What's wrong with our country, and how're you gonna fix it?

POSTED BY: Cuda
UPDATED: Thursday, December 11, 2025 19:41
VIEWED: 28394
PAGE 7 of 12

PREV PAGE 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 NEXT PAGE

VETERAN

Sunday, March 14, 2004 9:48 PM

Quote:
Ruxton wrote:

I vaguely recall Perot's family, or daughter, was threatened, and in light of the threat, Perot withdrew. I know he did get massive support from voters disgusted with the status quo.

After Ross made that claim, we pretty much realized he was nuts.

KUKOO

Sunday, March 14, 2004 11:27 PM

I agree with what has been said on this board about education and how it can be used in this country as a way for people to pull themselves up in society. I also believe that education can be a way for our country as a whole to improve themselves. Unfortunatly, Education in this country is FAR from equal. This is due to the way that education is funded primarily through local property taxes. Therfore, if you live in a rich community with high property values and a large commercial district, the local schools get tons of money and the students in that community get a high quality of education. If you live in a poor community, with low property values then the school has very little money and the students get a poor education.

I work as an auditor of various School Districts in the suburbs of a major US city and the differences I see from district to district is huge! The people in poorer communities get a much lower quality of education which then handicaps them once they get out of school. For example, I had a friend who moved from one District to another and found out that she was 2 years ahead of everyone in her new school.

In addition, the funding for education (in general) on the State and Federal level is shrinking due to budget crises. Many schools are now facing serious cuts in educational programs. Forget about just cutting music and art, they were gone years ago, the schools are now cutting gifted programs and social studies. Unless education (and not war) begins to take priority and is adequately and equitably funded, a quality education will become a privelidge of the wealthy and not a right of all.

SIGNYM

Monday, March 15, 2004 1:32 PM

I WILL get to discussing Firefly at the end of this post- so it's not entirely off-topic.

LINUX RULES! (she said, on HER Linux-powered machine) heh heh heh

Basically, I don't watch TV. I make exceptions for shows like Firefly, which are d*mn few and far between. Most people think I'm "un-American" when I mention this, they look at me sideways with a suspicion that they can't quite locate but they know that not watching TV is somehow terribly, deeply wrong.

As far as the measures that are taken to hammer down the nail that sticks out, my personal ID was given to the FBI (or whomever) by a webmaster, and I was followed for a couple of days because I kept making accurate predictions of what was going to happen next. And all I did was pay attention to the timing of events and think about the strategic and tactical possibilities... it really doesn't take much!

I've come to the sad realization that although my fellow Americans blather a lot about freedom, most are actually scared spitless of it. For whatever reason (maybe it's the brainwashing) they have a deep need to be told what to do. So, at 3 ayem, when they're not watching TV and nobody is trying to manipulate or monitor their thoughts... it's just them and the dark... their minds are STILL chained. Makes a mockery of "Land of the free, home of the brave", doesn't it?

So when a show like Firefly comes on (see, I TOLD you I was going to tie this is somehow!) full of conflict with the established order and moral ambiguity, some Americans still manage to turn it into a symbol of mindless jingoism.

JEDIJOE7

Monday, March 15, 2004 2:37 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Geezer:
What's wrong with our country?

One thing is that there are too many people who think they know exactly what's wrong with our country, and think that they should be able to tell me exactly what I must do to fix it.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

Hey, Geez;
[br]
I'm not telling YOU or anyone else what to do. Also, if you got better ideas, I wanna hear 'em. This is a WE project. You can't fix it and I can't fix it. No one man is gonna fix it. It will take all of us to clean this mess up. So, when do we agree on a plan and get down to business?

Jayne, pass me that there chain of command...

HARDWARE

Monday, March 15, 2004 3:05 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
I WILL get to discussing Firefly at the end of this post- so it's not entirely off-topic.

LINUX RULES! (she said, on HER Linux-powered machine) heh heh heh

To h*ll with Linux. VMS rules! Hehehe.

Quote:

...As far as the measures that are taken to hammer down the nail that sticks out, my personal ID was given to the FBI (or whomever) by a webmaster, and I was followed for a couple of days because I kept making accurate predictions of what was going to happen next. And all I did was pay attention to the timing of events and think about the strategic and tactical possibilities... it really doesn't take much!

I've come to the sad realization that although my fellow Americans blather a lot about freedom, most are actually scared spitless of it. For whatever reason (maybe it's the brainwashing) they have a deep need to be told what to do. So, at 3 ayem, when they're not watching TV and nobody is trying to manipulate or monitor their thoughts... it's just them and the dark... their minds are STILL chained. Makes a mockery of "Land of the free, home of the brave", doesn't it?

Ah, and now I get to link this thread back to Heinlein. As ol' RAH said, freedom to starve isn't much of a freedom. What those people fear is missing a meal. Maybe they are momentarily concerned with the next new thing or being entertained or driving a new car. But basically most people want to be safe, have a good job today and a better job tomorrow and have a lot of nice toys to play with.

Pardon me while I oversimplify a whole lot. People come in two types, wolves and sheep.

Sheep fear being separated from the herd. If you've ever seen a herd of sheep they cluster tightly together and there's lots of jostling because everyone want to be in the middle. Now being in the middle of the herd is safe and warm, but the view never changes. The herd travels together and the one direction they are guaranteed to go is away from danger.

