president is just the same only on steroids in many regards in terms of entitlement spending, open boarders. And much different in other regards in terms of spreading pushing racial divide to get people to hate the rich for his political purposes.

We could easily continue the tax cuts. Get government out of health care 100 percent. And setup tax breaks for large corporations who setup foundations to help the REALLY needy for health care. Stop sending 4 trillion a year to 400 countries. Bring back our troops in the 170 countries we are in. Stop giving free cell phones, health care, housing, education and other countless wastes to illegals. Let the people decide what to do with their social security instead of trusting a government that has put it 50 plus trillion in debt. Their is countless ways to give the peoples money back to them. Its just the government just doesnt want to give up its current power.

Ive seen first hand of death panels from government. It happens when government cant afford to pay for its citizens. And they target the old first. My Grandmother in London had to wait 8 months for a simple heart scan you can get here the SAME DAY! Six months in her wait she dies of a heart attack. This will happen here then it happened their because our economy is on the verge of collapse. Government fails at everything and yet people continue to trust.

There is no proof the stimulus has done anything. And just like most experts agree FDR did something similar and it was a complete failure and only made it worse and prolonged the depression. And many today only believe he has made it worse for us and will make a coming depression that much worse. President Obama himself admitted himself their were no shovel ready jobs.

A few examples of the waste of our so called stimulus money.


- $300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state.

- $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.

- $11 million for Microsoft to build a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway.

- $430,000 to repair a bridge in Iowa County, Wis., that carries 10 or fewer cars per day.

- $800,000 for the John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa., serving about 20 passengers per day, to build a backup runway.

- $219,000 for Syracuse University to study the sex lives of freshmen women.

- $2.3 million for the U.S. Forest Service to rear large numbers of arthropods, including the Asian long horned beetle, the nun moth and the woolly adelgid.

- $3.4 million for a 13-foot tunnel for turtles and other wildlife attempting to cross U.S. 27 in Lake Jackson, Fla.

- $1.15 million to install a guardrail for a persistently dry lake bed in Guymon, Okla.

- $9.38 million to renovate a century-old train depot in Lancaster County, Pa., that has not been used for three decades.

- $2.5 million in stimulus checks sent to the deceased.

- $6 million for a snow-making facility in Duluth, Minn.

- $173,834 to weatherize eight pickup trucks in Madison County, Ill.

- $20,000 for a fish sperm freezer at the Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery in South Dakota.

- $380,000 to spay and neuter pets in Wichita, Kan.

- $300 apiece for thousands of signs at road construction sites across the country announcing that the projects are funded by stimulus money.

- $1.5 million for a fence to block would-be jumpers from leaping off the All-American Bridge in Akron, Ohio.

- $1 million to study the health effects of environmentally friendly public housing on 300 people in Chicago.

- $356,000 for Indiana University to study childhood comprehension of foreign accents compared with native speech.

- $983,952 for street beautification in Ann Arbor, Mich., including decorative lighting, trees, benches and bike paths.

- $148,438 for Washington State University to analyze the use of marijuana in conjunction with medications like morphine.

- $462,000 to purchase 22 concrete toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri

- $3.1 million to transform a canal barge into a floating museum that will travel the Erie Canal in New York state.

- $1.3 million on government arts jobs in Maine, including $30,000 for basket makers, $20,000 for storytelling and $12,500 for a music festival.

- $71,000 for a hybrid car to be used by student drivers in Colchester, Vt., as well as a plug-in hybrid for town workers decked out with a sign touting the vehicle's energy efficiency.

- $1 million for Portland, Ore., to replace 100 aging bike lockers and build a garage that would house 250 bicycles.

1. Study of monkeys using cocaine: $71,623
Wake Forest University was granted money to “study the effects of self-administering cocaine on the glutamate system on monkeys.” Well, at least the monkeys will be stimulated.

2. North Carolina Dance Theatre: $50,000
This grant is used to retain four professional dancers from the North Carolina Dance Theatre’s second company. Nice for them, but why are tax dollars financing what should be a privately-funded philanthropic organization?

3. Reducing hot flashes through yoga: $147,694
Funds granted to Wake Forest University to study “preliminary data on the efficacy of integral yoga for reducing menopausal hot flashes.” The President warned us that the stimulus plan was needed to avoid an economic “catastrophe.” How does this study help revive the economy?

4. Collecting, researching and reporting on the stimulus act: $115,000; $150,000; $227,940
Total: $492,940
Nearly half a million taxpayer dollars will go toward funding more propaganda selling the “benefits” of the stimulus plan. The federal government created the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, while North Carolina established the Office of Economic Recovery & Investment for these very purposes. Apparently, that’s just not enough propaganda.

