In Search of Optimism

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  • Posted By: WilsonP @ 07/04/2008 6:21:52 AM

    I am an avid reader of history and it is clear through the history of our nation or major civilizations that transformations many times require a visionary. Without going into a hisory lecture, think of the great leaps we made in the last century, they coincide with men of thought and ideas at the head of the nations, think Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Kennedy. Aside from these men, only Reagan comes close because he right or wrong pursued policies that doomed the Soviet Union. It may not be a generational leap forward on the same level as the other three, but can you imagine if today the "Evil Empire" existed along with a post 9-11 world? We would have WWIII for sure.

    In this day and age as in everyday and age we have issues and we elect Presidents to fix the symptoms, we only truly look for more in a President when there are so many symptoms we need someone who will fix the bigger problem not just put go around fixing issues as they are now or come about in the near future.

    My point here is we are at another crossroads where we can choose to make a leap with someone conducive to ideas even if they are not his own and who possess an imagination to put it all together into a vision for America. Who among the 2 candidates do you honestly think has a chance of delivering that to America? To me, an independent, Obama can be that person, no one can guarantee it, I am not going by soaring speaches or charisma, but objectively I see him able to bring that to us. I certainly cannot see a 30 year veteran of the political system who must have had a ton of chances to deliver the "transcendental" changes he now claims to embrace, be it climate change or getting us off our dependence on foreign oil or for that matter proposing any one bill to do with the economy or economic benefit for us the public. I know his track record indicates ZERO accomplishments. I am very happy with his signature efforts at campaign finance reform, but that does not put food on my table, I am happy he has been a good senator, but we need a leader of a nation in transition. Can anyone tell me otherwise? He has had 30 years, can you seriously tell me his record is all that is achieveable in that time?

    Obama may not be it in the end, no one elected FDR or Teddy with a guarantee, the people took a chance based on the situation needing it, it worked, and we are lucky for it. Can you forgive yourself McCain and a few years later see that we have more band-aids but no cure? I DO NOT want to elect just another President to join the pantheon of so many other we have forgotten about. For me its a decision between somehow overcoming today only to have issues a few years later, versus an actual future of promise. You should decide for yourself based on your prioritires.

    • Posted By: NickKnight1944 @ 07/04/2008 12:59:54 PM

      I disagree with you and the others who think Reagan was the greatest thing. I also disagree that taking down the Soviet Union was necessarily good. We still have a Communist Juggernaut, namely China. China is much more dangerous than the Soviet Union could have ever hoped to be. So you know, Ronnie Baby almost provoked the Soviets into a first strike. Actually, The Soviet Union kept alot of what are now terrorists in line. With it gone all of the burden falls to us. Nixon and Ford's policies towards the Soviet Union were best. The old party hacks would ultimately been replaced, Western Culture would have been desseminated in the Soviet Union and it ultimately would have become less of a threat. Now, we have something in Russia called the "Slavic Union", a Russian National Socialist (Nazi) organization. Combine that with another Great Depression (which we look like we are headed for thanks to the Republikans) a fascist leader could take power in Russia and you will have WW III!. Right before Reagan took power, the conservatives had some valid complaints: welfare abuse and fraud, coddling of criminals, disregard of the work ethic and traditional values. One would have thought he and his underllings would hold those values high. Not so--like his hero, Calvin Cooledge, he brought deregulation, corporate corruption. He got rid of income averaging, a tax device which helped small businesses. He also gave tax breaks to the rich and welfare to the rich. His administration wanted to count Kechup as a "vegetable" school lunches. The first thing he did upon taking office was to bust the Air Traffic Controllers Union and lower safety standards for auto safety bumpers. He started deregulation of the Airlines and now they are in shambles. He brought us the Savings & Loan Crisis of the 1980's and the recession of 1990. He also brought us the Taliban and Al Caida. His obession to vex the Soviets led to aid to the Mujahadin, including Osama Ben Ladin in Afganistan, which of course are the Taliban. Hell, we should have been helping the Soviets get rid of the Islamists. American reaped its Karma! Now it is stuck there instead of the Russians. Reagan, like all Republicans, was a reverse Robin Hood. He robbed from the poor to give to the rich. Hate to burst your bubble but Reagan was not good. He, like all Republicans in the extreme!!! He was a bad governor of California as well. He closed down our mental hospitals and turned the loonies into the streets and our neighborhoods.