Wolves travel in groups or alone. There is safety in numbers, but also conflict and while a wolf doesn't fear conflict, that doesn't mean they seek it out. Wolves may not be living cheek by jowl with their friends and relations, but when there is a problem, wolves tend to bunch up, concentrating resources to resolve problems or fight battles.

Now, as long as there's plenty to eat wolves and sheep don't mix much. They may work at the same place, but probably don't hang out together on weekends. But where you find the big difference in the two is in their philosophy on government. Sheep tend to believe that big brother should be there to kiss all their ouchies and make them all better. Wolves tend to believe that just because you are guaranteed opportunity doesn't mean you are guaranteed success. One group wants a bail out for every bad break or accident the other accepts that there is such a thing as bad luck and there is no such thing as a level playing field.

At the end of the day you have to ask yourself which group do you want to be a part of.

The more I get to know people the more I like my dogs.

MAUGWAI

Monday, March 15, 2004 3:18 PM

One thing I find interesting about this whole discussion is that we all keep talking about "people" and how dumb they are. Just like Jayne thinks he's the hero of the story, we all think most people in this country are blithering idiots. But everybody in this country feels that everybody else in this country is a blithering idiot. We can't all be blithering idiots. We can't all be geniuses either. The truth is, everybody thinks he's the wolf. But most of us are really just sheep dogs.

"Dear diary, today I was pompous and my sister was crazy."

RUXTON

Monday, March 15, 2004 5:44 PM

Maugwai, I'd argue slightly with your last comment. I'd say those with computers, and the curiosity and brains to use them, would never be considered by any of us to be "dumb." Not only are there wolves and sheep, there are those who are informed and those who don't have a clue. The infomed among us have, and use, the Internet -- the biggest library in the world -- to get our information. The rest most likely watch TV news. I suspect we're talking about the TV-watchers when we refer to dummies.

That government is best which governs least.

.......Ruxton

STEVE580

Monday, March 15, 2004 8:32 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by maugwai:
By learning to analyze poetry, you learned to analiyze political speeches

Don't you think, though, a more effective way to learn to analyze political speeches would be by...analyzing political speeches? I don't know how you teach, but when we looked at poems, we looked at the rhyming schemes used. Is it thirteen lines, using a-a-b-b rhyming? Or eleven lines, using a-b-a-b rhyming?
Not terribly useful stuff, that.

Now if English focused on real-world material, like writing magazine articles, or novels, that perhaps would be useful. But writing poems; not so much.

I'm not a poet, or a nuclear engineer, or a mathematician. Learning about those subjects hasn't helped me, at all. Learning about credit ratings, or the structure of our government; those are things I wasn't taught on the state's dollar.

I can show you 4 > 5x on a graph, though. And that, boy, that I use all the damn time. I don't know what I'd do if we hadn't spent three monthes on the subject in eleventh grade.
-Steve

MAUGWAI

Monday, March 15, 2004 8:48 PM

Quote:
Don't you think, though, a more effective way to learn to analyze political speeches would be by...analyzing political speeches? I don't know how you teach, but when we looked at poems, we looked at the rhyming schemes used. Is it thirteen lines, using a-a-b-b rhyming? Or eleven lines, using a-b-a-b rhyming?
Not terribly useful stuff, that.

Well, in that case, your teacher was an idiot. Sure, we look at rhyme scheme, but I spend far more time looking at why the poets and authors make the choices they do. In fact, I showed the BTVS ep "The Body" in my class, first without commentary, then with, to show them that most choices authors make are with purpose, even if they don't know what that purpose is. Joss Whedon has a great awareness of purpose, so he's perfect for that kind of thing.

That's the kind of literary interpretation you can apply to political speeches, which we also analyze. Because if you've really learned a concept, you can take it from one subject, like poetry, and apply it to another, like politics. Then again, maybe I'm full of crap.

"Dear diary, today I was pompous and my sister was crazy."

RONALDRAYGUN

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 1:41 AM

Actually, the judicial branch in American government is the most powerful of the three branches. The executive and legislative branches are ripe with "checks and balances" and are accountable to the people. The judicial branch (meaning federal judges) are appointed by politicians and are not accountable to the people. Therefore, unless a federal judge breaks the law, he holds his position until he retires. The main 'balance' in the higher courts is that there is a panel of judges that make decisions on issues deemed unconstitutional. Any law passed by the legislation or decision made by the executive branch can be brought to court to question it's legality. Decisions made by the courts can be appealed to a higher court but only if the higher court agrees to hear the case. At this time the president is unable to appoint any federal judges because the Democrats fear that certain laws will be overturned if conservative judges are appointed. Congress and the senate must approve judicial appointees (checks)and so far the democrats have successfully blocked all nominees. This is just a brief and very simplistic overview but I wanted to convey that the President is not like a Monarch. Power in the White House is not absolute. There are certain circumstances where the President can order things. Such as sending troops to foreign soil. There is a strict timelimit (I believe 90 days) that the troops can remain. If it's longer, Congress needs to approve. We currently have Marines in Haiti under this executive decision to prevent all out civil war. If calm is not restored in 90 days the troops will have to leave or have congressional approval to stay. The US takes a lot of heat from the rest of the world, sometimes it is deserved but most of the time it is not. I hope this thread can be a great and civil way to exchange idea's! Take care fellow Browncoat!!

If Politics is a sport and politicians are the players then the Republicans are my team!

PREV PAGE 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 NEXT PAGE