Enlighten me on NDAA.

I'm fully aware of SOPA. That bill is just depressing.

Here's what NDAA is about:

http://nextgenjournal.com/2012/01/the-ndaa-debate/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alton-lu/the-national-defense-auth_b_1180869.html

Plus I do agree with you. Both of those bills are depressing. So much for "Land of the free."

NDAA. Military has all of the power in the world and they can detain you without reason for an indefinite amount of time without giving you a reason why they are doing it. The bill says "does not apply to U.S. citizens" but then it says "applies to people suspected of terrorism regardless of citizenship." So basically, if they think you have terrorist ties, you're fucked. Goodbye Bill of Rights. Right to a trial? Ha. Right to a jury by peers? Ha. We're fucked.

I still can't understand how anybody can think Occupy Wallstreet is a dumb idea. All it promoted was civic engagement. For people to become more entwined in politics and to follow politics again, and stop letting corporations run our country and stop letting corrupt politicians continue to fuck everything up.

So I was ignorant to the fact that I knew what NDAA was. What's making any of these fucks think either of these things were good ideas!?

This is why I don't vote

I vote for the lesser or two evils.

That's part of the problem.

Too many people, especially young people don't vote.


Apathy is the reason why government officials pass legislation that takes away our rights, give tax cuts to the rich etc, we've become to comfortable and apathetic in how we handle corruption and shady dealings.

That's only part of it though, we have a rampant problem of ignorance and party politics driving why people vote, "oh I'm a registered Democrat or I'm Republican for life" get that garbage out of here, voting for party loyalty has been killing the political process for far too long, not to mention our system makes it so that we're almost forced to have one of those two parties in, even though there are many other political parties, but elections are more about who has the most money, a moderate from another party with a consistent voting record is ignored because they don't have the money for exposure because they aren't getting their money from some big oil company or in bed with some corportation shipping jobs everywhere.

The reason I don't vote is because I know that all politicians don't give a shit about the middle man. Why vote if the only reason we vote for someone is because they will screw us over less than the other candidates? Secondly, because our votes don't get them elected. It's the electoral college that gets them in. Back in 04 John Kerry won the popular vote, but Bush won the Electoral votes which is why he won. Lastly, I don't vote because I believe if you vote you have no right to complain. People like to twist that around and say "Well if you don't vote you have no right to complain." But where is the logic in that? If you vote and elect dishonest incompetent leaders then you are responsible. You have no right to complain. I, on the other hand who did not vote have every right to complain about it.

Wow that NDAA shit is hardcore. What the fuck is wrong with people? Jeez. Well I already new our Government was pretty shitty but this shitty?

I'm not heavily into politics or anything like that but still. These guys are fucknuts

(facepalm)

The logic in saying "Well if you don't vote you have no right to complain." Comes from the idea that if you that if you actually pay attention and vote based on who you think is a better choice to represent you then you actually participated in the future of the government and therefore have a stake in whats going on.

If you don't vote then that means you didn't participate when you had the chance. You had an opportunity to change what you don't like about government and you didn't take it. You just sat back and complained about the state of the nation without doing anything to prevent or change it.

People need to get active and hold our politicians responsible. That way they won't do stupid shit like these bills, or at least not as much.

Rant over.

I don't trust any of them, and I won't vote for anyone I don't trust.

Sure, there may be some genuine politicians out there who truly want to help, but the power-hungry liars have become so prevalent and so good at bullshitting that it's ruined my overall perception of politics, and they've learned to fool us with their fake promises and fake smiles.

And yes, as a citizen of the USA, I can exercise my 1st amendment right and complain, despite not voting. At least I know I wasn't responsible for putting these people in power.

Give me a "none of the above" option, and I'll be there at the ballot. Not only will I be voting, but I will be expressing my opinion on how I see things. Enough "none of the above" votes may actually promote some change, as more and more people are seeing through the scams.

But what chances of a "none of the above" option happening do we have?

I knew the U.S.A. is in deep s**t, and run by the corrupt, but this current situation is just...................we're f***ed!

It is pretty much game over now.

If the North American Union comes into effect. I would expect massive rebellion to take place. People are getting smarter and not nearly as gullible as the Elite would have us think.

Mind you the "awake" are still lacking in numbers, when speaking in percentages.

Sit back and watch. Things are gonna fall apart very soon. Or come together, depending on perspective. Stand up for your natural rights while you still can.

Fuck this. I'm going to Canada.

Taking me a sweet lady with me too.

You do realize that the electoral college was originally put in place because the founding fathers thought the populace was too stupid to make a proper vote and thus you have a system in place that is suppose to make sure that voters screw the pooch.

But that kind of becomes voided out now seeing as with the whole Progressive Movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s gave the voting masses much more freedom and power who in who they choose such as the idea of referendum, direct election of Senators as before they were chosen by the state because they directly represented the state, etc. etc. But what also comes with that is the idea of tying the popular vote to the electoral vote, meaning, most states have laws in place now that make it so that the "true voters" have to follow the populace's will and vote for the candidate that won that state.

And the whole, popular vote being screwed over by the electoral college has only happened four times in the history of the nation, so it's not that common:

-Election of 1824 (Quincy Adams v. Jackson)
-Election of 1876 (Hayes v. Tilden)
-Election of 1888 (Harrison v. Cleveland)
-Election of 2000 (Bush v. Gore)

And you say politicians don't care about the middle men and that's why you don't vote, well if you think they're so greedy and corrupt, apathy shouldn't be your course of action, but voting and action should be. Most people think that all they are interested is keeping their position, if that;'s the case this demographic of apathetic voters need to go out and make it known that they think they're doing a bad job at running the government.

