Is the Republican party done?

[DriXnaK]

Good question, and one that requires a national conversation. Personally I'd consider 'wealthy' to be way above that point, but thats why we scale taxes of course.

We scale taxes for political purposes. Case in point, Obama won through class warfare and a message of "Pay no heed to my policies, the real problem is that rich white guy holding you down." You should stop looking at policies from some altruistic help the people standpoint and start looking at it from a what does the politician gain standpoint.

This is where I get frustrated however, the answer to inefficient government is to make government more efficient, not to trash it. It shouldn't be coming down to the decisions of individual government workers, there should be a well crafted system with decent safeguards to prevent abuse.

Government is by nature inefficient, corrupt, and self serving. That assumption is what this country was founded on. Those who claim otherwise are either ignorant of the founding principles, or are simply being dishonest to serve their own ends. The whole point of the US was to take power away from the government and put it in the hands of individuals. I don't expect Europeans to understand this concept, and thankfully they can't vote in US elections.

Politicians are usually crooked ambitious bastards, but that doesn't mean no-one in politics cares about improving the lives of those worse off.

Yes it does. Anyone who believes otherwise is naive and shouldn't be voting. What you should be voting for is the politician who promises to do the least. Government isn't what gave you that computer you're typing on, and it wasn't god either. If you want to improve lives, innovate and invent. The only role government plays in that is how much it hinders the speed of the process. Regulation, taxation, redistribution, they all slow the speed of human advancement.

I'm actually a long time opponent of most unions, but at the same time I understand why they need to exist. If we can take their destruction off the table, then I have no issues with controlling their worst excesses.

The free market is more than enough to negate any purposes the unions might have fulfilled. This isn't the first half of the 20th century anymore, and there's a reason why union membership has steadily declined. It's downright illegal to prevent someone from working unless they join the union, but it's allowed because Democrats make laws allowing it and in turn they get money for it.

On a final note, the government employs some of the least skilled and capable in society. Why would you ever want to allow it to make decisions? The best government is a government that has a minimal role in society.

[MrFun]

On a final note .....

Promise? Cause we get it now that you have a pathological hatred for anything having to do with government.

[DriXnaK]

Is that kind of like your pathological need to make sure everyone knows you're gay and feel oppressed by America? How's life as a house husband these days? All that experience vacuuming carpets must be coming in handy.

[Ben Kenobi]

I'm sure that's not all he sucks.

[Ben Kenobi]

Explain how a retarded person with down syndrome can be given equal opportunity as someone with a high IQ. I'm getting the impression you believe in neither equal outcome nor equal opportunity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSDoPY9B0wQ

[kentonio]

We scale taxes for political purposes. Case in point, Obama won through class warfare and a message of "Pay no heed to my policies, the real problem is that rich white guy holding you down." You should stop looking at policies from some altruistic help the people standpoint and start looking at it from a what does the politician gain standpoint.

You see everything through a prism of government hatred. It distorts your vision.

Government is by nature inefficient, corrupt, and self serving. That assumption is what this country was founded on. Those who claim otherwise are either ignorant of the founding principles, or are simply being dishonest to serve their own ends. The whole point of the US was to take power away from the government and put it in the hands of individuals. I don't expect Europeans to understand this concept, and thankfully they can't vote in US elections.

The US was founded on the idea of power being taken from the hands of small groups (monarchies etc) and placed in the hands of the people. It was never about stopping the people from working together for the good of all. You would understand that if you stopped seeing government as an external entity and started seeing it as nothing more than the means of the people to govern themselves. If anything your way of thinking (which is that of many on the right) prevents moves to improve government, because you're so focused on it being the enemy that you do very little to help improve it.

Yes it does. Anyone who believes otherwise is naive and shouldn't be voting. What you should be voting for is the politician who promises to do the least. Government isn't what gave you that computer you're typing on, and it wasn't god either. If you want to improve lives, innovate and invent. The only role government plays in that is how much it hinders the speed of the process. Regulation, taxation, redistribution, they all slow the speed of human advancement.

Those who trust politicians without question are fools, but those who see all government as evil are no less foolish. Cynicism is a valuable trait but when you just turn your back on society then you leave rationality behind.

The free market is more than enough to negate any purposes the unions might have fulfilled. This isn't the first half of the 20th century anymore, and there's a reason why union membership has steadily declined. It's downright illegal to prevent someone from working unless they join the union, but it's allowed because Democrats make laws allowing it and in turn they get money for it.

The free market is the reason unions need to exist in the first place. Corporations cannot be trusted to do the right thing, and so measures are necessary to prevent their excesses. If you legislate strong employee protection laws then maybe unions will become obsolete, but as the US is currently pushing in the opposite direction on workers rights, unions remain a necessary evil.

On a final note, the government employs some of the least skilled and capable in society. Why would you ever want to allow it to make decisions? The best government is a government that has a minimal role in society.

Why do the least skilled and capable go into government? Answer that and you might go some way towards building better government. This 'minimal role' stuff all sounds well and good until you realize that in modern society the 'minimal role' is actually vast. You're right this isn't the start of the twentieth century, we live in countries with huge populations with enormous needs and expectations. Government allows us to provide many services to society as a whole far more cheaply and efficiently than each individual trying to provide their own. Universal healthcare being the obvious example.

