What is Digg?223 Comments
- jaydbell, on 05/05/2008, -4/+185"Any one of the candidates can answer the Red Phone at 3 a.m. in the White House bedroom. I’m voting for the one who can talk straight to the American people on national TV — at 8 p.m. — from the White House East Room."
well said. - inactive, on 05/05/2008, -2/+100From Bill Maher :
"New rule; America must stop bragging that it's the greatest country on earth and start acting like it."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcz_NHAFGS0 - jmoyer50, on 05/05/2008, -6/+80This is a great article. It is nice to see this type of honesty in print. Even if people don't want to admit it, I think they know he's telling the truth. We have a lot of work to do, and we need a leader who can inspire us to get started before it is too late.
- walkerblackwell, on 05/05/2008, -22/+71Wish I could digg this one twice. Well said indeed! We have a lot of work to do in this country and quick! Energy is the biggy and we need a coordinated approach that includes everybody. Obama is the person for that. I like Ron Paul's sensibility (although not some of his racist remarks in the past) but he wouldn't be one for a national get-off-of-oil program. He wants to have private corps take that on with no help from the gov. But private corps have to be invested in and billions from the government invested in green tech is one way to save this country. The other is to enlist 3 million young people to build and install PV and solar-hot-water on every house in America. Every house in America. Period. Then we can focus on power-generation, smart grids, and heat and transportation. Rail-lines have to come back in a big-way. And I'm talking about rail-lines to the suburbs, not just for food transportation and coal. If half of America can't afford to drive to work in two years we will be up-*****-creek. I live in rural Vermont and I know people who already can't afford to drive to work. It's heading to a neighborhood near your next year. So yeah, Mccain won't do crap about that. Hillary won't to crap about that. Obama has the mandate to do something about that already. It doesn't even matter if he is elected or not.
- Justice101, on 05/05/2008, -4/+52George Washington '08
- kprooney, on 05/05/2008, -4/+47This article is really honest, time for us to take a good look at ourselves and man up
- reddevil3, on 05/05/2008, -1/+39I moved to the US a few years ago and I love the amount of opportunities here (I am pursuing a graduate degree). I find it very surprising how Americans aren't more willing to take advantage of so many opportunities. Not to mention the anti-intellectual and anti-science attitudes being more pervasive among the populace and propagated by the government.
Singapore universities are attracting skilled professors from all over the world (including US universities like Harvard and Stanford) to do stem-cell research. They are investing a lot in that area...and there has been almost zero movement regarding stem-cells on the national level. Disappointing. - inactive, on 05/05/2008, -9/+46personally, one of the biggest things that I see as a problem, at least federally with the US is the violation of both the interstate and foreign commerce clause (Article I Section 8 Clause 3) and the 10th amendment.
The federal government was NOT supposed to be an all powerful, all encompasing government, infact it was supposed to have few and specifically listed powers, and the states and people have all the others.
Two things come out of constitutional adherence, first the states grow in power while the feds lose it. This is a good thing, because that at the same time gives more power to the people. Many states allow the people to directly vote on measures that the legislature proposes. The people would actually have a vote in which laws get passed. The other aspect is that its easier to recall or replace politicians in both the state legislature as well as governors office if you disagree with what they are doing. A recent example was Davis being recalled in California just a few years ago.
The federal government has, at the will of the people, expanded its role beyond what was defined and authorized by the constitution. Things like national healthcare are demanded without regard for the constitutional limits forbidding the federal government from doing this (the states have the power if the citizens want it). Yet people will freak if their favourite constitutional provisions are violated, even if only in their imaginations.
I propose that people, *regardless of which party* they affiliate themselves with, vote for constitutional adherence. Stop asking the government to violate more of the constitution just to get what you think you want (and will probably complain later when its mismanaged, over budget and failing miserably like many other governmental projects).
The war on poverty? $7T in 44 years and still there are more poor people today (actually since the 'war' started there has been a steady increase).
