So I'm a Republican now.

[Lucky... 0]

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The U.S. Constitution is less than a quarter the length of the owner's manual for a 1998 Toyota Camry, and yet it has managed to keep 300 million of the world's most unruly, passionate and energetic people safe, prosperous and free.
P. J. O'Rourke

That's a fantastic quote ... love the latter part!

Amazing and humbling
document!
VR/Marg

>>>>>>Amazing and humbling document!

Not so much. It is overstated and lacks much. For its time it was amazing, by today's standard it is poop. For example:

1) It was written by people who, after spending a dy guaranteeing freedom and liberty, went home to their slaves, often screwing them (rape).

2) Only the rich/land owners voted

3) At the writng, we were ~85 years away from abolishing slavery, which really wasn't abolished until the early 1900's, then racial oppression took over for another 60 years. Antimiscegenation (laws prohibiting white females to marry other than white males) werewitten post-Civil War.

4) Women were ~150 years from being able to vote.

And in general, the constitution is a tool selectively used to enforce laws or enforce protections at the whim of who's in power.

Also, the word, "privacy" is no where to be found in the Articles, Preamble, Amendments or anywhere in teh US Const. The document is like Paris Hilton; talked about too much for no good reason.

[Lucky... 0]

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Have you read "How to Explain Conservatism to Your Squishy Liberal Friends: Individualism 'R' Us"?

good article. I agree with him, and I call it "liberalism" I'm a small-government liberal.

However, he's only telling one side. The definition of conservative is : 1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change. (from dictionary.com)

Unfortunately, many who call themselves conservatives will use big government to enforce those ideals. That's why so many conservatives want the government to police our bedrooms and other aspects of our personal lives, and to do so using expensive and aggressive government-run programs.

One of the old institutions that SOME conservatives also want to preserve is the old principle of eternal warfare and imperialism. In fact, it seems that in the minds of many Conservatives, militarism and patriotism are the same thing.
War is the most expensive big government program of all, and imperialism is big government on steroids.

That's why I call myself a liberal, not a conservative. And yes, I would gladly do away with many of the big government economic safety nets if it would mean we could also do away with this whole World Policeman trip we're on.

Libertarian = disgruntled Republican. Look at Paul, he goes back and forth. Reagan had Libertarian ties too. How do you make a liberal? Take a tight-ass conservative and put them in a position of great need. They make the biggest whiners, they call for all kinds of gov help, the same shit they denounced in the previous years.

The Libertarians will get their 2-3% votes, and Paul acting like a Republican, a short jump, will get maybe 4%. The party is really a joke, take the biggest issue, healthcare and ignore it and call it fixed. It really is justified why they are thought of as a joke.

[Lucky... 0]

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So do you think people can tell I'm a Republican now, just by looking at me? Like from across the street?

Well, actually the horns on your head are a dead giveaway from a good hundred yards.

You look like Sean Hannity

[Lucky... 0]

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The U.S. Constitution is less than a quarter the length of the owner's manual for a 1998 Toyota Camry, and yet it has managed to keep 300 million of the world's most unruly, passionate and energetic people safe, prosperous and free.
P. J. O'Rourke

That's a fantastic quote ... love the latter part!

Amazing and humbling document!

VR/Marg

I disagree; it's superficially clever but incorrect. O'R has completely forgotten about the US Code. Title 26 ALONE runs to 9,471 pages and over 7 million words. There are 49 other Titles and then some appendices. THEN there are the State documents.

I agree, the US COnst is a document for those who decided not to go to college. It's essentially a doc for dummies to feel safe.

[SpeedRacer 1]

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Libertarian = disgruntled Republican. Look at Paul, he goes back and forth. Reagan had Libertarian ties too. How do you make a liberal? Take a tight-ass conservative and put them in a position of great need. They make the biggest whiners, they call for all kinds of gov help, the same shit they denounced in the previous years.

The Libertarians will get their 2-3% votes, and Paul acting like a Republican, a short jump, will get maybe 4%. The party is really a joke, take the biggest issue, healthcare and ignore it and call it fixed. It really is justified why they are thought of as a joke.

yeah. and that's why when the Democrats were in power, everything got solved.

