By Fareed Zakaria
The American political system is simply not working. The parties have become too polarized; institutions and traditions of governance, like the filibuster, have been abused to create permanent gridlock. It's tempting to pretend that this has always been a part of the country's raucous democracy and that both parties are to blame. But that's just not true. Consider these facts. Over the past five years, Republicans in the Senate have threatened or used a filibuster 385 times. That's almost double the rate of the preceding five years and much more than the historic average.
Would Obama or Romney be better at breaking this deadlock? Each side makes its arguments. Obama has recently said that his re-election would "break the fever" and force Republicans to the table. Romney partisans quietly admit that the Republican Party will have to accept higher taxes, but they claim only one of its own can take them there.
Watch the video for the full take.
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Obama forcing through Obamacare was the hammer, he will never get Republican cooperation on anything now.
Yeah. This article doesn't make sense to me. The system IS working. By nature it allows polarity to begin with. Polarity brought us to Revolution and the Civil war. It has its place.
And war is what we are looking for?! Really?
Hahahahaha...I can't believe I just read that. A civil war driven by political polarity referred to as a positive thing.
Polarity creates extremism. Sunis vs. Shias, Catholics vs. Protestants, conservatives vs. liberals, politically correct vs. humans....its all a recipe for disaster.
I am independent and for good reason. The politics of this country is a disgrace to all logical human beings. Does anyone who isn't a complete moron think that the left is always right or the right is always right? Both sides are simply extremists who refuse to even consider the other side. They act like the other party is full of evil psychopaths and they are the good ones. CJ Topspin already said it. Polarity is a breeding ground for extremism. I dare say most people on here are a part of that lunacy because most people on here probably identify with a certain political party and are probably extremist in their beliefs and view the other party as "evil".
It requires a nuanced mind to 'get' sarcasm.
I can usually recognize sarcasm. That did not look like sarcasm to me.
Can't wait for the next Civil War. Same thing, North against South. Same result just quicker.
Polarity is a by-product of choices! As long as mankind exists, there will always be dissent and polarised stances. That's why they are suppressed in totalitarian countries.
You are philosphically right no friction and no conflict producing a defined outcome; example no civil war no end to slavery also no brutal reconstruction and impovershment of the south for generations. perfectly moderate and always gentle perfectly peaceful process will fail to produce meaningful change at some point.. Plus read every thing Zakaria says with cynicism he is a palgarist and somewhat a fraud as a journalist.
Filibusters used to be employed 1 to 6 times a DECADE. The Republicans have used it over 350 times in the last 5 years. You call that a "working system"?
The sad part is that the Dems no longer make them get up there and speak for hours, all they have to do is to say they will do it and the Dems back off. MAKE THE THUGS GET UP THERE AND ACTUALLY FILIBUSTER, THEY WILL LOOK LIKE IDIOTS AND PEOPLE WILL STOP VOTING FOR THEM!
Don't have to worry about Civil War...takes more than this to overcome American apathy...
Obamacare is medicaid... Last I looked at the chart you better make under 25k and have a house full of kids you can't take care of...
Obamacare is Romneycare, the kind of healthcare reform the Republicans have been sniveling for for decades. But now that its a Democrat who passes it, its rampant liberalism. Obama can't win. When Obama ordered SEAL snipers to take out Somali pirates holding a US ship captain and crew at gunpoint, FOX News characterized it as "Obama cruelly snuffs out black youths" and the ship captain had hundreds of death threats from FOX News fans. Aren't you sniveling on the wrong news comment section? Don't you have FOX News comment threads to troll? Where is YOUR birth certificate DANITA!?
Fox never stated it as you say.. They have always and only referred to those bandits as Pirates. So, once again, a liberal lying to try to make a point because they just dont have the facts on their side of the issue. A second pastor of Obama's came out with racial remarks again this week. he was quoted verbatim, and now is trying to walk it back. Thats how i see Obama, he is trying to walk back 4 years because he wants a do over.
You use the word 'sniveling' too much. It makes you sound like a pr1ck. Try to bring it down a notch and maybe people will take you seriously.
Fr33, last time I checked, danita isn't in the Oval Office, so her birth certificate is irrevelant.
And the GOP can't win either. Medicare drug coverage was expanded under REPUBLICAN President Bush, yet the Democrats slandered the GOP by saying they want to push granny off the cliff.
That doesn't even make sense. Congress voted, and the Healthcare Reform Act passed. Every large bill requires compromise from both parties, except that now the Republicans refuse to compromise on ANYTHING in order to stain the President's reputation. That's not American, it's disgraceful.
Obamacare is GOPcare, but GOP says NO because they don't want to cooperate obviously.
Boo hoo you stupid moron.
Odumbo is going down or he will take the country with him.
Sorry but Mike's right.
Is it American to wish for your country to fail just so your party can hold power? I was no fan of Dubbya but I never wished the country to tank just so my candidate would win.
That IS disgraceful.
Obama will not bring down the country. No one person is that powerful. We have a system of checks and balances that work well. What will bring us down are the extremes of both parties. Enough with the vitriolic radio shows that are only making the "pundit" rich. Enough with the sheep who believe every word their new "savior" says without checking if it is, in fact, true! It will be the sheep that take this country down (if it goes down), not one man like Obama.
The day after President Obama's election, the head of the Republican Party said their main focus would be to make the President a one term president, and that has been the Republican's focus from day one. Not the people, not the country, but the politics!
ACA passed with only a single republican vote, that doesn't sound to bi-partisan to me. Actually 34 Dems were against it.
SEattle Mike, totally agree with you. 33 attempts by the Repubs. to trash Obamacare, while we could have been spending Congressional time, energy and attention (their staffs as well) on all the other problems in America....Repubs have been slowly hijacked by religious fanatics and money interests....there is no desire to even hear what the rest of us want, if it ain't what they believe it's 'evil'
The GOP NEVER said they wanted the country to fail. What they said was that they wanted the president to fail (BECAUSE his policies are BAD for this country). NOT the same thing.
you obama supporters make me sick just ranting qoutes from the liberal media think for yourselves visit your library if you still have one. Romney care is in no way obama care obama care is on a national level through the federal government romney care gave power to the individual state. I have never gotten the penalty in the 3 years i ahve been required to have insurance once obama care is enacted I am getting a penalty of $600 the first year $1200 the next i only make $19k a year and next year social security goes up another 4% for adjusted living plus obamas 3% tax cut expires on payroll so next year anybody with a job should see a 7% decrease in pay plus new regulations requiring everyone to have health care not to mention the cost of inflation is about 3% so next year i should go from 18K to about 18,200 thanks OBAMA! and im not saying vote for romney i think their both turds but at least Romney doesnt have a socialist agenda.
True, but the truth will not change a single Republican mind.
Congress didnt pass obamacare with a traditonal vote of yea or nea, it was passed with a "general consensus" measure which means basically that the Dems said "well, we think we have the votes, so it passes." So many votes on different measures with that bill also occurred at very odd hours and many Republicans complained that they had very little lead time at times to get their vote in or attend bill debate.. Really, when 50% dont want something, you need to set it down and try to get more consensus.. Obama has polarized us as a nation, dems hate reps and reps hate dems, that is reason enough for us to cast Obama aside and try again.
Actually, Obama's mistake was wasting so much time trying to get Republicans to agree to the same policies they had been pushing just the year before. He didn't recognize soon enough that Republicans would ruthlessly oppose absolutely anything he tried to do. They were acting out Limbaugh's advice: make him fail.
Our president lacks the courage to really face the facts that he is not presidential in all he does and says. He should have been defeated in 2008 by a much better candidate not unlike it is in today's election.
@Don in FL – and what better candidate was that (in 2008)?
Don, you mean the "better" candidate in 2008 that was going to "think out of the box" and choose an airhead for VP?
That was his first major decision.
#FAIL
Bert, this is exactly correct. I have voted both parties in the past, but I feel like the republicans deliberately chose to oppose everything Obama supported as a political strategy to make him fail rather than choose to elevate concern for the country as the primary motive. Obama clearly didn't understand after taking office that he did not have partners who were acting in good faith. He needed to understand from the beginning that anything he supported would be opposed simply because of his support, not because their was a good faith disagreement upon which compromise could be sought. I do fear Romney winning as a complete endorsement of this recalcitrant political strategy that would have worked and which exposes a dark and destructive value system within our collective hearts.
Obama has no skills to work with Congress in bipartisan way. if you all remember during the healthcare reform debate, Repubs actually had meeting with Obama and hoped that he'd listen to them for some of reform ideas, but Obama reject their ideas blatantly and refuse any cooperation (just ask Susan Collins, a moderate Repub), and insisted on his way or highway. that's how we get a so called Obamacare without bipartisan support, and most American people hate it and want it repealed (54% in poll).
Obama is no Clinton, but a pretender who has no his own visions. just think about how many Bush's policies he has extended and continued: bailout of banks/auto, Bush tax cut, deficit spending, wars, drone strikes and patriot act, so on so forth. i hope he loose the election so that this country can have a real change rather than continue Bush's policies and Obama's own failed economic policies.
Celesti,
In some ways Clinton's ability to work with the other party was a mistake. Look what happened when he tried to "help" signed into law the republican sponsored Graham-Leach-Bliley act – the deregulation of the banking industry.
He had a really good term, but a few disasters thrown in.
Chris, you hit the real issue dead on. If we actually reward the obstructionist political ploy the Republicans have employed the last four years we will be in for more of the same no matter which party is elected. Concern for the greater good (like the people of America) went out the window within the Republican party as soon as Mr. Obama was elected. They made a calculated decision to harm this country in order to regain executive power. It that works, and Mr Romney is elected, shame on us and hold on because we will be in for a wild ride the next several administrations as both parties play that same game over and over again. We really can't afford to play into that sham.
you got that right; Obama couldn't believe the Repubs would actually take their marching orders from the cigar smoking junkie and put ruining a democrat in the white house before the needs of the country. Should have been obvious after the way they went after Clinton; remember the impeachment started as a committee claiming they were checking into land deals in Arkansas; they didn't quit until they spent taxpayers $$ long enough to find out about an indescretion with an adult in a beret. Conservatives feel they own the white house, and anyone else we put there is trespassing.
Right, the republicans should have adopted the cooperative spirit of the democrats when W was in office...give me a break!
Your comment implies he had Republican cooperation on Obamacare. He most certainly did not. Republican cooperation, in and of itself, is an oxymoron.
Republican cooperation with a liberal democrat is analogous to moral suicide.. You can compromise on numbers, but not on principals.. Peolosi represents the dems, "We need to pass it, so we can find out what is in it" This is YOUR house leader dems, PLEASE, shut up from now on until she is dead in her grave because she shows that you guys are insane.