The war on drugs? I dont have figures for this but about 1:100 people are in jail now in america, yeah about 1%, largely for drug crimes many for simple possession - yet receive no treatment for their addiction. over 1:40 people in america have been in "the system" at one point or another, drugs being the #1 reason. There is a real cost to this.
States also are no longer free to pass their own laws regarding things like medical marijuana, regardless of how you feel about this particular issue, violating the constitution shouldnt be accepted. Per the 2001 Supreme Court ruling regarding the oakland cannabis club even if you prove the feds dont have jurisdiction per the constitution, they still do. The preamble to the drug statutes (21 USC 801 or so) states that because some drugs are involved in interstate and foreign commerce, and congress cant tell which are and which arent they all are. This is an end run around a limit imposed upon the federal government, is unconstitutional and is not the only example sadly.
The preamble to the firearms statutes (18 USC 921) states that because raw steel crosses state lines (PA to CT where colt firearms is located) that the gun is federal for life. This is yet another end run around that limit. Sadly its one that the supreme court has upheld as well.
Even if you hate guns and drugs lets look at the dangers of this type of legislation. If congress cant tell if they have the power, they do (or if you prove they dont, they do), and once something has been in the federal jurisdiction it is for life. If this were applied to all things the 10th amendment would have no meaning, the federal government would be able to completely remove the power of that amendment. Everything would be federal under the logic of these two laws.
VOTE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL ADHERENCE. Seriously if the federal government was stripped down paying off the national debt would not be that difficult, less money would be wasted on duplicate programs ($73B/year on the federal board of education, which duplicates in most ways what the states also do, there are more examples), the people would have more power, odds are taxes would be less (even if states raised taxes to offset federal programs ending that increase would probably be lower than the decrease in federal tax).
And best of all the people would have more power again to control the government that is supposed to be there to serve them.
Hold politicians accountable with your vote, if they are legislators and do something that violates their constitutional powers, dont reelect them, recall if possible. The same goes for a president.
Please read the constitution and understand what the limits are on the powers of the federal government as well. - conna, on 05/05/2008, -6/+42Ron Paul had been preaching the same thing for years. NeoCon agenda has been burying it for years.
- Facekhan, on 05/05/2008, -4/+40Unfortunately he backed the Iraq war, but at least now he realizes he was wrong. I tried to tell him in 2002 that the war was a bad idea for a wide variety of reasons but he didn't listen. At least now he gets it.
- swrostmore, on 05/05/2008, -4/+37That borrowed time is the perpetual six month period that you assured us over the course of 5 years would lead to victory in Iraq, Friedman.
- Shuukyoku, on 05/05/2008, -4/+36I saw a climatologist talking about global warming and what we have to do to fix it. It wasn't really anything new, the same old "Gas is bad, coal is bad, the oceans are turning to acid and we're all going to die" jazz, but I noticed something funny when he was asked what the biggest impediment to progress was. While he pointed a finger to the Bush administration (and how could you not) he pointed out that there is simply no money for anything so long as we've got this ridiculous war going on in two countries. I think that Americans want to build the bigger, better nation. But I also think we're cultivating a reputation for being warmongers and conquistadors. So we find ourselves at a crossroads between being the people who built the most awesome nation, or the guy who goes stumbling drunk into other peoples countries and rough up the place.
Lets not be that guy, America. - case42tlc, on 05/05/2008, -3/+31We like to despise our politicians for lying to us, but the truth is, we would never tolerate one who told us the truth. We have the government we deserve, and our political candidates lie to us because we demand it of them...
- inactive, on 05/05/2008, -13/+37Friedman may be trying expiate his culpability for the war in Iraq and in general for supporting the neocons. At least in this article he is on track.
- colonelbuckshot, on 05/05/2008, -13/+35'Racist remarks in the past'? You mean the ones he didn't actually make?
