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Guest Post: Obama Wins A Second Term: Now What?
Submitted by Ron Holland via The Daily Bell,
I'm certainly glad the election is finally over. While I have loved politics my entire life, this presidential election has gone on for over three years, including the GOP primaries, and I've had my fill of meaningless slogans and counter-slogans, lies and counter-lies. I had to quit watching political news the last few weeks, as I thought I would become physically sick if I watched any more establishment political "experts" give their required opinions and propaganda bites.
The 2012 presidential election has been like a ballgame hyped and built up over three years. We are programed to cheer and act out our sheep-like roles in partisan politics when, like the game, unless we have money bet on the outcome the actual winner will have absolutely no impact on our lives.
This was destined to be a close, statistically tied election, as get out the vote efforts included repetitive harping on its life-changing importance and the evils of the opposition candidates and party. The bottom line is that voting percentages generate credibility for the failed American political system.
"There's not a dime's worth of difference between the Democrat and Republican parties." George Wallace, 1966 Alabama governor and presidential candidate.
Note it now takes 71 cents to equal the purchasing power of a dime in 1966 – if you believe the false inflation statistics out of Washington. Actually, I could buy a soft drink for a dime in 1966 whereas today it is closer to $1.50. Check house prices even with the pullback or college tuition if you want an accurate inflation estimate.
It is reasonable to expect from Obama's second term more of the same as the first four years. The two main US political parties promote nearly identical policies; nothing will change from earlier Bush and Clinton administration policies. Of course, there will be a burst of optimism from Democrats and the usual rallying cries for everybody to come together to meet the challenges of the moment. This is just the usual garbage fed to the voting public after every presidential election.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but both presidents and the representatives we reelect to Congress only represent the powerful banking and economic interests that control the federal government and use it to further their power elite agenda. Real, productive citizens can only look to their government representatives to solve minor bureaucratic issues on lost checks, eligibility for this program or that or to listen only to their complaints and agenda.
In reality, the Senate and House of Representatives by necessity – except in the case of those few with actual philosophical convictions on the right or the left – only represent and govern based on the financial handouts and doors opened by powerful interests. This is the only way they can be reelected.
Why Romney Lost
Romney lost for two main reasons:
First, as he correctly noted during the campaign, 47 percent of American families are dependent on government handouts and they voted for what was in their own best interests. Democracy is mob rule and the 47 percent, although with the best of intentions, are still only a mob out to get what they can from others who have earned or produced the wealth in the private sector.
"There are 47 percent who are with [Obama], who are dependent upon government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it." – Mitt Romney
Still, there is a positive outcome with this depressing statistic. First, many government employees and those on the dole understand the problems of bureaucracy far better than Americans in the private sector because they are caught in the government trap themselves. They often have the courage to even vote against their best interests because they see what it has done to them personally.
Every TSA agent and government employee in non-essential services outside of the armed forces, real police and fire protection and real teachers – not the hundreds of thousands of unionized, make-work employees who use the system – are simply parasites.
Second, the GOP leadership antagonized the 10 percent of the Republican Party electorate who supported Ron Paul for President. Of course, the establishment is still deathly scared of the Ron Paul movement and their harsh treatment and the subsequent blowback on November 6 guarantees any discussion here will be verboten and seldom mentioned for obvious reasons. While some voted for Romney, a few – as the returns show – voted third-party and many like me just sat home on election day disgusted at the entire political charade. Romney lost because he needed a majority of this 10 percent to win yet those controlling his campaign simply threw this voting block away because it threatened powerful central banking, neocon and moneyed interests supporting the GOP.
While Romney would have made a better president than Obama in at least his rhetoric, as he pays lip service to conservative Republican values, in reality his neocon controllers would probably have made him a disaster in foreign policy.
And so over the next four years the people will be provoked and buy more guns they will never have the courage to use to defend themselves against an all-powerful government. The GOP will raise more money using faux social issues and an agenda they never really have any interest in standing up for. Obama will be painted as an evil, Muslim-born in God-knows-where socialist when in actuality he has no more power than Romney would have had to restore the America we loved and respected.
The game will go on until the time is up for our nation. In the meantime, austerity measures will dramatically increase, benefits and promises will be lost by the poor and remaining middle class citizens who really need them and taxes will rise, as will the risk of gold and wealth confiscation. Obama will be blamed, just as Romney would have been blamed had he been elected president, for this is how our regulatory/debt democracy works today in the 21st century. A failed system of central bank control leading a failed economy, a failing currency and a controlled system totally divorced from control or limitation by the citizens of America.
