Addendum: In response to a comment that was written and later deleted, I should clarify that I posted this item not to minimize or make fun of the suffering of the people of Syria, but as a reflection of a prevailing (and increasing) attitude of Americans toward their elected "leadership." The people of the country have been lied to - repeatedly and almost systematically - by a long series of Presidents and Congresses on countless matters relating to foreign policy. Invariably the lies and deceptions have led to increased military aggressiveness abroad and an insane funding of the military-industrial complex to a degree that has depleted the resources of this country for domestic purposes and resulted in a deterioration of our infrastructure and degradation of our environment. This has to stop. I hope a similar sentiment is what motivated the staff at The Onion.
Hey, I'd get behind a "send Congress (and the Senate) to the moon!" initiative. (At their own cost, of course.)
ReplyDeleteLet's try for something theoretically plausible- having their health care.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just foreign policy -- how many lies have we been fed about the Affordable Care Act? About the impact of same-sex relationships on children? About the dangers of marijuana? About the causes and effects of climate change? About abstinence-only sex education? To name but a few.
ReplyDeletei am in favor of sending congress to syria.
ReplyDeletethey seem to be reluctant to cut their own healthcare or pensions, or even pay for their own airport parking, so i bet they wouldn't drop tomahawk missiles on themselves, even if they ARE heavily invested in raytheon.
How did this happen that we got such a bad congress? Is it our fault? Are we now dumbed down so much we can't elect reasonable people? I guess I'm dumbed down because I don't know. I suspect we need more teachers classically trained (Latin, etc.) to bring up our overall understanding of things, and thus how to vote.
ReplyDeleteToo bad when satire is the most meaningful proposal we've been offered.
ReplyDelete@Mariel, I think we have such a bad Congress because so many of them are bought and paid for by the military-industrial complex, the banking-investment complex, Big Oil, Big Pharma, the NRA, and the odd religious group. What we need is public funding of Congressional elections, and a system such as they have in most of the rest of the civilized world where the actual election process, from nomination to election lasts no more than 6 weeks.
ReplyDeleteI would also argue that the Gerrymandering of Congressional Districts is also largely to blame. Those members of Congress who come from such safe districts tend to lean ever more to the right or left (mostly right because of Republican control of State Legislatures, but it also happens on the left), and are less and less willing to compromise.
DeleteOne of my ideas to improve congress has always been to remove party affiliation from the ballots so voters would be more inclined to research their candidates before the election instead of some voters voting dem or repub all the way down the ballot. But this could be flawed too..... but could result in politicians being more careful about there voting record and realizing voters are looking into their record instead of banking on votes due to what party they belong to.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, I am truly shocked a Democrat pres. wants to go to war, especially when the American public overwhelmingly disagrees with this. I agree with a recent Libertarian party statement, "it's now Authoritarian vs Libertarian, no real difference between Democrats and Republicans any more". Libertarians are getting more and more votes every election. Change will come, but I believe our situation has to get much worse before we fully wake up and take back the power.
I agree with your general point of view, anon, but..
Delete"voters would be more inclined to research their candidates"
..I don't think that will ever happen. Sadly.
Actually it's progressives against right wing libertarians / Democrats and Republicans. Libertarians have no probs with mass murder, see Pinochet etc. Libertarians would do whatever companies see fit to do. Private armies etc., and they'd turn America back into a neoconfederate nightmare. Nope, nope and HELL NO!
DeleteI would approve of adding to the Syrian "delegation" the person who made it necessary for you to write that addendum.
ReplyDeleteI'm baffled at how John Boehner looks so much like Bob Gunton!
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of hoping this is accurate, at this point. http://freakoutnation.com/2013/09/08/president-obamas-brilliant-strategy-no-one-seems-to-recognize/
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