      • Posted By: onepoker @ 07/05/2008 5:54:49 PM

        Your view of history is extremely distorted.

  • Posted By: News and Notes @ 07/05/2008 5:41:41 PM

    Why are the elites upset?. They're the ones who keep pushing through terrible presidential candidates

  • Posted By: rayalitrade @ 07/04/2008 10:48:14 AM

    I have always said that most voters are just ignorant. They vote for a party instead of issues. i my life I have voted for bith parties depending on what ibelieve to be growing concerns of americans and who I thought would better serve the country. Then you have those folks from the bible belt who have voted for one party and one issue, such as abortion or owning a gun. Then there are those hat can't see themselves voting for a black man and would rather see this country torn apart by power hungry republicans who's only god is money. This torn between the south and north. Why woul hardworking folks from the south and mid-west ever vote for a party that has done nothing for them, except take from the poor and give to the rich.

    • Posted By: onepoker @ 07/05/2008 5:41:24 PM

      You cant take from the poor they don't have anything worth taking. What do Republicans take from the poor? Name something this is just the typical democrat rhetoric we here every election. What the republicans are about is supporting the right of all Americans to build wealth. The government needs money to function so the rich pay the highest taxes and then the middle class and then the lower class and then poorest people get a free ride. I'm not claiming thier situation doesn't suck but they aren't poor because of the Republicans they are poor because they have never learned to succeed and no one has bothered to teach them.

  • Posted By: onepoker @ 07/05/2008 5:32:28 PM

    oh man all the smart people in the country met in Colorado and I wasn't invited.

  • Posted By: rangerone314 @ 07/04/2008 9:57:32 PM

    Here's a thought... line up all the elites who can classify themselves as a "liberal" OR a "conservative" in front of the Grand Canyon. Get a couple dozen 30-calibre chain guns and blast their useless posteriors into the Grand Canyon. Our political system and all the useless hacks that run it are useless and defunct. We need real leadership.

  • Posted By: ricinct @ 07/04/2008 6:06:26 PM

    America should be judged by its friends not its enemies...our upper class..infatuated with the British and Roman Empires have turned this nation into a reactionary power with enemies everywhere!!! We prop up the creations of the Euros like Lebanon & Kuwait,..support relics of the British Empire..like the occupations of Gibralter,The Falklands and "Northern" Ireland...and with economic policies like "Free Trade" impoverish the American middle class..is there hope for reform..probably not....perhaps the future lies in the rapid growth of Hispanic America...we will soon be populated by people more concerned with the state of the Western Hemisphere then with the creation of Kosovo and Macedonia...we have followed the British..strait to oblivion!!!

  • Posted By: lillea @ 07/04/2008 12:45:42 PM

    Is Barack "Dubya" Obama at the conference?????

  • Posted By: tc125231 @ 07/04/2008 12:15:22 PM

    This conference is a joke. The elites who steered America off the cliff, while getting very rich themselves at the cost of virtually everybody else, get together with the media's over compensated talking heads to see if anyone has any ideas, naturally, in Aspen, on someone else's dime.

    And low, and behold, none of them have any ideas. They NEVER did have any ideas, except to grab as much as possible for themselves without scruple or regard for anyone else.

    THAT's why they drove the car off the cliff in the first place.

    Thomas Jefferson said that liberty required frequent revolutions. We are long past time in this country.

  • Posted By: rayalitrade @ 07/04/2008 11:09:30 AM

    Food for thought, how concern do you think Rush Limbaugh is about the middle class with the recent signing of a 400 million dollar contract? Wake up folks!

