allweatherhorn, I wonder with the increased diversity in the US what the major issues are for the American people anymore, or even for America. I am not excited about the divisiveness and fractured nature of our country, but I don't see that trend reversing aside from gestapo like tactics. (which I think would be worse than the situation we are in now). We have Americans that come at issues from vastly different points of view, and I just don't see a nation that is going to come together around any candidate. The Truth is itself polarising. There are too many Americans who do not believe in Truth or do not want to hear the Truth for us to come together. Today Americans don't agree on Truth, what is True, or even if there is Truth. I believe that is our foundational problem today. It is a problem of epistemology before it is a problem politically or economically or a problem in any other way.
THEU, the problem isn't that we don't all agree with each other. The problem isn't that there are too many different points of view. The problem is that the political focus has been shifted from the issues to the politicians. Neither party has any interest in addressing actual issues. Look at some of the "major" issues the parties have hyped up in the last 7 years, aside from the war obviously. Abortion, gay marriage, minimum wage, flag burning, etc. All due respect to those who believe abortion is murder, I certainly understand your sentiment, but these are far from the most pressing issues our country needs to address. However they're the only ones that seem to actually be debated. Why? It's all a distraction so that we ignore the fact that neither party actually gives a **** about serving the people. All they care about is grabbing more power for themselves, at our expense. The system is broken. It's no longer about how to address issues and solve problems, it's about maintaining power. The real problem is that this problem isn't isolated to D.C. It's at the state and local levels too. Unless this problem is addressed, our country will fall. The American empire will fail. Nobody wants to admit it, but the future of our nation is very much uncertain. We owe China trillions. Our conventional military forces are spread so thin that we don't even have the National Guard resources needed to respond to natural disasters at home. It's estimated that at least 500,000 illegal immigrants are entering the country each year. How long can we sustain that kind of explosion? Healthcare costs are spiraling, and with the retirements of the baby boomers upon us, medicare and social security payments are going to increase drastically. Our country, in its current state, is unsustainable, and our political system is so broken that not only will our representatives not try to fix it, they're more than happy to get rich off of our collapse.
Obama is a dreamer who is going to find himself way over his head if he somehow gets elected. The second coming of Jimmy Carter. But he sure talks pretty, and that's all that matters right now.