5. Create interactive dance performance technology: $762,372
This grant to UNC-Charlotte will fund the development of computer technology to digitally record the dance moves of performers. The recorded movements can then be reviewed and manipulated by a computer program. Although creating virtual-reality type technology for dance movements may be interesting to those involved, how does this serve to “protect the education of our children”? At an average salary of roughly $47,000, this money could have saved 16 North Carolina teacher jobs.

6. American Dance Festival, Inc.: $50,000
A graphic designer and archivist will retain their jobs thanks to this grant. The American Dance Festival hosts dance classes, workshops and engages in other charitable activities to help support dancers. How will this help reverse a major international financial crisis, exactly?

7. Construction of a new Town Hall in Bladenboro: $200,000; $100,000
Total: $300,000
Why are taxpayers from across the country forced to finance construction of a local government office? This is a classic case of earmark pork spending.

8. North Carolina Folk Life Institute:$25,000
With the help of this grant, the Institute was able to retain its executive director. Will this help “provide relief to North Carolina’s families”?

9. Preservation of an insect collection at North Carolina State: $253,123
We were promised that the stimulus was going to “save jobs.” We were never told it would also help preserve dead bugs.

10. Greensboro Symphony Orchestra: $50,000
These funds are used to retain the GSO’s director of marketing and education manager. More bailouts of what should be a privately-funded organization.

6) $1.9 million provided for California scientists to “capture, photograph, and analyze” ants.

25) $298,543 to predict the weather on other planets.

28) $144,541 for Wake Forest University scientists to give monkeys cocaine and see what happens. Even scarier: they’re having the monkeys administer the coke themselves. No word yet if part of the cost is allocated to rolled up hundred dollar bills.

36) $712,883 to build a machine that tells jokes (presumably funnier than the ones Coburn and McCain tried to crack in this report).

38) $294,958 on a program to reduce menopausal hot flashes with yoga classes.

39) $1.2 million for research how elderly people react to playing video games.

95) $180,935 to discover a better method for freezing rat sperm.

100) $112,437 for three high school students and three college students to study alcohol in laboratories (read: pound shots out of test tubes)

As for the rest when it comes to s-chips to gay marriage government has no business sticking their nose in this. This should be left up to each individual states rights just like the founders intended.

What I have learned in most cases in the last 10 except for a few fundamental differences there have been little differences between democrats and republicans. So I cant really defend many of the choices either have chosen. For many its just been hold your nose and pick the one that takes you to hell the slowest. The Tea Party is just sick of going south any further without a fight.

And please dont try that each side trys to undermine all the time. They come out swinging and hope something sticks. To say otherwise just means you have blinders on.

There is no fixing. Bigger government. More debt. Less freedom. And erasing just a little more of the constitution. Nothing fixed. Just far more worse. When your shut out at every turn from health care ideas on down you ain't leading on much. Otherwise you listen to the majority of what Americans want and you block the people who are not listening to the American people. So I would say they were leading in many ways.

You're right, the Tea Party supported candidates are running on the R ticket in most cases, as they are closer to the R's than the D's.

Their benefit is in their pushing the Republican party to the right, back to what it is supposed to be. The Republican party has swerved too far to the left for many people's tastes, hence the term "RINO" to describe many of them, such as Bush II, McCain, and many others in the Republican tent today.

The problem not the the Republicans are governing, it's that when they have been in power, they have been governing from a leftist position.

Where did you get the idea that the Tea Party is a political party like the Dems, Reps, Communist party etc or that they are supposed to be? The Tea Party name comes from the historical Boston Tea Party. The party in the name is a reflection of that, not a claim to being a political party.

That said, the Tea Party has very clear designs of cutting government spending, taxes, and following the Constitution. And yes most of the Tea Party members are Republicans, although not all, and they have shaken up that party by getting candidates that stand for those ideas on the ballot as opposed to the usual Rep candidates.

Also, who says one must come down on the side of either the Dems or the Reps? There are other parties out there. I don't like either major party anymore. Neither one will do a thing about illegal aliens. Neither bothers to follow the Constitution. Both parties are stealing and infringing on our inalienable rights. Both spend way more than we ever collect in taxes. (Any balanced budget claim is bull, the US has spent more money every year of it's existence then it made except twice before 1800.)