The Solution is to Change the Political Structure
The solution is a return to a limited, decentralized confederation form of government like our first legitimate American government, the Articles of Confederation. One that is responsible to the people and ultimately controlled by the voters with the iron-clad political tools of initiative and referendum like exists in Switzerland today, where voters have the right to reject legislation and laws or enact laws outside the power of controlled legislative, judiciary and executive branches of government. Until we return to the Articles of Confederation, America and our liberties are doomed to extinction by the hidden control of international banking and economic elites.
After the election you can expect appeals from "so-called" conservatives or libertarians wanting your hard-earned money to support this or that cause. They will claim time is running out, the next election is the most important in your lifetime, etc. Time is not running out; it ran out long ago, and voting for either party or most candidates is just an exercise in futility supporting the corrupt system that rules over you. We are serfs and mere subjects to a system and few understand or even recognize the control over us.
If you want to be a free people again educate yourself on the Swiss system of government and work for a return to the government for which our patriot founding fathers risked their lives and property, the Articles of Confederation. Supporting anything less is just deceiving ourselves and screwing our posterity. We may deserve the kind of government we have allowed to take over our country but our posterity deserve better.
The GOP Ron Paul for President campaigns in 2008 and 2012 clearly showed how the controlled, two-party system in the United States will allow no real opposition to its approved candidates in either party. You can bet your worthless vote that new Republican Party rules at the 2012 GOP convention and at the state level in the future will control any viable opposition candidates. The only current outlets for alternative political action are in doomed-to-fail third-party activities that are little more than allowed but controlled political opposition.
To restore the original American Republic, we must change the controlled monopoly political system of government that controls and destroys internally or externally all opposition. New candidates or even attempts at party control accomplish little when the same powerful interests control the political structure. We must work to remove the system in place and restore the limited government of our founding fathers, for they had devised a system that would work well today with our ease of transportation and communication.
Remember, our children and grandchildren deserve a better, more prosperous world and nation than we have left them at this point. It is time we as a generation man up for liberty to redeem ourselves in the tear-filled eyes of future generations. The American people must work peacefully to restore the Articles of Confederation now or else suffer the permanent consequences of the fall of America.
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Nominating a former Wall Street insider just four years after a huge housing crash that most people blame on Wall Street wasn't a smart move on the Repubs part. RR executed well and did a lot better than I expected, probably due to Obama's poor showing in the first debate. But he was never able to wash off the Wall Street stench.
You know what's funny: that you believe the MSM bullshit that the race tightened up in any way. It was never close.
The spoiled rotten baby boomers pass the torch to the free basers and crack head OWS parasites ! I'm worried !
What do you suggest...I shoot my mailman?
"In the meantime, austerity measures will dramatically increase, ..."
There will be no austerity, only spending. Because only with more spending can we achieve growth.
There will be talk of austerity, and probably even people protesting when they are asked to be austere (look at what happened in Wisconsin) , but you are right, at the end of the day there will be no real budget impact. Not because they have to spend, but because they really cannot control themselves.
I wouldn't bet on that obama sided with the bankers before brought no criminal prosecutions and he will side with them again
Bill Black: Wall Street Urges Obama to Commit the Great Betrayal
Wall Street’s leading “false flag” group, the Third Way, has responded to the warnings that Robert Kuttner, AFL-CIO President Trumka, and I have made that if President Obama is re-elected our immediate task will be to prevent the Great Betrayal – the adoption of self-destructive austerity programs and the opening wedge of the effort to unravel the safety net (including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid).
Read the Rest...
Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/#qUzb69q8Yu6fqIdR.99
Published on Wednesday, October 24, 2012 by The Guardian
Why Even President Obama Won't Champion Social Security Although millions of middle-class Americans strongly support social security, big bucks campaign donors hate it. That's why
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/24/president-obama-social-security
Obama’s Second Term Agenda: Cutting Social Security, Medicare, and/or Medicaid
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/07/obamas-second-term-agenda-cutting-social-security-medicare-andor-medicaid.html#V9mkMPolj5M3XQ4W.99
Come on... would you really vote against someone who gives you money every month? Of course not... you're a capitalist. At least now we can form some capital because we know this isn't an aberration. It's a trend. The trend is your friend.
http://tradewithdave.com/?p=13150
Dave Harrison
So out of indignation the 47% Romney said wouldn't vote for him decided to prove him right.