Speed Racer
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[1969912 0]

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The U.S. Constitution is less than a quarter the length of the owner's manual for a 1998 Toyota Camry, and yet it has managed to keep 300 million of the world's most unruly, passionate and energetic people safe, prosperous and free.
P. J. O'Rourke

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I disagree; it's superficially clever but incorrect. O'R has completely forgotten about the US Code. Title 26 ALONE runs to 9,471 pages and over 7 million words. There are 49 other Titles and then some appendices. THEN there are the State documents.

The documents you referenced are not part of the U.S Constition.

"Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ."
-NickDG

[1969912 0]

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France is like a great compass, which ever way they point to, go the complete opposite direction and you'll be fine.
P.J. O'Rourke

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We tried that in 2003, and look what a quagmire THAT landed us in.

Thank you for the help. I thought he was being serious. Won't use that quote again. (This time I AM being intentionally nasty)

"Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ."
-NickDG

[SpeedRacer 1]

Slavery is not a part of our world today, so what's the point of bringing it up as a point of controversy.

The sins of the Founders were not because their ideals were wrong; their sins were to the extent that they failed to live up to them.

As our sins are today.

And as for your crap about Liberatarian = disgruntled republican.

Find any post where I promoted US government aggression to promote foreign interventionism & imperialism, or "Moral Majority"-type legislation to have the government put its big clumsy mitts into personal & private conduct.

Your statement that the Constitution is Poop is, sadly, a common sentiment today however. That sentiment account for the "Tweedledum vs. Tweedledee" battle that our elections amount to nowadays.

Our Presidents and Congressmen both, when they take office, raise their hand & swear to protect & defend the Constitution of the United States of America.

Unfortunately, both the politicians, and many of the American populace, fail to take that document seriously.

To them, their agendas are more important, and the Constitution is, as you said, "poop," or something to be waddded up & used to wipe up that poop, in spite of their vows to uphold it.

(Those who, in the 1770's, had the audacity to suggest that a viable government could be constructed without a monarchy, were considered unrealistic too.)


I will continue to stand up & vote for a system of integrity & values that is something more than "poop," in spite of how I am denigrated as being unrealistic.
I am tired of voting for the lesser of two evils.

That is why I am a Libertarian.

Speed Racer
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[joedirt 0]

You socialists are funny... you think the "government" will take care of poor people.

[Lucky... 0]

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Libertarian = disgruntled Republican. Look at Paul, he goes back and forth. Reagan had Libertarian ties too. How do you make a liberal? Take a tight-ass conservative and put them in a position of great need. They make the biggest whiners, they call for all kinds of gov help, the same shit they denounced in the previous years.

The Libertarians will get their 2-3% votes, and Paul acting like a Republican, a short jump, will get maybe 4%. The party is really a joke, take the biggest issue, healthcare and ignore it and call it fixed. It really is justified why they are thought of as a joke.

yeah. and that's why when the Democrats were in power, everything got solved.

1) Apparently you agree, as you didn't reject any of what I wrote.

2) I am very critical of the Dems, do you want a lost of what I dislike that they have done? I haven't always voted that way.


Eisenhower was a very ideal pres to me, but that was before the garbage yook over. I think GHW Bush would have been a great pres if detachtched from Reagan. I think Ford would have been diff had he been elected conventionally instead of dropped in and required to pardon Nixon.

As for Dems soving everything, contemporarily, which is the only honest and inteligent way to look at this issue, we have had 8 years of Dem over the last 26 years and let's see what happened.

- deficit was balanced to zero

- Value of US currency was incr over the world

- People we generally happier, world didn't hate us like this

- Unemployement went under 4% while wages were up and inflation was under control

- There were college tax credits and general tax andvantages for poor people / average joe



Those were the good ole days and Hillary will be elected under those feelings; the people wanna getback to the way we felt then.

[kallend 2,184]

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The U.S. Constitution is less than a quarter the length of the owner's manual for a 1998 Toyota Camry, and yet it has managed to keep 300 million of the world's most unruly, passionate and energetic people safe, prosperous and free.
P. J. O'Rourke

Quote

I disagree; it's superficially clever but incorrect. O'R has completely forgotten about the US Code. Title 26 ALONE runs to 9,471 pages and over 7 million words. There are 49 other Titles and then some appendices. THEN there are the State documents.

The documents you referenced are not part of the U.S Constition.