Zakaria – do you use voodoo, coffee, sufi chants or what to make your 1000 predictions across the board?
The problem is that Obamacare actually GOPCare, but GOP keeps saying Obamacare or GOPcare bad. This proves GOP is trying to make "Obama look bad" for their decision to make Obama one term president.
I can say nothing else about you other than youre an 1diot!!, (I guess that says enough by saying it all)
THE OP stated facts and you called them an idiot. Sounds like to me you need a mirror.
Its public fact they stated that and its fact that Obamacare is GOPcare and it was approved by the same very people that approved Romneycare. Sounds like your just beyond the terminology of an idiot. Your ignorant, stupid, and flat out mentally challenged.
The Republicans who opposed him, were opposing us... American people.
I will vote against any Republican the rest of my life.
It's quite likely that I will never vote for another Republican either. And I will be certain to vote in EVERY election.
Same here. I'm a registered repub, but haven't voted that way for years. I'm ashamed of what the repubs have become – bascially old, white angry racists. Come on, repubs, look at the demographics of the US now – it's not your perfect little white world and you'd better get on board with REALITY, or you will disappear sooner than you think. The republican party is becoming irrelevant in modern politics based mainly on demographics.
Will never vote Republican again either. Its really a simple choice... I am awake, and have been well before 2008
The Republican Party that I belonged to was eaten up by the Tea Party. Since 2008 I have been voting for qualified people regardless of Party. But from now on no Republican will get my vote and I have already voted.
I didnt use to be so engaged in politics....but after Watching how Republicans Treated Obama from his first day in office
i will never in my LIFE vote republican....id rather die first ...
i will vote democrat....and then lets the better democrats fight against the worse ones....but Never republicans
We've always been wondering where the corruption in the White House was at. Now thanks to the power of the digital age the Republicans have been exposed.
The days of that party are numbered .
There's an intelligent, cooperative position.
this is one of the greatest misconceptions out there.
obama did not 'ram through' obamacare.
he even went on prime time tv with republican leadership round table. HALF of obamacare are republican ideas!
only when it came time to vote, the republicans didn't vote for it, they knew it would pass mind you, and they crafted half of it, but they didn't vote for it. purely for political reasons, so they could use it to attack obama with.
it would only work on the low information voters. but hey, you kinda prove their point
I am ANYTHING but a low information voter. I remember what happened. Obama DID ram this through congress with near-illegal voter buying. He should have been impeached for the way he ramrodded this through. Can't wait until it is repealed. Won't come one day too early.
Does ANYBODY recall the Nebraska exemption? That was a deal with the Nebraska senator to get his compliance with the bill and he was the push over vote. It allowed nebraskans to be exempt from obamacare. That is really shady, not to mention criminal.. 2/3 of all request for exemption came from one single representatives district in the House.. NANCY PELOSI's.. who woulda thunk it??
Thats Right..Obama has done himself in..
This idiot writing this needs to go back to the middle east! You don't like it loser, then get out!
Fareed is from India not middle east retard. Typical uneducated ignorant republican
hmmmm, interesting distinction.. Pakistan is considered middle east, which actually used to be part of India... So i guess this is just ONE Republican that knows a little bit more than you do.. Just sayin... Maybe he wasnt as wrong as you think he is.
@ObamaIsLying': Once again, you expose your ignorance of the world. Pakistan has never been, and never will be, considered part of the Middle East. It has, and always will be, considered a South Asian country. Try to learn before spouting garbage.
Anything that doesn't line their pockets,They're against.
Odd since it is mostly GOP ideas.
Liberal Democrats think compromise means giving the the Democrats what they want. The irony, of course, is that it wouldn't make any difference. If the Republicans had given in 90% of the time the past 4 years, Obozo still would be blaming them/claiming it's not his fault because they refused 10% of the time. That's the Obozo flowchart: If it's good news, take credit. If it's bad news, blame Bush and the Republicans.
Failed education in the system right here folks.
It's an obvious college graduate that posted this.
And it's proof we need education reform in this country.
It's time we stop this and get the dumbies out. Time for the Republicans to go.
They've had there 30 year reign time to GTFO.
@Travis
"dumbies"?
"{there} 30 year reign"??
"failed education system"???
BWAHAHAHAHA
Sad thing is, you won't have clue why this is so funny.
#1 the majorty of Republican voted for Obama Healthcare or it would not be in,placed as we speak .
Yup. And that means another Clinton style government shut down. And those rich republican donors will order the teatards to cave. Again.
thats easy vote those idiot republicans out . what a bunch of winers people are should have let the dem rule but no had to split gov and get nothing done
That's right, al. Let's have a 1-party system, just like they did the Soviet Union and like they do in China
Oh, please. Repubs have opposed every piece of Obama's legislation before, during, and after Obamacare. They didn't have the majority in the House or Senate at the time, abused the fillibuster to keep legislation from coming to the floor. They wouldn't even permit a vote to end tax breaks for employers outsourcing jobs overseas and give tax breaks to employers bringing them back to the U.S. Partisan all you want, but at least tell the fricking truth on occasion.
Zakaria probably stole those lines from somewhere!
Don't be stupid. Because Republicans lost one battle they will wage war on our whole country?
That's beyond asinine, it's treason.
We should start sending dogs to the Senate. All one needs to know to be a Senator is whether to push the R button or the D button to get their Alpo. I want to vote for individuals, but I'm forced to vote for policies. I used to think it was about 9/11. Now I'm wondering if race isn't a factor after all. Why is there only one white Dem left in the South? I'm an independent. I always felt we need both parties - yin and yang, don't ya know.
That was just an excuse. They were already the party of no.
I didn't vote for obamacare nor do I support it. I'm a republican from the south. But I'll be darned if I'm left in the cold. Now, where's the nearest Obamacare office so I can get mine?
Our political system is not broken. Rather, our political system does not fit the delusional perceptions of Zakaria. This man will never understand he USA.
"ObamaCare" had input from Republicans from the beginning to the end.
It's why the process was such a mess.
Your statement only proves how dumb your are. If it not for the minorities in the USA the country would be a laughing joke world wide. It seems that the minorties have more common sense than those who are born in the USA. All you care about is inw personal agenda. It seems to me if the president was not black this conversation would ont be taking place. Are you one of those people who agree that all ID's shold ber given at all polling stations? the only reason that the USA is nor a thrid world country is because of your military capicity and your location on the map. I would never believe in my day that I would say the USA is a racist ciountry. All you southern states you lost the civil war get over it
yes, it does work. of course there has been more gridlock over the past 5 years. we've had far more to contend with over the past five years than at any other time. if the U.S. goes over a cliff it's not going to be due to the political system.
Umm, I beg to differ. A system where there is only 2 choices, who are both simply different shades of the same color. A system where typically the candidate who raised the most money has the best chance to win. A system where lobbyists (ie business) with the most to offer get "a seat at the table" so to speak. A system that by nature of it's duality helps to greatly promote an "us v/s them" mentality. We have never run a true democracy, even since it's inception Until we do, our "system" will always be flawed and in need of repair.
the US system works and remains by far the best system in the world. . And it is far better than the one party communist chinese dictatorship of communist red china.
Consider the alternative:
The chinese communist government is the most blatantly corrupt government in
the entire world. In chinese elections, there is only one candidate to vote for
in each elective position and these candidates all come from the communist
party.Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The communists have been in power in
china since 1949. All of them are absolutely corrupted by now.
All the state-owned corporations and companies in red china are owned by the
sons, daughters and relatives of the past and present presidents, premieres,
etc of the communists.
At present, of the 1.3 billion people in china, more than 1 billion live below
the poverty line, brutalized by the communist dictatorship amidst the polluted
rivers, lakes and air of china.
The present population of china is rapidly aging as a direct result of the
forced abortions imposed by the communists on the chinese people especially for
female unborns.
As much as I agree that a 2 party system is flawed it does work better than most others. Keep in mind that the US is the only real nation of its kind that is so large and politically powerful yet made up of many smaller states and local governments.
I like the US system, I think it has its moments of failure, particularily when obstructionism is deemed as a means of democratic discourse, but I wouldn't it trade it for any other system here.
America #1!
America is the best country in world.
It would be nice to have a trade surplus, and not parent "a" and "b", and it would be nice if America actually did say a prayer, "THANK YOU GD"...........ONCE in a while even.
Thank You Gd for everything you provide.
Take away the lobby money would fix 90% of the problem .Congress has to much power. Face it ,they make and break the LAWS ,NOT THE PRESIDENT .iT OPERATE MORE LIKE A KING SYSTEM .wHICH OUR FOR fATHERS DID NOT WANT . Thats why we vote every 2- 4 years to weed and feed ,but we act like sheep. we have our heads in the sand.
@ rabbiVo I agree, but that is only ONE alternative, not the ONLY alternative. I never suggested that we move to communism. Again, you reflect an "either/or" mindset. It's either this shining beacon of hope and democracy that is America or evil, oppressive, corrupt communism. It's these fear based analogies that seem to help stifle any sort of real change. We all agree that our system isn't perfect. So, the question then becomes how can we improve it. Certainly not by sitting around and accepting these fallacies simply because "its the best thing going". This nation would not exist had that been the pervasive sentiment in the late 1700's.
Oh right, so it's Obama's fault the Republicans are a bunch of cry babies who either get their way 100% or take their toys home and don't play.
Yes, much like it's the fault of republicans that dems can do absolutely nothing but name-call since their policies are a complete failure. I vote for change : ) We'll see who are the true crybabies if Obama doesn't win this time. If he loses, come back and tell me how many people are literally crying in the streets over it.
No. Its going to be Obama until 2016 and in 2016 the democrats will win again unless the GOP does some soul searching. You can't have the radical ideologies the current GOP is known for and survive in an increasingly urbanizing country.
We got change. It's called Obamacare. I LOVE it!!
If it's a failure why has the stock market doubled? Why do we still have American cars being made and why do the statistics show unemployment going down since he took office on January 1st of 08? He kept us from falling into depression and stopped the bleeding now were heading in the right direction as the housing market is picking up better than it was in 07 when Bush was still in office. Seems like your word called failure is more like a robotic program downloaded into your non working part of that brain of yours.
It is The Economy, Mr. President. Your Economy, Mr. President. You built that.
I think you are giving him too much credit. That economy has been building itself for a long time. And it was Bush who drove it off the cliff.
Still blaming Bush after all these years? Classic Soros/Moveon talking point
Yes that CHANGE everybody wanted !