Implicit Multiplexing, Free Will & Strange Kindness
Bernanke can control the relative perception of the majority, which has accepted conventional false assumptions of its own free will, in return for job credit, but he cannot control reality...
So, you have event horizon circuits, with gates, and you are watching the gates line up, to run up the ladder and make the circuit. The empire cannot see the skill set you have acquired for the occassion because it can only see itself, but labor can and does see, that which is not of the empire.
Believing in Jesus is one thing; believing Jesus is another. Talk is cheap; the empire gives it away for "free," watching to see how little you will accept, in exchange for your free will.
The pyramid is built on dead soldiers, who run around in circles, until they can't. The empire seeks to define labor by circumscribing it, swapping fun for self-destruction in the peer pressure groups. Collect the pieces of your key accordingly.
Don't mistake the non-vote for apathy. How did the market vote? What must the pensions and the hedge funds do next?
If you run independent, parallel cars on the parallel roller coasters, you always have work to be done out ahead of you, and you can employ the empire's own tactics to adjust your twirls. It's reductive; you are distributive. Matthew 6.
Now What?
Gas shortage
Power shortage
Food shortage
Christians outlawed. Moslems to own churches.
FEMA camps, crematoriums for YT and Joose.
Make up your own list! It's Fun!
no zombies?
Start counting to 16 Trillion. When you get there (well, technically you'll be dead because it takes about 230,000 years to count to 1 Trillion), then you'll realize there is no solution...only the game. The best solution is to push the 47% to 100%...full-Monty retard is the only way to go.
One, two, three, four, five, six...
Romney proved just what I thought ........ He grew up KNOWING he never had to FAIL.... A Silver Spoon Baby will never be a Leader.....
Mr. Romney needed a Good case of what Dan Ackroyd went through in the movie: Switching Places with Eddie Murphey.....
I will never forget that Press Photo with him and Ann at the Hotel Laundry room....
Instead of being shown placing dirty laundry into a washing machine in sweats, here is MITT, in Dry-Cleaned Jeans and a shirt so stiff with starch, it stood on it's own...
PHONEY!!!!!
The bitter grapes of victory .... socialists are unhappy people .... underneath the facade !
not like repugnicans who hate all thats different?
He was DEFEATED.
I sincerely hope he really cared to win. His supporters sure looked like idiots last night. They drank the koolaid by the gallons.
Oh Boy...Whos ready for a big Shit sandwich???
Because thats what were gonna get!
Regarding immigration. I always find it hilarious that the Tea Pubs can't wait to deport some of the hardest working people in the country: illegal Hispanic immigrants.
You dont get anything do you? Illegal workers only prevent LEGAL immigrant workers from ever go up the pay scale. Instead of attracting guys to pick grapes at $5.oo when workers are scarce the big producers with the help of our idiot governmnet simply let new immigrants in that do the job for $2.00 an hour. Why does the government do this? Because 1) it makes inflation appear lower than it is and 2) the democrats always assume that by appearing pro immigration the low class immigrants will elect them. Which is exactly what happened now. But they are not clever enough to see that they are actually being screwed.
You're an idiot. The government has LAWS against hiring illegal immigrants. Point the finger at the true problem. Fat cats trying to make more money.
You're an idiot. The government has LAWS against hiring illegal immigrants. Point the finger at the true problem. Fat cats trying to make more money.
I always find it hilarios that liberal love giving money away that we don't have to people aren't here legally. Where is you Million dollars of unfunded liablities coming from? Or that $60 Grand of deficit per family member? Care to share what country inflated their debts away?
Thine Kool-Aid cup runneth over.
Immigrants may be decent hard-working people. But they don't know what makes an economy work. If they did, their home countries would be prosperous and they wouldn't need to immigrate. As more and more latin americans begin voting in US elections, the government and economy will become more and more like latin america. If you like that, why not just move to Mexico immediately?
But they don't know what makes an economy work.
_________________________
They might know.
But who bothers actually? Their own land is drained from resources to support 'american' nations in their consumption habits.
As shown by millenia, human beings follow resources.
So who gives a fuck if they know what makes an economy work, they come to 'american' nations because it is where the consumption is done. One form of consumption being work and jobs.
And the US as the ultimate consumption sink in the world provides that.
As shown by millenia, Chinese citizenism citizens foul roadsides.
And the AnAnonymous Chinese citizenism roadsides as the ultimate excretion sink in the world provides that.
