# A chilling observation about our future as a nation



## Josiah (Jan 12, 2015)

It was the moment at which gridlock became institutionalized.


​We are now at a point where the institutional inertia of our political organization will regularly produce divided government. Future historians will not blame Obama because there will be no illusion that more could have been done. The country will come together in emergencies – particularly foreign crises – but the federal government will remain dysfunctional for the most part. State and local governments will become more important in response. Some will have resources to move forward; others will be starved for resources. This will produce a country of even greater regional differences as some areas develop and others are left behind. Major problems of a national scope will not be addressed or they will be addressed only with half measures unlikely to succeed.
*– Paul Kahn*​


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## Jackie22 (Jan 12, 2015)

Well now, that's a lovely prediction....huh?

Sadly, I agree with it.


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## QuickSilver (Jan 12, 2015)

Well, someone finally said it..  Yes... very true.  On the other hand.. HOW can the Democratic party stand by and let Republicans move all the money to the top and create a third world nation?  Stopping them is of utmost importance, before this country becomes Dickens England.


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## Jackie22 (Jan 12, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> Well, someone finally said it..  Yes... very true.  On the other hand.. HOW can the Democratic party stand by and let Republicans move all the money to the top and create a third world nation?  Stopping them is of utmost importance, before this country becomes Dickens England.



Totally agree!


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## rt3 (Jan 12, 2015)

Somebody got sand in there swimming suit.


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## oakapple (Jan 12, 2015)

rt3 said:


> Somebody got sand in there swimming suit.


    Have you been to the beach rt3?


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## rkunsaw (Jan 12, 2015)

We took a giant step toward improving our government in November.


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## Don M. (Jan 12, 2015)

Josiah09 said:


> It was the moment at which gridlock became institutionalized.
> 
> 
> ​We are now at a point where the institutional inertia of our political organization will regularly produce divided government. Future historians will not blame Obama because there will be no illusion that more could have been done. The country will come together in emergencies – particularly foreign crises – but the federal government will remain dysfunctional for the most part. State and local governments will become more important in response. Some will have resources to move forward; others will be starved for resources. This will produce a country of even greater regional differences as some areas develop and others are left behind. Major problems of a national scope will not be addressed or they will be addressed only with half measures unlikely to succeed.*– Paul Kahn*



This is what happens when the citizens of a nation allow Greed and Big Money to take over the Government.  Even worse, it fosters the Blind Partisanship which allows these wealthy special interests to cement their hold on the government.  "Citizens United" is the Worst Thing that has come out of Washington in recent years, and it may turn out to be the Final Coffin Nail in this nations Democracy.  If our nation is going to move forward and serve the needs of our people, again, this Liberal vs. Conservative BS must Cease.  We have become a Divided Nation, and those at the top are laughing themselves silly over the success of this division.


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## QuickSilver (Jan 12, 2015)

Don M. said:


> This is what happens when the citizens of a nation allow Greed and Big Money to take over the Government.  Even worse, it fosters the Blind Partisanship which allows these wealthy special interests to cement their hold on the government.  "Citizens United" is the Worst Thing that has come out of Washington in recent years, and it may turn out to be the Final Coffin Nail in this nations Democracy.  If our nation is going to move forward and serve the needs of our people, again, this Liberal vs. Conservative BS must Cease.  We have become a Divided Nation, and those at the top are laughing themselves silly over the success of this
> division.




The wealthy and special interest groups have done a bang up job of convincing middle class Americans that the Poor are responsible for ALL the problems in the US..  Of course that is what they want us to believe so we won't notice who the real drains on society are.... THEM..


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## rt3 (Jan 12, 2015)

Don't forget how many of those wealthy are Demos.


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## rt3 (Jan 12, 2015)

I don't think we are divided, at least in the United we stand, divided we fall sense. Just lots of different opinions. The security that was brought about by the Industrial Age creation of the middle class buffer zone has been replaced somewhat by the self preservation instincts of government and big business. Given the accelerating reduction of the world food supply it's just a matter of time before the deck is reshuffled and historical sociological models will be revised drastically. The chaos model will then be perturbed into a new attractor that none can predict.
Some Utopian social/government is "Scary". 
The rich aren't laughing, they don't need to. By world standards, the U.S. poor are the rich, good luck convincing them


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## oakapple (Jan 13, 2015)

rt3 said:


> I don't think we are divided, at least in the United we stand, divided we fall sense. Just lots of different opinions. The security that was brought about by the Industrial Age creation of the middle class buffer zone has been replaced somewhat by the self preservation instincts of government and big business. Given the accelerating reduction of the world food supply it's just a matter of time before the deck is reshuffled and historical sociological models will be revised drastically. The chaos model will then be perturbed into a new attractor that none can predict.
> Some Utopian social/government is "Scary".The rich aren't laughing, they don't need to. By world standards, the U.S. poor are the rich, good luck convincing them


 It's true that ideas of 'wealth' are all relative.


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## BobF (Jan 13, 2015)

http://freebeacon.com/politics/more...s-sit-on-10-richest-members-of-congress-list/
*More Democrats than Republicans Sit on 10 Richest Members of Congress List*


BY:  Stephanie Wang 
January 15, 2014 4:59 am

While Republicans often get the reputation for being “the party of  the rich,” seven of the 10 richest members of Congress are Democrats,  according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP).

