Anybody Else Think Politics Is Destroying America?

Title says it all. Does anybody else think that politics, and the tension between Democrats and Republicans, is tearing apart America? Is there too much conflict? Why can't we all just work together, compromise, and end the two parties. We're all people.

Everyone seems to be at each other's throat, and people like Hillary Clinton, or Donald Trump, or Ted Cruz, don't help. Why does it have to be either or? Why do we have to pick a side, between extreme conservatism, and extreme liberalism? Of course, I know you don't actually have to choose an extreme, but where are all the Independent voters? Does everyone buy into the party BS?

Everyone is to be blamed. We have the internet and have access to all kinds of information to stay informed. We continue the down spiral path of picking red and blue that never represent us. Change only happens when people rise up and ask for it pretentiously.

The problem isn't the political system, the problem is Wallstreet and private interest groups. Those are the forces that control our system.

Identity politics is redicilous indeed. And can lead people to accept all forms of dogma, especially when they oppose stuff simply because the other side opposes it.

"Today’s conservatism is the opposite of what liberals want today, updated daily."

-Cleek's law

Personally, I dont care about the woo and dogma of either side. Nuclear power is our most viable source of energy, and one of the cleanest too, and safest. Regardless of what the fearmongers say.

Fucking politics... don't ever waste your time on that trivial bullshit.

Political parties are the problem. It's and us vs them mentality and doesn't know what the word compromise means. It's no longer for the good of the country/people but what a particular party wants.

in some part i believe social media / the internet has actually made divisions between people worse

it's made people more combative towards one another and their beliefs because ideological conflicts arise pretty much on a daily basis now. a person goes online and is basically assaulted from the start by comments/news/blogs/videos/memes etc... against their political beliefs. they just get caught up in.

We need more thorium reactors and less politics. There should be flying cars by now but politics.

The 2 party system is a joke, it's meant to make people believe they have a choice. The parties are 2 feathers on the same bird. Check out a book called The Power Elite, the author is sociologist C Wright Mills. He examines the connection between the military, corporate, private, and political elements.

It's an interesting read.

Are you crazy, people can't even drive on the street nowadays!!!

People who hate politics are often those who don't understand it. They are confused when different politicians disagree and can't see why they don't just have the same opinions. These people are a blight on society.

@jointed: What?

If you're referring to me, I know plenty about politics. I know everything that's going on.

Anyway, what you're saying is sorely misguided. First, you can't generalize that into all people who hate politics. Second, I don't think a whole lot of people just hate politics, because, oh, they don't understand it. I think they understand it plenty.

Unifying the country after the divisive nature of the general election should be one of the new president's top priorities. Unfortunately Obama didn't do a good job of that and by focusing on pursuing liberal agenda he further divided an already polarized country.

Don't get me wrong I think Obama is a decent president (I voted for him twice) but he should have been more attuned to the other half of the country instead of consolidating support of the left half.

And the Insurance Company is totally gonna skyrocket, it's already price crazy as it is.

Anyone who believes this need to read up on the fiasco that is Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository. Yeah I really want that happening every where in America...

@bmanva I agree with what you are saying and it works in theory but it's a catch 22 for politicians. A politician runs on certain social platforms. Once elected their number one priority is to put those platforms into action. They must do that to maintain and consolidate their base. I am a supporter of Pres. Obama so I have supported this for the past 8 years.

Having said that I hated when W. won the pres. election thru chicanery and [borderline] cheating and never did much to reach out to the large part of the country who didn't vote for him. He just kept satisfying his base.

I don't like it either way but it's political survival. Political suicide is when Congress can't work among themselves nor with the executive branch.

There are lots of problems, but I believe the main thing that got us where we are is the amount of money required for a political campaign. Most people are fairly moderate, but moderates don't give a bunch of money to a moderate candidate. Extreme people give lots of money to extreme candidates. To get money from extremist, politicians get more extreme, and get into fights with their own party about who is the most extreme. This has been slowly building for decades, but the internet and the Supreme Court Citizens United decision to basically end all political campaign spending limits have turned things up to eleven. Enjoy the show.

A few incidents here and there is not as devastating as the disasterous consequences of the damage fossil fuels does. We have the statistics, and Nuclear Power, even on an international levels, nuclear power kills far less per trillion kWhr. Likewise, the nuclear waste is generally stored somewhere instead of being pumped out into the air we breathe every day. Likewise, the potential for nuclear power to be clean is greatly underutilized. Thorium reactors are up to 2 orders of magnitude as wasteful as the most currently used reactors. Showing that they could be much cleaner than they already are, if we allow them to be.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/06/10/energys-deathprint-a-price-always-paid/#6afd031449d2

As for the infographic, I do agree that Nuclear power isnt handled with the precautions it should, but that fault lies with the policy makers, not nuclear power itself.