Well let's see:
Yes, that CHANGE everybody wanted:
- my 401k doubled in the past 4 years. I actually may be able to retire in 10 years.
- salary up 12k this year
- not in IRAQ anymore
- Bin Laden dead
- Taliban threating to kill their OWN children unless we stop droning them – yeah I'd say they're scared.
- Jobs actually beign created
Yeah, that's exactly the change I was looking for. Thanks for the bumper stickers that remind me of how good it's been.
I think I'll have to rais the BS flag on that comment. Grow up.
So Russ, where exactly is the BS? Those are all facts.
Russ quit your job at McDonalds then and go back to school.
As Mitt says "borrow money from your parents"
You need it my friend.
Hopefully, you are just playing. And your girlfriend had twins. Your arrogant bragging is as Obama.
Jim,
put the pipe down. You're not making sense. Twins?
I switched jobs internal to my company to make more money. What's the problem?
Have you driven the roads recently? If so many people are out of work, why is it taking me an hour to get to work?
No, he INHERITED the economy, he didn't build it. He inherited it from the REPUBLICANS.
Pass the buck. That's what Harry Truman would have done
This guy is a stooge who is an ardent sympathizer Federal Bank. While American economy is collapsing, nut case like him try to fool people by giving strange decimal numbers of growth which doesnt do anything to change common man's life. I urge the people of USA to boycott this liar and a Zionist stooge.
Zionist stooge? Hard to beleive that a muslim sympathizer could be a zionist stooge. What is your problem that you see zionists under every mattress?
Mmm. Kool-Aid's Conspiracy flavor. The tastiest Kool-Aid of all.
what an ass...if you want proof positive who are the real obstructionists in washington, just listen to harry reid who just 2 days ago said, if the republicans win, the senate dems will not work with them.
there u have it....and for 4 yrs, the lying media has blamed it on the republicans....its just not true.
Um... On the day of Obama's inauguration, a group of Republicans met to discuss how to block everything Obama would try to do. Then Mitch McConnell came out and said "our first priority is to make Obama a one term President". And guess what they've been doing for the last 4 years? They've refused to work with the other side just as they promised. Even when Dems proposed ideas originally proposed by Republicans, Republicans said NO. So, while it may be childish, perhaps Harry Reid is dishing out a taste of their own medicine.
This is true, but they weren't able to block the current administration from increasing the national debt by 33%– from $12 trillion to $16 trillion. OBama says he saved the US auto industry. Not true. He merely used money borrowed largely from China to postpone GM's demise. However, labor union demands will continue to ensure that the US-based auto companies will never be able to compete globally.
"Republicans in the Senate have threatened or used a filibuster 385 times"............THAT is the problem......THAT is what can be partially blamed for such a "slow" recovery........THAT is what needs to be changed!
We've already plunged off the cliff. Do you know the phrase "dead man walking"? That's what we became when Bill Clinton signed NAFTA and then encouraged the Chinese to join WTO. That was the tipping point for the failure of the U.S. economy and the emergence of Asia as world masters. Obama was the last American president with an opportunity to protect us from further ruin, but now the window has shut. The Yuan will be world currency within fifteen years, and the U.S. will resemble a Third World economy selling its natural resources and begging for SE Asian tourists.
We're actually not doing all that badly. Vote for Romney if you like, but I call BS on your "sky has already fallen" nonsense.
Actually, China has been a God send to all those still working, providing cheap goods to increase our standard of living while enriching the top 1% as they import these goods at great margins. The downside of globalization is the destruction of the higher paying jobs in the manufacturing sector. All this was engineered by the top1% and I think asking for a bit back to pay for the benefits is fair.
Obama represents Federal Bank. Under his leadership the industrial growth which normally employs people shrank. His foreign policy lent USA more harm than good. CNN and its little devils like Zakria are stooge of their paymasters in Banks to play dirty games by numbers to fool people.
i'm hoping this shill aka zakaria will take a plunge off the cliff soon.
This isnt a democracy- It's a republic, there is a difference!!!!
Actually, it's both. A democratic republic. You can look it up.
Actually, try looking up "Pluralist Republic"
de·moc·ra·cy
/dɪˈmɒkrəsi/ Show Spelled[dih-mok-ruh-see] noun, plural de·moc·ra·cies.
1.
government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
2.
a state having such a form of government: The United States and Canada are democracies.
Thank goodness only 2 days left until this election is over ( Hopefully ) unless of course Obama wins Florida by 10,000 votes then there will be a recount but..... if Romney wins this state by say 300 NO recount for the good of the country ! LOL
That's ridiculous, to say it's not working - for one thing, what is 'government' if not a collection of individuals voted and hired to be a 'government' in the first place. Our system reflects the reality a large working class population like America has. If it didn't work, there'd be actual fighting in the streets all the time and everywhere, instead of Tea-Party dribbling, 'occupy' arrogance, and drunken whining from the pretentious upper-working class with mac-mansions. Should we ban Democrats or ban Republicans just so our fantasy of an effective government passively knowing what we need before we even need it is realized...? Read some history - look at what genuinely non-working governments look like... look what happens because no-one has enough authority or power to maintain the kind of economically liberal government we have. Weimar? The Karensky government just before Lenin walked in and executed the Rush Limbaugh's and Jerry Brown's who enabled him in the first place...?
Z
Did you write this or copy it from a democratic hack,
While Fareed looks for another article to plagiarize, the US has already gone over the cliff and is falling quite quickly right now. We already have more debt than we can pay, a credit downgrade, and mass inflation costing us all our savings and spending power. It's over already no matter who gets elected.
"Mass[ive] inflation????? " My god man, the rate of inflation is as close to non-existent as it is likely to ever be! If those who so strongly hate the President actually had any facts to back their absurd charges, you would not need to parrot the last email you got from Limbaugh or Rove or, more likely, simply lie when you haven't the facts. You obviously have not spent 10 minutes actually learning the facts yourself. You are a prime example of why Plato opposed Democracy. Massive ignorance does not yield wisdom.
Hardly informative or fair,
Leftist moderator , with panel of anti-american leftist frenchman, arab israeli woman, israeli press representative from the very leftist Haaretz and leftist aisian.
Whats the point except a campaign add for obama.
alan kruger
A sure sign of when someone has a winning argument – the opposition doesn't have a solid rebuttal so they decide instead to insult the speaker. Seems to happen all the time – if you really disagree with Z, then explain in detail why he's wrong and you're right, rather than taking the lazy route and insulting the guy.
You're stupid.
Why do these FOREIGNERS like FAREED come to America and then try to make this country into something else?
Jake – two reasons you got no brains:
1. You are here because your ancestors came here. You are no native buddy.
2. You are lazy and do not do your work – so foreigners have to help your lazy ass out. Your ancestors did the same but their decendants got lazy along the way. You are a proud example of that.
Now go back to MacDonald and eat some french fries.
BTW – I am no fan of Fareed... he is an idiot. But Idiots are correct once in a while as well. Republicans are a party of goons – liars, manipulators, greedy, intolerant... when they really love their country more than their own fat-ass, they will understand what I mean. Cooperation is a good thing – a strength, not a weakness.
I agree. Fareed does not want the America my ancestors came here for. He wants tyranny and Liberalism and Socialism. Go back to whence you came.
"Tyranny" and "liberalism" are polar opposites. In your haste to post ignorant attacks, you actually make an even bigger fool of yourself than Mother Nature's considerable contribution to the state of your ............? [Since you are such a wordsmith, maybe you can suggest a more apt word than "mind."] Your ignorance is matched only by your childish, inane efforts to challenge someone whose mind is far beyond your capacity to understand. Do yourself a favor and go to grammar school for a few years. Then, when you can contruct a complete sentence, use that power to express a complete idea. A mind is awonderful thing to have. Unless you are differently abled to the point of that being a fantasy goal, you should give it a try. [I would say give it the "old college try" but why overwhelm you?][
He's got a BA from Yale and a PhD from Harvard. We need more immigrants like him and less of you.
Jake, listen to what Jesus says above or below, then slap yourself twice before mentioning foreign immigrant, and then get a job and a life!!!
When does Fareed start his Jihad rant? He is pure stupid, perfect for CNN.
The problem is that Grover Norquist needs to have a restraining order slapped on him that prevents him from having direct contact with any elected official; and all lawmakers who signed Norquist’s tax pledge be given a choice: Renounce your tax pledge to Grover Norquist, OR step down, OR face impeachment for breaching your Oath of Office.
Farreed: Why are my post being censored by our site?
Fiscak cliff??? The illegitimate Iraqi war cost 3.2 trillion dollars and the Afghan war 2 trillion dollars. Yet Paul Ryan believes that U.S. troops should remain in Afghanistan and replace the 250,000 Afghan troops we trained to take over security and rebuilding of their country. And Mitt Romney believes that we should still be in Iraq. Well, as soon as Mittens bully son, Tagg or whatever they call him, enlists with his four brothers and the children and grandchildren of republicans to finish the wars they started, we will return to Iraq and take over duties from the Afghans!!!
Then why don't you just walk over to Al Qaeda and ask them if we "all can just get along?"
So, everyone in the military is Republican? I don't believe that but, based on Benghazi, I bet more than 50% are voting for Romney.
I've already faced the facts, me without any lobbyist connections. The only people who are connected to our concerns are us.
To you and me the political system may not be working but to the elected employees its working just fine. The systems is only about one thing,getting elected,and once you are elected its about getting re elected. What to us seem to be issues that need attention and fixing are to elected employees issues to be maintained, nurtured and grown. For them its all working fine.
If this was Russia or China or the Middle East for that matter, the entire teapublican party would have been tried and convicted of treason and conspiracy to undermine their own government. Then they would have been sent before a firing squad. But America is the only country in the world where you could commit thousands of our troops to die in an illegitimate war and still get re-elected to lead us into the worst economic crissis in decades and still show your stinking evil face on the campaign trail to defend your failed war crimes and endorse your republican sucessor to continue your war crimes and catsatrophic policies.
So you think Harry Ried is a moderate? lol
It's a lot easier to get rid of the coach than it is the team.
Dump Obama
The way I see it, gridlock is bound to happen over time. But it doesn't have to become an American habit. We American citizens nedd wo pay better attention to the issues, and not demonize the candidates. We need to face ourselves in the mirror, and ask ouselves "Are we being truthful about the issues?". I've seen all kinds of crazy remarks about elections. Most of them don't reflect on the politicians like they do on ourselves. We are mostly to blame for it, because we will back a party, no matter what.
i've already voted for romney as millions of other americans have. it's simply not logical to give obama another 4 years. just doesn't make any sense.