@ pissoffvulcan - Split Government? How so? Couldn't be 50/50. We have far more constituencies than parties. What about term limits?
@ssvs04 - I see your point. You have several nuggets that I want to address, but may be better suited for other posts.
**In today's political environment, Grover Cleveland would be a Republican. He was a Union-buster.
**I'm not a fan of Ronald Wilson Reagan. We should have a post about Reagan alone. That old Trickle-down, supply-side economic policy didn't work for average Americans. Plus, the Iran-Contra Affair & the S & L Scandal were major Red flags. The same Iran that we have trouble with today, Reagan violated our own US Arms embargo!! The S&L scandal was so big that it cost America 3% of its GDP. Hundreds of people went to jail.

My final reason for thinking Reagan was a geriatric muppet, is that I remember when I was 10 yrs old when I heard that idiot say "Black bucks buy T-bone steaks with Food Stamps." I'm not saying he was a racist, he just played one on TV.
**Troops around the world - I agree. Bush II was an idiot savant. Although he did it for the wrong reasons, the troop realignment in 2004 made sense to me. We no longer need many troops in Germany @ Ramstein or troops in Japan. We won WWII convincingly.
**America is largely a Christian nation, so we export money around the world to compensate for our other incursions....ooops, I mean excursions!!
@ Annoyed - Not in most cases, all cases. Name one Tea Party candidate that's running as a Democrat. Also, you say that their benefit is "pushing the Republican Party to the right." How far right is right enough for you? The Tea Party Candidates either don't know or don't care about the Constitution (O'Donnell, Rubio, Angle, Raese, Paladino, & especially Rand Paul) they claim to love so much. Also, what version of the Constitution are they really talking about? As it exists today or as the framers intended. The original Constitution considered me as property & 3/4 of a person.
@ eber322 - I got that idea from them acting like political parties. The movement itself was D.O.A. until Repubs began pumping money into it. It began as an astro turf movement, that's why the Republican Party was able to co-opt it so easily. They held the purse strings. Rallies aren't free or cheap. Fox News, Glenn Beck, & Dick Army led the Tea Party insurrection. The sad part is that every so-called leader of the "Tea Party" movement quickly becomes an embarrassment to the movement when they are interviewed or placed on TV. Why is that? Most have run away from all interviews and reporters and few have debated their opponents. So the rest of us are just supposed to trust that they are not extremists hell-bent on destroying the government from within.

I just wish Grover Cleveland busted the unions even harder look at the mess they have caused in today's society.


My father was that average American in college working two jobs. While I slept in the back of the car because he couldn't afford a baby sitter. And Reagan's policies gave him the freedom to take risks and open his own business and eventually retire a wealthy man. The problem is when you bring in a extra 500 billion in tax revenue from tax breaks and congress is spending two dollars for every extra dollar brought in well it is not going to work very long is it.

To this day nothing has been proven with the Iran/contra affair.

Dont remember him saying that one. LOL! But find me a president who has not screwed up in a speech or two. But find me a president who was a better speaker in the last hundred years.

Didnt say Bush was a idiot. If anything according to his grades he was smarter then Gore and maybe Obama since he likes to hide everything about his past. Just saying his politics is not that far different if you look at all the bills he signed into law for the dems.

Name one Democrat that follows the constitution in terms of smaller government and well anything that our founders set in place for that matter. Far right enough for me is exactly what our founders intended. Government put in their place. States rights first. All entitlements stopped. That may have been the case about people not knowing much about our founders and the constitution in 2008. But you dont sell 60 million books in two years about the subject unless you have Americans who want to learn. Those examples you stated I find them to be quite competent about the subject. Especially Rand Paul. The original purpose of considering a black man 3/4 of a man was to eventually end slavery.

The TEA Party movement was nowhere near DOA when it started. I was their in the beginning. Can you show some examples of video where it became embarrassment? Most will not interview not because of embarrassment but because of word twisting and making our look bad with lies of racism.

Quote :

@ pissoffvulcan - Split Government? How so? Couldn't be 50/50. We have far more constituencies than parties.

Let me explain sir.
Jimmy Carter had the house and senate his presidency was a disaster.

Ronald Reagan had a democratic house and senate great president.

Bush 42 had a democratic house and senate good president.

Bill Clinton first 2 years had both houses his first 2 years were a disaster. When the republicans took over he had a good presidency.

George Bush had the house and senate and squandered it away was just a mediocre president.

Present day. Barrack Obama has both houses what disaster his presidency has been. If the republicans take the House his presidency should get better. If he decides to compromise. I doubt he will.

Good points POV, isn't that what the founders TRULY wanted to see? A BALANCE within the government with both sides keeping the other in check (thus the 'Checks and Balances') :cheers:

Walterth3rd wrote:

Good points POV, isn't that what the founders TRULY wanted to see? A BALANCE within the government with both sides keeping the other in check (thus the 'Checks and Balances') :cheers:

Thanks Walter I have been waiting to say that one all day long just didn't have the time this morning to do it.