I just spent three hours and 140 miles, to and from a doctor's appointment, with an ultra conservative raving about Obama's re-election.  I could tell he had to work with all his self-control, not to call our president a "niger," but he let "rag-head" slip a couple times. I think he may have been referring to people of a Middle-Eastern persuasion, if I got the context right. According to this guy, Obama's re-election means we're now in a socialist country, if not a communist one. Whatever that means. "Obamacare" is going to bankrupt everyone and our taxes are all going through the roof. Public workers, including teachers, are a burden of the too much government we have. All judges are liberals...liberals are evil... in fact, everything that is wrong with the world is liberal's fault. On and on and on he went with a brain-washed style of rhetoric against Democrats that was, word for word, what Republicans spewed on Fox network for the last two years. I couldn't keep up with it all. Most of what he said didn't even make any sense. I felt like he was talking about a whole 'nother world... if not universe. It was almost like one of those movies where the modern day fella winds up trying to understand the point of view of a cave man explaining the workings of a vending machine. Anyway... I tried to remain silent or interject something about the beautiful scenery passing us by... to simply remain sane. Because for a while there I had to convince myself I still was.

Otherwise, I liked the guy. He could have been my Uncle Ralph... but he is SO deceived!

And mine was typically cross-folded. Whoda thunk?!  
I'll also delete if you wish.

Sorry, OV. I reread my comment and realized it was probably provocative, so I deleted the post. Sometimes my weird sense of humor gets ahead of what I'm saying.

I don't know. There could be a rationale. Hard to say. People get the idea they're on the right side of things and a bog is a place where someone might find you in a thousand years or so. Then who will know, much less remember how we got so far so fast? I certainly won't. My road signs aren't taking me back just to leave me stranded. IOW, seems counter-intuitive at best to keep driving the various buses off cliffs, but then I'm no theater critic. I'm pretty sure I'm a bit player without a script. To each his own.

Oh, I forgot. CNN is the work of the Devil. I forgot that Bugs Bunny was a real person when I was five. Damn those where the days!

I just spent three hours and 140 miles, to and from a doctor's appointment, with an ultra conservative raving about Obama's re-election.  I could tell he had to work with all his self-control, not to call our president a "niger," but he let "rag-head" slip a couple times. I think he may have been referring to people of a Middle-Eastern persuasion, if I got the context right. According to this guy, Obama's re-election means we're now in a socialist country, if not a communist one. Whatever that means. "Obamacare" is going to bankrupt everyone and our taxes are all going through the roof. Public workers, including teachers, are a burden of the too much government we have. All judges are liberals...liberals are evil... in fact, everything that is wrong with the world is liberal's fault. On and on and on he went with a brain-washed style of rhetoric against Democrats that was, word for word, what Republicans spewed on Fox network for the last two years. I couldn't keep up with it all. Most of what he said didn't even make any sense. I felt like he was talking about a whole 'nother world... if not universe. It was almost like one of those movies where the modern day fella winds up trying to understand the point of view of a cave man explaining the workings of a vending machine. Anyway... I tried to remain silent or interject something about the beautiful scenery passing us by... to simply remain sane. Because for a while there I had to convince myself I still was.

Otherwise, I liked the guy. He could have been my Uncle Ralph... but he is SO deceived!

It goes in cycles. The GOP was riding high from 1968 thru 1992. Newt Gingrich (IIRC) spoke of a permanent Republican majority. The Democrats got clobbered in the 1994 mid-terms. 

But it's wasteful. It's the product of a nineteenth century political process. It doesn't reward long-term vision. The stakes are so much higher; the U.S. is in competition with almost every other nation now. 

 

Anybody remembering when we were all ringing the death knell for the Democrats? 

Agree fully. The binary us-or-them mentality is limiting progress. Too much time is spent fighting the other party and not enough building for the future. The impending fiscal cliff is demonstrative in this. 

Why don't we have green candidates? Why does a green policy need to be part of a Democratic or Republican platform? How do platform politics make the transition to the 21st century? In a country whose grocery stores offer a plethora of choices in pet food, orange juice, and soda, it's appalling our leadership options are A or B. (or C, none of the above).

Wither the GOP? Possibly ... but I don't see it happening. Even if the leadership drifts away, becomes splintered, or dies off, there will be plenty to rush in to the vacuum.  

The two party system is borked.  Only something drastic will change it.  The demise of the Repubs is necessary.  Then with a little luck, the Dems fail shortly thereafter, too.  Neither party can survive without a boogeyman to blame or beat up.

The Dems do not need a bogeyman, only the Republicans need that, because they live in story, and their story won't hold up without an "enemy." It's called "collective unconsciousness." Same with the Taliban (The Republicans have been on their way to becoming Taliban lite, btw).

While I don't agree with some of his indictments, I agree with his conclusions.  Especially the last one.  I already mentioned one party rule as the outcome several days ago, without previously hearing it mentioned anywhere else.

This from someone who is a newbie to this country compared to him.  The family got here 20 years after his in 1640 and the wife is directly descended from a family named Washington.

YMMV ...