Good people of these United States. During the next election, I will be running for President as an independent candidate.
I've had enough of all of these con men. I wish to replace a voting majority in the senate and congress with a vote-counting computer that tallies votes from a secure government website so that the people can represent themselves and not get endlessly duped by the crooked politicians we rely on to "represent" us in Washington.
I wish to build new nuclear power plants with modern safety systems in place in order to electrically break down sea water into Hydrogen and Oxygen. We will give the "Big Three" US auto makers first dibs on coming up with new standards for hydrogen powered vehicles. It's safer than gasoline, and the only exhaust from burning hydrogen is pure H2O.
I wish to implement a flat annual tax to replace our loophole-riddled and overcomplicated system we currently suffer through. You pay your 10-15% out of every paycheck and that's that. No more tax day. No more IRS. No more paying in or getting a refund. But most importantly, there's no more loopholes for the rich to weasel their way out of paying their fair share.
I will bring our military home where it belongs and cut their spending by over 50% by doing so. I will use the US marine corps to secure our southern border and the US army and national guard to deport those that are here illegally.
JG in '16!
Oh yeah, start your campaign after Tuesday!
Wow this is one of the most foolish articles you have written. Republicans are not the issue, Democrats are not the issue, OBAMA is the issue. When you have legislation that is SO anti-American that anyone supporting it is selling their souls. When you have legislation that on the surface looks ok but there are so many power grabbing hidden bills buried within, anyone with ANY level of decency has NO choice but to vote against or use tricks to stop a vote from happening. If Obama gets reelected I absolutely want any Americans left in Congress to shut him down for the next 4 years. I want 100% gridlock.
Err....since when has been President of United States crafting legislative bills?? I do guess ignorance is a bliss.
Mr. Zakaria, Is it possible that the Republicans are doing exactly what they were told to do by American voters in 2010. The House & Senate seats picked up by the Republicans was a referendum on Obama's first 2 years. So yes, I would say the system is working.
I suggest he ask his President if we are about to fall off a cliff since the Liberals have been running the failing show for 4 years.
Romney may be the worst president we can have but we are in a spot now where we have to take a chance on something different.If we do not reduce the debt no one can bring us out of this mess.If you really want make fire the sorry congress Republicans and Democrats that do not have the guts to change the situation.Hang every lobbysist that shows his face in Washington and make it a federal law that any lawmaker can not serve but two terms and do away with all pensions for congress unless they invest in the same crap we do.
Politics are the art of compromise! If nothing is of value to polarize this compromise it logically follows by default only that single option is acceptable. For example, say someone asks’ what is 2 and 2 where it follows the answer is 4. But what if they say what is 2 and ? How can anything be considered other than the given number of two in order to arrive at anything more than the number 2 that was given, yet, what lacks the most fidelity: The initial question that has the same answer, or that such a question was considered to begin with?
Nothing will always be nothing until added to something, and politics in America have added nothing to the people because the politicians always ask the same question “What is in this for me?” which they commonly answer after consideration by satisfying short term gratifications in lieu of long term planning. It is no wonder that the United States will fold, as they are clearly leading the people by this example and the people are responding in kind.
Everyone that has had a leader in their lives would know, one must lead and the only way to lead is through genuine consideration of others. Parents teach their children to always do the right thing even when no one else “seems” to be around and the rest will follow. So is the ideal of a creator that must needs be omnipresent in order to care for these whom are willing to be taught.
First principle, “Thou Shalt labor,” and is logical where a creator were to not have been in existence stating the inquiry “What is in this for me” could not ask this question if false and if a benevolent substance where true within a deity it would not need to either ask the question or to have placed anything into further and additional existence as is such everyone’s condition in being.
It is being, it is not is, is (e.g., “What is in this for me?”)
News agencies just like this one should be held accountable for electing this dunce we have.The news media made him president and should be held accountable. Instead of reporting news they have made it since the electronic world came about.They create a situation where everyone thinks they have go to vote early and no one knows who the hell is counting those votes. I have been here 75 years and have never seen a crowd bigger than you would see at a hamburger stand at lunch.News creates its own problems to sell commercial time.If the ballots are secret how does the nes agencies know who is ahead and how the polls are running.I hope no one puts any credence in what voters tell you after they vote.
Oh don't worry, this time around they have tried their best to make dummy flip flopping Romney a President, even when he bumbled and fumbled and lied on every issue possible. If it was any other country, Romney would have been forced to drop out of the race for the sheer number of lies he sprouted with a straight face ON RECORD.
Thank God common sense and patriotism still exist over greed and selfishness. Obama will win, hands down. And thankfully we will see the last of the religious nutjobs that have hi jacked a perfectly credible party and turned it into a Taliban.
Take a trip to where your Southern border use to be if you want to see it again.If Obama gets elected you might get trampled so be careful.ADIOS
The problem is that we have loony liberals trying to force their wacky beliefs on the rest of normal Americans. This is why are political situation is at a stand still. Evolution, abortion, gay rights, banning guns – this stuff is just ridiculous!
The Scopes Trial was 77 years ago, but yes, you're right, the jury is still out on Evolution.
Too bad Zakaria didn't mention the number of executive orders issued by Obama. We now have a dictator instead of a President and a worthless Congress that will not stand up to him.
How about and sit down and count the countries that were peaceful and free of Al Quaida before we stuck our noses in their business.Why all at once did we need to free any Muslim after 9-11.We should have used the best we had to start with and we would either be at peace or recovering.We have no one with the guts to run the country let alone run the military from the White House.You send a secret organization to do a perfect job and then are on tv telling the world how you did it just for political clout before an election .
I can't believe these are happening in America, while we are criticizing other Countries election systems.
Here is what is happening SECRETLY, in local level. The votes that matters to States and Federal level.
Since the last few years of Presidential and local elections, I observed and participated (no choice left), local, State and Federal level elections. All the election participants came from locally. Whether it is to elect someone in the Three levels of Governments or otherwise.
Here is what I witnessed. If you live in a County, where some Jewish Politicians are residing, good luck. Your freedom of movements and your privacies are controlled and exposed by Jewish groups. Why? They care about only for Jewish people, nothing else.
FYI, ask Europeans what negative experiences they had, for so many years, having Jewish neighbourhoods.
When it comes to election times, they try anything, including voter intimidations and fraud, to be elected or to elect someone, they bargained with.
Ironically, after someone you are being tricked or forced to vote is elected, you will be disconnected not to have accesses to make your voice heard with the person you are elected.
However, all the accesses and voices are very-wide opened, only for Jewish.
Jewish used others votes, only for their own benefits.
These SECRET GAMES and CRIMINAL CONSPIRACIES are going on for Years, without being investigated by local, State and Federal Governments.
Surprisingly, THESE SECRET ILLEGAL PRACTICES ARE STILL HAPPENING.
The allegations are totally covered-up by the elected people and by those who setted-it-up.
So, who are the beneficiaries and who are being affected???!!!
Enough is enough!
It is time to exposed those alligators.
> The allegations are totally covered-up by the elected people and by those who setted-it-up.
> ... It is time to exposed those alligators.
What a brilliant build up to one of the funniest malapropisms I've read today, among the many to choose from. This is so tweetable!
Malapropism? Is that contagious?
Not contagious, but if it lasts longer than four hours call your Dr.
Just like the Seinfield Episode!
An American politician went to Africa to give a speech to a remote tribe. He landed by helicopter near the tribal village and was escorted to a podium. The people gathered. To the politician's surprise, every time he said something, the people responded, "Oomgowa! Oomgowa!" Encouraged, the politician gave his speech with even more passion - and the tribe members kept yelling oomgowa.
When his speech was over, his escort led him off the podium.
"We had to move the helicopter to the far end of the cow pasture, Senator. Watch were you step. There's a lot of oomgowa."
Think about the pledge of allegiance- Do you swear to "The Democracy for which it stands" or "The REPUBLIC for which it stands"- YES, this isnt a Democracy, it's a republic, there IS a difference
The only thing this country is smelling like is a big cesspool....................just flush it!
Do you understand what a republic is? It is a government not appointed to power by being monarchy or military power, but by democracy. A republic represents the democratic principles and people that allow them to represent.
Tuesday is the Election Day. Most of us have been waiting for a long time for this election hoopla gone. We are almost there. This has been a bad election campaign on both sides. Both Republicans and Democrats used lies and spins to distort each other messages. Not only the politicians on both sides were willing participants but media also joined in this crazy circus. It divided our Nation and Us even more.
You know who are biggest losers in all this: We the People of this wonderful Country. Politicians have divided us so much that we have taken our eyes off the goal. We are fighting amongst ourselves… We have become so partisan in our minds that We are excusing all the shortcomings and fallings in “my candidate of my party”. Politicians know that and they are encouraging the division. Politicians see that as long as We the Citizens are not united then their cushy non-performing jobs and all the benefits that come with the jobs will be protected. Sadly, their jobs are not only protected but also rewarded with easy wins in the next election cycle. It is all because We the People are divided!!!
Do We get to keep our jobs if we are not performing or being a burden on our company? No! We get fired. Then why are we allowing these politicians to keep their jobs for non-performance? Because We are protecting them by dividing ourselves.
What we need to do: We the People need to unite together. We need to stop name calling. We need to create a healthy environment in which we can have a healthy discussion amongst ourselves without insulting other’s opinion. We need to put our politicians on notice that times of inaction and no-performance are gone and if they do not perform, they will be “fired” by the People next time. We want them to fix the gridlock and partisan. We want them to work for Us and for the Country. If we see our politicians are not true to their jobs then we need to let them know that they are being watched by us and they will be gone next time.
This is the time for actions and not words. We need to give goals to our politicians and they need to perform. This will only happen if we the People are united together.
Good Luck to Everyone!
This was in the Waco Tribune Herald, Waco, TX, Nov 18, 2011. PUT ME IN CHARGE . . .
Put me in charge of food stamps. I'd get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho's, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a job.
Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I'd do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal ligations. Then, we'll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, or smoke, then get a job.
Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks? You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your home" will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place.
In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a "government" job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the "common good.."
Before you write that I've violated someone's rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules. Before you say that this would be "demeaning" and ruin their "self-esteem," consider that it wasn't that long ago that taking someone else's money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self-esteem.
If we are expected to pay for other people's mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.
AND while you are on Gov't subsistence, you no longer can VOTE! Yes, that is correct. For you to vote would be a conflict of interest. You will voluntarily remove yourself from voting while you are receiving a Gov't welfare check. If you want to vote, then get a job.
And the people on gov't assistance can live in groups called plantations...
