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Do you ever feel that everything political is futile?

Do you ever feel that everything political is futile?


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Do you ever feel that everything political is futile?

From a citizen's standpoint.

Maybe not futile, but certainly discouraging. Seems no matter who gets in office and how sincere their campaigning (I think Obama was sincere in his 2008 campaigning), once in office they are purchased by lobbyists and those taking advantage of Citizens United ruling. Every term it seems we slide deeper into an oligarchy regardless of party.
 
Sometimes. That's why I got involved in politics, to try to make it not so futile.
 
Yeah, i mean, 200+ years after separation of church and state and we're still getting garbage like this:

Tennessee House votes Bible as official state book

Politics is the self serving art of doing nothing while pretending to accomplish everything. That pretty much makes democracy futile
 
Do you ever feel that everything political is futile?

From a citizen's standpoint.

absolutely.... that's why I use politics as a form of entertainment now.... it is very much futile, no doubt about it.

if folks take it serious , they only set themselves up for frustration and bitterness.
 
absolutely.... that's why I use politics as a form of entertainment now.... it is very much futile, no doubt about it.

if folks take it serious , they only set themselves up for frustration and bitterness.

Was Nazareth talking politics? :lol:

"Miss Misery"

Since you came into my life
It's the same old situation
Empty days and lonely nights
Filled with bitterness and frustration.
 
Do you ever feel that everything political is futile?

From a citizen's standpoint.



Sorta-kinda, but not entirely.


Elections do matter. The changes are often subtle and hard to see in the short term, but it can make a difference.


Within my own lifetime, I felt like the 70s were an out of control, chaotic decade where we were on an utterly wrong trajectory... but we managed to make a course correction and avoid doing a Titanic, by a narrow margin.


Not to say we were then on the straight and narrow... no we weren't. We dodged an iceberg but we were still in high seas and taking on water.

Things stabilized somewhat as we went into the 90s, and that's good since we didn't know 9/11 was coming... a demarcation line, watershed moment that changed a lot of things. The moment when we realized all that stuff "over there" could suddenly show up "over HERE" in a big way, even if we were mostly minding our business at the moment.

We could have responded better, we could have done worse. On the whole lets just say we navigated that decade without major disaster and with less suffering that might have been the case.


This decade we seem to be drifting with the wind and tide.... the engines are barely turning on the Ship of State, and half the time it feels like no one is manning the helm (or else spinning it at random). The next election or two may determine how far off course we drift, and how long it will take to resume a safe and prosperous course and heading...


So yeah, elections matter. But on the other hand, we hear so much BS, so much "positioning" and "strategy", and so little honesty or real statesmanship, that it seems nearly futile at times. With both parties putting up crappy same-old candidates and ideas, our choices seem limited.

And in things like arguing on DP, even though I know sometimes opinions do change it is so rare it also seems futile much of the time. Much of the time, neither side is even really listening to the other, just talking past each other.


Depends on what day you ask I suppose. :)
 
Do you ever feel that everything political is futile?
From a citizen's standpoint.
Nope. Over the long run we've moved in the right direction. There's set backs, but the world is getting freer, healthier, safer, wealthier and more unified every darn day.
 
If politics only serves as entertainment, that is a damn expensive ticket. Think of all we could save by just dismantling the US senate and various state governments

A TN legislator makes $34,390 for 90 days of work a year, total of $4.6 million, to accomplish what, declare the bible the state book? Who wouldn't take a job like that! They believe in public service like the mafia believes in giving out free security
 
I think the people have lost our government to the big 3: special interest, the rich and powerful 1%, and big business. Does the average American fund the candidates and the parties? No. The big 3 do. Yet we believe the candidates and the parties are going to support our interest over the interest of the big 3 who fund and get candidates elected.

We expect the 1% and corporations to pay taxes and our government not to listen to them. This is just not going to happen.

In the end we pay the taxes in the form of higher prices but big business uses the money to control the parties and the people we vote for. Most large corporations fund both parties. They don't care who we vote for. Either way their candidate D or R are elected. We are given the illusion of choice.

The big 3 keep us equally divided because this is the only way they can control such a large number of people. Divide and conquer always works. If you put a ton of weight on either side of a seesaw 1 person can lift either side. Put the weight all on one side and no one can budge it.

We would be better off paying all the taxes and campaign money out of our own pockets and taking back control of our government. How can we afford it? Instead of paying higher prices to industry to fund and run our government we use our government to force industry to pay us enough so we can fund our government.
 
Slow slog but not futile.
 
Do you ever feel that everything political is futile?

From a citizen's standpoint.

I did when Obama was re-elected. Triumph of hope over experience, I suppose.
 
what does employment have to do with an official state book??

