CentralCoaster

If you think I'm a lib, you're sorely mistaken. I have never voted for a democratic candidate either, although I at least take them into consideration because I look at more than just party affiliation.

If I am judged for trying to look at things from other perspectives, and ask questions, rather than jumping to a side and portend knowing everything, then so be it.

There's two ways to debate something. You can label people and shovel **** on the fire and beat your chest, but the only one you'll have convinced of your argument is yourself. Or you can at least pretend to listen to what others are saying, respect their point of view, and have a healthy discussion, and you might find yourself changing some minds or at least swaying some opinions, or god forbid, even questioning your own beliefs.

I'm not saying I'm achieving that either, but it's my goal at least.

Moto Man

There is no room for non absolute thought. Your either with us or against us. Right or Left you pick the path...Notice who gets rich in that scheme

autoteach

Trilateral committee??? I thought it was the Pentavarate?!

Honestly, I can't see how anyone of us is going to make a bit of difference. We have our opinion, we voted for who we were going to vote for, they said that they would do 'x', and all we got was 'Y'. Unless we have the power to make change, the only way is in large scale organization (try to get five women into one car within 1/2hr), which isn't happening. We are on a twisty road, with a bunch of drunks at the wheel. Put on your seat belt, cover your head, and hope that you survive.

CentralCoaster

Dave in NY

I totally agree CC; that's what has kept me out of this thread for so long even though I've been following it.

We seem to have split this country neatly into two factions: Liberals and Conservatives, when I would guess that left to our own devices the population probably consists of a bellcurve from leftist to rightist. But, there's this "you're either one of us or one of them" mentality that's becoming truly divisive, and, in my opinion, destructive to any attempt at progress we all need as a country moving forward. The world is not black and white, it's shades of gray. I think it's foolish to label people as either a Liberal or a Conservative; there's a hell of a lot of space in between.

Maybe no one has noticed among all the fur flying between the left and right, but we are facing some very trying times right now as a country. I'm not real thrilled with the government sponsored bailouts of GM, Chrysler, and the banking industry, but I think it's a gross oversimplification to say the bailouts (for either industry) are either a) Good, or b) Bad. There's a whole lot of middle ground in there, with positives for say, no bailout (saves heaps of taxpayer money) versus positives in favor of the bailout (in the auto industry's case, the saving of lots of jobs - not only GM jobs, but those of their suppliers and raw materials; there's something of a trickle-down effect going on by supporting GM). My point is, there are drawbacks to both positions, and when faced with problems like this, we do the best we can with the information we have. One of the advantages our president (any president, not just the current one) has is the ability to access the smartest experts for advice in order to make that calculated decision. I'm not an economics professor so I don't know the particulars of the bailout decision, but I do know that many of us got tax rebates a little over a year ago, and President Bush authorized a $700-800 billion bailout package (targeted at the mortgage meltdown effects) in October of 2008. So it's not just Obama's advisors that feel these actions are necessary.

To me, the economic crisis we're in is the most important issue facing Americans right now. We're not helping ourselves by buying so many products and services from China and India (been to Wal-Mart or Target lately? Try to find everyday items that are made in the U.S.A.). But instead of taking a step back and realizing we all have to tighten our belts, and work harder, there's this reflex to blame someone for our problems (the previous president, or the current president for example). And I'm not picking on anyone in this thread, but I think that illegal immigration is more of a national security issue than an economic one. Most of the immigrants I see working around where I live are doing labor-intensive, low-paying jobs, that most local people seem to be too lazy to take on.

I know I'm rambling a little, but I think fears that Obama is going to destroy America as we know it are so overblown it's ridiculous. We've survived the Great Depression, a devastating Civil War, two World Wars, and many other crises; I'm sure we'll survive the Obama presidency. And if you're so worried about Obama being a socialist, consider that communism is the most extreme form of socialism, yet every time we buy a product from China we're feeding the biggest communist presence in the world. If socialism is that much of a threat, China should be scaring the crap out of all of us - and we're supporting them instead of our own citizens every time we shop at Wal-Mart.

We need to take a good honest look at ourselves as Americans, and realize that bickering and name-calling is not going to make this country great again - what we need is hard work and a willingness to come together as a nation.

I will now head back to lurking, and break up my soapbox to use for firewood...

autoteach

How we got out of the Great Depression----what we are doing now

Are they anything alike???? I wonder (not really)

CentralCoaster

Big government spending did not get us out of the great depression. WW2 did. Winning, specifically.

autoteach

So you get my point? I am saying that what we are doing now is not the answer. So is starting a world war, so what's next?

nuhawk

You missed one, I watched Eastwood's Grand Torino over the weekend and had a good laugh about that.

"Zipperhead" was his word for it and I have no idea of what it refers to other than people who have serious scars in their scalp and wear their hair real short to show it. Is this it?

Anybody hit that hard in the head won't lane split with me. Sorry!

Jim TT