And we can rename the year to 1814.
Obviously you have never been fond of Jesus or Christianity, you are a serious hater. Most likely related to Hitler or Stalin you are insane, if not what is your excuse? More than likely someone who has never worn a military uniform with a yellow streak down your back like the lines in a highway.
If he's related to Stalin then you should love him. Stalin was a communist, just the left in this country
I agree with some of your comments...But do you think people on wefare do a lot of voting? Also the biggest user of food stamps are not in Govt housing as a matter of fact Atlanta,Ga dose not have Govt housing. Did away with PJ's during the olympics as many big cities are doing. Most of the people using food stamps may live next door to you. Why do you think they started using debt cards? Your neighbors did not want you to know they are getting assistance.
Forget it, Alex. The days of self-reliance and personal accountability are LONG gone. And it's going to get worse. Here on Long Island I'm seeing how people become after just a few days of no electricity and hard-to-find gasoline. These people CANNOT function outside of a cookie-cutter society micro-managed by an over-sized government. Simply put, they're weak. Separate yourself using ANY means necessary; become a member of the 1%. Internationalize yourself. Or become one of them.
We already have because of your ilk.
I won't ever read your diatribes any more. I may post, but only off your headlines. You posts have proven time and again, you are a a biased POS.
We need to have more political parties in the mix. Having only two parties forces them to be opposites of each other, which then polarizes the population. Updating the electoral college, adding ranked-choice voting, adding campaign finance reform might help get us there.
This once great country is falling from within. We are no longer a united country and this will be our demise as a country, not who won the election. I do not see this improving, it has gotten worse under Obama. This election has been nothing about real solutions for "we the people", but the POTUS prancing around like a king and Romney bumbling around as the king in waiting as well.
I do have a great suggestion though since we have basically split apart as a country, lets divide the country 50% in land area and all the Obama supporters can live one side of the country and all the Romney supporters can live on the other side. After 4 years, let's then see which part of the country is really prosperous.
Guess which side will win? That could be a great reality show..........
I voted Republican all my life and am now an Independent, who will only vote for 3rd party candidates...It's time for real CHANGE....but I have to say...I truly believe that the vast majority of Obama haters are really just deep-seeded racists. It's not about anything else...They just want that black guy to fail and get the hell outta their White House...they'll deny it but to throw their support behind a guy who says nothing about what he'll do different compared to Bush's failed policies...is just racism. They know it and they'll deny it passionately...\becuz the only people that get to call a spade a spade is them. It's time to look in the mirror people...Obama has done much better than your last lesser of two evils. Stop being racist!
I thought he was 50% white. Guess that part doesn't count. Sorry, mom.
It sure doesn't for those who believe it's called the White House for a reason...If Mitt can articulate what he'll do differently...but he just keeps stalling to explain once he's elected...Which I just don't see happening!!! We could be in a global depression...he did his job the first term...especially considering how little cooperation he got from Republicans.
The only racism was that that got him elected. I think people have learned their lesson.
You vote for Indipendent-YOU SUCK!!!!!!! You vote for 3rd party.YOU LOOSE.
3rd party will NEVER win,you might as well NOT vote then.
NOT voting9or voting 3rd party) is like VOTING for ROMNEY
History wiil be kind to Obama because his government did prevented an economic collapse and he is closer than any president in achieving universal health care.
The good thing about Romney is that he is white. The craziness will likely stop if he wins. There are trillions and trillions of dollars that are being held by corporations waiting to be released to the economy. That money is not in the control of blacks, latinos, women or the youth.
A Romney presidency will be much more entertaining as well. The rich will be happy and that will trickle down to everyone.
Dear Americans, please understand that the root cause of your problems is that you and your leaders are trying to, God knows why, have a finger in every pie that there is, any where in the world! Your Government is all over the globe, except for being where it should be the most, i. e. inside USA. By comparison the Chinese are doing the exact opposite. Please do not fail to see the difference. All the best in the future.
It did that the minute we elected a totally non qualified community organizer to be President,. The presidency is forever stained now because we said a no one with no qualifications can be elected.
I liked the comment about political polarity creating a civil war or Revolution...........all ready for the show too begin lets do this!
Fareed the liar and cheater. Shameful he still has a word here.
Hmm. Republicans start a two trillion dollar war in Iraq under false pretenses in Bush's first term, collapse the world economy in Bush's second term, obstruct Obama at every occasion during Obama's first term in an effort to make the economy recover as slowly as possible, and now claim we need to switch to a Republican president because the economy isn't recovering as fast as it should. I don't know, Yogi, something doesn't sound quite right.
The political system is fine. The polarization of the parties is just a reflection of the polarization of the voting public. Just look at the comment boards and it's blatantly obvious.
Politicians don't just magically get put into office. They get there because they say what people want to hear. The liberal politicians get in because liberals vote for candidates that espouse hate of the right and vice versa.
The left distrusts the right because they perceive them to be money hoarders that don't want to share or play fair. The right distrusts the left because they perceive them to be free-loaders who just want to live off bloated government programs paid for by their taxes.
Honestly, I think neither perception is totally correct or totally incorrect since the reality is most likely somewhere in the middle. However, that is how each feels about the other and is why things are so polarized and gridlocked.
Zakaria the little worm needs to go kill himself.
....no wonder cnns ratings in the tank..they pay this bobblehead to spout nonsense.
GRIDLOCK is goood!!!...the less govt attempts to do the better.....well...not if your a parasite dem lib.
Mr. fareed Zakaria is an Indian Muslim what he thinks about America and American politic is very different then none Muslim s who lives in this great Country United States of America. Mr. Zakaria act to be liberal Muslim living in America but truth is very different. He supported Reduction on Millitary Budget to us army he gave his award in support of Ground Zero Mosque, that tells everything about Mr Zakaria and his writing. Mr. Zakaria I like to request being highly literate man can you help your native country,s neighboring country Pakisten how to have good political structure, rather then criticizing American political system. Let American live they way they re living in last more then two hundreds years.
the financial cliff needs to happen, to open up eyes,alas just like the storm that hit NYC...too much is taken for granted...
With a dictator in office, trying to spend us into insolvency, you have to expect Congress to say NO!
With the subversive nature of today's Democratic Party, I doubt there is going to be any change at all, unless Obama loses.
I think this country is headed towards revolution........and I see little that will stop it.
If you don't own a Lear Jet the GOP is not for you. Support Romney and watch the 1% drain the $$$ out of the pockets of the 99%. Buy a Lear Jet, vote for Romney. If you can't afford a Lear Jet forget the GOP. They will eat your hard earned middle class lunches! Watch how poor you get! How dirty the planet gets!
Fareed the system is working. People voted for a Republican senate after the first 2 years of democratic senate of Obama Administration so the Republicans had the right to what they did, that's called democracy. Fareed I won't heckle you like Amit from Atlanta who hecles you all the time but let me tell you that you being a democratic propoganda machine just like all the bobbleheads at CNN other then John Smith doesn't gain you more respect as a journalist. A journalist should have a pure unbiased reflection of both the candidates which CNN bobbleheads lack to do!
It is still The Economy, Mr. President. Your Economy, Mr. President. You built that.
LOL. The United States of America has a habit of electing mostly idiots, and yet it is still a powerful country. Just remember who the power behind the Presidency is.
The Government itself is too bloated with representatives. Far far far too complicated to get anything done. Too many people.
Bloated with representatives? There are 28.5 lobbyists per representative. That's the real problem.
I'm going to say that the Founding Fathers of the US probably are a better source on how our legislative branch should work than Fareed Zakaria. Until you can show me an example that is working better than the US over a 200+year span, I recommend not thinkering around with something that has a proven track record.
Thank you Grover Norquist. You bloody idiot.
Zakaria, you're a two-bit plagiarizer. Your opinion was no doubt someone else's last week.
There's nothing Maobama (and his travelers) would like more than to rule by decree, without the need to cooperate. Oblameya is the only recent president, who cannot work with Congress, it speaks a lot to his dictatorial nature. He does not have the experience to make deals and compromise, Maobama is an extremist, protected by many excuse makers and propagandists.
Romney will avoid the cliff, Maobama will plunge headfirst over it.
when the democrat party can "deemed pass" a middle class tax increase and governement take over of health care through kick backs and pay offs then the system is broken. While attempting to take a cheap shot at Republicans, you inadvertently exposed the real corruption that exists across the aisle in the democrat controlled congress with obama leading the charge. when obama can deny military support for our ambassador and then not answer questions about why he did it and no one will challenge him on it, then it's broken. When "main stream" news organizations take foreign money to control their content, then we have a serious problem. Don't trust the liberal media.
Fareed is so right!!! Republicans are stupid morons who are just fat, greedy, hypocritical, "god" fearing morons who have iq's so low they shouldn't even be allowed to vote!!
The real polarity is between the “good-guys” on Main Street and the “bad-guy/desperados” on Wall Street. The bad-guys are winning and rewarding themselves with billions and the good-guys are picking up the tab – vaunted capitalism at its worst. Meanwhile, Washington is doing nothing and protecting the bad-guys who bought our elected representatives votes – and their souls if they ever had them. Capitalism will work just fine but NOT with the miscreants doing whatever they want!
Fareed is a dummy.
Reblogged this on What have we become?.
Reblogged this on Viveta Mentzelopoulou Greeklish Blog and commented:
The system is broken.
I wish Zakaria would plunge off a cliff.
First off this country is not a Democracy! Its a republic.
America destroyed by the Republican and Democratic Parties? That is hardly news.
Why do you think that so many of us are stocking up on guns and ammo?
Some sort of "American Spring" is coming.
Don't blame Obama for the Tea-party ID-10-T freshmen who occupy the House, and have made it impossible for the Democrats to pass ANY LEGISLATION THAT WOULD HELP THE COUNTRY!! They have worked very hard for 2 years to defeat Obama by obstructing every bill and budget. THEY have caused many SMALL BUSINESSES who depend upon supplying services and supplies to US govt offices to lose income and/or go belly-up. Their little budget fillibusters and inability to meet in the middle on anything has caused more harm to US businesses than the economy itself. Romney is rallying the fundqmentalist Christians with his anti-abortion, anti-gay stances, but in public interviews, he says he won't mess with Roe V Wade. Is he a flip-flopper, or a flat-out liar. Also if he only paid 14% on the $45 Million he made the past 2 years, do you think he paid his "fair share" in the prior 8 years he REFUSES to release? Gosh, I wonder if it's that, or if it will reveal how much Bain was paying him to sell-out American jobs after he "claims" to have not had part in running the vulture-like company he owned? Affordable health care is the best thing any President has done for the people, since the New Deal. FDR used to be considered a HERO by ALL. Now, the GOP has made him out to be a villain. He protected the poor, elderly, and children. He created jobs and not only reversed the depression, but used the idle hands to build the infrastructure Romney would like to sell for scrap metal. Romney is bad. The GOP is the "wolf in sheep's clothing." See the real truth. Obama cares about people. Romney cares about Romney...always has, always will.