So? Read the second part of O'R's sentence, the part AFTER the comma.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[nerdgirl 0]

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The U.S. Constitution is less than a quarter the length of the owner's manual for a 1998 Toyota Camry, and yet it has managed to keep 300 million of the world's most unruly, passionate and energetic people safe, prosperous and free.
P. J. O'Rourke

That's a fantastic quote ... love the latter part!

Amazing and humbling document!

I disagree; it's superficially clever but incorrect. O'R has completely forgotten about the US Code. Title 26 ALONE runs to 9,471 pages and over 7 million words. There are 49 other Titles and then some appendices. THEN there are the State documents.

Yes, you are precise in the literal sense w/r/t the US Code. The US Code has sections covering topics as disparate as the Space Shuttle, Chemical Weapons demilitarization, and internet pornography. All of which the drafters did not foresee.

The U.S. Constitution is the framework for our great experiment in representative democracy. While we may disagree vehemently on who we would like to see occupy the Oval Office and the Capitol, very few Americans want to overturn the rule of law by representative democracy as conceived, debated, and put into practice by that group of imperfect men 220 years ago.

VR/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[tbrown 26]

>>>>>>Amazing and humbling document!

Not so much. It is overstated and lacks much. For its time it was amazing, by today's standard it is poop. For example:

1) It was written by people who, after spending a dy guaranteeing freedom and liberty, went home to their slaves, often screwing them (rape).

2) Only the rich/land owners voted

3) At the writng, we were ~85 years away from abolishing slavery, which really wasn't abolished until the early 1900's, then racial oppression took over for another 60 years. Antimiscegenation (laws prohibiting white females to marry other than white males) werewitten post-Civil War.

4) Women were ~150 years from being able to vote.

And in general, the constitution is a tool selectively used to enforce laws or enforce protections at the whim of who's in power.

Also, the word, "privacy" is no where to be found in the Articles, Preamble, Amendments or anywhere in teh US Const. The document is like Paris Hilton; talked about too much for no good reason.

[Lindsey 0]

A liberal is just a conservative who's been arrested, and a conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. LOL! Got that in an e-mail today. Made me laugh.

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[mnealtx 0]

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A liberal is just a conservative who's been arrested, and a conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. LOL! Got that in an e-mail today. Made me laugh.

'Morning, Doc Linz - it *does* make a twisted sort of sense, doesn't it?

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[warpedskydiver 0]

Slavery is very well alive and in many cases thriving.

Check the facts out and see for yourself.

[NCclimber 0]

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Slavery is very well alive and in many cases thriving.

Check the facts out and see for yourself.

While he said "our world", I think he meant it figuratively, about life in the US.

[warpedskydiver 0]

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Libertarian = disgruntled Republican. Look at Paul, he goes back and forth. Reagan had Libertarian ties too. How do you make a liberal? Take a tight-ass conservative and put them in a position of great need. They make the biggest whiners, they call for all kinds of gov help, the same shit they denounced in the previous years.

The Libertarians will get their 2-3% votes, and Paul acting like a Republican, a short jump, will get maybe 4%. The party is really a joke, take the biggest issue, healthcare and ignore it and call it fixed. It really is justified why they are thought of as a joke.

yeah. and that's why when the Democrats were in power, everything got solved.

1) Apparently you agree, as you didn't reject any of what I wrote.

2) I am very critical of the Dems, do you want a lost of what I dislike that they have done? I haven't always voted that way.


Eisenhower was a very ideal pres to me, but that was before the garbage yook over. I think GHW Bush would have been a great pres if detachtched from Reagan. I think Ford would have been diff had he been elected conventionally instead of dropped in and required to pardon Nixon.

As for Dems soving everything, contemporarily, which is the only honest and inteligent way to look at this issue, we have had 8 years of Dem over the last 26 years and let's see what happened.

- deficit was balanced to zero

- Value of US currency was incr over the world

- People we generally happier, world didn't hate us like this

- Unemployement went under 4% while wages were up and inflation was under control

- There were college tax credits and general tax andvantages for poor people / average joe



Those were the good ole days and Hillary will be elected under those feelings; the people wanna getback to the way we felt then.

Prove what you just said, first of all our national debt never was zero or even close to it.

Man, you need to wake the fuck up.

Our national debt may never be zero.

We still have not paid our debtors from back in 1933.

You take some data that was contrived to portray some sort of surplus and the fact is it never actually occurred.