Hope, change, and Blame the rich!!

[Jamisjockey]

This is a rant.  Personal opinion rant.
I'm sick of hearing about Obama.  He is the total and absolute media darling, because he's articulate and cute.  Oh and he's black, which for some reason the media finds it strange that a black man can be articulate and cute. 
So whats been masqurading as journalisim is in fact a media coronation. 
They deomonized Hillary for staying in the race.  She wanted to win.  She felt she was a better candidate.  Yet the media portrayed her as destroying the Democrat party.
They demonize those who don't vote for him as racist.  Unenlightened.  Bigots.  Titles such as "Is America ready for a Black president?" lead the "news".  Instead, maybe they should ask "Is America ready for a Communist President?"
I will focus on my primary issue with the Obama campaign, his class warfare.  "the rich" he calls anyone who makes a 6 figure income.  He proposes to tax the backbone of this country, entreprenures, small business owners, successful hardworking people who provide jobs and pay into the service economy. 
But he calls us "the rich", which invokes images of old white haired oil barons, smoking cigars in rooms full of animal carcasses planning the demise of the poor working class slobs.  But the fact is that those people are few and far between.  Its the people who work hard to make an honest living, running small businesses.  Doctors who run small practices in thier communities.  Franchise owners.  Home builders.  Common people striving to live the American Dream.
And Obama is out to destroy that through high taxes, wealth distribution, and good old fashioned communisim.  Nationalization of large corporations.  A worker's paradise.
Enjoy your job at tractor factory #9, Komrade!

[K Frame]

Don't you fret your little head one bit, Jamis.

Don't you know that Paddy is behind wealth redistribution and social engineering because Thom Hartmann is behind wealth redistribution and social engineering?

And if Obama, Paddy, and Thom are behind it, it MUST be right for America?

[Dntsycnt]

I make a good deal less than 20,000 a year, and I'll agree with you.  It's not just the "rich" worried about the "rich", as many of the tax-lovers would like to think.  Those people are the cornerstone to our economy, and representative of all that is great about America and capitalism in general.  It's a position to strive for, not to punish.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

It's a position to strive for, not to punish.

No kidding. 

Why does it seem like I'm the only person who looks up to the rich and wants to join them some day? 

Why does it seem like everyone wants only to punish the rich (using methods that don't punish the rich so much as make it impossible for anyone to become rich)?

[Manedwolf]

It's a position to strive for, not to punish.

No kidding. 

Why does it seem like I'm the only person who looks up to the rich and wants to join them some day? 

Why does it seem like everyone wants only to punish the rich (using methods that don't punish the rich so much as make it impossible for anyone to become rich)?

Because that takes hard work.

There are vast groups of people who want it handed to them.

[alex_trebek]

I don't post too often, but I felt the need to chime in on this one....

Please don't misinterpret this as support for McCain, but Obama's views/support scare me.  I recently graduated from college, but fear that it might be a complete waste if Obama gets his way.  Also the amount of support he has from people my age (early 20's) concern me, I questioned them as to why they want socialism.  People generally just refused to believe what he really stands for.

I just hope that a divided congress can keep Obama from achieving what he wants to do as president.  I also hope that it becomes obvious in the presidential debates just how far left he is.  I doubt that will happen though since people don't really pay attention to what he says, just how he makes them feel.

[Manedwolf]

I don't post too often, but I felt the need to chime in on this one....

Please don't misinterpret this as support for McCain, but Obama's views/support scare me.  I recently graduated from college, but fear that it might be a complete waste if Obama gets his way.  Also the amount of support he has from people my age (early 20's) concern me, I questioned them as to why they want socialism.  People generally just refused to believe what he really stands for.

I just hope that a divided congress can keep Obama from achieving what he wants to do as president.  I also hope that it becomes obvious in the presidential debates just how far left he is.  I doubt that will happen though since people don't really pay attention to what he says, just how he makes them feel.

Thus far, the only person in the MSM I've seen directly compare what he says to Karl Marx's writings is Glenn Beck, and he even admits he's not a journalist, just a talkshow host.

[alex_trebek]

Thus far, the only person in the MSM I've seen directly compare what he says to Karl Marx's writings is Glenn Beck, and he even admits he's not a journalist, just a talkshow host.

Yep, saw that too.

 I think I have turned quite a few of his supporters away from him, simply by stating what I find to be obvious.  Obama does not represent what most people want imo.  I think he is just a vent for the frustrations of my generation.  It makes sense when you think about it, we have seen nothing but a growing national debt, continuous wars, failed policy, and most of all further government intrusion into our lives.  I usually get this consensus by saying something to the effect of "I just want to make my own choices, right or wrong, and live my own life."  Most people agree with this sentiment, and hopefully start seeing expansive government (right or left) as a danger to this sort of lifestyle.

[Manedwolf]

Obama is popular because he is an unknown and a motivational speaker.

He makes people feel good, but says nothing.

Therefore, they assign their own hopes and platforms TO him, as if he said them.

[alex_trebek]

Obama is popular because he is an unknown and a motivational speaker.

He makes people feel good, but says nothing.

Therefore, they assign their own hopes and platforms TO him, as if he said them.

This is so true.  It is amazing what people simply don't hear when he speaks.  I once heard him state that he wants troops out of Iraq, because they are needed elsewhere.  He never really explained what he meant by this, but I assumed (we all know what happens when you do that) that he meant other countries outside of the US. 

Also after being questioned about studies showing that lowering taxes on the upper class results of more tax revenue, Obama claimed that he would still increase taxes on the upper class, because "it's more fair."

Then when I tell them that many people are starting to label the upper class as people who more than 80,000 $/year, their mouths drop open.  For some reason people believe that upper class means an income of millions of dollars per year. 