Fareed Zakaria's article (above) precisely depicts the broken status of our failed government, and presents an even-handed factual explanation. What is most dismal about our grim debacle is that most Americans cannot even comprehend these simple truths, nor recognize our situation for what is really is. We ARE at the brink of self-destruction, fueled by unbridled greed. Our economy is fundamentally sound and intact. Our budget issues are workable within our present systems. Yet, America is choosing to commit economic suicide; greed, ignorance, and arrogance have replaced democracy. It appears we have decided upon ruin.
Our economy is not fundamentally sound or intact, it is near mortally wounded, something neither party or candidate recognizes. We will continue to fall into a new Greater Deperssion until we recognize that we must do what it takes to return to a complete and balanced economy, one that does not rely on constant foreign imports and dwindling exports.
Republican cooperation is an oxymoron. They put their loyalty to Norquist over the well-being of our country and undermined our credit rating as a result. Their obstructionism knows no limits.
And the Democrats' loyalty is to George Soros. So pick your poison
Calm now mein kindchen, Obama must and will win
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Calm now mein kindchen, Obama must and will win
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Calm now mein kindchen, Obama must and will win
Calm now mein kindchen, Obama must and will win
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Calm now mein kindchen, Obama must and will win
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Calm now mein kindchen, Obama must and win
Calm now mein kindchen, Obama must and will win
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Calm now mein kindchen, Obama must and will win
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Calm now mein kindchen, Obama must and win
Calm now mein kindchen, Obama must and will win
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Calm now mein kindchen, Obama must and will win
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Calm now mein kindchen, Obama must and wi
We plunged over the cliff when we participated in a global economy that demands political certainies and reciprocation when the world holds no history of such!
The U.S. is falling off a cliff, and there is no stopping it regardless of who is elected Tuesday. The damage to the U.S. economy comes from deades of mismanagment by administrations from the left and the right. No single administration can pull us out of the mess, particularly since no party or candidate is talking about or seems to have the slightest understanding of the underlying issues.
I think one important point about a second Obama term is overlooked. If re-elected, he will take office with two major events: the automatic sequestration of the budget because of the failure of the previous Congress to arrive at a budget compromise, and the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts.
The new Congress will be faced with a massive tax increase and a massive cut in defense spending. These are both anathema to Republicans. They will be forced to the table.
Excellent point, drconspiracy!!!
48 MORE HOURS TILL THE ELITIST LIBRUL YANKEE UPPITY KNEE GRO TAKES HIS FANCY BOOK LERNIN BACK TO CHICAGO. MAYBE HE CAN GIVE HIS COMMUNIST TERRORIST BUDDY BILL AYRES BLOWW JOBS WHEN HE GETS UP THERE LOL.
Bagger, you are what is wrong with our country. Are you proud of yourself, troll?? You make me sick.
Time to crawl back into your occupy tent and smoke your bong
"forcing through Obamacare was the hammer, he will never get Republican cooperation on anything now." .....
Which is ironic because "Obamacare" is really Romneycare.
You're leaving out a small detail when you say "congress voted." Democrats passed Obamacare without one
Republican vote. They marginalized elected reps of half the country to pass a a 2700 page omnibus social bill that affects every man, woman, and child in this country. This is unprecedented. Both Medicare and SS had solid GOP support. Democrats' tyrannical arrogance in doing this awakened the Taxation without Representation beast still at the core of the American psyche, leading directly to the rise of the Tea Party. Demz got their hair blown back in 2010 midterms, with moderates from both parties kicked out, polarizing Congress even further. Obamacare IS a government takeover. I have been in healthcare 30 years, have read the bill.
"that affects every man, woman, and child in this country."
So does social security you doof. Thanks for demonstrating to everyone that when you folks talk about wanting to return to the "good old days", what you mean is you want to return to the pre-new-deal era where 5% of the people lived well while the other 95% lived as hobos or sent their 11 year children to work in textile mills. "Freedom" to work 70 hours a week from puberty to death in order to stave off starvation while the "job creators" live like kings, right?
There is no difference between the two parties. Both parties raised over $2 BILLION dollars for their campaigns, but cant fix a deficit they and their criminal buddies on Wallstreet and in the Fed created? They Recently removed a cap controlling how much money corporations could contribute to elections. While the two parties bicker, and those brain dead enough to believe there is a difference between the two, the real losers of this election are the American People.
They are not political parties as much as they are two crime families.
I've been living and working in the USA for 2 years. The democracy here is just an illusion. Large corporations, the military-industrial complex, and billionaires run the USA. America is in serious decline. A tipping point has been reached and it matters not whether Obama or Romney wins because Congress is so corrupted by lobbyists.
"Congress is so corrupted by lobbyists."..........................
I wonder why our news clowns don't like to talk about this. Maybe it's because most of them work for corporations?
Finally a breath of fresh air. An article that make sense and one I can believe .
Yes, Fareed is very bright. I am a fan.
End gridlock by voting in Obama for a 2nd term along with the full Democratic Party. Vote Out the Obstructionist Tea Party Republicans (the Party of No) in the House of Representatives and progressive legislation will FINALLY be passed to grow our economy, create jobs and fix our aging infrastructure, roads & bridges. We Must Vote Out the Tea Party Representatives in Congress!!! OBAMA/BIDEN 2012 and the FULL Democratic Ticket 2012 = Save our Country
Now Fareed steps up with an all in move as a partisan Democrat, following in the footsteps of John Avlon before him
Parroted talking points, practically the same ones as Avlon. Blaming all one party, falsely, just as Avlon did.
Clearly the editorial staff of CNN has sent their marching orders. The time for objectivity is gone. All the previously halfway reasonable actors on here are shoving all in for Obama, with the most dishonest ROT you can imagine.
Zacharia, just like Avlon, has always been a partisan Democrat, he just didn't admit it. Who is left that even pretends to be non-partisan on here? Nobody.
Remember the commercial with granny being tossed over the cliff, well that has now been revised, it's not granny that being tossed over the cliff, it never was. It's now revealed that it's our children being tossed over the cliff, not if but when the spending spree that has been more than acceptable by the voters of this country reaches the point of no return the country will never see positive movement, and if you think that unemployment is low today at 7.9% just wait, at 17 TRILLION the unemployment numbers will hit over 12%. So those that are happy electing the spending spree people I do hope you're proud of yourselves for you have failed to properly conduct your part to protect the country and the children.
Don't forget to mention, science is a satanic lie.
Also, Gold must be the primary backing currency. Forget that only 12 billion dollars worth are mined per year and the world economy is around 100 trillion.
National debt is one year of GDP, so do not own a house using a 20 year mortgage. Cash and gold only, no credit.
The year is 6000 bc earth and the heavens were just created. The lands teaming with dinosaurs and humans. Now in the year 2012 the dinosaurs have disappeared or have they? Rumor has it, many have been seen in the GOP caucus and running for office. Vote GOP and let the dinosaurs rule again.
In Republistan dinosaurs are the preferred transportation on Sunday.
If it is political suicide then the USA simple will not do that. They will come to a solution before that happens. The news is sensationalizing. I agree Congress is not working. But they are not ready to commit suicide and jump over the cliff.
The tea party is suicidal.
Why name a political group after a cowardly mob who trashed businessmen's ships (dressed as Indians to shirk responsibility) when in fact their complaint was with King George and his tax office?
They are nuts, and destroy anything that gets in their way, irrespective of facts or religious beliefs.
Are we already over the cliff and at the Mercy of the Lord?
The two parties both set up the cliff by mutual agreement, kicking the can down the road because they would not compromise at the time. Now, they have to do something despite their deep divisions.
The GOP will fight for no reductions in the defense budget even though that is more than the military budgets of the next 26 largest countries, of which 25 are our allies. The Military-Industrial Complex predicted by President Eisenhower has come to pass and is eating up our national budget and tempting the government to act brashly, with the previous administration starting two wars and the present GOP leaders wanting to intervene in the Middle East with military might.
Here comes another shutdown. And another republican cave. Bet a years pay on it.
This arab complains about government malfunction and then predictably blames the other side while conveniently leaving the democrats out of the problem. What a boring, laughably predictable, self serving complaint.
Keep looking, someday you might stumble on some truth.
Deadlock is not a good thing. But it is far preferable to the statism / socialism that marked the first two years of the Obama presidency when the Democrats controlled the Senate and the House. The Democrats will run us off the cliff. They lack an ounce of good sense regarding fiscal policy and social policy.
If Romeny wins,we will be SO screwed!!
Say good-buy to your medicaid and foodstamps.Your QUALITY of life will plummit if you are not a 1 percenter.
Hey Plagiarist – You Didn't Write That
Impressive Fareed.
It took you THIS long to figure it out?
The Republican party is the problem, period.
A bunch of irrational radicals who have no business having any power whatsoever in our government are ruining this country for everyone in it to serve their own selfish, closed minded agenda.
No we need republicans, and we need democrats, and we need independents, and we need socialists, etc. Dems arent for business, republicans like small govt, independents seem to be the sane group, etc. We need all the parties. I just want them to work together.
Yeah, that's right, let's have a 1-party system, just like the Soviet Union and China.
Accusations of racism are the first resort of scoundrels.
Time to crawl out of your occupy tent and get some fresh air
Fareed,
Your GPS show today was great. It had two great panels. The first one was made up of experts who had no particular need to simply spin. The second one was a group of intelligent and interesting historians with insightful comments on the presidential election. They competed to say something worth hearing, rather than trying to manipulate viewers.
Several months ago when you had a panel that included Ann Coulter, I almost stopped watching your show for good.
That show that excluded, your show is the best thing, and I'm afraid almost the only thing, worth watching on CNN.
I also enjoyed your excellent special report on the health care systems in the other industrialized countries.
Thanks for producing content worthy of thinking people.
Sometimes showing the mentally ill mad attack dog provides sanity contrast.
Coulter and Rush should get married, but not allowed to breed. Beck can officiate, Murdoch and Ailes can give the bride away and pay the party bill.
Yes we will crash off a cliff and I for one do not want to be in or on top of the car if Romney is driving!
