I feel the Bern!

[fishinwrench]

5 minutes ago, Mitch f said:

I will ask this question to all:

What are the 5 biggest issues this country faces today....in order of importance, please

#1.  There are too many people in it.

Fix that and all the other problems go away.

[Flysmallie]

#1 Manufactured Racism

[Ham]

1 hour ago, Mitch f said:

I will ask this question to all:

What are the 5 biggest issues this country faces today....in order of importance, please

1) National Defense. Russia and China are still not our friends. Don't look for that to change. ISIS is a threat, but still not on the same scale as the Rooskis.

2) National Identity and Border security. I can not think of any other nation that does as poor a job with border security as we do. It makes me wonder if changing the demographics to favor the party of entitlements is not part of a plan to permanently gerrymander.

3) Our economy. Assuming that people want to work, they need satisfying work to do.

4) Our environment. Clean air and water are basic needs and used to be a basic assumption. Proper environmental practices are part of ethical business behavior. Major corps become organized crime when they willfully choose to pollute and pay the fine when caught rather than operate in a cleaner fashion because increased operation costs.

5) Fixing our political process. We need qualified people going to Washington and the State houses to SERVE ; To give back for the opportunities they had. Go there for a term limited amount of time and work with others for the good of the country not the good of the party.  I hate the term career politician. I hate the Golden parachutes they have legislated for themselves. All of the national level politicians leave office as millionaires. They spend millions to get a job that pays thousands. That's a Red Flag. The quasi legal perks and the bags of cash from lobbyists have to stop.

[jtram]

The top problem domestically is our sensitivity. People are pathetic. I find it repulsive that what was once right is wrong and what was (is) right is wrong.

[Mitch f]

5 minutes ago, Ham said:

1) National Defense. Russia and China are still not our friends. Don't look for that to change. ISIS is a threat, but still not on the same scale as the Rooskis.

2) National Identity and Border security. I can not think of any other nation that does as poor a job with border security as we do. It makes me wonder if changing the demographics to favor the party of entitlements is not part of a plan to permanently gerrymander.

3) Our economy. Assuming that people want to work, they need satisfying work to do.

4) Our environment. Clean air and water are basic needs and used to be a basic assumption. Proper environmental practices are part of ethical business behavior. Major corps become organized crime when they willfully choose to pollute and pay the fine when caught rather than operate in a cleaner fashion because increased operation costs.

5) Fixing our political process. We need qualified people going to Washington and the State houses to SERVE ; To give back for the opportunities they had. Go there for a term limited amount of time and work with others for the good of the country not the good of the party.  I hate the term career politician. I hate the Golden parachutes they have legislated for themselves. All of the national level politicians leave office as millionaires. They spend millions to get a job that pays thousands. That's a Red Flag. The quasi legal perks and the bags of cash from lobbyists have to stop.

This is extremely close to my way of thinking, I would maybe swap 1 & 2...but that's only maybe.

[Smalliebigs]

28 minutes ago, Ham said:

1) National Defense. Russia and China are still not our friends. Don't look for that to change. ISIS is a threat, but still not on the same scale as the Rooskis.

2) National Identity and Border security. I can not think of any other nation that does as poor a job with border security as we do. It makes me wonder if changing the demographics to favor the party of entitlements is not part of a plan to permanently gerrymander.

3) Our economy. Assuming that people want to work, they need satisfying work to do.

4) Our environment. Clean air and water are basic needs and used to be a basic assumption. Proper environmental practices are part of ethical business behavior. Major corps become organized crime when they willfully choose to pollute and pay the fine when caught rather than operate in a cleaner fashion because increased operation costs.

5) Fixing our political process. We need qualified people going to Washington and the State houses to SERVE ; To give back for the opportunities they had. Go there for a term limited amount of time and work with others for the good of the country not the good of the party.  I hate the term career politician. I hate the Golden parachutes they have legislated for themselves. All of the national level politicians leave office as millionaires. They spend millions to get a job that pays thousands. That's a Red Flag. The quasi legal perks and the bags of cash from lobbyists have to stop.

agreed

[Seth]

I don't follow politics much because I think all politicians are full of crap regardless of which party they claim. My number one issue with all of them is that there doesn't seem to be a single person that can get a handle on our rampant spending and actually reduce the DEBT. All I ever hear them brag about is how they reduced the deficit. A deficit still means you're spending more than you are bringing in. I wish I could deficit spend on all the fishing and hunting gear I wanted without having to worry about having to pay the piper at some point.

