Is government broken?

darthtang aw

Active Member
The filibuster, "partisan" voting, Party loyalty, Special interest lobbyists. Just a few of the things We hear have hiondered our government from "doing the right thing for the people".
So I ask, do you feel government is broken? If so, why?
 
D

deadly_legend

Guest
personally i think they take their best interests not the peoples. but thats just me feelings. (also think that to get anything to change we should remove every member in office and get new ones put in over time of course) so i guess yes haha
 

slf125

Member
Absolutely, 90% of republican senators are acting plain obstructionist simply because president obama is a democrat (not saying democrats haven't done this as well). What senators need to do is look at a bill and independanty decide if it is in their states best interest, not their own best interest (i.e getting relected, lobbyists, etc.). When the healthcare bill first came up 7 of the supporters voted against it, and do you know why, each of them was given between 1 and 3 million dollars by healthcare companies prior. Things just arne't being done for the people anymore and that is because of lobbyists, special interests groups, and companies who just have too much money on their hands (not a bad thing).
 

darthtang aw

Active Member
Originally Posted by SLF125
http:///forum/post/3236557
When the healthcare bill first came up 7 of the supporters voted against it, and do you know why, each of them was given between 1 and 3 million dollars by healthcare companies prior.
Where did you hear this? Links please or atleast names of senators/representatives? I ran a search on this and can find no such information.
 

veni vidi vici

Active Member
Yes! It is a dysfunctional governmental body that is not capable of functioning in the best interest of the people.Its has been this way for a long while now.The good news is ,there is a solution.
Vote out the incumbents hire new public servants and we defiantly need to implement term limits.
 

garick

Member
If you want to get people honest. Make anyone who works as a representative do so FREELY.
In the old days you did not get paid to represent your people, it was an honor and a privilege. You represented the voice of the people and went back to the sawmill once the meeting was done to your paying job.
No donations, no money to support your campaign. You get your ass out and work to earn those votes and get over the fact that you will NOT be paid to do this job you do so because you want to... Not for power, money or otherwise. Because you work for the people to give them a voice. Not for status, greed or otherwise.
 

fishtaco

Active Member
I won't say our whole government is broken because there are a lot of good people doing their jobs at various levels of government at all the agencies. But the further up the tree of Government you climb the more rotten it is.
I am beyond sick of the bi-partisan bickering and people who support one side or the other with the assumption these people are going to do what they feel is right. Getting voted out of the majority is bad for business if you are in congress and they are far more focused on retaining or regaining power than in anything to help this country.
At this point I would vote for an HONEST politician who only votes to represent the people that elected them regardless of if I agreeded with them or not instead of somebody who gets to Washington by telling me what I want to hear and then votes only based on the amount of money they get from a special interest which is what too many of them do.
Darth, I'm just wondering, if you had the choice of voting for a 100% percent honest liberal politician, or a conservative who takes every dime of PAC and special interest money they can get their hands on and votes accordingly, what would your choice be? Don't think of this as a flame either, just trying to put things in perspective because WE as a whole have voted these people into office and WE as a whole could vote them out if we could set aside our differences.
Fishtaco
 

uneverno

Active Member
Originally Posted by Garick
http:///forum/post/3236575
If you want to get people honest. Make anyone who works as a representative do so FREELY.
In the old days you did not get paid to represent your people, it was an honor and a privilege. You represented the voice of the people and went back to the sawmill once the meeting was done to your paying job.
No donations, no money to support your campaign. You get your ass out and work to earn those votes and get over the fact that you will NOT be paid to do this job you do so because you want to... Not for power, money or otherwise. Because you work for the people to give them a voice. Not for status, greed or otherwise.
So, in a nutshell, only the rich will be able to take the time to serve.
Oh - wait...
Re: the OP
1% of Americans are millionaires. 44% of our legislators and 100% of our executives are. If it's not broken, the view from the Hill is certainly skewed.
 

