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Jon,
Realize you and I are not close friends. However, I need to vent someplace where it might make a difference........sending something directly to the senators and congresswoman will get lost......
This is a thought process more than anything......
As a citizen, taxpayer, voter, I am tired of hearing,”we can't cut this, or that, or the other thing...." I understand "protecting your base." Nobody has to change, altar their course, or even think about traveling the down road differently.......damn the potholes, full speed ahead....
We are now at a "t" intersection....we can't keep going straight ahead....the sharp turn left, raising taxes, will not give us the long term results the country needs.....the sharp turn right, cutting everything, will not give us the results we need either........
I was praying somehow middle ground could be found and we would begin creating "the road less traveled."(At least by the federal government) neither the "left nor the right road people" wanted to create a new road.
We are a poorer country, in all senses of the word, because of it........
This is what I want from john and Christie.......I want them to stand up and say "in South Dakota we can get by without, this, this and this(specific cuts they know could and should be made).....and make them happen....who knows some other senator or congress person might get a conscience and say the same thing.........
Jon, this country needs "leadership." we elect people to lead us....our track record of late is electing people to protect our special interests and hence the problem......
I don't think I voted incorrectly when I voted for john....however, it feels as if he is becoming a parrot, and not a true leader........
I am not sure about my vote for Christie.....going to give her a few more months before I decide.........
If congress has not made real and substantial progress on fixing the deficit and debt, my vote will not go to Christie, nor will it go to Johnson(or his son-don't like family dynasties) nor to John Thune....
Not ready to throw my TV out the window (network) but am becoming increasingly sad, disappointed, frustrated, and angry about the lack of getting even simple things done...
Not one budget resolution done on time...........if this were the private sector.........when the shareholders have their annual meeting, all the board of directors would be fired for lack of competence...........and maybe personally sued to mismanagement.......
I hope you pass these comments on to the senators and congresswoman......I am not the "enemy." I am a person with some political experience. I know it is not easy to lead. But that is the job......so start leading by specific example...
We know one person can make a difference. We know one person can start a "movement."
I want John, Tim, and Christie to make that difference and start the movement.....the consequences for the country if they don't is dire...and so is their political future and legacy....
Thanks,
Rick Knobe
Reactions to “Beyond Disappointed”
This is pretty good Rick (other then her name is Kristi, but I don't mind if you screw that up). Hell, I don't even disagree with anything you said here. I think that if we want to see real change in DC we need to change the primary system, something you and I have discussed before. If we continue to just let the vocal minorities on the fringe decide who the rest of us get to vote for then we will never have moderate, commonsense leadership in Washington. We should start that here in SD with our legislative and congressional primaries and see if we can show the rest of the country how to get it done.
Thanks for your comments.
Ben
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Well said Rick, I don't know as if there's a word I'd disagree with. Business as usual can't be tolerated. Washington is broken and the special interests own "our" reps.
Bxxxxe
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So good. You have not lost your political compass. I feel like I have. I don't know what I am anymore but I do know I am disillusioned and very angry.
Jxx
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Well said, Rick. If a solution arises, there won’t be a partisan tag on it. I’m not willing to bet a solution will be allowed to rise, but a result will happen.
This nation didn’t get to its heights by cutting our way to prosperity or spending our way to prosperity. Taxing and debt have always been part of the national landscape going back to George Washington and his appointment of Alexander Hamilton (and the ill-fated and misguided Whisky Rebellion). Prioritizing has also been a hallmark of fiscal policy since Day One, as has consensus. America’s finances are in a deep hole without a ladder, and the fiscal house’s foundation will keep crumbling every day until somebody is allowed to fix it. The gravitational pull of the European disaster has yet to hit our shores, but the lunacy in D.C. is rivaled only by the lunacy of the Hapsburgs in Germany long ago, and it appears the elected leaders will watch the damage rip through our nation, hoping there is a political edge in there somewhere. We WILL lose it all unless we all pull our heads out of our asses and get a reality check.
I don’t blame the elected leaders. Our nation has lost its sense of shared sacrifice for the common good. It is dead. We phoned in the last two wars. We buy the rhetoric and simple solution lingo as answers to complicated problems. We prefer to linger in the corner as one party or the other … or as self-anointed outsiders/independents. We think if someone gets elected, we stay home and continue in our comfort cocoons waiting for the results of what the elected leaders did or failed to do. And then we react … by voting out the bums or dropping out in surrender to the cynicism we helped author.
My political and personal philosophy is founded on Socrates’ warning to all democracies: “An unexamined life is not worth living.” Americans no longer self-examine. We wait and react to outside stimulus like Pavlov’s dog. We no longer read or discuss, unless the information is approved to fit our personal filters. This three legged dog race called the GOP presidential primary is symptomatic of our current society. We aren’t following the proposed solutions as much as the overly televised distractions. Like Dances with the Stars, except nuttier. I think Congress as we see it today, unleashed from the stark reality of real life consequences and responsibility, is also an accurate reflection of the people who sent them to Washington. People just choose to limit their involvement and interest. And rather than do something about it when they get mad, they crawl off and say they’ve given up on the political system in the United States of America.
Who benefits? That’s a whole other story.
Good luck with your rant. You’ve inspired mine. I think it does some good. Knock ‘em out, Rick.
RH
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KUDOS, my friend! I agree. I believe there is something going on that will really change this country...on both sides, the fringes are burning. I believe the 99% ers will prevail for now because there are more of them. But either way, I think the multitudes are angry enough to get nasty...and I expect a record breaking level of nasty in this election year. The level of “fedupness” I sense from all sides seems as deep as the tides to me, but I’m only going on “feeling”. Things are certainly getting dramatic.
Either way, a soapbox that is making noise is one the people listen to. And you deserve it. Thanks for taking the conversation beyond the mundane and into the intellectual. Stay on that track!
Thanks, Rick. Good job.
JK |
