No Matter Who You Are Tell Me When You Think Our Current Form of Government Became Dysfunctional?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When our family structures became dysfunctional, we looked to the government for answers, which can't be provided.

When did our family structures become dysfunctional? Also, who is we, and which family structures?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I don't understand your despair. Democracy has never been especially "functional" per se. The overwhelming majority of people are dumb as rocks. If you choice to give them a voice, you shouldn't expect pearls of wisdom. Neither should you expect elected officials who have priorities other than lining their pockets by using the sheep-like electorate. Governments come and go, but this underlying principle remains the same.

True, wise words.

+10000

So true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our family structures became dysfunctional, we looked to the government for answers, which can't be provided.

When did our family structures become dysfunctional? Also, who is we, and which family structures?

PP won't be able to answer because FoxNews didn't provide any details.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our family structures became dysfunctional, we looked to the government for answers, which can't be provided.

When did our family structures become dysfunctional? Also, who is we, and which family structures?

PP won't be able to answer because FoxNews didn't provide any details.

Did CNN?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our family structures became dysfunctional, we looked to the government for answers, which can't be provided.

When did our family structures become dysfunctional? Also, who is we, and which family structures?

PP won't be able to answer because FoxNews didn't provide any details.

Did CNN?

So you're parroting CNN now? Turn off the TV and try a different news source.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our family structures became dysfunctional, we looked to the government for answers, which can't be provided.

When did our family structures become dysfunctional? Also, who is we, and which family structures?

PP won't be able to answer because FoxNews didn't provide any details.

Did CNN?

So you're parroting CNN now? Turn off the TV and try a different news source.

Hey lady, I'm here with you right now, not watching TV.

Seeing double? Need to consult a mental health specialist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our family structures became dysfunctional, we looked to the government for answers, which can't be provided.

When did our family structures become dysfunctional? Also, who is we, and which family structures?

PP won't be able to answer because FoxNews didn't provide any details.

Did CNN?

So you're parroting CNN now? Turn off the TV and try a different news source.

Hey lady, I'm here with you right now, not watching TV.

Seeing double? Need to consult a mental health specialist?

Helllooooooooooooo.....

Hope that mental visit is going well!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our family structures became dysfunctional, we looked to the government for answers, which can't be provided.

When did our family structures become dysfunctional? Also, who is we, and which family structures?

PP won't be able to answer because FoxNews didn't provide any details.

Did CNN?

So you're parroting CNN now? Turn off the TV and try a different news source.

Hey lady, I'm here with you right now, not watching TV.

Seeing double? Need to consult a mental health specialist?

Ok, please answer the questions above.
When did our family structures become dysfunctional? Also, who is we, and which family structures?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tipping point? I think after the 2010 Midterms when any semblance of trying to enact policy went out the window in Congress. Since then, US government has been in complete dysfunction mode.

Key Contributing factors?
- Post-Reconstruction Era backlash and enactment of Jim Crow
- McCarthyism
- Southern Strategy
- Grover Norquist anti-tax extremism
- Contract with America and rise of Congressional Republican brinksmanship
- Iraq vote as litmus test for Democrats
- Citizens United and rise of TEA Party (esp. post Obamacare Town Hall demonstrations)

Ultimately, though, I think every single thing boils down to the lingering unresolved issues from slavery. Not the lingering racism which is rampant in most Western democracies, but many unresolved issues post slavery. While I think most Americans are unconflicted about the moral benefits of ending slavery, we have never fully grappled with the philosophical meaning of Federalism from a social or economic standpoint. Racism is part of the legacy, but so is fighting over the welfare state, corporatism, wealth inequality, etc.

Agree with much of this and was going to bring up Grover Norquist specifically. But I think it started in 1994, and turned worse in 2010. Gingrich becoming Speaker and the crowd that was elected that year was the beginning of the end of bipartisan cooperation in Congress.

Agreed but the reason I think that it boils down to unresolved issues over slavery is that rich white guys established slavery here in the U.S. to ensure that they could stay in power and continue to hold economic power. Bacon's rebellion and another rebellion in Maryland scared the sh** out of the wealthy white ruling class. They did not want black and white indentured servants and slaves joining together to overthrow them so they made sure to pass laws that codified and encouraged racial differences and discrimination. Rich white men (remember women had no real seat at the table) needed to ensure that the poor and less well off economically would not join together and take over. This divide and conquer/oppress strategy has worked since the beginning. Make sure that poor blacks and poor whites won't join together with other folks in a similar circumstance. Make sure that women won't join together to demand a real seat at the table. Keep oppressed groups fighting with one another by exploiting class, sex, race, religion, ethic background, gender, etc. so that the rich primarily white haves can continue to amass more and more and more. That is the root of it all. Without that root would we have had Jim Crow, McCarthy, the Souther Strategy, Grover Torquiest and the mostly angry white anti-tax extremists, the Newt Gingrich and his cabal of angry white male talk radio/cable tv hosts (Rush Limbaugh, Howie Carr, Glenn Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, etc.), the rise of purity/litmus tests for Dems, Citizen United and the rise of the tea party. And I would add the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine which was just one more way the wealthy white guys ensured that they could control the message and keep folks divided including working class whites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Take George W. Bush's big tax cut. It mainly benefitted the wealthier, the supposed "job creators and investors" yet they didn't create jobs (in fact we lost millions of jobs under Bush with his tax cuts in full force) and did not provide any meaningful economic growth. In fact, the Bush tax cuts ended up costing us 2.1 trillion dollars over ten years. It did very little for the working class. And as for investments - we got all the wrong things - wealth extraction, hoarding and offshoring of money and the investments were horrendously irresponsible, we had tons of real estate speculating driving the housing market up into an unsustainable bubble, we had a lot of things like rebundling of the bad debt and other high-risk things going on.

Republican tax policy has already been tried. It did nothing for us. The evidence is in,, and it's irrefutable. It's time to abandon the notion of tax cuts for the rich and move on.

Shaddap. It's not like you pay ANY income taxes anyway. Freeloader's opinions do not count.

Okay, then as someone who pays a lot of taxes and would benefit from a tax cut for the wealthy, I'll ignore your opinion. For the record, I support taxing the wealthy more and I think that rich folks in lower cost of living red states should pay more in Federal taxes because their states take more out of the Federal government than they put in. You want to live in a low cost of living state with low state taxes--then you can pay more into the Federal Coffers since your state takes more out than it puts in.