[SpoonDog]

3 hours ago, Mitch f said:

I will ask this question to all:

What are the 5 biggest issues this country faces today....in order of importance, please

In order of importance...that's tough.  But the issues driving my choices in this election cycle are:

 

1.) Economics- Wealthy people are great, but as a taxpayer I resent having to underwrite Walmart employee's healthcare expenses  (through Medicare) as their owners and shareholders make wads of cash.  There's plenty of CEOs out there making tons AND paying their employees a reasonable wage- it doesn't have to be $15/hour, but it should be enough to live on after an honest day's worth.

2.) Politics- anyone who thinks Chrysler or DuPont or a superPAC donating boatloads of cash to candidates is the same as you or I donating $30 or signing some petition is delusional.  We need to re-think how congressional districts are drawn, so that races are actually competitive instead of all-red or all-blue, so that people actually have to debate policies and issues and re-think their own positions, instead of just drinking the kool-aid and pulling the lever for one party or another.

3.) Education- we're training a third or fourth generation of dunces at the moment, who are fair-at-best at bubbling in answer sheets but awful at exercising (and it took me four attempts to spell exercising correctly) critical-thinking skills.  20+% of adult Americans  (potential voters) read below the 5th-grade level, it's estimated 34 million are illiterate.  Regardless of where you stand on issues like Syria or climate change they're complicated issues, and you can't expect someone to develop nuanced views on complicated issues if they've never developed that skill. 

4.) Investments- Once upon a time in America you graduate high school, you went to college, you got a job and you went into debt.  Now you graduate high school, you go into debt, you get a degree and if you're lucky you get a job that'll help you pay it off.  We need to re-think profit-driven education models and re-invest in education.  We need to re-invest in crumbling infrastructure- roads, bridges, locks, dams- we can beef up border security if it makes y'all sleep at night.  70% of our population lives on one coast or another and high-speed transit is still a long way away, that's nuts.  Investing in education, infrastructure, research and development should all be priorities.

5.) Health- If the big knock against Syrian refugees is we need to focus on Americans first, carpet bombing that country should be the furthest thing from our mind.  One bombing run covers mental health services for American veterans for...who knows how long?  ISIS is bad, but the number of citizens dying at their hand pales in comparison to the domestic lunatics gunning folks down on a monthly basis- and while we have plenty of cash to spend on guns and bombs and planes and aircraft carriers, not one red penny can go to mental health reform.  Obesity epidemic- if I'm paying your grocery bills through SNAP and WIC benefits, I get to decide if you spend that money on Coke & candy bars or kale and brown rice.  That'll make healthcare cheaper for all of us and it'll probably make the recipient feel a heck of a lot better, too. 

There's others- reinvesting in urban centers (although parts of that are fulfilled through political reform, education, investment and health), and Americans generally getting over the outrage syndrome that says what is or isn't written on a holiday coffee cup is as big a deal as kids who can't afford college or war refugees trying to free oppression, but those five listed above definitely float among the top. 

[jolicious]

3 hours ago, Mitch f said:

I will ask this question to all:

What are the 5 biggest issues this country faces today....in order of importance, please

1. "In God we trust". Well, we used to.

2.Too many "Americans": "Latino-American"; "African-American", "Jewish-American"; "Mexican-American". We are all "American". It's time to act like it.

3. Social Entitlement Programs. To this day, I can't understand how someone is allowed to use one of the EBT welfare-type cards to buy beer.

4. Election System, in general. My fix: If you get an income tax refund that is MORE than the taxes you paid in for a given year - you don't get a vote. It's not fair to give voting shares to anyone who doesn't contribute. Once those with less outnumber those with more, those with less call the shots - but they are playing on house money.

5. Security. We need to return to several years ago when a very deep and very real fear overcame our enemies upon seeing a vehicle flying our nation's flag rolled in from the horizon.

[Ham]

Let me know when you guys want to Nit Pick the GOP hopefuls. I've got some thoughts on that. Rest assured that there is NO WAY I'm ever going to vote for HRC for any elected office. I mean, I'd vote her off an island in a heartbeat, but I never want her making decisions that might affect me.