The filibuster is intended to protect the minority- remember Mr Smith goes to Washington? Blaming the political logjam on one side or the other just displays the individual's bias, not reality. Both parties get elected on with a 5-10% difference in votes, hardly an overwhelming majority. Both sides need to compromise, not blame the other side. Whenever I hear blame, I think the person talking isn't being open minded.
Yes, we will plunge off the cliff! A newly elected Obama will ensure we do so. It will be late-coming validation that Romney is the one who can fix our financial troubles. The man knows money I side and out – about as we'll as Obama knows how to BS people. The problem is that Obama invites gridlock – and is clueless as how to dig us out.
Reblogged this on N0Dak Bud's Blog and commented:
This story represents my view, spot-on. It doesn't matter if it is Republicans or Democrats; the filibustering and finger-pointing has been going on for far too long. It is high time to eliminate those parties and elect representatives of the moderates; people who are willing to compromise.
CNN... the Liberal Cesspool of misinformation and moderating only liberal comments on many of their stories.
CNN WORST RATINGS IN HISTORY FOR GOOD REASON!!! Keep it up!!!
CNN... the Liberal Cesspool of misinformation and moderating only liberal comments on many of their stories.
CNN WORST RATINGS IN HISTORY FOR GOOD REASON!!! Keep it up!!!
CNN... the Liberal Cesspool of misinformation and moderating only liberal comments on many of their stories.
CNN WORST RATINGS IN HISTORY FOR GOOD REASON!!! Keep it up!!!
CNN... the Liberal Cesspool of misinformation and moderating only liberal comments on many of their stories.
CNN WORST RATINGS IN HISTORY FOR GOOD REASON!!! Keep it up!!!
CNN... the Liberal Cesspool of misinformation and moderating only liberal comments on many of their stories.
CNN WORST RATINGS IN HISTORY FOR GOOD REASON!!! Keep it up!!!
CNN... the Liberal Cesspool of misinformation and moderating only liberal comments on many of their stories.
CNN WORST RATINGS IN HISTORY FOR GOOD REASON!!! Keep it up!!!
CNN... the Liberal Cesspool of misinformation and moderating only liberal comments on many of their stories.
CNN WORST RATINGS IN HISTORY FOR GOOD REASON!!! Keep it up!!!
CNN... the Liberal Cesspool of misinformation and moderating only liberal comments on many of their stories.
CNN WORST RATINGS IN HISTORY FOR GOOD REASON!!! Keep it up!!!
CNN... the Liberal Cesspool of misinformation and moderating only liberal comments on many of their stories.
CNN WORST RATINGS IN HISTORY FOR GOOD REASON!!! Keep it up!!!
CNN... the Liberal Cesspool of misinformation and moderating only liberal comments on many of their stories.
CNN WORST RATINGS IN HISTORY FOR GOOD REASON!!! Keep it up!!!
CNN... the Liberal Cesspool of misinformation and moderating only liberal comments on many of their stories.
CNN WORST RATINGS IN HISTORY FOR GOOD REASON!!! Keep it up!!!
CNN... the Liberal Cesspool of misinformation and moderating only liberal comments on many of their stories.
CNN WORST RATINGS IN HISTORY FOR GOOD REASON!!! Keep it up!!!
CNN... the Liberal Cesspool of misinformation and moderating only liberal comments on many of their stories.
CNN WORST RATINGS IN HISTORY FOR GOOD REASON!!! Keep it up!!!
CNN... the Liberal Cesspool of misinformation and moderating only liberal comments on many of their stories.
CNN WORST RATINGS IN HISTORY FOR GOOD REASON!!! Keep it up!!!
Troll rating = 7
We need a third party if not more. The more parties there are the more it forces folks to to work together. Also I am not a republican or a democrat. Yet thats all I can choose from. I have friends that are "proud" tea partiers, and dont like being republican. Problem is our politicians will never let a third party in.
Vote republican is a vote against science, and world leadership.
Time to end the satanic lie of science and bring on more national religious insanity.
"One cannot tell the truth if one fails to actually know the truth"
"In the face of truth only a fool turns away"
Jimmy for President
"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." —Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
Republican thinking, and the world waits for the cliff fall.
"If I said yes, that would then suggest that that might be the only place where it might be done which would not be accurate, necessarily accurate. It might also not be inaccurate, but I'm disinclined to mislead anyone."
More republican thinking. Time to lead the world economy. Dumb it down, what else do they have to offer?
If Obama wins, yes, the US Economy will tank and unemployment will skyrocket. If you think $16T is bad, wait until we hit $20T. There is no transparency with this President. His Socialistic policies are wrong and I'm tired of paying for all his trips across the world and country and parties at the White house with our tax dollars. I think it's time to term limit all Senators and House Representatives to 3 terms max. There are too many 30+ year career politicians in office and they waste so much money on their pork projects with money we don't have.
Not many countries spent 3 billion on advertising saying the other guy can't be trusted. Most spend massively less than that, and if they had 5 billion+ spare, they'd spend it on teachers and hospitals.
Fareed, try looking back at recorded history. Politics has always been polarized. It doesn't matter how far back you go or where in the world you look. The main difference now is we are exposed to it more thanks to a media that has to fill airtime with something and jounalists who don't know how to research.
Obama has been the most failed, divisive, negative President in all of U.S. history. If Obama somehow manages to get reelected, very doubtful right now, it will be a squeaker, and he hasn't run on any plan so there will be NO MANDATE. And if the Republicans Keep a House the will have won just as much as, and likely more decisively than Obama. So if Obama is reelected he'd better come to the table ready to compromise big time or he can go squat and see what that gets him. And don't blame the Republicans in the House folks. They know that 1/2 the country out here that gave them a majority in the House is watching them, and if they are seen to cave to Obama they are done in 2014. If Obama thinks he can play the "We Won" game again...then let him see where that gets him!
This election is all about racism and white privilage. The right-wing, ignorant half of America want the black man out of the "White" house. No matter how good Obama does, he is black and therefor not acceptable. They are willing to destroy America to obtain racial purity. Romney will destroy the country in short order. The only solution to this may br revolution.
The extreme left always play the race card and tries to make this all about RACE. It doesn't work anymore. Obama is the worst, most failed, most incompetent President in all of U.S. history. UNEMPLOYMENT, DEBT, DIVISION, Misery, and Foodstamp are what 4 year of Obama have given this nation. As for Revolution? If the extreme left thinks they can threaten the rest of the nation with violence and Revolution a la Castro and Che Guevarra, go ahead and try.
In 2008, Whites voted for Obama to prove they're not racist. In 2012, we should vote for Romney to prove we're not stupid. If the Liberal community followed Dr. King's message of judging a person by the content of their character, and not the color of their skin, NOBODY would be discussing Obama's 50% blackness.
more about socioeconomic class than race. they treat us like crap too when we don't have any money.
The U.S. fell off the cliff 50 years ago when Eisenhower left office; we haven't turned back since! SOMEBODY should have listened to his farewell speech and acted on it...
Why so negative America. The first black president is about to finish his term and he is still alive. As bad as they are, it's progress.
FAREED ZAKARIA has style when he gives these talks. The trouble is his substance is woefully wrong.
In trying to show he is cognizant of the fiscal trouble, Fareed fails to recognize a very important detail. Proposed cuts, whether by a congressman or the president or a panel of purported experts, turn out to be REDUCTIONS IN FUTURE SPENDING INCREASES. NOTHING IS ACTUALLY CUT! The Obama sequestration of Defense Dept funds still allows Defense Dept budget to increase every year. Paul Ryan's Medicare reform allows Medicare budget to increase every year. Furthermore, nothing that the present Congress passes for a future year counts, because no future Congress can be forced to follow any budget passed by the present Congress.
Greek austerity has failed for this same reason. They didn't actually cut anything!
Fareed thought the battle over the National Debt ceiling in 2011 was horrific, but it was actually MEANINGLESS. Why? Because the Obama administration went $200B over the ceiling before it was raised! Obama is the Chief of Police for government spending. If he does not enforce the limit himself, nobody else will.
Fareed also doesn't understand how MISLEADING the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is. GDP measures spending, not production as the old Gross National Product (GNP) did until it was replaced by GDP during the Clinton years. Every dollar of government spending, such as stimulus, is by definition, a dollar of GDP. When Fareed warns that the GDP will suffer, we may be better off if it means less government spending, which is to say less Treasury interest being paid by taxpayers to big bank executives who buy the newly-issued Treasury bonds.
Fareed thinks the solution to our economic woes is to have no gridlock in Congress so they can raise taxes. The pressure to jack up spending by every person seeking political favor is enormous. Congress would just vote for increased spending, which would consume all of the additional tax revenue and more. Business people always look for ways to reduce their own taxes. Tax shelters would become more and more popular. If there are no tax shelters, then the businesses would be driven offshore.
Fareed doesn't know that ECONOMIC BALANCE is needed to have widespread, long lasting prosperity. This means having interest rates high enough to attract savers, but still low enough to attract borrowers. This means home prices low enough for a worker to put 20% down and make the monthly mortgage payments without government help. Economic rebalancing usually means recession. There is no painless path back to prosperity. Neither Obama nor Romney know this any more than Fareed does, so the next president isn't going to rebalance the economy. No, either of them shall just give us empty promises about how he'll fix it easily.
The Obama sequestration of Defense Dept funds still allows Defense Dept budget to increase every year. Paul Ryan's Medicare reform allows Medicare budget to increase every year. WRONG oh mouth piece of the right, CONGRESS PASSED Sequestration, was the best we could get out of a GOP that had one goal, make Obama a 1 tgerm president.
Furthermore, nothing that the present Congress passes for a future year counts, because no future Congress can be forced to follow any budget passed by the present Congress. True.. And this should be used as support for your statements in general, Congress passes, so without congress the POTUS has nothing.
Ryan's plans for medicare, are not Romney's plans, so says Romney. Or are you a high level hack telling the masses on the extreme right what they want to hear on these blogs?
Who cares what this plagiarist has to say.. He should have been fired like Jayson Blair.
Republican Cooperation is an oxymoron.
Republican Bipartisanship is an oxymoron.
Republican Compromise is an oxymoron.
Republican Negotiation is an oxymoron.
Romney Consistency is an oxymoron.
Let's go over that cliff. Not once did Fareed suggest cutting the defense budget in his comments. We need to stop being world cop. If we closed our borders to trade and illegals; and quit meddling in other country's affairs, and let Israel spend it's own money, lives, and limbs fighting it's own battles,we could cut military spending by 50% the deficit would dissapear, and there would be plenty of good paying jobs for everyone. Vote Johnson or Paul on Tuesday.
