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hashbro
Trad climber
Mental Physics........
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stupidity, apathy and self-centuredness are tragically pervasive among "our" people
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Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
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Unfortunately, the facts are grim.
There are more republicans in america than any other party.
Republicans are smarter in most every way.
It is clear that america wants the "pay to play" representation that the republican party represents.
You and I matter very little in the over all, unless we have a substantial amount of money piled behind us whenever we get to talk to one privately.
But it's mostly because they are smarter and a more benevolent class of people.
They show this all to be true every day.
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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We lived okay in small tribes.
Larger tribes survived better (even if individuals did about the same).
Moving forward through history we come to today.
The purpose of a government should be to make it possible for the individual to live and thrive with out interruptions from warring nations and criminals. To perhaps help build and run an infrastructure too.
Those who choose to go for elected office seem to be unaware of this.
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 5, 2014 - 07:54pm PT
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The purpose of a government should be to make it possible for the individual to live and thrive with out interruptions from warring nations and criminals. To perhaps help build and run an infrastructure too.
This is where the American Voter has really lost their power it seems to me. They have forgotten that government is an artificial construct that can be designed for a purpose. SO many of us have immersed in the system without questioning the purpose. They never consider the purpose and how best to achieve it.
The purpose should not be complicated. Spider summed it up well.
I think it's best stated this way "Government of the people by the people for the people."
Stop thinking inside that box of Liberal or Conservative. The Us vs Them mentality you have been brainwashed to participate in.
Think instead how do I ensure that intelligent honorable dedicated men and women are hired to work for the people. If the government actually worked diligently for the people things would be vastly different than they are now.
Not the childishly insulting PR tested soundbite BS we hear. Instead we could have real discussion and effort to deal with the complex issues. Solutions that would actually work much better.
The key problem is how do we get our government back to working for all instead of just those with power?
Things go far beyond the lines that have been drawn for us. It is not Corporations VS Workers. it is not Environment VS necessary resources.. it MUST be all of the above.. all must thrive and balance. It's difficult to do at best and it's impossible when our societies systems are not constructed to serve all.
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MisterE
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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I rarely post on political threads, but the two-party system is designed to divide and conquer.
So it remains and continues.
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WBraun
climber
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Yes
But the idiot politards can't see that.
They're long goners and brainwashed fools ...
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 26, 2015 - 09:26pm PT
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Gohmert presidential commentary in Texas tribune
He is also not a prolific fundraiser, at least on the scale needed to run a viable presidential campaign. Gohmert raised $772,000 for his most recent congressional race. Presidential campaigns are now billion-dollar enterprises.
More presidential race ..uhm I mean money race commentary..
Senator Ted Cruz admits he doesn't have a hope of beating Jeb Bush—in the fundraising game.
"Nobody is going to manage to keep up," the Texas Republican told ABC News in an interview that aired Tuesday. "He is going to shatter every fundraising record that's ever been set. He set the goal of $100 million this first quarter. My guess is he blows past that goal. He ends up raising way more than $100 million."
--
Money may not be the deciding factor in the end.. but it is the deciding factor in the beginning. You can't get there unless you sell yourself to someone other than the people first.
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bookworm
Social climber
Falls Church, VA
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Mar 27, 2015 - 03:33am PT
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"Sadly they did not foresee the power of wealthy interests and our systems weakness in being corrupted to serve it instead."
read "Plain, Honest Men" by Richard Beeman
this is not to convince you to agree with everything the framers accomplished but to show that they were not only highly intelligent but also remarkably prescient
in fact, they did forsee the potential for corruption even in the near-perfect structure they created; originally, there was a three-way sharing of power: 1) the nation would elect a president; 2) the people would elect representatives; and 3) the states would appoint senators...this system ended with the 17th amendment that allowed "the people" to elect senators, eliminating any substantive difference between senators and representatives and taking power away from the states
repeal the 17th! it won't solve everything, but it will restore some balance
other suggestions:
congress should convene only twice a year: 6 weeks jan-feb and 6 weeks sep-oct; all bills must be introduced in the opening session and voted on in the closing session--RIGHT BEFORE ELECTIONS (the prez can always recall congress in an emergency); this will keep members close to their constituents and away from lobbyists
all members of congress must be present for all debates on bills; no show = no vote
all congressional salaries (and their staff's) should be determined and paid by their constituents (i like ted cruz, but he doesn't work for me so i shouldn't have to pay him)
no bill can be longer than the civil rights bill (65 pages, 12-point font, one-inch margins)--period!
either end riders or give the prez the line-item veto
ALL discretionary spending must appear in a single separate bill with the names of the rep/sen asking for the money
a balanced budget amendment
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Splater
climber
Grey Matter
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Mar 27, 2015 - 01:29pm PT
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The biggest single thing voters can do for anti-corruption is to vote for the next president who may get Citzens United reversed.