reefraff

Active Member
Originally Posted by SLF125
http:///forum/post/3236557
Absolutely, 90% of republican senators are acting plain obstructionist simply because president obama is a democrat (not saying democrats haven't done this as well). What senators need to do is look at a bill and independanty decide if it is in their states best interest, not their own best interest (i.e getting relected, lobbyists, etc.). When the healthcare bill first came up 7 of the supporters voted against it, and do you know why, each of them was given between 1 and 3 million dollars by healthcare companies prior. Things just arne't being done for the people anymore and that is because of lobbyists, special interests groups, and companies who just have too much money on their hands (not a bad thing).
Hmmmm. The Democrats have 60 votes. Even assuming the fairy tail about the mean ol bublicans getting all that dough were true what does it matter? All the Ossiah has to do is get all the dems to vote for the bill and it passes.
Might also interest you to know that so far this election cycle which started last year the insurance industry has given more to the Dems than the Republicans. http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=F09
 

slf125

Member
Originally Posted by reefraff
http:///forum/post/3236763
Hmmmm. The Democrats have 60 votes. Even assuming the fairy tail about the mean ol bublicans getting all that dough were true what does it matter? All the Ossiah has to do is get all the dems to vote for the bill and it passes.
Might also interest you to know that so far this election cycle which started last year the insurance industry has given more to the Dems than the Republicans. http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=F09
I think you don't understand what im saying. First, ill try to find an article on the 7 senators, i just remember it was on the news a while back. Second im fairly sure they were all or mostly democrats.
Third, when i say the republicans are being obstructionist i dont say that simply because they are republican, i say that because all they seem to be doing is fighting a party war (and so are dems to an extent) and it just seems like they should be acting in peoples best interest and finding a compromise, not sit there for 6 hours and say we should start over like a broken record. Personally I despise DEmocrats and Republicans.
Edit: IF memory serves me Max Baucus received a large chunk of money, he is also one of the senators heading the health care bill for the dems. I believe Chris Dodd, Tom Harkin, Mike Enzi also got a good bit of money. cant remember th others though. I do know that the top republican on the finance commitee has received upwards of a million over the past few years.
 

reefraff

Active Member
Originally Posted by SLF125
http:///forum/post/3236784
I think you don't understand what im saying. First, ill try to find an article on the 7 senators, i just remember it was on the news a while back. Second im fairly sure they were all or mostly democrats.
Third, when i say the republicans are being obstructionist i dont say that simply because they are republican, i say that because all they seem to be doing is fighting a party war (and so are dems to an extent) and it just seems like they should be acting in peoples best interest and finding a compromise, not sit there for 6 hours and say we should start over like a broken record. Personally I despise DEmocrats and Republicans.
So what makes you think the Republicans (or the Dems for that matter) aren't doing what they think is in the peoples best interest?
Now that I think of it I believe you might have confused another issue. There are 7 republican senators who changed their votes on the bill creating a deficit reduction panel. Is that what you were thinking of?
 

king_neptune

Active Member
Originally Posted by SLF125
http:///forum/post/3236557
Absolutely, 90% of republican senators are acting plain obstructionist simply because president obama is a democrat ...

I thought it was because of his bad policies that will lead to economic ruin. And I thought I was pissed at Bush and the gross spending spree of the last administration.
But our deficit has increase 400% since Obama took over.
They are simply printing money. And what do they do when they reached out nations credit limit? They increase it even more.
Great....lets just get deeper into debt.
Well max those credit cards out even more, after all that is the sensible solution.
 

fenrir

Member
To quote the great late George Carlin: "This country was bought and paid for a long time ago." The crap they push around every couple of years is the same sh** in different clothes. Until we get rid of this stupid two party system our country is doomed.
 

reefraff

Active Member

Originally Posted by sickboy
http:///forum/post/3236752
Yes, and here's why:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/201...youre-so-vain/
I kid. I think we need term limits and to actually have the congressman read the bills instead of getting summaries from staffers.
Over the last few months I have gotten in to watching This Week on Sunday morning where Krugman is a panelist. He has got to be one of the most disingenuous people I have ever seen.
He claims Lamar Alexander lied about insurance premiums going up if health care passes despite the fact the CBO is the saying it as well. Even Obama himself had to back track when he disputed Alexander's facts on Thursday.
But here's the rub. Both Obama and Krugman say well premiums are going up but you are getting better coverage so your health care costs aren't really going up
But then they both (as well as most Democrats) tout saving Medicare costs by cutting out Medicare Advantage accounts which cost more than traditional Medicare, AND PROVIDES MUCH BETTER COVERAGE!!!!