Those who don't vote don't have any right to complain, you din't make your opinion known and elect someone who you thought was the right candidate. We have primaries for political parties in which you can join to help push somebody into the public eye. Just look at Ron Paul. Compared to all the other candidates, he shouldn't have a chance in hell due to his lack of financials on his own end, but he has been able to get a dedicated group of followers who constantly help back him and make him a relevant candidate in the GOP primary, Same goes for Obama in 08 except he had much more of his own finances. Before that, the party picked whoever the hell they wanted and lead to easier manipulation of the system, at least there is something there to make the people's voice heard.

Young people really need to get more involved in politics. If you look at the debt, the crashing of the housing market, the end result of a tanking global economy, issues with poverty in this country, etc. the times today are not looking too good. Being a 22 year old, recent graduate of college and seeing all of this shit and seeing that because my parents' generation and my parents' parents generation has FUBARed things up nice and well makes me think that maybe they need to get the hell out of the way and have some youth take over. It is us who will be leading the next generation and now would be a pretty good time for us to think of political and economic solutions seeing as finding a job right now is hard as hell and things aren't looking much better.

Point is, get involved, pay attention to the news so 20 years down the road things aren't completely screwed up. I mean hell, if all else fails, read the Declaration of Independence and see what it says one should do against a corrupt, despotic government that does not adhere to the peoples will

Congress is filled with jackasses. The white house has a huge jackass in it. And television news is filled with jackasses. I'll vote when when i see a candidate worth voting for.

But why vote when your vote doesn't count due to the electoral college? Why vote when during the debates they don't invite the other candidates to question? Our system has major flaws and our leaders are too corrupt to fix the problems. What can we do about it? Voting isn't the only answer because it's not working. Yes voting helps but voting liars and cheats in doesn't. We shouldn't have to vote for the lesser evil. We should be voting for people who truly care for this country and the freedoms it stands for. But where are these politicians?

Nice topic, Garlador. Oh, but you are Garland? Sorry, Garfield Garland.
Governments and corporations have realized the state of media today, that has seemed to unfold into a certain pattern that could be read rather easily. I'm amazed how much the media can affect in people's way of thinking. Media can control people. Propaganda is a powerful weapon.
For instance, people have been going nuts with the new low-carbohydrate diet that's been widely discussed in different media. At first it was praised all the way for its quick and easy weight loss benefits, now it's only dissed by doctors in the newspapers for the health issues. It's an excellent business, morally just twisted like a corkscrew and definitely not the way to go. It was the Atkins diet of our time and there was a new generation to fall to the joke. It might happen again in our lifetime, unlikely for us only.
Do you remember the swine flu? Do you know the game Angry Birds? The swine flu fuss was mocked in the game - that's why the green pigs. The media wrote about the swine flu virus H1N1 anxiously like always and in time that affected many people. I for one didn't even consider taking the vaccine, and I didn't take it either (may be due to my resistance, but that's another story). Now, some people who took the H1N1 vaccine are suffering narcolepsy. The lesson here is: you can be more sceptical towards the media! The concern in this topic seems to be about censorship, and I believe that it concerns many people just because it might affect themselves. I hope that's not due to self-indulgence. Per contra, I'm happy that online users, majorly in USA, turned against Putin's new term of presidency - while he may be a good president for Russia, he may just have some morally and globally unpleasant plans for the future.

I hope that OpenLeaks will reveal new things about corruption in "the country of freedom" and everywhere else for that matter. I don't think that anything too drastic will happen in North America for a good while to be honest. Your economy is the biggest issue but I think USA can handle it. New unionships and the birth of a new currency could be on the road.
The federative European Union is basically ran by France's Sarkozy and Germany's Merkel currently and together they try to maintain the EU's financial balance. Corruption will lead to chaos as always, and here at least Greece is about to lose its grip entirely sooner or later. I hope that Russia won't take advantage of the EU's current situation, starting to invade every nation here - that has been under speculation. One thing is for sure that Putin has been preparing for new invasions for a good while now. Putin himself could practically initiate World War 3 at will. It's been a surprisingly long time without big wars - and there have always been wars... Hopefully WW3 is not in question here, just. That would affect all.

The simple fact the electoral system works the way it does ensures that my vote doesn't count just because of the state I live in. And unless there's a clause in the 1st Amendment that says I can only voice my opinion if I vote, then I do have the right to complain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efKguI0NFek

Augh, politics.

One day the Government will wake up and realize that North America is like a giant prison, where the prisoners(us) outnumber the guards(them).

I think we, as a people, have a tendency to exaggerate how bad the government is. I'll be the first to tell you that Congress and special interest suck but I think the government is doing fine considering the amount of shit we are in as a nation. I believe that the American public thinks that the government is more corrupt than it really is, not saying it's clean but I really don't think that every politician is evil, and that creates apathy as seen in several posts in this thread.

Anytime a group of people who make 6+ figures have the audacity to tell the struggling public they need more money...something's screwed up.

That is true, people often exaggerate their points to get attention. Realistically, things aren't that bad in USA. There have always been something to complain about and always will be. Just do your own little efforts to join the cause and maybe you can sleep better again. Otherwise, consult a doctor.

All these posts made me laugh like crazy because I agree fully. Just wait and watch... Hopefully something awful like a zombie apocalypse happens in the winter of this year.. Anyway back on topic.. Ugh, politics.