Demise of this Country - Democrats or Republicans or both?

[Anonymous]

I think if we passed draconian campaign finance reform, it would force politicians to clean up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both. Although Republicans have taken a commanding lead in the race.

-Democrat

This basically correct, IMO. BUT, I get sick when Democrats use this to excuse their contribution. If the Republicans are massively irresponsible, it shouldn't justify the Democrats being any kind of irresponsible, it should mean Democrats have to get massively better or else we will all be in a serious mess.

-another Democrat

What do you want the democrats to do? The GOP blocked everything that Obama tried to do. No tax hike on wealthy. No improvement to Obamacare. No Climate change regulations. No tightening the financial rules for banks. No education training. No accountability by private colleges.

Both of us said R's have taken a commanding lead.

Trump aside, the biggest problem in the last 30 years has been CONGRESS. They can't work together. Democrats do better than Republicans for sure, and honestly I think if Democrats had a better foil they would be more than they are today. But I am not a fan of all the virtue signaling and moral superiority that we have embraced, it is what alienated half the country. There are a LOT of poor white people in middle America who were ignored. Republican policies did this to them but Republicans are the only ones who kept talking to them. That was a failure to lead, a failure to be present.

The country has structural issues in the foundation. Now many of these structural issues can only be overcome by constitutional amendment. There should be a bipartisan election commission that should conduct elections, decide election policies in every state and declare results. The elections should not be elft to the party in power in the states which leads to Undemocratic and arbitrary electoral practices.

1) Electoral College: This slavery era vestige is making the country unrepresentative to its people. The GOP has won the popular vote JUST ONCE(by one state in 20014) since 1988 but they get to decide policy for the entire country despite not having the mandate. This is patently undemocratic and is a top reason for the seeds of mutiny.

2) Senate representation: The senate is an undemocratic institution that is skewed towards states like WY and MT with population of a small town in CA. This makes the country pander to the needs of the rural people rather than ALL CITIZENS equally. Why should one set of citizens be treated superior to another set?

3) Gerrymandering of house districts - No party should be able to gerrymander the districts however they want in the states they control. This must be decided by bipartisan committee that is fair and balanced.

4) The fixed structure of a biparty system: Unless the rules are changed a viable third party can't emerge. There is no option to have multi-party coalitions representing various interests of the citizens in our presidential system. This is a big factor in low voter participation.

5) Automatic registration and election day holiday: This is a no brainer. We shouldn't make it harder to participate in democratic voting.

6) Undemocratic closure of voting precincts, curtailing of voting hours or early voting: Even more undemocratic practices to stop certain minorities from voting. How is this allowed in a SO CALLED democratic country?

7) Campaign Finance Reform: No one should be able to finance a campaign except citizens capped at,let us say $10K/citizen. No unlimited and unaccounted money to PACs from wealthy corporations, organizations or citizens (over the individual limit).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both. Although Republicans have taken a commanding lead in the race.

-Democrat

This basically correct, IMO. BUT, I get sick when Democrats use this to excuse their contribution. If the Republicans are massively irresponsible, it shouldn't justify the Democrats being any kind of irresponsible, it should mean Democrats have to get massively better or else we will all be in a serious mess.

-another Democrat

What do you want the democrats to do? The GOP blocked everything that Obama tried to do. No tax hike on wealthy. No improvement to Obamacare. No Climate change regulations. No tightening the financial rules for banks. No education training. No accountability by private colleges.

Both of us said R's have taken a commanding lead.

Trump aside, the biggest problem in the last 30 years has been CONGRESS. They can't work together. Democrats do better than Republicans for sure, and honestly I think if Democrats had a better foil they would be more than they are today. But I am not a fan of all the virtue signaling and moral superiority that we have embraced, it is what alienated half the country. There are a LOT of poor white people in middle America who were ignored. Republican policies did this to them but Republicans are the only ones who kept talking to them. That was a failure to lead, a failure to be present.

The country has structural issues in the foundation. Now many of these structural issues can only be overcome by constitutional amendment. There should be a bipartisan election commission that should conduct elections, decide election policies in every state and declare results. The elections should not be elft to the party in power in the states which leads to Undemocratic and arbitrary electoral practices.

1) Electoral College: This slavery era vestige is making the country unrepresentative to its people. The GOP has won the popular vote JUST ONCE(by one state in 20014) since 1988 but they get to decide policy for the entire country despite not having the mandate. This is patently undemocratic and is a top reason for the seeds of mutiny.

2) Senate representation: The senate is an undemocratic institution that is skewed towards states like WY and MT with population of a small town in CA. This makes the country pander to the needs of the rural people rather than ALL CITIZENS equally. Why should one set of citizens be treated superior to another set?

3) Gerrymandering of house districts - No party should be able to gerrymander the districts however they want in the states they control. This must be decided by bipartisan committee that is fair and balanced.

4) The fixed structure of a biparty system: Unless the rules are changed a viable third party can't emerge. There is no option to have multi-party coalitions representing various interests of the citizens in our presidential system. This is a big factor in low voter participation.