What is stopping them from coming here legally?
A convoluted immigration system where people have to wait years and pay huge fees to apply for green cards.
What makes me sick the most is the pandering, goody-two-shoes, European press, that has been brainwashing the entire continent that only Obama is a viable president. For them its this: the democrats they get-somewhat an american version of their social democrat parties, the republicans (no matter who) are evil warmongers. Well, I hope those candy asses get a good dose of reality some day when they will coming begging for some help the next time a republican is president.
The best part about the neocons losing is that because they have no ideology, just power worshipping, when they lose their chance at power, it's that much more bitter.
Even my dad bought gold today. Now if I could just convince him to stop watching cable news. Baby steps.
The Democrats have an interesting coalition that is broader than the GOP's. It includes SWPLs (it is a mistake to think that all "white" people vote Republican), Jews, blacks, most "hispanics" and now most "asians". The latter two categories are of course very broad and fairly meaningless.
And that's just on the racial front. The Democrats also have people who are anything other than rabid, "Jesis is coming next year" evangelical Christian. The Democrats also appeal to people in metro/suburban areas especially in the coastal/blue states.
And not everybody in this group is a dependent or free loafer. There are a ton of middle class and rich Democrats.
Having said that, the Republicans have more people who are politically committed, and they have more people who have the survival skills when the going gets tough. And they have a stronger set of core beliefs than the Democrats do.
In short, you people are just mistaken if you think the Democrats are going away or if the partisanship will end, or if the solution even lies in politics anymore. Every 2 years I hear the same thing over and over, each party proclaims it's beginning an era of dominance, and every 2 years this is proven false.
Great that they have a lot ethnic and cultural representation. But what happened to the anti-war left, or the pro-civil liberties left, the conservationists (not the same as environmentalist), or anti-crony capitalists, or the those cynical of concentrated power? What happened to those democrats? Because those were principled people. I miss those people.
But the democratic politicians figured out how to get elected: offer more welfare checks and call the other side racist/xenophobic/homophobic/simpleton/backward/chauvinistic. No need to pander to your base of principled people. Just give the mob what they want, the rest will fall in line.
So, biggest winners are illegal immigrant, pot-smoking, homersexuals?
Nice talk (article) but that is it. Americans have no back bone or the stomach to do what is necessary. The reality is that the U.S. will collapse, first the economy and then the currency. There will be a push for IMF currencies which will happen and the american people will become the subjects of the IMF / UN...One world governance is a forgone conclusion because americans are to afraid to start shooting...
The whole system sucks the way it is , and causes me stress.
I hope this is enouigh to get me an RX.
Prescription weed legalised in Mass..
Alot of people are gonna need it sooner than later.
It's all just too nauseating to watch or even contemplate... Instead I watched Contact with Jodie Foster and still felt I came out ahead. =)
While I agree with returning to limited decentralized govt, it won't happen until we have total meltdown. We have to re-learn the lessons of history, again. Darwin has to come in and clear out all the dead wood.
It's similar to preventing clearing the forests, letting wood build up, not doing controlled burns. Once it starts, it'll really boom.
socializing losses just delays them, making them bigger, more sudden, more painful.
It's ironic that the voting blocks that got obama in are suffering the MOST under his policies.
I think we had a chance at some austerity, biting the bullet and getting back on track with Romney, but now obama is in, let the great reset begin as we need to re-learn history's lesson.
You aren't cynical enough. Even the teachers and firefighters and police are or are becoming parasites.
The teachers keep asking for more and more money, and yet keep implementing worse and worse teaching techniques, with scores to match.
The police are busy confiscating property, running red light camera scams, and other tricks that show that their jobs are primarily about the money.
Professional firefighting units keep raising their salary demands, while skimping on equipment. Volunteer units around me tend to have more and better equipment than the 'professional' units. It's all about the money.
Homeschooling beats government schooling, not only in academic scores, but most importantly in ethics, morals and socialization.
Volunteer fire units beat the pros, at least in the suburbs.
Defense by Sturm Ruger has a much faster response time than any police force. If they weren't somewhat parasitical, the police force would be giving handgun training to all. But that would reduce their workload, and the money flow.
Parasites? How? They are responsive to 'american' economics.
'Americans' are expansionists. They rely on new inputs (often coming from their theft streak) into their zone to drive prices down. It is the inflow of new wealth that keeps the already existing wealth affordable and accessible.
