• Could Congress go from bad to worse after election?
    37 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Washington (CNN) -- Think this current climate of political polarization is bad? Things could get even uglier in 2013. [B]With a third of the Senate and every seat in the House up for election this year, each side is already bragging about how likely it is they will win back or take over the next Congress.[/B] But if the past three years are any indicator, no matter if the Republicans or Democrats control the House or Senate -- or both -- gridlock, brinkmanship and stalemate could continue to plague the next president and frustrate the American electorate. The ongoing back and forth Friday between the White House and Republican leadership over exactly who is at fault for the weak economy offers a glimpse into what's in store. [B]"One of the things that people get so frustrated about is that instead of actually talking about what would help, we get wrapped up in these political games. That's what we need to put an end to," President Barack Obama said[/B] on Friday, a day when politicos on both sides of the aisle played the blame game over the country's fiscal troubles. Voters have been clear in expressing their displeasure with Congress, whose approval ratings -- [B]currently only 15% of Americans polled think Congress is doing a good job[/B] -- have been in the basement for much of the past few years. And it doesn't stop there. Just look at, for instance, Congress' work habits. The Republican-controlled House's frequent election-year recesses do little to clear the mountain of legislative work off their plates and have rankled such Democratic colleagues as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California. "Instead of recessing yet again, the House should remain at work and pass critical legislation that will create jobs for the middle class that will actually be signed into law. Republicans must not run out the clock on the economy," Pelosi wrote in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, this week, adding that the upcoming recess is the ninth weeklong break this year. Whether President Obama or Republican Mitt Romney occupies the Oval Office next year, both men are facing an indigestion-inducing plate full of domestic problems. Either one could, for instance, have to preside over a dramatic overhaul of the health care reform law if the Supreme Court strikes down the individual coverage mandate as unconstitutional this month. The original law passed in 2010 without a single Republican vote in the House or the Senate. The backlog of bills that have passed in one chamber but are in limbo in another include the hotly debated transportation bill. Many House Republicans want any deal on the transportation construction measure to include approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. In the Senate, both parties are at loggerheads on the best way to address mushrooming student loan rates. [B]If the balance of power in the Senate shifts to the Republicans, as some political analysts expect, or Democrats and Republican end up with a near equal number of seats, partisan gridlock could become even worse.[/B] Both the Cook Political Report and the Rothenberg Political Report suggest that at least two to four Senate seats are in play, including open seats in the battleground states of Virginia and Wisconsin. Seats in Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and Maine are also competitive. "You can expect these bitter times to continue," said Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of the book "It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism." It's little wonder why. [B]A new Pew Research Center study found that the nation is more politically polarized than it has been in the past 25 years and "the values gap between Republicans and Democrats is now greater than gender, age, race or class divides."[/B] So, there's little chance of compromise on solutions for shoring up the ailing economy and stanching job losses as the country braces for the impact of more than $1 trillion in mandatory budget cuts set to kick in next year.[/QUOTE] Source: [url]http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/08/politics/congress-worse-election/index.html[/url]
[QUOTE=Medevilae;36266787]Here's hope for a Dem majority in the House & Senate[/QUOTE] And then Romney gets the presidency and..."well fuck"
[QUOTE=Medevilae;36266813]That'd be painful for everyone[/QUOTE] The bigger problem is, even if by some miracle for the, the Democrats gain a majority in both houses and Obama wins again, this issue of extreme polarization will still get worse for the next election. And the Democrats can't keep the majority forever. The article says that polarization has been getting worse for the past 25 years, so it would be safe to assume that it'll continue down that sad slope.
I hope most people understand that Romney is a hack and Obama is really the only stable choice same thing goes for republicans who seem to be hell bent on passing bills that at best solve nothing and at worst are counterproductive and have little or no grasp on reality. The House is literally a fucking running joke of an institution because of this.
It sounds like we're getting closer to a 2nd Civil War if you ask me because of how polarized politics have become.
[QUOTE=Bbarnes005;36267069]It sounds like we're getting closer to a 2nd Civil War if you ask me because of how polarized politics have become.[/QUOTE] Though we're getting very polarized, I really don't find any of the issues really worth a war over. It would be the greatest failure for humanity if a civil war sprung up over such things debated in Congress today.
[QUOTE=Bbarnes005;36267069]It sounds like we're getting closer to a 2nd Civil War if you ask me because of how polarized politics have become.[/QUOTE]No, we're not even close.
A war in America is literally impossible because of the governments arms build up. Same with a revolution. It would be crushed so easily.
Lots of the time voters vote one way for President, the other way for the House and Senate, with the thought process that one side should not have 'too' much power. That's nice in theory but it means nothing can get done. The risk of giving one side overwhelming power is they might do something stupid with it. Considering how messed up things are now, can it really get worse?
[QUOTE=Nikota;36267155]A war in America is literally impossible because of the governments arms build up. Same with a revolution. It would be crushed so easily.[/QUOTE] Um no, the military would not kill its own citizens, plus most Americans own guns, it just wouldn't even happen to begin with.
The pre-requesites for a civil war generally include a large or affluent portion of the population caring. Let's check. Voter Apathy? Federal calcification? Lack of violent extremism thus far? Damn. Guess we'll have to wait another fifty years.