 CRP compiled a list of the 10 richest members of Congress using 2012 personal finance disclosure information, the latest available.
 These wealthy Democrats are not afraid to use their big bucks and high-powered connections to get ahead.

........................

http://www.forbes.com/sites/katiasa...as-richest-families-republicans-or-democrats/


*7/09/2014 @ 8:30AM          26,095 views*

*Are America's Richest Families Republicans or Democrats?*

_By Katia Savchuk with reporting from Dan Alexander, Max Jedeur-Palmgren, Carl O’Donnell, Chloe Sorvino and Sandhya Subbarao_
*Forbes took at look at the 50 richest clans on our new list of America’s Richest Families.  There are a handful of politicians in the mix, and an overwhelming  majority that support one political party far more than another.*

Some of America’s wealthiest families wear their politics on their sleeves. Charles and David Koch,  notorious for their support of right-wing causes, donated more than  $2.2 million during the 2012 election, nearly all to Republican  candidates. Jon and Patricia Stryker SYK +0.21%,  whose grandfather founded the medical device maker Stryker Corp., have  given a total of more than $16 million to Democratic candidates and  political groups.

Other members of rich clans have stepped into the political fray themselves. Penny Pritkzer, part of the family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain, became President Obama’s Commerce Secretary in June 2013. Mark Dayton, an heir to the Dayton family fortune (his ancestors built the company that became Target TGT -0.89% stores) is a Democrat and the current governor of Minnesota. Pete du Pont, descendant of the founder of chemical giant DuPont, was a Republican governor of Delaware from 1977 to 1985 and ran for president in 1988. Dolph Briscoe, Jr., member of the Briscoe ranching family, was a Democrat and governor of Texas from 1973 to 1979. Ross Perot,  Sr., is famous for his two impressive but unsuccessful presidential  runs as an Independent. He and his son have donated to both parties, but  they lean Republican.
.....................

It appears that more wealthy Democrats are actually in the government but more wealthy Republicans can be found supporting our government.


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## AZ Jim (Jan 13, 2015)

rkunsaw said:


> We took a giant step toward improving our government in November.



You missed one word, 'improving".  I should read we took a giant step toward MORE gridlock in Nov.  Democrats better hang on to the veto for a couple years or the poor will be MUCH poorer.  I do not understand the people who applaud the GOP.  They don't even realize they are being raped.


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## AZ Jim (Jan 13, 2015)

QS...One slight mod....


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## BobF (Jan 13, 2015)

One of this countries greatest moves would be to eliminate the two parties that now think they can lead this country and go back to our original way of running our government without these two block head groups messing everything up.    Go back our Senators and Representatives standing and arguing for the needs and abilities of their electors districts.   That is the way the US government was set up  to run.   Direct representation of the people that elected them and no more of these parties that think they can speak for all the US and be just and fair about it.   Our nation is supposed to be representing the people and their wants and needs, not some half baked nonsense from parties that do not represent the people or the countries needs.   Parties are nothing but political and do nothing for the people.   A big problem for the US and it shows in our ever increasing debts, now about $18 trillion and growing.   Under Clinton or Bush the debt was about $7,5 trillion. Near half of that $18 trillion has been put up in the last 8 years of Democrat control.   Not something to be proud of at all.


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## TabbyAnn (Jan 15, 2015)

BobF said:


> One of this countries greatest moves would be to eliminate the two parties that now think they can lead this country



I agree that we need more than the two Parties and need more Independent candidates. But I think individual citizens have to take responsibility for the current situation. I don't know of any group of citizens in any Congressional District that are meeting regularly to select and interview candidates for Congress and plan a strategy for educating the electorate. Good government requires year round commitment. It requires more than just voting on election day.


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## Rocky (Jan 15, 2015)

We as a nation are in decline.  If one looks at history, it has happened regularly, and generally when wealth and greed become the opium of the upper class.

We are not the first, nor will we be the last ... unless, of course, we either bomb ourselves into oblivion or cause enough environmental destruction that it will do it for us -- in which case we will all be gone.

Rocky


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## Don M. (Jan 15, 2015)

TabbyAnn said:


> I agree that we need more than the two Parties and need more Independent candidates. But I think individual citizens have to take responsibility for the current situation. I don't know of any group of citizens in any Congressional District that are meeting regularly to select and interview candidates for Congress and plan a strategy for educating the electorate. Good government requires year round commitment. It requires more than just voting on election day.



We already have more than two parties, in most states.  In my state, we have 4..Dem, Rep. Libertarian and Constitution.  The problem is that these "Splinter" parties have only a small fraction of the electorate, and they have nowhere near the money backing them that the Dem's and Rep's do.  They cannot mount a serious campaign under present rules and conditions, so we are stuck with what we have.  The Only way to get a decent 3rd party started in this nation would be a complete revamp of our campaign finance laws...prohibiting ALL private and Special Interest donations...and Instead, allocating a set amount of Federal/State dollars to each candidate, so as to level the playing field.  Fat Chance of that ever happening so long as our present politicians feed off the Big Money, and the Supreme Court passes things like Citizens United.  Big Money increasingly runs this country, and Big Money selects the candidates we are stuck with at election time.  If this trend continues for very much longer the day will come when we are a Two Class society...Lords and Peasants.


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