'American' expansion is reaching a plateau, meaning that inputs rate is slowing down.
Therefore, new inputs wont dilute the accumulated wealth as they used to be.
Security costs have to go through the roof to follow that dynamic.
'Americans' are land stealers. Every new acre that has been stolen has decreased the internal pressure on the pool of land now owned by 'americans'
It drove security costs down.
Now, acreage inputs is declining and therefore the only way to expand is to turn towards the already accumulated acreage. Security costs rise.
Education? The same. 'Americans' have pushed for specialization like madness. Jobs are resource dependent as work is consumption.
When inputs increase, the pressure on jobs decrease as the new inputs allow job creation by mere addition of inputs.
Stagnation right now, so access to the job has to be more expensive. This goes through education.
'American' economics.
So parasites? Simply 'americans'.
AnAnonymous Chinese citizenism citizens are excretionists. Their woks rely on new inputs (often coming from their theft of neighborhood dogs) to drive their pantaloons down. It is the inflow of new dogs and rodents that keeps the already existing filth odorous and unapproachable.
Chinese citizenism excretion is forming a roadside plateau, meaning that inputs rate is blobbing up.
Therefore, new inputs will pollute the accumulated filth as never before.
Squatting stops have to go to the roof of the world (Tibet) to follow that roadside.
When inputs increase, the pressures on AnAnonymous bowels increase until the new inputs force roadside defecation by mere excretion of inputs.
So coprolites? Simply Chinese citizenism roadside fossils.
Anonfucious say: A hypocritizenismistic journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step (into roadside nightsoil).
AnAnonymous filmed in action. What can't be seen here is AnAnonymous blogging on ZH with his chIphone whilst soiling the street.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2c9_1328304616
Note it now takes 71 cents to equal the purchasing power of a dime in 1966 – if you believe the false inflation statistics out of Washington. Actually, I could buy a soft drink for a dime in 1966 whereas today it is closer to $1.50.
__________________________________
Another clap trap of 'american' economics.
That direct comparison is one of the big thick lies'americans' love to sell.
Money is here to monetize. 'Americans' have added so many new ways of consuming in their quest for depleting resources from Earth.
So here's a guy soft on drinks. Thirty years later, soft on computers, flat TV screens, cars, houses, theaters, iphones and the rest and the price of drinks shall not come up...
With any kind of currency, you'll get that effect as more and more consumption is added to the pool.
Not the result of monetary polical, simply the consequence that 'american' economics is all about consumption.
Yes, I agree. OWG is coming. It can't be stopped. bec it is the will of the Father to allow Satan his way, esp when he is kicked out of heaven to the earth. Apparently no one's going be allowed to fix this muckled mess, except a world dictator. World Peace at last is coming along with untold wealth (at the expense of certain classes) in the mideast. Christians are being marginalized already and will be persecuted in America.
Crazy religious idiots exit to the right please....
Who the hell are you fucking idiots?
Still some votes to be counted but it looks like 5 million LESS than in 2008. African americans were 13.5%, Latinos 10%, asian/others 4.3%, with the white vote 72.2%. (all based on exit polls) Obama took around 38% of the white vote, (down from 43% in 2008)93% of the african americans, 69% of the latinos. I have not saw how the asian/other category voted. Obama won women by 9%, Romney won men by 9% and the electorate split was 53% women/47% men. There were 6% more self identified Democrats then Republicans and Romney won the independents by 7%. For perspective the white vote was 87% in 1992 and it's now 72.2%.
Romney lost because he represents the worst of failings in our political and economic systems. Politically, he is a bald faced liar who says whatever he believes will convince people to support him. Granted, this is standard practice for the vast majority of politicians but some are much slicker than others, eg Bill Clinton. It is actually remarkable that Romney convinced nearly 50% of the population to vote for him despite the fact that he presented the public with 99% style and 1% substance. This proves that Mitt is truly a smooth operator and certainly explains why he was so successful as a Vulture Capitalist which brings me to my second point. As a Vulture Capitalist, Romney represented the absolute worst of what crony capitalism can breed. The accumulation of wealth by any means necessary is good. Scary to think this shape shifter could have actually won if he would have offered the masses a little more meat. And, I didn't vote for the other abject failure who gets another four years.
Hmmm... Interesting comments.