  • Posted By: rayalitrade @ 07/04/2008 11:03:58 AM

    I have always said that most voters are just ignorant. They vote for a party instead of issues. i my life I have voted for bith parties depending on what ibelieve to be growing concerns of americans and who I thought would better serve the country. Then you have those folks from the bible belt who have voted for one party and one issue, such as abortion or owning a gun. Then there are those hat can't see themselves voting for a black man and would rather see this country torn apart by power hungry republicans who's only god is money. This torn between the south and north. Why woul hardworking folks from the south and mid-west ever vote for a party that has done nothing for them, except take from the poor and give to the rich.

  • Posted By: olderwiser @ 07/04/2008 10:58:23 AM

    WHEN YOU WRITE LIKE THIS, it is like shouting in church while your pastor is trying to teach you something. Way too loud for the occasion.

  • Posted By: olderwiser @ 07/04/2008 10:55:19 AM

    You wear the flip on the left foot and the flop on the right foot. The Right had Flopped. The Flips are taking over. The "Caps Lock" key is the one on the left of the letter "A". Try it.

  • Posted By: olderwiser @ 07/04/2008 10:53:08 AM

    The big problem is Big Spending Republican Governors from Texas, not Big Spending Liberal Democrats from Massachusetts. Trillions. That's with a "T".

  • Posted By: willnotvoteobama @ 07/04/2008 10:51:24 AM

    WELL ITS THE FORTH OF JULY AND I'M GOING TO THE LAKE WITH MY FAMILY AND MY MARINE CORP BUDDIES WE ARE GOING TO PARTY !!! I'VE GOT MY TRUNKS AND THE SUN SCREEN FOR THE KIDS AND WE ARE ALL GOING TO WEAR OUR NEW OBAMA SLIPPERS ! (THEY ARE FORMERLY KNOWN AS FLIP FLOPS ) THATS WHAT WE ARE CALLING THEM! NOW OBAMA SLIPPERS ALL MY FREINDS SAY THAT IT FITS PERFECTLY... SO LOOK OUT AMERICA BECAUSE OBAMA SLIPPERS ARE COMMING TO A STORE NEAR YOU !!

  • Posted By: rayalitrade @ 07/04/2008 10:47:56 AM

    I have always said that most voters are just ignorant. They vote for a party instead of issues. i my life I have voted for bith parties depending on what ibelieve to be growing concerns of americans and who I thought would better serve the country. Then you have those folks from the bible belt who have voted for one party and one issue, such as abortion or owning a gun. Then there are those hat can't see themselves voting for a black man and would rather see this country torn apart by power hungry republicans who's only god is money. This torn between the south and north. Why woul hardworking folks from the south and mid-west ever vote for a party that has done nothing for them, except take from the poor and give to the rich.

  • Posted By: rayalitrade @ 07/04/2008 10:47:40 AM

    I have always said that most voters are just ignorant. They vote for a party instead of issues. i my life I have voted for bith parties depending on what ibelieve to be growing concerns of americans and who I thought would better serve the country. Then you have those folks from the bible belt who have voted for one party and one issue, such as abortion or owning a gun. Then there are those hat can't see themselves voting for a black man and would rather see this country torn apart by power hungry republicans who's only god is money. This torn between the south and north. Why woul hardworking folks from the south and mid-west ever vote for a party that has done nothing for them, except take from the poor and give to the rich.

  • Posted By: zinka @ 07/04/2008 10:44:20 AM

    So what is new. These problems have been around for along time from President to President the only difference is the degree of the problems and yes the depth is great for this President. The fact remains that they are passed down to each new President.

  • Posted By: zinka @ 07/04/2008 10:41:38 AM

    So what is new. Maybe the depth of the problems but that is all. These problems are always there it is the degree that differs.

  • Posted By: lillea @ 07/04/2008 10:25:10 AM

    Obama needs to reprint his signs and buttons to read "OBUSHA".

  • Posted By: Marchioness @ 07/04/2008 9:52:46 AM

    The truth is we need a candidate who looks at all the issues for all the people. Not just some. We need a visionary that actually studies the issues and listens and observes ardently. We don't need idealogues who just attempt to win on divisions and who don't approach issues with a clear and open mind, even if they already have a stance. America, like it or not is a country attached to the world, we must work to problem solve here within and out. The problems we face are of the country's own making and they do involve universal and worldwide issues.

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