- loungecreature, on 05/05/2008, -3/+21I want to vote for the person who would deliver the following speech:
At the opening of the 1960s, President Kennedy challenged this country to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Under my administration, America will once again dare to dream of a transformed world. Through our efforts, we will bring an end to our dependence on oil, once and for all, and we will do it by making the internal combustion engine motor vehicle obsolete. Under our plan, all motor vehicles will run on electricity by 2020. As a result, we will cut oil consumption by 6.2 million barrels a day, eliminating 52% of current imports. By the time we reach 60% of our goal, we will have reduced our carbon-dioxide emissions by 450 million metric tons annually. And perhaps most importantly, we will never again have to sell our children's future to people who hate us. - reddevil3, on 05/05/2008, -0/+16That has nothing to do with technological or scientific achievements.
- CiceroLegume, on 05/05/2008, -1/+17A man without a mustache is not equipped for serious matters.
- scottc, on 05/05/2008, -1/+16That is indeed what this election is all about. We've known for a long time about the problems we face and we as a nation are ready and willing to face them. We don't need any more empty promises (gas tax holiday). We don't need any more scare tactics (the terrorists are going to get you). Most of all, we don't need to be told over and over again that we can't improve our country because all of our money is going to the war, or because our jobs are going overseas, or because the immigrants are running us over.
No more excuses! We have the ability and the desire. We can move beyond the greed of the Clinton years and the fear of the Bush years. We can become a great nation once again. All we need is a leader to get things started and to inspire us to action, and for the first time in decades one has stepped up to the plate. The rest is up to us. Let's do it! - CiceroLegume, on 05/05/2008, -1/+16This is a goddamn great article.
- Cerius, on 05/05/2008, -2/+16Those in power look to this problem with only one answer. The answer is corporate, and multinational corporate success will rain down on the common person. It's like Reaganomics 2.0, but in this context the winners dominate the entire policy making process via lobbyist, campaign contributions and any series of moves.
When politicians talk about fair trade they should be looking to create agreements which are truly beneficial to all unlike pieces like NAFTA. In creating NAFTA the governments of North America destroyed the millenia old substinence farming in Mexico and pushed millions of uneducated Mexicans to the North to seek jobs. The corporate groups in the U.S. exploited this cheap labor and laid off their domestic workers. When they noticed labor would be cheaper in Mexico and other developing nations these same corporate moverrs and shakers put factories in these countries filling their need for labor, but guaranteeing reliance on companies they owned, or cooperated with. A government by and for the rich without regard for what America is and only loyal to currency. - SaintStryfe, on 05/05/2008, -0/+13We can't make Iraq the "Vietnam" of our generation. In that we can't make every person atone or answer for their sin of supporting it. REmember how every pol from Clinton till today is forced to sit there and tell us his accounting of those 16 years? Bah. A lot of people supported that war, a lot of people were against it. I'd rather care what people do now and want to do in the future then if he or she bought Bush's line of crap. And that's as someone who knew the War was a giant ball of crap from the beginning.
- thecoolestguy, on 05/05/2008, -11/+24Who will tell the people that Ron Paul offers the only prescription that will solve these problems, CUT SPENDING? Not Friedman that's for sure.
- hollyminkowski, on 05/05/2008, -0/+12Digging you up for your support of states rights! :-)
So few people understand this idea....the founders of this nation understood it well. - chaosium, on 05/05/2008, -1/+12"Thankfully most Americans don't have such an abysmal opinion of our country."
Americans who think we're doing just fine have no vested interest in separating the myth of "America" from what we are, and what we can be. We don't need fairweather patriots such as yourself. - chaosium, on 05/05/2008, -2/+13Better late than never, I suppose.
- Shuukyoku, on 05/05/2008, -0/+112008's budget has a 200+ billion dollar deficit. Thats this year, and its 200,000,000,000 dollars we have to pay off sometime later. Or, if not us, our children. And you know, much as Americans have shown their tenacity in times of trouble, every great and powerful nation eventually falls. So far, at least.
