Political Blame Games & Puppet Leaders

Some people want to blame the economy on the administration of the past 8yrs but that’s a fundamentally incorrect viewpoint. If people did some actual homework they’d learn that the root of this problem was spread through the yrs of Regan (too much deregulation), Clinton (requiring mrtg lending to non-credit worthy borrowers), and Bush (allowing excessive leverage). Obviously, financial companies and consumers played a key part of the problem as well (plenty of blame to go around). In actuality, a given President has less impact than the House/Senate in causing these problems but most people will always give credit (or assign blame) to the most recent President they’ve had.

IMO, it's really unfortunate that we have democratic parties at all. We'd be better off if we had no specific parties. That way we could get past all the preconceived notions associated with being labeled a "democrat" or "republican" and just let people concentrate on "the issues" rather than the tiring and old "partisan politics"...

It’s amazing that some people actually believe that if someone's a republican or democrat they will obviously perform exactly like all other R/D’s. One of the big reasons votes seem to be "aligned" on one side or the other is due to the political bartering going on behind the scenes that sways the vote of weak politicians who base their votes on political favors or re-election concerns rather than what they truly believe in. You have to realize that plenty of politicians feel equally split between many of the issues that "traditionally" defined people as liberal or conservative. Unfortunately, those people are forced to be associated with and "pick" (R) or (D) because they'd lose if they ran as independent...

We need actual compromising legislation and so far, the Pelosi led congress is doing anything but be bipartisan. Even my Father-in-law hates Pelosi and he’s one of those people I referred to who will only vote for someone if they’re in his party (democrat in his case). The majority rules idea also fails to support having elected officials in the first place. Why? Well, if that were the case we could just post all the legislation online and have secure internet votes using the concept of “majority rules”.

Sure, your elected official should agree with your viewpoints most of the time but there are times when they should go against the wishes of their constituents because those constituents don’t understand the topic and are basing their support on “gut feelings” more than facts. The first bailout is a perfect example. I’m not talking about the way it was executed, I’m talking about what it was “supposed to be for” at the time it was being discussed and voted on. Most Americans were against it purely because of their visceral response to what they perceived to be going on. The problem was that the issues were complex enough that the typical “avg Joe” didn’t understand the economic interconnections of “wall street” and “main street”. Actually, many congressmen don’t even understand those interconnections. In reality, most politicians are just “avg Joes” who’ve been elected to make politics their main job. Part of that job includes being more familiar with legislation than the typical avg Joe who’s too busy with their normal lives to keep up with all the legislation being voted on. A leader is someone who can vote “against” the majority when necessary. A puppet just does whatever the majority of their constituents want (even if it’s not the right decision). “Majority rules” is a concept that supports puppets. We need fewer puppets and more leaders who, when necessary, have the fortitude to make the tough decisions…
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