It's just yet another example of how Republicans always pursue a socially conservative agenda before all others and blow all their time and political capital in doing so rather than actually addressing issue that actually impact people. One would think if your state has had stubbornly poor economic performance, despite the fact its tax and fiscal policies are even more conservative than Texas', then you would be "focused like a laser on job creation" rather than dragging the state a little closer to a theocracy. I doubt any business looking to relocate gives a **** whether a prospective state has the Bible as its official book or not.
 
If politics only serves as entertainment, that is a damn expensive ticket. Think of all we could save by just dismantling the US senate and various state governments

A TN legislator makes $34,390 for 90 days of work a year, total of $4.6 million, to accomplish what, declare the bible the state book? Who wouldn't take a job like that! They believe in public service like the mafia believes in giving out free security

You blame the system for the lack of character of its actors.
 
It's just yet another example of how Republicans always pursue a socially conservative agenda before all others and blow all their time and political capital in doing so rather than actually addressing issue that actually impact people. One would think if your state has had stubbornly poor economic performance, despite the fact its tax and fiscal policies are even more conservative than Texas', then you would be "focused like a laser on job creation" rather than dragging the state a little closer to a theocracy. I doubt any business looking to relocate gives a **** whether a prospective state has the Bible as its official book or not.

Interesting, then how do you explain California is worse than Tennessee when it comes to unemployment?
 
Do you ever feel that everything political is futile?

From a citizen's standpoint.

Perhaps not futile, but it certainly seems that those doing the governing, politicking, and legislating are ever more removed from the reality that Main Street America is facing, struggling with and is concerned about. But then, it's little wonder, as most of the legislators and executive branch are the 1%.

Odd that an overhead function (by definition), such as government, is staffed with people from the 1%, and also amazing that they then are surprised that they are out of touch with everyone else in the electorate.
 
Interesting, then how do you explain California is worse than Tennessee when it comes to unemployment?

A lot of reasons, however it also lead the nation in job creation last year.

Moreover, the three worst states for unemployment are Mississippi, Louisiana, and Nevada, all states under Republican control. How do you explain that?

Personally, my contention is that unless you have a lot of oil you are sitting on, the biggest economic drivers for a state is not tax policy but rather quality of life. The higher the quality of life a state enjoys, the more good jobs it attracts and the more educated workers it attracts.
 
I get so disillusioned with the same people getting elected. I do. Then people complain that nothing is being done. Sometimes I think that if people would stop voting incumbent, and get fresh faces in, at least we'd have a few good years of "let's help the people while I am still an idealist, and before the money starts changing me." Then once they turn, vote them out and every few years, get new people in. The ones who are the most easily corruptible have absolutely no term limits. They can get in, and stay in, because most people who vote just walk into the booth without having picked up a paper, watched a debate or anything else.

Unfortunately, most people sleep their way to, and through, the polls, and then go home and wonder why everything is as bad as it is.
 
I get so disillusioned with the same people getting elected. I do. Then people complain that nothing is being done. Sometimes I think that if people would stop voting incumbent, and get fresh faces in, at least we'd have a few good years of "let's help the people while I am still an idealist, and before the money starts changing me." Then once they turn, vote them out and every few years, get new people in. The ones who are the most easily corruptible have absolutely no term limits. They can get in, and stay in, because most people who vote just walk into the booth without having picked up a paper, watched a debate or anything else.

Unfortunately, most people sleep their way to, and through, the polls, and then go home and wonder why everything is as bad as it is.
I totally agree. I have friends that vote democrat few years back and then GOP in the next election and then vice versa again and then complain about why the country is doing terrible. Its like they never learn. :roll:
 
A lot of reasons, however it also lead the nation in job creation last year.

What's that got to do with anything, it's still behind Tennessee, so you explain nothing, so the reasons you cited for Tennessee are worse in California and it's the most liberal state.

Moreover, the three worst states for unemployment are Mississippi, Louisiana, and Nevada, all states under Republican control. How do you explain that?

I am not the one explaining anything it is you that took on Tennessee and because of what Tennessee is doing you stated that is why they are 5th for unemployment. So based on that California is worse than Tennessee for the same reason.

Personally, my contention is that unless you have a lot of oil you are sitting on, the biggest economic drivers for a state is not tax policy but rather quality of life. The higher the quality of life a state enjoys, the more good jobs it attracts and the more educated workers it attracts.

No matter what your contention is, you blasted Tennessee for what it is doing and you calmed because of that, that is why they are 5th in unemployment. What BS. As I pointed out California is worse than Tennessee when it comes to unemployment and of course that liberal state must be doing what Tennessee is doing but worse. This is the claim you made. Which is dead wrong. But you would never admit it.
 
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