Every day I get a little closer to Vini's point of view, government might be broken to the point it would take a revolution of some sort to get enough of the liars out of office to correct the problem.
Nancy "I'm going to drain the swamp of corruption" Pelosi ignores Charles Rangles multiple ethics violations by saying "I don't believe any of the thing Mr Rangle has done effects national policy". Harry Reid hands out blatant bribes to sway votes on the health care bill. This just isn't going to work
I ain't given the Republicans a pass here by just naming Democrats but the Dems are in control right now and solving the problems starts which changing the current leadership in congress. I don't see that happening without removing the Democrat party from power.
 

bionicarm

Active Member

Originally Posted by reefraff
http:///forum/post/3237029
Over the last few months I have gotten in to watching This Week on Sunday morning where Krugman is a panelist. He has got to be one of the most disingenuous people I have ever seen.
He claims Lamar Alexander lied about insurance premiums going up if health care passes despite the fact the CBO is the saying it as well. Even Obama himself had to back track when he disputed Alexander's facts on Thursday.
But here's the rub. Both Obama and Krugman say well premiums are going up but you are getting better coverage so your health care costs aren't really going up
But then they both (as well as most Democrats) tout saving Medicare costs by cutting out Medicare Advantage accounts which cost more than traditional Medicare, AND PROVIDES MUCH BETTER COVERAGE!!!!

Every day I get a little closer to Vini's point of view, government might be broken to the point it would take a revolution of some sort to get enough of the liars out of office to correct the problem.
Nancy "I'm going to drain the swamp of corruption" Pelosi ignores Charles Rangles multiple ethics violations by saying "I don't believe any of the thing Mr Rangle has done effects national policy". Harry Reid hands out blatant bribes to sway votes on the health care bill. This just isn't going to work
I ain't given the Republicans a pass here by just naming Democrats but the Dems are in control right now and solving the problems starts which changing the leadership. I don't see that happening without removing the Democrat party from power.
Problem is, things weren't any better when the Republicans had the power. What you need to do is remove partisan politics altogether. Get rid of the party affiliations. You've said it yourself that the majority of the Republicans in office today don't follow what you would define as true Republican philosophies. The Republican Party in the past has always been known to eschew Conservative thinking and values, yet most of the memebers today lean a little more left. I don't see it written anywhere in the Constitution that states we are required to have specific political parties in office at any given time. Half the members in office today would be removed if you simply took the option to vote for a specific party off the ballot. I've asked friends during election runs whether they've voted or not. Their response:
"Sure did. Took me less than a minute to vote. Walked in, selected Vote for Republican Party Members, hit Finish, then walked out."
"Do you even know whose running this election under the Republican Party?"
"Nope. Didn't bother to look. I always vote Republican no matter whose on the ballot."
You can call this ignorance, and it's shameful when people vote this way, but it happens every election. I think it should be a requirement for every person that votes to sit down and read a document that lists all the candidates, and what their respective platforms are before they are allowed to vote. Maybe this would weed out some of the career politicians that have infested our governing bodies over the last couple decades.
 

reefraff

Active Member
My hope would be the Republicans would learn from the Democrats mistakes.

I Kill Me!!!!
Thing is we need a change and the system is what it is. That isn't going to change over night. Politics is political and always has been.
From a pure partisan political point of view I think the Republican perfect storm would be to be within a vote or two from a majority in the Senate and a dozen or so in the house after the fall elections. That would allow them to run against Reid Obama and Pelosi in 12 and I think they would take out all 3.
Problem is I don't think the country can handle another 2 years of what we have now. Perhaps if the Republicans take back Congress in a Tsunami in the fall they can pull Obama out of the left wing gutter and actually get some good stuff done, even if that means we have to put up with 4 more years of the Ossiah.
 

slf125

Member
Originally Posted by reefraff
http:///forum/post/3236793
So what makes you think the Republicans (or the Dems for that matter) aren't doing what they think is in the peoples best interest?
Now that I think of it I believe you might have confused another issue. There are 7 republican senators who changed their votes on the bill creating a deficit reduction panel. Is that what you were thinking of?
With huge deficits now and projected deficits of astronomical amounts, nothing getting done in congress, etc. etc. i think its fair to say that they aren't doing their jobs.
Perhaps i am thinking of that, as i said I may be wrong.
 

reefraff

Active Member
Originally Posted by SLF125
http:///forum/post/3237135
With huge deficits now and projected deficits of astronomical amounts, nothing getting done in congress, etc. etc. i think its fair to say that they aren't doing their jobs.
Perhaps i am thinking of that, as i said I may be wrong.
You have people there for the right reasons but even they get caught up in the perpetual campaign cycle, at least in the house where you have to start running for re election as soon as you take office.
What we need is for Warren Buffet and Bill Gates who are both pretty apolitical to take a hand and fund a clean out the barn campaign where you don't vote for or against a D or R, you vote against all the I's.
 
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