All I'm saying is that if you think this country can't fall, you need to skip back a few more chapters in that history book of yours. I want you to go back to Rome, start at the beginning where they've got the early representative government and then skip to the end bit where they spread their resources so thin across the globe that their Empire collapses under the weight of their own testicular fortitude. - arjung, on 05/05/2008, -7/+17actually, george washington was not fond of speaking to the public and hand-wrote his state of the unions rather than deliver them verbally.
still dugg b/c george washington is better than obama/clinton/mccain/neocons/neolibs. - madcat033, on 05/05/2008, -5/+15Who will tell the people?
Ron Paul already told them. They just didn't listen. - orxor, on 05/05/2008, -3/+12How would it be disastrous by giving people the option to choose the currency they want to use? He wants to introduce a competing currency that's backed by gold and let the people decide which is better. Or wait you must mean the disastrous plan of saving the US 1 trillion dollars per year by having a reasonable foreign policy. Or the plan of getting rid of the federal reserve that is not necessary even if the US kept the fiat currency it has now, The government can make it's own money without paying interest on it. Or you must getting rid of the income tax that doesn't go back to the people, instead every single penny of it is spend on the interest the US gov pays to the federal reserve and bureaucracy as has been shown by an investigation during the Regan administration. Getting rid of the income tax would reduce the burden on lower income families and would cause them to spend that money on things they need which would drastically improve the economy. And if all that is not reason enough consider the words of Thomas Jefferson when speaking about the government he said it "shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned." That sounds a lot like no income tax to me.
- KazamaSmokers, on 05/05/2008, -2/+11But McCain is more of the same, don't ya know.
- 4pple5auce, on 05/05/2008, -3/+12uhhh, what? I don't see how you can be for states rights and civil liberties if you allow an enigmatic central bank with little congressional oversight to inflate or deflate a currency at it's whim. I think you need to go do some research on austrian economics.
- oldgal, on 05/05/2008, -0/+8We also need a leader who will supply frameworks that help us become a part of the solution.
- 4pple5auce, on 05/05/2008, -7/+14Ron Paul
- chaosium, on 05/05/2008, -4/+11"I moved to the US a few years ago and I love the amount of opportunities here (I am pursuing a graduate degree). I find it very surprising how Americans aren't more willing to take advantage of so many opportunities. Not to mention the anti-intellectual and anti-science attitudes being more pervasive among the populace and propagated by the government."
Much appreciated that you can, those that you speak of are the "spoiled brats" raised in comparative security and wasting their opportunities for personal and intellectual advancement. - fearlessfx, on 05/05/2008, -1/+8Your message is a penetrating one.
- rolf, on 05/05/2008, -5/+12Unless the delegates do something drastic -- which wouldn't be a bad thing-- Ron Paul won't be elected. If you are talking about Obama, I am dubious because in many speeches he is talking about increasing spending in many areas.
The reason we are bankrupt towards the future is not only because of not just Iraq/military spending, but mostly because of medicare/medicaid/healthcare/social security (it is true our politicians throughout the decades raided those funds in the past for MANY different crap and put IOUs in its place and now those chickens come to roost).
Anyway, whether Obama's increased spending in areas can be looked on as entitlements or investments or a mix of the two is another debate. I think it's likely he'll be our next president, but Ron Paul was the only one I heard who was talking about cutting spending which is the true answer. Hopefully, I'll have to eat crow if Obama does cut spending -- but only raising taxes and cutting military spending or getting out of Iraq is not a complete path out of our crisis -- this comes the now former Comptroller General of the General Accountability Office David Walker, appointed by Clinton (served 1993-2008) and served in various roles since the first Bush administration, who just resigned but has been on a crusade to inform fellow citizens since he gave up on politicians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_M._Walker_%28U. ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS2fI2p9iVs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btCmQJXTyTw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vJaHBkUEpk - tgarza17, on 05/05/2008, -0/+6I think we could get cars to run on Rice Krispies if we really wanted to. The point is that America is capable of great things, but our government doesn't seem to care about that anymore. All we get are short term fixes, and tiny improvements that just aren't keeping pace with the rest of the world. We desperately need change. Not Obama's hollow, expensive change, but something. If not a breakthrough in domestic or foreign policy, then at least some technological breakthrough that will bear some prosperity.
trixterIreland - Electric motors have more low-end torque than combustion engines. The power is there, you'd just need more of them. Or maybe larger vehicles would run on something else. We'd figure it out. It IS a simplistic plan. So was Kennedy's - put a man on the moon. But I submit we'd better figure it now, on our own terms and schedule, then let the Middle East cut us off and laugh while we scramble to keep our nation from grinding to a halt.
