Sooooo...who's up for a march on Washington for a good old fashioned spring cleaning!?

Walk into each lobbyist outpost grab their slimy arses by the lapels and toss em onto the lawn.

I didn't know about this thread before, but knowing the state of our union we've gotta clear the parasites out of our system, before they kill it, meaning us, the people.

[edit on 9-3-2010 by ahmonrarh]

Hey Bill, do you believe that there may be compartmentalization of government, in that, the absolute policy direction is not decided by either party or lobbyists, or that policy itself is a facade? I know there is little evidence of this other than the complete lack of change and that it can easily be attributed to simple special interests, but I tend to think that the accumulation of worthless money is the last thing that the masters of this world allow to shape their conquests.

I use to be very political when I was younger. I got completely caught up in the whole "left vs right" paradigm and would constantly bash liberals every chance that I got. Now, however, I know better. This two party system we have in the Congress is nothing more than a stale mate. A sham, a show, a "smoke and mirrors" trick. On unimportant topics, they hold grudges, but on the topics that do matter, both sides uphold. It does not matter what party one is a part of, the masters are the same.

If Obama's policies DON'T fail the country will be damned.
So your title should read:
"Save the country, Obama must fail to implement his destructive policies!"

If ever a thread needed to be bumped, it is this one, and it is now.

Originally posted by ladyinwaiting
If ever a thread needed to be bumped, it is this one, and it is now.

The Egyptian citizens are protesting national economic reforms where benefits went to those already wealthy, and a govt rife with corruption.

For three decades, America's economic reforms have allowed the wealthy to become wealthier, while Middle Class citizens have seen lowered/stagnant wages, their share of costs (health care, housing, college) rising, retirement investments wiped out/lessened, wealth looted, and jobs lost.

Corruption American style as in this thread is institutionalized. Americans suffered under leaders who cared more about their corporate donors than their constituents. Both Egyptians and Americans have seen those with political power enrich themselves with the use of that power, forcing those for whom they work to have less.

At least the Egyptians (and other recent protests in the region) are demanding something to be done. Unless Americans join together in numbers to put pressure on their govt, they, and not just Obama, will fail.

I'd like to bump this thread in the hopes that some of the original comments of the opening post can be re-examined in light of current events with the madness over the debt-ceiling "impasse" in Washington. Specifically these points from the opening post (it might benefit those who have not seen this thread, to start from the beginning):

The Republicans Have Their Long-Knives Out: "Ever since the election, and for the foreseeable future, the Republicans only have one thing on their mind, screw Obama." He said nothing else matters to them, not voters, and certainly not getting anything done. While the daily dance of special interest continues, he said that everyone is continually distracted by the inside war between Republicans and Democrats... and the smart lobbyists are the ones approaching Republicans with strategies and plans to undermine the Democrats and especially Obama. His concern was (and this was in late May, before the worst of it began), that the "get Obama" climate was in danger of getting out of control and irreparably damaging the entire country.

Nothing Ever Changes, Ever: The most haunting words I head my entire trip were, "Nothing ever changes here, other than the nameplates on the Senate, Congressional, and Executive offices. The money (lobbyists) controls every policy, every platform, and in most cases, every election." It's one thing to know draw this conclusion on your own, it's quite another to hear it straight from an insider's mouth. Sending chills up my spine hardly covers the feeling.

Now, there's no shortage of bitter disappointment (might be putting it lightly) with Obama, much of it well-deserved, but he was given a one hell-of-a mess -- and also, certainly knew (we hope) full well what he was getting into.

Several factors have the nation apparently teetering on the brink... not the least of which is the politics-first, nation-last attitude in Washington.

What do our members think?

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
What do our members think?

As one who has been known to hound my Canadian legislators upon occasion, what I see is a lack of an electorate that demands party politics be put aside and that some governing be done for a change.

Lobbyists don't vote in politicians...voters do. Deluge Lawmaker's offices with demands, and threaten to run against them in the next election...if only as a platform to embarrass them.

These clowns get away with what they do because their constituents let them. Yes, maybe this is Canada, but US politicians don't have the market cornered on obstruction.

Yup, I was thinking about this thread a few days ago, because what' happening on the Capitol now certainly rings the bell. Obama practically sold out to rabid dogs of GOP and still it's not enough for them to strike a deal!
Country is going down in flames and they worry about tax liability of top earners.

I just can't comprehend how one can have any trust in this lunatic bin.

The GOP agenda is viable long as the economy is in flux, the GOP is proposing a short term plan
so that they can keep the economy at bay, to help bolster a win.

Obama has taking this debate so far to the right it is stupefying... Obama's presidency could
very well be the most conservative in modern history; taxes and cuts on an unprecedented level.

IT is as if; the opposition gets more and more demanding and demented as the they receive more concessions.

This has an amazing effect on me too!

I am considering leaving here however... insanity is not good to dabble in - I came to ATS a flamming liberal
and left a centrist.

I almost hate to say it, but perhaps an economic crash is the only remedy for this terminal state of affairs. What I see going on right now is preposterous. In a nutshell, Obama is waiting until the last minute and will promptly blackmail congress and the American public to accept the debt ceiling hike. It happened in '08 with the bailout program, so why not up the stakes again? What I see coming down the pipe is the American Austerity program in sheeps clothing. If they do raise the debt ceiling to nearly $17T and raise tax revenue $600B/yr, doesn't that magic math indicate a financial catastrophe? I mean, a $4T deficit reduction over 10 years is $400B/yr chunk, and with our economy in a shambles, how can this even be on the table now? Can we afford to be responsible for nearly $60,000 for every man, woman, and child here? Especially when the avg annual wage is below that.
We see the Dems blaming the Repubs, and the Repubs blaming the Dems, but when the smoke clears, it is the taxpayers blaming the banks and internationalists (and politicians). Yet for some reason we always blame the other side, as I'm sure the banks and internationalists are blaming the taxpayer for not paying enough. Clinton was a Dem and many claim he balanced the budget, but this also had a great deal to do with him butchering the Glass-Steagal act and letting the banks run wild (dot-com bubble). Bush had his hand in it with tax breaks and credits for the rich, as well as warmongering along with Cheney. So I don't buy into the Republicrat paradigm. It's a capitalist regime no matter what nametag they wear.
But as I've been told before, if you point the finger at someone, you're pointing 3 at yourself.