5) Automatic registration and election day holiday: This is a no brainer. We shouldn't make it harder to participate in democratic voting.

6) Undemocratic closure of voting precincts, curtailing of voting hours or early voting: Even more undemocratic practices to stop certain minorities from voting. How is this allowed in a SO CALLED democratic country?

7) Campaign Finance Reform: No one should be able to finance a campaign except citizens capped at,let us say $10K/citizen. No unlimited and unaccounted money to PACs from wealthy corporations, organizations or citizens (over the individual limit).

I have a serious problem with deflecting blame with these structural issues. None of these things are news, but its not like any politician from recent times was going to rock the boat lest the gravy train $$$ dry up. I'll admit the structural stuff doesn't help, but I'm pretty sure we all should be seeking out new faces first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a serious problem with deflecting blame with these structural issues. None of these things are news, but its not like any politician from recent times was going to rock the boat lest the gravy train $$$ dry up. I'll admit the structural stuff doesn't help, but I'm pretty sure we all should be seeking out new faces first.

The hell? Every time we see one of these periodic calls for novelty for the sake of novelty, you get the equivalent of an actual deep state by way of staffers sticking around and a bunch of neophyte representatives. PP rightly notes several structural issues that are allowing democracy to falter. This stuff should be a no brainer for bipartisanship. One side is hell bent on wrecking democracy - the GOP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both. Although Republicans have taken a commanding lead in the race.

-Democrat

This basically correct, IMO. BUT, I get sick when Democrats use this to excuse their contribution. If the Republicans are massively irresponsible, it shouldn't justify the Democrats being any kind of irresponsible, it should mean Democrats have to get massively better or else we will all be in a serious mess.

-another Democrat

What do you want the democrats to do? The GOP blocked everything that Obama tried to do. No tax hike on wealthy. No improvement to Obamacare. No Climate change regulations. No tightening the financial rules for banks. No education training. No accountability by private colleges.

Both of us said R's have taken a commanding lead.

Trump aside, the biggest problem in the last 30 years has been CONGRESS. They can't work together. Democrats do better than Republicans for sure, and honestly I think if Democrats had a better foil they would be more than they are today. But I am not a fan of all the virtue signaling and moral superiority that we have embraced, it is what alienated half the country. There are a LOT of poor white people in middle America who were ignored. Republican policies did this to them but Republicans are the only ones who kept talking to them. That was a failure to lead, a failure to be present.

The country has structural issues in the foundation. Now many of these structural issues can only be overcome by constitutional amendment. There should be a bipartisan election commission that should conduct elections, decide election policies in every state and declare results. The elections should not be elft to the party in power in the states which leads to Undemocratic and arbitrary electoral practices.

1) Electoral College: This slavery era vestige is making the country unrepresentative to its people. The GOP has won the popular vote JUST ONCE(by one state in 20014) since 1988 but they get to decide policy for the entire country despite not having the mandate. This is patently undemocratic and is a top reason for the seeds of mutiny.

2) Senate representation: The senate is an undemocratic institution that is skewed towards states like WY and MT with population of a small town in CA. This makes the country pander to the needs of the rural people rather than ALL CITIZENS equally. Why should one set of citizens be treated superior to another set?

3) Gerrymandering of house districts - No party should be able to gerrymander the districts however they want in the states they control. This must be decided by bipartisan committee that is fair and balanced.

4) The fixed structure of a biparty system: Unless the rules are changed a viable third party can't emerge. There is no option to have multi-party coalitions representing various interests of the citizens in our presidential system. This is a big factor in low voter participation.

5) Automatic registration and election day holiday: This is a no brainer. We shouldn't make it harder to participate in democratic voting.

6) Undemocratic closure of voting precincts, curtailing of voting hours or early voting: Even more undemocratic practices to stop certain minorities from voting. How is this allowed in a SO CALLED democratic country?

7) Campaign Finance Reform: No one should be able to finance a campaign except citizens capped at,let us say $10K/citizen. No unlimited and unaccounted money to PACs from wealthy corporations, organizations or citizens (over the individual limit).

I have a serious problem with deflecting blame with these structural issues. None of these things are news, but its not like any politician from recent times was going to rock the boat lest the gravy train $$$ dry up. I'll admit the structural stuff doesn't help, but I'm pretty sure we all should be seeking out new faces first.

We had “new faces” in 92, 94, 2000, 2006, and 2010 wave elections. All were corrupted by the system.

We have structural rot in the American political where a flawed and outdated Constitutuon allows unscrupulous politicians to pick their voters and ignore constituents on behalf of big money donors.

The system established by our Founding Fathers is broken and no longer sustainable.

[Anonymous]

Can I blame the lack of funding on proper investigative journalism and Republicans?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both. Although Republicans have taken a commanding lead in the race.

-Democrat

This is now I feel. Not anywhere near as bad at local level though. Democrats at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both. Although Republicans have taken a commanding lead in the race.