StanleyKoolPrik - This apathy is one of the reasons America is in the ***** right now. Why do you even bother? Go spend your tax rebate check, and be content with the masses. Vote for Hillary, she'll garnish my paycheck so you can be taken care of properly.
freediverx - Obviously there's more to the plan, possibly a mix of nuclear plants, wind, and tide generators. We need to allocate resources to research solutions for safety, efficiency, and waste management. But no one in government wants that to happen while the petroleum industry is raking in the $$$. They'd rather perpetuate fear and dependence. - freediverx, on 05/05/2008, -2/+8How will switching to electric cars eliminate 52% of oil imports? What are you going to use to run the power plants that deliver the electricity those cars will use?
- rthakidn, on 05/05/2008, -0/+5I agree with the sentiments of the article, but remember the old saying: "the grass is not always greener". The education system in Singapore will gladly choose the profession of their choice base on your performance in elementary school. Also, the 2 years of compulsory service in the military, with reserve status until age 55. And let’s face it, those unfortunate ones that don't do well in elementary school, well let's just say there not driving a Escalade around. Their system works because of the (from the article);"the Asian values of our parents’ generation — work hard, study, save, invest, live within your means". Not the, what your country can do for YOU mentality.
- chaosium, on 05/05/2008, -1/+6I agree, the Open Geospatial Consortium should tell the people.
- insllvn, on 05/05/2008, -19/+24I liked 2/3 of Ron Paul, his foreign policy and his views on civil liberties and state rights. His economic position is outdated and would have been disastrous.
- Fanboy88, on 05/05/2008, -1/+6Singapore and China have trillions of dollars in their reserves. The USA has -9.5 trillion in reserve. While the USA has been fighting the "Terrorist", Singapore and China have been busy building infrastructure. They now have the strongest economies. China just open the largest building in the world...it's Beijing Airport. They have plans to build 90 more new airports in their country. In the USA, cities and highways are falling apart. Companies are moving their manufacturing to overseas.
The best thing the USA can do is invest in itself. Instead of spending big dollars on the war machine, it can create a Marshall Plan to rebuild it's crappy cities like Detroit, St. Louis, Baltimore and others. Educate all the young people. Critical thinking skills are so important to a society. Everyone should have healthcare. The USA can be a great country again. Their is no reason why the USA should elect a crappy president like they will in this election. It is very sad. - chaosium, on 05/05/2008, -4/+9"As disturbing as those Obama's close friend and spiritual adviser made "
Wright was a saint compared to Lew's disgusting commentary, but he never ghostwrote Obama's official newsletter for dozens of years, thankfully. - raisputin3, on 05/05/2008, -7/+12He sounds like a Ron Paul supporter to me
- kuppoppo, on 05/05/2008, -0/+5Glad to see someone is using their word-a-day calendar!
- sonstone, on 05/05/2008, -0/+5Another part of the problem is that our founders assumed that the American's were an "intelligent and well informed" electorate. Sadly, I don't believe this is the case anymore. As I read the works of our founding fathers it saddens me to think that there is a large body of people that couldn't even comprehend what they are saying. Our politicians today can't start an intelligent dialogue with the people without being accused of being elitist. Imagine how elitist the founding fathers would be considered if they were to publish the federalist papers today.
- 11oops, on 05/05/2008, -8/+13As disturbing as those Obama's close friend and spiritual adviser made -- the same friend and adviser Obama initially protected before distancing himself? I also doubt Obama made them, but it's certainly disturbing...
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