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No, we must save people from their horrible dumb selves (I am probably rich).

1 (3.8%)

No, only a strongman can beat down the money men who control everything (I am probably poor).

2 (7.7%)

No, but we might survive as a Republic with massive structural reforms of the government.

2 (7.7%)

Yes, but we need massive structural reform of government.

7 (26.9%)

Yes, but there needs to be some moderate reform (please suggest moderate reforms, feasible under the current system of gridlock).

3 (11.5%)

Yes, things are fine. People are as dumb as they ever were.

10 (38.5%)

Press red button, blow everything up.

0 (0%)

Declare war on Canada for great justice.

1 (3.8%)

Total Members Voted: 26

[Norondor]

we will just have to change our ways. Which, hey, if we don't do that at least fairly soon, we'll probably just all die.

[Catloaf]

I wish I could put my vote between the last two 'no's.  As things are, we're fucked.  If we make some massive structural reforms and collect all the rich bastards, take all their money, strip them, beat them, and parade them in the streets to be humiliated and pelted with stones and filth, then we'd be good...Okay, we only really need the massive reforms and the taking of larges sums of their money, but I'd prefer if we went through with the rest.

[Misha]

people are dumb, the world slogs on. Slowly getting better as everyone says it's going to shit.

[Ted Belmont]

Ah, fair enough!

Freedom from tyranny (nobody has experienced this since the rise of agrarianism, i think). Freedom from the circumstances of one's upbringing. Freedom from fear of death or torture, even.

Hey, one outta three ain't bad, right?

[Thad]

Freedom from tyranny

That's the exact turn of phrase the Tea Partiers are using.  Pretty vague and subjective.

Freedom from the circumstances of one's upbringing.

Better.

Freedom from fear of death or torture, even.

Ah, NOW we're getting somewhere concrete.

[Mongrel]

OpEd HuffPo peice on the Senate by a former Senate staffer.

I know it's HuffPo, but this is opinion and not news. It's also a pretty good read. 

[Thad]

He spends a lot of words not saying very much -- hey, just like the Senate.

[Mongrel]

Man, you are sure a happy camper today Thad.

[Thad]

I mean, it's not a bad rundown of the history of the Senate and how the modern invocation of filibusters is contrary to their intent.  But it basically boils down to "make them keep talking like in the old days", which is not a new idea and does not take very long to say.

Also, this bit sticks in my craw:

Just as senators Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) whored about to win goodies to be vote number 60 in the health care jumble, so will they behave to be number 51.

Lieberman and Nelson would not be number 51.

Yeah, I know what he's getting at.  But the point is that it would shift the swing votes from the fringe of a 60-vote majority to the fringe of a simple majority.

[Pacobird]

doomsday scenarios

[MarsDragon]

The USA is pretty fucked, yup. Maybe if there was a plague that killed off everyone over 40 and we needed every other country to send us aid to back on our feet we might be able to salvage something from the ashes. But probably not. I can't really have much more hope for my generation than all the previous ones.

[Büge]

Interesting. I was just reading an editorial on how the Rally to Restore Sanity seemed to echo some of the bleak sentiments expressed here.

[Mongrel]

Oh my God, paragraphs much?

Somebody get that man an Enter key.

[Saturn]

Voted for no.

People are dumb and keep voting against their self-interests because some Pro-Bourgeoisie fuckhead on the TV tells them to.

[Thad]

doomsday scenarios

It really IS 1994 all over again.

Hoping, but doubting, the Dems remember what happened the last time a bold new Republican majority forced a budget showdown.

[Rico]

Voted for no.

People are dumb and keep voting against their self-interests because some Pro-Bourgeoisie fuckhead on the TV tells them to.

But guys didn't you hear the Wall Street bailout was a total failure even though almost all the money is paid back already and the stimulus was a complete failure because there are still some dudes without jobs!

THIS COUNTRY IS FALLING APAAAAART

Aside from actual party leadership and some very well-targeted attack campaigns, the strength of the Republican party has a lot to do with Americans being horribly misinformed about who has money.

From the article: "What’s interesting here is the extent to which the public vastly overestimates the prosperity of lower-income Americans. The public thinks the 4th quintile has more money than the median quintile actually has. And the public thinks the 5th quintile has vastly more wealth than it really has."

[Thad]

In fairness, that's a bipartisan snowjob.  (Bipartisan Snowjob is a good name for a band, BTW.)  You know the Clinton economy we keep fondly remembering?  The middle class was doing a lot better back then, true, but the poor were pretty much just as fucked then as now.

[Brentai]

When were the poor in America not fucked, then?

[Ziiro]

Never. They're poor.