Peoples' heads spin when I tell them these little informational nuggets.

[MechAg94]

I would also point out that laws that punish the rich rarely actually do.  They normally just punish and limit the people who are trying to get rich.  So naturally rich elitists love it.

[Jamisjockey]

I don't post too often, but I felt the need to chime in on this one....

Please don't misinterpret this as support for McCain, but Obama's views/support scare me. 

Paddy will be along to beat you up shortly for your obvious love of all things Bush, McCain and Republican.

[alex_trebek]

Paddy will be along to beat you up shortly for your obvious love of all things Bush, McCain and Republican.

Being against socialism now equates to being a Bush supporter?

[Jamisjockey]

Paddy will be along to beat you up shortly for your obvious love of all things Bush, McCain and Republican.

Being against socialism now equates to being a Bush supporter?

According to PaddyMcRiley, yes...yes it does.

[Manedwolf]

I would also point out that laws that punish the rich rarely actually do.  They normally just punish and limit the people who are trying to get rich.  So naturally rich elitists love it.

BigSuppliesCo has a cost of $1 for a loaf of bread and sells it to Joe Consumer for $2.

Big Goverment forces BigSuppliesCo to pay a Bread Windfall Tax of 50 cents.

BigSuppliesCo now has a cost of $1.50 for a loaf of bread and sells it to Joe Consumer for $2.50.



And they're too stupid to realize this...

[K Frame]

"I would also point out that laws that punish the rich rarely actually do.  They normally just punish and limit the people who are trying to get rich.  So naturally rich elitists love it."

Why do you think that the Democrats have, over the last few years, been slowly scaling back their definition of "rich."

There are quite a few of us on this board who make close to $100K a year.

By Obama standards, we're filthy stinking rich and need to be punished for it, yet most of us certainly aren't living in mansions, eating fillet every meal, bossing around a cadre of servants, sitting on huge stock portfolis, or driving a new Beemer every 2 years.

Most of us who are "rich" by Democratic standards are feeling the pinch just as hard as everyone else, if not more so, and yet those bastards expect us to shoulder "our fair share" as if we've been living carefree, non taxed lives under the Republicans.

That attitude is one of the primary reasons why I hate the Democratic Party so goddamned much and why, every time I hear them yelling about the "rich" not paying their share I cringe and see red.

[Manedwolf]

"I would also point out that laws that punish the rich rarely actually do.  They normally just punish and limit the people who are trying to get rich.  So naturally rich elitists love it."

Why do you think that the Democrats have, over the last few years, been slowly scaling back their definition of "rich."

There are quite a few of us on this board who make close to $100K a year.

By Obama standards, we're filthy stinking rich and need to be punished for it, yet most of us certainly aren't living in mansions, eating fillet every meal, bossing around a cadre of servants, sitting on huge stock portfolis, or driving a new Beemer every 2 years.

Most of us who are "rich" by Democratic standards are feeling the pinch just as hard as everyone else, if not more so, and yet those bastards expect us to shoulder "our fair share" as if we've been living carefree, non taxed lives under the Republicans.

That attitude is one of the primary reasons why I hate the Democratic Party so goddamned much and why, every time I hear them yelling about the "rich" not paying their share I cringe and see red.

Well, you should know that people like Edwards and ALGORE do not count as "rich".

They're the benevolent philosopher-kings that know better than the ignorant masses, and watch over and protect them. So of course they ought to have palaces, it's only right.

[MicroBalrog]

The beauty of capitalism is that everybody benefits, even though who are not rich and not even want to be rich, like me.

[Manedwolf]

You can't retire comfortably unless you're "rich".

The people you see barely able to move, shuffling around near the door at Wal-Mart, that's what happens if you aren't rich when you retire.

Sure, you can say you want a Bohemian lifetyle now. But you're going to starve or live in a box at that age if you don't plan ahead.

[Balog]

Continuous wars?  

I think a lot of people my age (I'm 25) are unhappy for the same reason the useless hippie bastards of the baby boom were unhappy. They've been raised to be ignorant, shallow, self-absorbed, whiny little kids. The .gov school system ruined their ability to think logically, their parents ruined everything else.

[alex_trebek]

I think a lot of people my age (I'm 25) are unhappy for the same reason the useless hippie bastards of the baby boom were unhappy. They've been raised to be ignorant, shallow, self-absorbed, whiny little kids. The .gov school system ruined their ability to think logically, their parents ruined everything else.

Agreed.  But the US has continuously been fighting throughout our lifetime.  Not as bad as Iraq now, but it just seems like it happens a lot.  I am also counting the "small" wars we were involved in, like Kosovo, Bosnia, Somalia, etc.  I don't think the majority of these military actions were justified, or warranted.

[Manedwolf]

So what about continuous wars?

The Roman Empire, ancient Egypt, and Western Europe all made their greatest advances during long, long, long periods of continual warfare and endless campaigns.

[alex_trebek]

And what was the end result???

[Manedwolf]

And what was the end result???

The greatest monuments, greatest discoveries, most amazing works of architecture, science, music and art in world history?

Like it or not, strife causes momentum.

[alex_trebek]

Strife, yes.   It is my understanding that the over expansion of the Roman empire caused its inevitable collapse, and also that the resulting dark ages reversed any technological advancements made by the civilization.  Probably can't be directly compared to today, but there are parallels that can be drawn imo.

It isn't so much the wars that I have a problem with, just how they are funded, and the consequences.  I believe in the principle of blow-back (I drank the kool-aid, I know) which a lot of this meddling causes.  I just dont think that this behavior is sustainable, eventually the bill will come, and the children of the people we have killed will avenge someday.