The idea that the two parties are basically the same is such a crock of smug horseshit. The two parties have completely different approaches to social issues and economics: the Republicans are against abortion and gay marriage, the Democrats are not, the Democrats want more gun control, the Republicans don't, the Democrats want to keep entitlements/social programs in place, the Republicans want to make big cuts to them, Democrats want universal healthcare, the Republicans don't, the Democrats want a path to citizenship, the Republicans don't. I do think there's merit in the argument that Republican and Democrat foreign policy is somewhat similar, but it doesn't cancel out the vast difference in domestic policy.

The two party system exists as a consequence of how badly the US elections are set up. Especially the usage of the ever terrible First Past the Post system.

I put most the blame on Republicans who have been chipping away at the legacy given to us on a platter by FDR.

Too bad he didn't live just a little bit longer, things would have been so different...

I think Political is not only destroy America. It is destroyed faiths of Society all Country. Presently political is use for his power, not use for society or country.

honestly? I think the media makes it out to be a lot worse than it really is, and the only reason it feels so bad is because it's election season.

Faced with the various alternatives, what the US has/suffers through on occasion is pretty mild and, for the most part, a good system.

I do wish that we'd get out of the two-party system and people would actually consider a third party viable, instead of just viewing them as "vote stealers". But no, to answer your question, politics is not destroying the US, if anything it is one of the aspects that makes this country so great.

Yeah, I think the Republicans will be reinventing themselves over the next few years. Should be a pretty historic next decade or so.

@battlestreak:

What do you think we should do about it? Leave America in anarchy?

Politics are a fundamental part keeping order in America, dude. The opposite of order is chaos.

@killered3: No. We should toss out the two party system, make voting truly based on popular vote, rather than delegates and such, stop the silly arguments, and pull the country back together and unify. Can't we all just compromise? Instead of throwing shit at each other?

@battlestreak:

Make the popular vote matter, are you insane? Look at how many people voted Trump! That's a perfect example of why the people should have as little control as humanly possible. And a good reason as to why unification will never happen. Most folks just can't listen to reason and don't know the first thing about what's good for the country.

@killered3: Please move to North Korea.

Don't you know everything that America supposedly stands for? I don't like Trump, or Clinton, but the people should be able to choose.

Who would you rather make all the decisions for the country? Government officials who don't give a damn about people?

TC's idealism is cute.

@battlestreak:

Your heart is in the right place and in a perfect world, a country actually run by the people would work out awesome. But sadly, this is far from a perfect world. For one thing, people can be bought off and influenced way too easily. If you thought politicians are corruptible, regular citizens are even worse! I know not everyone has potatoes for brains but the majority simply move to the first thing that would make them feel safe again. Even if it's a crook or a swindler.

If we left the country leader to be chosen like that then presidency would become easy pickens for more trash talking business men to roll on through. Give the people an inch and they will take a mile. And if it's one thing that we've learned the most about this Trump business it's that the people are still just as gullible as ever. They're just tired of hearing empty promises from politicians.

But if you took EVERYTHING that Trump has said and bring them from the mouth of a run of the mill presidential candidate...I wonder just how different the votes would be? They would probably be saying stuff like, "Oh, we've heard this crap a million times. We know he's full of it. He's trying to take advantage of this situation." And they would be right. Fresh coat of paint on yet another opportunist looking to get in the easy way. Thats my point here. The people don't know the first thing about what's good or not. They would DIE without some kinda balance and order. Mankind truly is such a fickle beast.

TC reminds me of those people who go into System Wars and say stuff like, "Everybody should love all consoles!" "People should play games regardless of what console they're on!" "Let's all get in a circle and discuss how much Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft has enriched our lives with endless fun! Then let's hug it out!"

Keep the electoral college, are you insane? Remember how George W. Bush even got into power in the first place?

By making every single vote count you might even encourage more people to vote too. There is a reason the US voter turnout is so goddamn dismal to a lot of other democracies out there. My country has nearly twice the voter turnout than the US.

The electoral college made sense in the past when the US was such a huge country, with transporation being much slower. But technology has advanced a long way since then. The electoral college is objectively a terrible system.

Politics and the super rich are destroy the whole world. Take UK referendum this week. Not one famous or super rich person saying leave from Europe from people like Richard Branson, Top gear, and david beckham. Even the prime minister asking top gear host to say stay in. How much extra was they paid?.

Government and politics just destroying all the world not just the US.

@Maroxad:

Electoral college is a hit or miss but it's still better than the alternative.

Seems to me this stuff really got going when the 24 hour news networks got going. Prior to that the two sides were annoyed by each other. Now they hate each other.

Sure, 100-200 years ago. But technology has gone a long way since then, and there is a reason the electoral college is nowadays seldomly used to elect the president or prime minister.

That's kinda what happens if you have a two party system, it becomes a tug-o-war and each try to dismantle what the other one has put in place. Rather then a cooperation.

Yup and sadly a two party system becomes an inevitability if you have a First Past the Post system. I remember when even in my country, 6 out of the then 7 leading parties (even the right wing ones), agreed with things like same sex marriage, and just... moved on.

They wouldnt oppose things simply because the "other" stood for it.