This basically means vote against a Repub for the next president.
It is the conservatives on the Supreme Court who held that corporations are people.
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Mar 27, 2015 - 01:37pm PT
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^^^^
+1
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Mar 27, 2015 - 01:43pm PT
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The biggest single thing voters can do for anti-corruption is to vote for the next president who may get Citzens United reversed.
This basically means vote against a Repub for the next president.
It is the conservatives on the Supreme Court who held that corporations are people.
The most important thing the American people can do to avoid corruption in government is to elect leaders who limit the government's role to enrich some people at the expense of others. The left's rants against free speech, denominated as being against the majority opinion Citizens United, are nonsensical. As long as the government can determine economic outcomes base don nothing more than the power to do so, corruption will be rampant.
John
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Mar 27, 2015 - 01:53pm PT
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^^^
-1
John, I appreciate your high ideal, but that's just not in touch with reality.
$$$ = Political Power.
Corporations are not people.
These are realities.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Mar 27, 2015 - 02:06pm PT
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Corporations are not people.
These are realities.
With all due respect, corporations are a shorthand for people acting in concert, as are political parties, interest groups such as the American Alpine Club or the Access Fund, or any other combination of people united by a common interest. While muzzling the Access Fund would not muzzle any one individual person, it would greatly affect a very large number of people, and make their voice more difficult to be heard. When we say corporations aren't people, in the free speech context, we're saying that speech by groups of people acting together is not protected speech. That's contrary to both the letter and spirit of the First Amendment.
John
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couchmaster
climber
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Mar 27, 2015 - 02:42pm PT
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Hmm, can't resist tractor pull....Mayhaps we need to expand the voting roles to make it easier for people to vote? These vids should help explain what we need to do to straighten this mess out. Here's Mark Dice working with some normal voters.
First up:
[Click to View YouTube Video]
Then
[Click to View YouTube Video]
Finally:
[Click to View YouTube Video]
It could be funny if you were not a US citizen and lived in another country with a high literacy rate, say, like Norway, Japan or Sweden.
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 27, 2015 - 04:46pm PT
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elect leaders who limit the government's role to enrich some people at the expense of others
How can we do that when we do not get to choose who is on the ballot?
Almost the only way you get on the ballot is to get the approval of powerful special interests with big dollars.
Serious question!
Even the majority opinion stated that freedom of speech is not the highest ideal when it comes to elections and that curtailing donations can be warranted if there is real danger of corruption of the election process. Then they stated that the donations are not currently corrupting the process..
(I disagree with the last part of that strongly.)
I severely paraphrased this from vague memory.. but the gist is there.
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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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Mar 27, 2015 - 05:45pm PT
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The problem isn't completely the Representatives we have ...
The problem is the voters and the non-voters. They are 100% responsible.
They have been corrupted by big money to vote for Republicans Or NOT Vote At all.
all the millions of dark money goes to formulating propaganda and funneling it to Right Wing Media, voter suppression and Negative campaign ads.
100s of millions go into negative campgaign ads which have been proven to do one thing very well, discourage voting (They're all the same, even the Dem is bad, why vote at all, it's hopeless!)
If the populace were not bombarded by all this misinformation they would vote a lot differently.
And if everyone was an informed voter, this country would look a lot different.
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Jorroh
climber
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Mar 27, 2015 - 06:27pm PT
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"With all due respect, corporations are a shorthand for people acting in concert"
Actually that is complete and utter rubbish.
My ownership of a portion of widget corp. does not in any way indicate that I support their financial donations to the gumby party.
My political interests as an owner are of zero concern to those who run the corporations that I own a share of.
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10b4me
Social climber
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Mar 27, 2015 - 06:38pm PT
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With all due respect, corporations are a shorthand for people
John, I respect you as a voice of reason, albeit with a conservative viewpoint. However, I disagree with your statement.
Those "people" are corporate CEOs.
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