[Aeson]

I've sacrificed a tremendous amount to get where I'm at.

Like those thousands of hours you spent dominating noobs in AOE III and complaining on message boards about how people don't show you enough respect? Thank you for your sacrifice!

[MrFun]

Like those thousands of hours you spent dominating noobs in AOE III and complaining on message boards about how people don't show you enough respect? Thank you for your sacrifice!

[Kidlicious]

We don't understand because he's better than us.

[DriXnaK]

Like those thousands of hours you spent dominating noobs in AOE III and complaining on message boards about how people don't show you enough respect? Thank you for your sacrifice!

Not sure where you got that from. I don't recall how many posts I had but I got banned for life pretty fast so it couldn't have been much. I played that game 6 years ago and for only a couple of months. You can go back to living in obscurity now. Also, for a guy who comes from a rich family and apparently couldn't take his life of ease living it up on the beach everyday, I'm not sure you're really one to talk about sacrifice.

[DriXnaK]

We don't understand because he's better than us.

I am better than you. You're a Christian communist, how can't I be better?

[Kidlicious]

I am better than you. You're a Christian communist, how can't I be better?

I believe in equality. That makes me a christian, not a communist.

[Aeson]

Not sure where you got that from. I don't recall how many posts I had but I got banned for life pretty fast so it couldn't have been much. I played that game 6 years ago and for only a couple of months.

Your life centered around gaming and whining/bragging about the games you played for years. Whether it was playing AOE III, Civ II, or bragging about how you played AOE III and Civ II, or whining about Civ III and IV and how you couldn't excel at them ... and likely much the same could be said for the plethora of other games you played that we're blissfully unaware of.

There's nothing wrong with playing games of course. Most of us here have done it quite a lot and would do it more if the opportunity presented itself. Just don't try to pretend your life has been so difficult and how you worked so tirelessly at bettering yourself when we all know that playing games and posting on internet forums for a decade+ isn't really much of a sacrifice ... (unless we're talking about sacrificing your future for up-front enjoyment)

You went out and got a job a couple years ago, and that is certainly a good thing, so congrats on that. Most people you look down on have been working too. Many for much longer than you.

Also, for a guy who comes from a rich family and apparently couldn't take his life of ease living it up on the beach everyday, I'm not sure you're really one to talk about sacrifice.

I'm not talking about sacrifice ... you are. I'm mocking you for your obvious hypocrisy.

I personally find the opportunities here much more exciting than what was available in the US. It's no sacrifice for me, even compared to an easy life of gaming and hanging out at the beach. It's an adventure and challenge. You might feel otherwise if you came here and did the things I do though. Everyone has different preferences.

[DriXnaK]

Your life centered around gaming and whining/bragging about the games you played for years. Whether it was playing AOE III, Civ II, or bragging about how you played AOE III and Civ II, or whining about Civ III and IV and how you couldn't excel at them ... and likely much the same could be said for the plethora of other games you played that we're blissfully unaware of.

Uh, no. First, I've had a full time job since I was about 20. Before that I worked part time while going to school. I played games at night after I went to the gym and after I taught tennis all day. The only games I have played in the past 13 years are Civ 2, AOE 3, AOE 2, and Civ4. Civ 2 I played in highschool and in my first couple of years of college. Most of the time spent playing games was actually AOE 2. AOE 3 sucked, and I stopped after a couple months. CIv 4 sucked as well, and my departure from that game is well known. Civ 3 I didn't even bother with, I stuck with civ 2, after I tried it out and thought it sucked. So basically AOE 2 for the most part. Your comment about me not having a job is obviously false since I've been a tennis instructor full time all that time while going to school part time here and there. Now, you can make the argument that I wasn't bettering myself intellectually at that time since my main focus during the mid 2000s was finances and improving myself physically. Obviously I didn't make off with much in the way of money teaching tennis.

I got pretty bored of AOE 2 around 2006. I took year long breaks at a time and would come back whenever I got the urge to play again. Starting in 2007 most my time was spent on college, teaching tennis, and eventually teaching myself Japanese. I also tried unsuccessfully to start a business along the way. When my options ran out, and I graduated with a marketing degree that obviously wasn't going to get me a job I switched gears. 2200$ got me an IT degree from Western Governors University. During that time though, I literally worked morning till night 7 days a week. My day off was when I went and passed a certification test after studying all morning, and then I'd reward myself with my previously mentioned frozen pizza. Even that though couldn't get me a job.

That's when I taught myself programming, and the very first interview I had I got a job at. Nowhere in there did I play games all day long. The only purpose games served was an escape for me since they cost nothing to play them other than an internet connection. Posting on forums actually honed my writing skills btw, so I have no regrets whatsoever in that regard. My only regret is that I didn't learn programming sooner. Hindsight is 20/20 though. There were skills I learned along the way that have served me well today. Even though I still feel I lost a lot of years in tennis, I know it wasn't completely a waste.

On a side note, I haven't taken a day off in a month and have been working all day while I've been writing posts on here. It's not uncommon for me to go as many as 3 months without a day off. I did the same thing when I was teaching tennis.

In what world could you and I ever be considered equals Aeson?

[Asher]

The more you post, the less I like you.