-snip-
[QUOTE=Bbarnes005;36267069]It sounds like we're getting closer to a 2nd Civil War if you ask me because of how polarized politics have become.[/QUOTE] I don't know about civil war but I think America is going to have some serious problems in a couple of decades when its massive debt and rich-get-richer economy catch up with it
I am just hoping that most of the Republican's voting base dies out in the next five years, allowing the Democrats to become more powerful.
[QUOTE=RichyZ;36267496]apache helicopter versus semi-automatic ar15[/QUOTE] apaches need fuel fuel in air base fuel in airbase + violent rednecks = big explosion
Could Congress get worse after the election? Yes. Will it get worse? Yes. Would half of these dipshits and the people who almost caused the US to default on the debt get reelected and continue this bullshit? What do you think the answer is? No offense, but I have low expectations in Congress. As long as there are stupid people, they elect stupid or corrupt politicians.
[QUOTE=valkery;36267493]I am just hoping that most of the Republican's voting base dies out in the next five years, allowing the Democrats to become more powerful.[/QUOTE] That's a pretty harsh thing to say. Wishing death upon people because their political opinions differ?
Considering the rich can now buy these fucking elections due to the idiots that vote based on tv? Yes. It will get worse. Much worse.
These next few years will be some bad times for America.
I don't care what you guys say, in my opinion this country is going down the fucking shithole no matter who gets elected.
[QUOTE=ShadowSocks8;36268009]I don't care what you guys say, in my opinion this country is going down the fucking shithole no matter who gets elected.[/QUOTE] At this point every single action we can do will get us fucked. Go that way we are fucked, go that other way we are fucked, go through the mountains we are fucked, go through Mordor we are fucked, we are fucked, fucked, fuck. At some point we will just have to do something, then hope it blows over.
[QUOTE=smurfy;36267482]I don't know about civil war but I think America is going to have some serious problems in a couple of decades when its massive debt and rich-get-richer economy catch up with it[/QUOTE] That would be true if our debt was a serious issue right now.
[QUOTE=Boba_Fett;36267862]That's a pretty harsh thing to say. Wishing death upon people because their political opinions differ?[/QUOTE] I think he means die out as in no longer give support, not actually die. [editline]9th June 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Crazy Ivan;36267335]The pre-requesites for a civil war generally include a large or affluent portion of the population caring. Let's check. Voter Apathy? Federal calcification? Lack of violent extremism thus far? Damn. Guess we'll have to wait another fifty years.[/QUOTE] All it really takes is for a couple of states with very idealistic state governors/governments to declare independence. Don't necessarily need all the support of people for it to start. Just a very loud group yelling for it and getting into office somewhere.
[QUOTE=Boba_Fett;36267862]That's a pretty harsh thing to say. Wishing death upon people because their political opinions differ?[/QUOTE] More like a patient wait for a natural death of the plethora of old men in congress, upholding archaic laws from an era that is no longer relevant in modern society.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;36266837]The bigger problem is, even if by some miracle for the, the Democrats gain a majority in both houses and Obama wins again, this issue of extreme polarization will still get worse for the next election. And the Democrats can't keep the majority forever. The article says that polarization has been getting worse for the past 25 years, so it would be safe to assume that it'll continue down that sad slope.[/QUOTE] The thing is there's a limit to how far a politician can go before he stops benefiting it. The Republicans have hit a wall with fiscal Conservatism, there's not much further they can go without disturbing America's global influence (which is highest priority for both parties) so they can only go further with social conservatism. The problem is that the Republicans who are prominent now don't gain anything from social conservatism, most of them aren't really passionate about it despite what they may claim. Pushing the party further opens the possibility of the party getting hijacked by people whose feelings are the opposite: extremely passionate about social conservatism and less interested in fiscal conservatism. As you probably know many of those ultra-radical Republicans ended up in the spotlight by accident, they were supposed to be a nobody that got no attention from voters or the media but ended up getting major attention due to being "someone other than an old rich white man", and there's a reason for that, republican voters are being told that social conservatism is more important, and the ones who buy into it are going to vote for the people who seem most serious about social conservatism, which usually means someone other than an old rich white man.
After Afghanistan, Wall Street bailouts, and SOPA, I don't see how our government could get any worse. I guess Obama could send his blue helmeted troopers in black helicopters to haul my ass off to Guantanamo during the stealth of the night because I am a military aged male, therefore militant. That's one way the government could definitely get worse.
[QUOTE=Medevilae;36266787]Here's hope for a Dem majority in the House & Senate[/QUOTE] We should probably worry more about the agenda and voting record of the people in office rather than the political party. The idea that one political party is infallible is pretty dangerous.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;36268109] All it really takes is for a couple of states with very idealistic state governors/governments to declare independence. Don't necessarily need all the support of people for it to start. Just a very loud group yelling for it and getting into office somewhere.[/QUOTE] Can we get all the bible belt states to declare independence so they can ruin their own country and not ours?
Look can we just have a Democratic majority but not go apeshit with gun control? The Republican party has their collective head up their collective ass in terms of social liberty, civil rights, and taxes, the Democrats can have my vote in a heartbeat if they call the gun control shit off.
[QUOTE=Boba_Fett;36267862]That's a pretty harsh thing to say. Wishing death upon people because their political opinions differ?[/QUOTE] When they're running us into the ground? Taking our Economy hostage to have a tantrum like small children? They constantly threaten the low and middle class with their bullshit laws and ideas. They threaten to break our actual nation down to get their way. THEY ARE ACTUAL FUCKING TERRORISTS. [quote]terrorism - the use of violence and [B]threats[/B] to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.[/quote]
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.