Also use your head to acquire objective data that shows if it is the type of Christianity that essentially urged the flock to vote for Reagan and the Bushes that their behavior in the voting booth vastly created more poor folks and misery than their volunteering alleviated.
I urge you to t occasionally expose yourself to the mainstream media (not Fox) and even some liberal media.
From my POV he isnt a far left president, he seems a solid left. Not left center, but not far left. And I do my best not to watch fox news. I just see what goes on and form opinions based on that.
But then again, if one would use that argument then Christians would not be able to vote for any democrat or republican due to both sides having values that go against at least some part of Christ's teachings.
Then start you a Christian party, that vows non-violence, institutionalized charity, fairness and transparency in financial regulation, respect for god's planet and spiritualism over materialism. The Lefties will probably join your coalition. But the Wingnuts won't.
So anyway Of course something is different. When the FBI has a 400% jump in threats against the president and the CIA needs more of a budget to protect him, isn't sort of obvious that something's different?
The original post by Mathloom was that "something is different," though obviously nothing is different on this board, many of you are so partisan you can't think beyond your position. You see everything as the Republicans against the Democrats. My point and I believe to some extent Mathloom's point is that what we are witnessing is "something different." I will take one more shot at it. The erosion of confidence in the U.S. Federal Government is not a "left" issue or a "right" issue, it is a psychological/sociological phenomena, and it is growing. Look at the polls: only 20% of voters view themselves as Republicans. A Gallup poll today revealed that 40% of their sample viewed themselves as conservative, about 30% moderate, and only 20% liberal (most of whom are on this board). If anything the nation is Right/Center. Many voters were angry with the Bush White House and the Republican Congress (I was) and they threw them out. Now they are angry with the Obama Whitehouse and the Democratic Congress, and a "Mid-Term Massacre" is in the offing. Do you see a trend here? Discount the Town Hall outrage and the Tea Party phenomena all you want, but I believe that something is cooking in U.S. politics that has no precedent. Ignore it at your peril.
Not til it happens, wait and see. Historical data says the incumbents win a huge percentage of the time, but the Republicans lost both Houses of Congress in the last election. One of the signs that something is brewing will be the number of independents that get on the ballots like what is happening in N.Y. at the present time. I expect a viable third party to emerge in the next four years; the table is set for a Ross Perot like phenomena. If that doesn't happen then one of the two major political parties is in for significant shift in direction. If the economy turns up, which I don't think will occur, then all bets are off because the voting public will resume drinking beer (have they stopped?), belching, and not caring what happens in Washington.
I am still certain it isn't the same. Obviously, I'm not comparing to 50 years ago. Even no change is regression in this case - aren't we supposed to become more civilized? I know some people are absolutely married to anything traditionally American (*cough* Dakota *cough* ) regardless of whether it still makes sense or not. That makes complete sense to me. Competition is great. American freedoms (as much as I think they're ho-hum compared to Europe) are awesome if you are happy with them. That's all normal. It's fine. I know that anger towards the President is also largely the same (should've stated this in the op). What I'm saying is that the genuine hatred between the average republican and the average democrat has shot up. There is serious ill-will. Things like "the Republicans don't represent anyone, they're racist, I think they should dissapear" goes against the foundation of democracy - multiple views, all valid. There are obviously racists and haters on both side, and naturally one side will have more than the other. That doesn't mean much. I didn't limit my post to Republicans btw. I see it happening on both sides. To me, it's dissapointing. Competition = good. But competition does not have to induce hatred. You agree to the rules of the election and when you win or lose, it is still the same country and the same constitution and the President is responsible for everyone and everyone should be supporting the winner. You agree to the terms of an election. You might lose. Someone will definitely lose. It is an eventuality. But the current reaction its had does not seem to take that into account. SOMEONE WILL LOSE. There's a huge chance it's you. The President probably won't be very much like you. These are normal things. This doesn't force you to go from constructive criticism to name-calling. It is your country. Both halves, one country. Seriously, take control of it. Historically, this has not turned out well.
There probably won't be a viable 3rd party in this country because 2 is the lowest common denominator. The range of possible issues and possible approaches is so large that no specialized point of view can generate enough political support by itself and must be linked to a wider "party" view. Us or Them, With US or Agin' Us. And besides with the narrow interest parties, you end up with the idiot fringe: Doug Hoffman on Getting Palin's Endorsement as Third-Party Candidate http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,569632,00.html
