012 Election: Who do you think will win?
09-28-2011, 12:19 PM
There are reforms available that are essentially beneficial and non-partisan. Off the top of my head:
Revenue neutral tax reform: Scrap loopholes, lower tax rates, same net revenue. Less money is wasted on tax professionals lowering one's tax liability, work that creates no wealth.
Why it isn't happening: Entrenched interests guard their precious benefits, like mortgage deductions.
Elimination of crop and ethanol subsidies: ethanol subsidies have led to a run up in the price of corn and thus meat, while crop subsidies go to already wealthy farmers.
Immigration enforcement: Secure the border with a fence.
The left has managed to make the goal of securing the border a conservative position, when it isn't. It's a matter of national security and dignity. I'd go so far as to say that deportation of illegals is not conservative, but merely enforcement of the law. Eisenhower, a moderate Republican president, did it 50 years ago.
Legal Immigration: Change immigration to focus on those who will create jobs, and not merely fill them. Entrepreneurs, top researchers and very wealthy retirees are good targets. Not low level programmers and menial workers.
Withdraw from the Middle East: Enough said.
If you divide the population into two halves of right and left, and see the right half winning, your point is correct. But if you compare the right and left of today with the right and left of 20, 50, 100 years ago, the country has clearly shifted to the left. To steal one man's analogy, conservatives are marching eastward on a westward ship. Policies on gay marriage, abortion, gays and women in the military, immigration laws, government spending levels, foreign aid and policy, supreme court decisions, states' rights, the content of public schooling, preferential treatment of certain races/sexes/homosexuals all evidence a shift to the left. On the whole, America is still very much left of where it was.
Absent radical changes in policy, demographic patterns alone ensure America will trend leftwards over time no matter who is elected. To be sure, there's been some conservative success on a few issues, such as with gun control and the lengthening of criminal sentences. Even those, however, are probably only taking us to pre-1960's policies.
The left is very successful in framing this issue. The moment the country pauses its leftward march, leftists protest that the country is entering the very depths of fascism/patriarchy/theocracy/jingoism... Of course, the leftward march resumes shortly after. It's like locking in a new lower interest rate on a loan - any time the country moves left, it's the new normal, and the left can start advocating something even more outre.
As for Bobby Jindal, he looks like a pathetic excuse for a man. When he first spoke in front of a national audience, everyone laughed at him.
Exactly. It's not because they would laugh... but the reason they would laugh is the reason why he shouldn't be elected. Because he's a fat slob.
Revenue neutral tax reform: Scrap loopholes, lower tax rates, same net revenue. Less money is wasted on tax professionals lowering one's tax liability, work that creates no wealth.
Why it isn't happening: Entrenched interests guard their precious benefits, like mortgage deductions.
Elimination of crop and ethanol subsidies: ethanol subsidies have led to a run up in the price of corn and thus meat, while crop subsidies go to already wealthy farmers.
Immigration enforcement: Secure the border with a fence.
The left has managed to make the goal of securing the border a conservative position, when it isn't. It's a matter of national security and dignity. I'd go so far as to say that deportation of illegals is not conservative, but merely enforcement of the law. Eisenhower, a moderate Republican president, did it 50 years ago.
Legal Immigration: Change immigration to focus on those who will create jobs, and not merely fill them. Entrepreneurs, top researchers and very wealthy retirees are good targets. Not low level programmers and menial workers.
Withdraw from the Middle East: Enough said.
Quote:Quote:
You can't have a left-wing president in America. For that to happen in a democracy you need a left-wing population.
If you divide the population into two halves of right and left, and see the right half winning, your point is correct. But if you compare the right and left of today with the right and left of 20, 50, 100 years ago, the country has clearly shifted to the left. To steal one man's analogy, conservatives are marching eastward on a westward ship. Policies on gay marriage, abortion, gays and women in the military, immigration laws, government spending levels, foreign aid and policy, supreme court decisions, states' rights, the content of public schooling, preferential treatment of certain races/sexes/homosexuals all evidence a shift to the left. On the whole, America is still very much left of where it was.
Absent radical changes in policy, demographic patterns alone ensure America will trend leftwards over time no matter who is elected. To be sure, there's been some conservative success on a few issues, such as with gun control and the lengthening of criminal sentences. Even those, however, are probably only taking us to pre-1960's policies.
The left is very successful in framing this issue. The moment the country pauses its leftward march, leftists protest that the country is entering the very depths of fascism/patriarchy/theocracy/jingoism... Of course, the leftward march resumes shortly after. It's like locking in a new lower interest rate on a loan - any time the country moves left, it's the new normal, and the left can start advocating something even more outre.
As for Bobby Jindal, he looks like a pathetic excuse for a man. When he first spoke in front of a national audience, everyone laughed at him.
Quote:Quote:
Having this guy as president however would make our country the laughing stock of the world.
Way too much of a slob.
Exactly. It's not because they would laugh... but the reason they would laugh is the reason why he shouldn't be elected. Because he's a fat slob.