-Democrat

This basically correct, IMO. BUT, I get sick when Democrats use this to excuse their contribution. If the Republicans are massively irresponsible, it shouldn't justify the Democrats being any kind of irresponsible, it should mean Democrats have to get massively better or else we will all be in a serious mess.

-another Democrat

What do you want the democrats to do? The GOP blocked everything that Obama tried to do. No tax hike on wealthy. No improvement to Obamacare. No Climate change regulations. No tightening the financial rules for banks. No education training. No accountability by private colleges.

Both of us said R's have taken a commanding lead.

Trump aside, the biggest problem in the last 30 years has been CONGRESS. They can't work together. Democrats do better than Republicans for sure, and honestly I think if Democrats had a better foil they would be more than they are today. But I am not a fan of all the virtue signaling and moral superiority that we have embraced, it is what alienated half the country. There are a LOT of poor white people in middle America who were ignored. Republican policies did this to them but Republicans are the only ones who kept talking to them. That was a failure to lead, a failure to be present.

The country has structural issues in the foundation. Now many of these structural issues can only be overcome by constitutional amendment. There should be a bipartisan election commission that should conduct elections, decide election policies in every state and declare results. The elections should not be elft to the party in power in the states which leads to Undemocratic and arbitrary electoral practices.

1) Electoral College: This slavery era vestige is making the country unrepresentative to its people. The GOP has won the popular vote JUST ONCE(by one state in 20014) since 1988 but they get to decide policy for the entire country despite not having the mandate. This is patently undemocratic and is a top reason for the seeds of mutiny.

2) Senate representation: The senate is an undemocratic institution that is skewed towards states like WY and MT with population of a small town in CA. This makes the country pander to the needs of the rural people rather than ALL CITIZENS equally. Why should one set of citizens be treated superior to another set?

3) Gerrymandering of house districts - No party should be able to gerrymander the districts however they want in the states they control. This must be decided by bipartisan committee that is fair and balanced.

4) The fixed structure of a biparty system: Unless the rules are changed a viable third party can't emerge. There is no option to have multi-party coalitions representing various interests of the citizens in our presidential system. This is a big factor in low voter participation.

5) Automatic registration and election day holiday: This is a no brainer. We shouldn't make it harder to participate in democratic voting.

6) Undemocratic closure of voting precincts, curtailing of voting hours or early voting: Even more undemocratic practices to stop certain minorities from voting. How is this allowed in a SO CALLED democratic country?

7) Campaign Finance Reform: No one should be able to finance a campaign except citizens capped at,let us say $10K/citizen. No unlimited and unaccounted money to PACs from wealthy corporations, organizations or citizens (over the individual limit).

I have a serious problem with deflecting blame with these structural issues. None of these things are news, but its not like any politician from recent times was going to rock the boat lest the gravy train $$$ dry up. I'll admit the structural stuff doesn't help, but I'm pretty sure we all should be seeking out new faces first.

We had “new faces” in 92, 94, 2000, 2006, and 2010 wave elections. All were corrupted by the system.

We have structural rot in the American political where a flawed and outdated Constitutuon allows unscrupulous politicians to pick their voters and ignore constituents on behalf of big money donors.

The system established by our Founding Fathers is broken and no longer sustainable.

The degree of change was too minor. I'm pretty sure we were all BSing ourselves about how much needed to be done. I agree that the current system is unsustainable, but the change has to start at the ballot box.

[Anonymous]

The the country is on the road to Hell. It's a two-lane highway...

Republicans are in a 2010 Chevy Tahoe driving 5 mph on the right shoulder with a flat right front tire.

Democrats are in a Tesla P85D with Ludicrous Mode engaged.

Both are headed to the same place though.

[Anonymous]

we seriously need to get these career politicians out of Congress. Tired of seeing same people doing awful job and getting paid handsomely. Furthermore, getting better benefits than most people..... TIRED OF THIS blood sucking LEACHES

[Anonymous]

trump supporters are responsible for the demise of the country - and that certainly goes for any Republican in Congress who remains silent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:trump supporters are responsible for the demise of the country - and that certainly goes for any Republican in Congress who remains silent.

go on....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious to see different perspective on this. I am sure some will say it is already happening.

Swing voter. Best country in the world as far as large multi-cultural countries go.
I think the future is bright. Who knows, maybe the millenials will step up and do a better job than we [older folks] did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious to see different perspective on this. I am sure some will say it is already happening.

Swing voter. Best country in the world as far as large multi-cultural countries go.
I think the future is bright. Who knows, maybe the millenials will step up and do a better job than we [older folks] did.

hahaha Millenials. you had me for a moment....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious to see different perspective on this. I am sure some will say it is already happening.

Swing voter. Best country in the world as far as large multi-cultural countries go.
I think the future is bright. Who knows, maybe the millenials will step up and do a better job than we [older folks] did.

hahaha Millenials. you had me for a moment....

you don't think they're going to be any better at running the country than we were?
I remember marching in the streets against the war, and partaking in certain illicit substances, only to become a solid member of the establishment - so why won't they?