I have three thoughts. First, I have a feeling that last night was a referendum on the GOP agenda over the last many years. Let's face it, most people aren't happy with Obama's first term in office -- myself included -- and his approval ratings show it. Nevertheless, on the balance, he was viewed as the lesser of the two evils. And even though Romney was widely seen to be the winner of the Presidential debates, he still lost the election and the GOP lost seats in the Senate. I suspect that Romney's party affiliation may have been a crucial factor in his defeat.
Secondly, I've clearly stated my opinion regarding election fraud. I would be a hypocrite to not allow for the possibility that yet another election has been rigged. I hope not, and I tend to think that it was not a major factor here, as election results and exit polls -- for once -- seem to be largely in agreement. If the election was fraudulently won, however, forget everything I said above.
Thirdly, I'm willing to withhold judgment on Obama's second term. He doesn't have to worry about reelection, and he's an older -- and I suspect <i>much</i> older -- man now than he was when he first strayed into this job. If he just keeps up the same game he's been playing so far, then I will feel sorry for his failed presidency, and even sorrier for us who will have to deal with it and its aftermath. But what I see now is <i>the</i> crucial moment of his presidency. He can either take the hard steps now to turn the tide, or not, and he and our coutry will be washed away by it.
These are indeed interesting times.
Here are my thoughts and they may sound biased, but it's the truth.
Romeny lost, IMO, for the following reasons:
1. People didn't trust him. He seemed like he'd say anything to please the crowd he was speaking to at the time. They didn't call him plastic man for nothing.
2. Most of the people that voted for him weren't voting for him, per se, they were voting against Obama. How many people do you know that actually liked Romney? You can't win an election without an enthusiastic base. People have to want to vote for you, not just the lesser of the two evils.
3. Romney's campaign played it too safe. He reminded me of that SVP in the office that never said or did anything to rock the boat, just agreed with whatever the consensus was. The blue collar man doesn't trust these kind of people. Women like strength and this is a weak position.
4. The minority vote...let's see here. Black people voted for Obama because he was black (that's a true statement, 97% voted for Obama). Hispanics voted for Obama because he wasn't white (I don't have the stats, but I know this to be true). Romney was whiter than white and there was no way he was going to win the minority vote. As the US becomes a more diverse nation, this is going to play a bigger part in the coming elections.
5. Romney lacked charisma. The women voters didn't like him. Couple that with the bs the other republicans said during the election and it was a noose around Romney's neck.
6. The Ron Paul effect. Yes, this played a small part, but it wasn't THE part that cost him the election. The republican party, IMO, is done for. The groups should just split off.
7. Again, this is the second time this has happened. The republicans ran a moderate and lost. Stop nominating moderates! I told my wife that we already lost when Romney got nominated. I was just surprised he did as well as he did.
8. Social conservatives. Most people in this country are not religious and don't want it crammed down their throats. This is a big turn-off. Stop talking about abortion, same-sex marriage, and religion all together. Most people believe in God, but do not attend church.
9. There wasn't much of a difference between Obama and Romney. He never fully distinguished himself. It was just a I'm going to be better than that guy kind of thing.
10. Bain capital. Man, the middle class doesn't trust anyone from a company like this. Too many people these days are all too familiar with companies getting sold and then gutted. Layoffs are a constant worry. No one trusts someone like this to create jobs in this country.
Ron, it is clear to me you never lived in Switzerland for a longer time in or close to one of what they call "big" cities there.
1.) I lived in Zurich for 6+ years and only slowly realized: the high level of effectiveness and cleanliness leads to a feeling of police state, especially when the frustrated enforcers start treating everyone like [potential] criminals. It's the type of fascism that a well-functioning anthill has.
2.) Although only as spectator, I see the referendums as mostly ineffective. Very few people even vote in them anymore. In more serious cases the politicians can still completely ignore the outcome, be it limiting or pushing towards a goal.
3.) The only really outstanding thing is the tax system, where the highest rate is taxed by the states, while the federal tax portion is relatively small.
This leads to states being able to make a real difference for your overall tax rate, and therefore real competition between the states. Famous example Kanton Zug.
Here in the US not many people will for example leave California (28% +9%) for Nevada (28% +0%) as the difference is just too small.
this is the key statement:
read it again: they will never have the courage.
Good grief...Articles of Confederation?? The founding fathers decided that failed. And while I agree that Ron Paul should have been shown more respect, and allowed a speaking slot...he didn't get anywhere near a majority of republican voters. No party can keep the voters from voting for you. Reagan went up against a REAL establishment several times and lost. He finally won due to his arguments AND personality. While I like RP a lot...he comes off as bitter.