Hey man, stop using your brain and making logical statements, we're discussing politics here.
Seriously though, you are right.
We blow far too much money on the military, we give far too much money to other countries as military aid, but the military-industrial complex OWNED Bush-Cheney and they OWN too many congressmen/senators.
We literally don't have the money to spend on the military as we have .. if we cut it by half, we are still spending many times more (as a % of GDP) than any other country.
I think Obama is great for the country as a whole. The country needs a strong leader whose not afraid to make the tough decisions and choices to advance American jobs, American interests, lower taxes, and create jobs, LOL, wow I sound just like a seasoned politician.
And I care about what a plagiarizer has to say.....not
It's amazing how detrimental it is to ones reputation to be caught red handed plagiarizing as a journalist. I didn't think it would continue to resonate with me that Zakaria was suspended by CNN/Time but I just have trouble lending any credibility to what his supposed point of view is, especially a headline so bold... even while its emblazoned with the logos of the same two organizations still.
I have been saying this for years, what the US needs is a strong 3rd party.
Fareed, your liberal bias is quite evident in this article. You should simply come out and endorse the Democrat party.
You say, “the Republicans have threatened a filibuster 385 times” over the past five years. Filibusters are a function of the Senate. This is interesting because Harry Reed has blocked from being brought to the Senate floor much of the spending legislation coming from the House. Yes, the House legislation may be the work of the Republicans but it at least should be heard and debated inside the Senate. The Democrat controlled Senate could then request reconciliation of the House bills or simply vote them down.
Also, Barak Obama has failed to submit a budget in the last three years. How are the Republicans at blame for this?
Fareed, the problem with our federal government is that is gotten too big to be managed. It is drastically larger than any corporation. Corporations generally bring in experienced CEOs to run themselves. The Presidency does not function this way. The President is voted in by the people in an election that may be described as a popularity contest. This is the way our country is governed. We have to live with this.
What we need to do is:
(1) Impose term limits on the Congress just as the President is limited to two 4 year terms. Maybe two 6 year terms for the Senate and six 2 year terms for the House would work. This would prevent the situation that occurred a few years ago when Senator Byrd from West Virginia was being brought from his assisted living quarters to vote on senate bills. It would also reduce the need for constant election fund raising.
(2) The number of cabinet positions should be reduced. The Department of Education was created under President Carter to improve the quality of primary and secondary education in the US. This hasn’t happened. The cities and towns and the states are in charge of educating their children. It may wise also to look at the Department of Homeland Security also. The poor response to Katrina was blamed on FEMA. FEMA before 9/11 reported directly to the President. Also, the Secret Service used to be under the Department of the Treasury and is now part of Homeland Security.
Before raising taxes, we have to be sure that additional tax money will not go to simply feeding the beast of the federal government.
Finally, Harry Reed has already announced that if Mitt Romney is elected President, he will stand in the way of any significant Romney legislation.
Barack Obama has submitted budgets, Mitch McConnell and the gop kept their word and have faught every piece of legislation Obama sent to congress.
This GOP minority used the filibuster more time that ever in the history of the congress, just to keep Pbama from getting naything that could have helped the country from passing so he would be a 1 term president.
Well, I guess harry Reed got in the way of the lsat budget.
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/02/03/reid-no-i-dont-plan-to-bring-a-budget-to-the-floor-this-year/
If it will result in budget cuts the U.S. needs to fall of the fiscal cliff.
The U.S. needs no one else to survive and strive.The greediest of the greedy need the rest of the world to make their billions.In a strong U.S.They are not even capable of producing anything with their own hands,Thus making them useless to a strong self sufficient USA.
This Tuesday, some honestly naive Americans who have been unable to see a sworn cult leader will drink his Koolaid by casting aside their most sacred convictions while he will toast champagne to prophet Joseph Smith to resurrect and empower his most secret convictions veiled cleverly. Emperor Constantine would be shaking like a leaf in his grave.
Of course it is broken, bought and paid for and that purchase approved by the GOP and by the SCOTU better know as Scrotum.
One party has set out to FUNDAMENTALLY change the greatest country the world has ever know, and you're expecting cooperation? If the Founding Fathers hadn't staggered congressional elections as a circuit breaker against popular spasms, the Democrats would have lost the Senate last election, and we wouldn't have needed all the filibusters to protect us until the next election..
The Repugnicans are abusing the process to the detriment of the American people. They say "my way or the hi-way". Show them the hi-way out of town!!
I think Fareed Zakaria is correct. These lawyers love to litigate and at the expense of the American people for over 25 years. Well, they've lost their own backyard and will default on the debt at some point.
They reduced Americans to struggling to pay mandated bills, mortrages/rent, over-priced cars, and on and on and on. Americans can't pay this 'debt' back and we don't owe it anyway - the FED owes the money.
Consider this, you pinhead plagiarist: your side rammed through an ill-conceived, 2,500 page bill reordering by federal fiat roughly 1/6th of the American economy. You sought no bipartisan input and received no bipartisan support. Your approach? "Elections have consequences". Indeed they do. The voters removed a great deal of your power in 2010 and will hopefully remove the remainder tomorrow.
I am not an old man, but in my short lifetime I have watched:
- All job security evaporate
- The cost of living skyrocket
- Rights and freedoms erode or disappear
- The act of ignoring ethics and morals become normal
- The act of exercising empathy and cooperation become a rarity
People have become too brainwashed and complacent. The parties have become too polarized. Those who are profiting from this situation have become too powerful to dislodge. We're done.
The Repugnican strategy is to a) lie to get in, b) trust in the voters to forget, c) or let any transgressions die in committee later.
Romney lied to the Tea Party to get enough votes as candidate. Then he and Lyin' Ryan lied to the GOP base and the country to get enough poll numbers to look like a middle-of-the-road Repugnican candidate. Then he lied, lied, lied in the debates (and when he didn't lie he distorted meaningless facts and blamed Obama and the Dems for the faults of the GOP). Then in the last debate and the final weeks of the election he's pretended to be a left-leaning moderate during debates in order to win over undecided Dems.
The GOP has been seeding lies and distortions in the background and through Fox since before Obama took office. They've publicly bragged about tweaking election laws for voting and early voting to help Romney win. They've publicy stated their policy in 2008 was to be a do-nothing party of obstruction and their primary goal was to stop any legislation by Obama or Pelosi just to get them out of office. Once they got control of one branch of the legislature they crowed about how making Obama a one-term president was their main focus.
They use all the same old tricks in new wrappers every election, too. Lie. Lie little; lie big; and, lie often so it gets repeated and discussed by other channels. Blame the other party for your mistakes and be sure to do it first. Wrap yourself in patriotism, the flag, and call the other guy socialist, anti-american or a terrorist if they even so much as suggest you are wrong. If scaring people w/the Russians doesn't work, try the Chinese.
Oh, and hide your true beliefs. Once you're in power you'll be able to do whatever YOU like while you tell the rest of the country to believe and act the way you should.
Bottom line: The GOP, RMoney, Lyin' Ryan and their cronies (Anne Coulter, Rush Limburger, Fux News) care nothing about the country or its people, only power.
Send 'em a message; vote the GOP out.
Didn't anyone notice that after RMoney tried scaring people with the boogeyman of "Russia" in the debates, that he ramped up trying to scare people about China. This from a supposed businessman who sent countless USA jobs overseas including to China.
By the way, the failure rate for Bain Capital investments during Mittens time there? WORSE than the government investments in businesses (including Solyndra) with Obama in office.
Government shouldn't be in the business of picking winners and losers, eh? Unless of course it's a repugnican in office doing the picking, right...?
Romney is going to fix the problems with the two parties not working together? Isn't that a bit like a burgler telling you he'll fix the problems with your home security?
The GOP has used political extortion for the past two years to try and get the Dems out of the Oval Office. They've been open about being a do-nothing party of obstruction. Aaaaaaand now that they need to get back into power, they're the people who are going to save us from the problem they created and maintained? Riiiight.
Classic GOP double-speak and distortion.
Classic liberal. We cant get our stupid commuist ideas to pass so there is something wrong with the system.
This is only eleinction ups and downs. Too much of listen to election propoganda. Make your choice, use your vote and be done with it. You cannot change the world anyway. But the responsibility- once in a while may be too much. Well political propoganda is always heavier than the advertisement on chosing your breakfas serial
We arrive in rusty 1964 motorhomes.
We bring our bibles and loaded assault weapons.
We wear ridiculous clothing and have teabags dangling from our earlobes.
We carry misspelled racist signs as we stomp all over the White House lawn.
We are Sarah Palin's "real Americans".
We love the baby jesus but we love to boink our cousins even more.
We believe that the Flintstones is an accurate depiction of early man.
We believe that nascar is a real sport and that Dale Earnhardt was a great American athlete.
We are the birthers. We are the teabaggers.
We are morons and we are proud.
Hey twit, why don't you think of something original instead of copying and pasting from the Moveon website. Or do you let George Soros do all your thinking for you?
The question is not "will it?" the question is "how long will it be?"
Well Fareed, your job is safe. We all can't be experts at cobbling together other people's work and passing it off as our own. We should all be as talented as you think you are.
The re-election of Obama takes the wind out of the sails of the GOP's position. Whether they realize it or not remains to be scene. The election rejected the GOP's Tea Party stance, quite forecefully.
And when we do go over the fiscal cliff, who will the left blame then?
That makes no sense whatsoever. The GOP retained the House, the Dems retained the Senate, and Obama won by only a few million votes (50%-48% last I checked). The only message this has sent is that the country is still just as divided on which party should rule.
We need to go over the cliff. That's the only way we'll learn.
I hope we do fall off the cliff, then we will see how these "sharp financial minds" of the Democrats get us out the spending mess that they have gotten us into.
Obama gets 4 more years. Sarah Palin's head explodes. Karl Rove hangs himself and teabaggers everywhere are stringing more barbed wire around their trailers. Bwahahahahahhahhahahahahahah !!!!
Nice to see you don't have to have George Soros do all your thinking for you.
Just think, if Romney had won the 'hood would be in flames
*poot*
Sigh...this is why getting kids involved in politics is such a bad thing. You should have to be over 30 to vote. Kids get into politics thinking everything is new. Yet, every 4 years we go through the SAME thing. The party not in office tries to block everything the party in office tries. The word filibuster became a household word AGAIN back in the early 2000s when the Dems were the ones doing it way too much.
Welcome to Politics 101 kids. The party in power blames the party not in power for all of our problems. The party not in power refuses to work well with the party in power. Come back in 4 years, we can all post our same exact comments and I guarantee you they will still be relevant.
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