<rant>

Earlier this year, Hillary Clinton made an "ill advised" statement, saying that the civil rights essentially became real when it was signed into law by a president. That it took politicians to effect change, to improve people's lives. Predictably, the media went on briefly about race relations, but moreso about Hillary and Barack duking it out. Then it went away.

An important (and obvious) question was never asked, and that's "What good have politicians actually done for us?" Sure, they make a budget every year, carry on the details to keep things running. Sort of like the operating system software on a computer. It doesn't do anything real of its own, but it plays a supporting role.

We all know the other team is vile and evil. If you're a Democrat, you know the Republicans are untrustworthy snakes who want to take your money, and send your children to die in the desert. If you're a Republican, you know the Democrats are a bunch of pansies who want to make a utopia. Both teams disagree with 100 % of what the other team stands for - because we define our teams and membership in them, by the things we disagree about. It's easy, maybe even designed, to make us lose sight of everything we have in common.

When I hear the Democrats making up after a primary, by talking about how we all need to pull together so we can defeat the Republicans, I wonder why should this be our overriding goal? The Republicans say exactly the same thing, that defeating the Democrats is the most important thing. But if each party has its own ideas that it stands for - shouldn't these be a more important goal than just winning?

Or is it really just high school football?

</rant>

Of course politics is the problem..

A long time ago politics became about segregating the people in to different groups and then getting those groups to not like each other.. Then you try to get enough of the groups on your side..

There is a lot of lip service paid to working together and forming coalitions when they really just want more power for themselves..

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

We all know the other team is vile and evil. If you're a Democrat, you know the Republicans are untrustworthy snakes who want to take your money, and send your children to die in the desert. If you're a Republican, you know the Democrats are a bunch of pansies who want to make a utopia. Both teams disagree with 100 % of what the other team stands for - because we define our teams and membership in them, by the things we disagree about. It's easy, maybe even designed, to make us lose sight of everything we have in common.

Maybe in the sense of the team as a whole, but I imagine most of America is in the middle agreeing with some things that each party stands for. It seems during election year, it has less to do with real beliefs and more to do with posturing. If McCain said the sky is blue, Obama would probably tell you why it isn't exactly blue and why McCain is wrong for telling you it is(Feel free to swap McCain's and Obama's name). At the end of the day, I don't think 90% of America really gets that polarized, and mostly just shrugs off the idiocy.

Regarding the useless candidates we wind up with from our two party system, it has a lot to do with the one person one vote thing. Two major parties are the natural outcome of people not wanting to "Waste" their votes. The Single Transferable vote would empower 3rd party candidates, though I'm not entirely convinced that is a good thing. Slow change=stability.

I can't believe that everybody is on the same page on this one. I'll go and agree with everybody else in this thread. People seem to be agreeing that the balkanization in politics doesn't exist in the real world, outside politics. All the frenzy about an un-unified democratic party after Hillorama isn't going to spill over into a civil war with neighbors killing neighbors.

I've been called a liberal, but I'm not a member of a political party, I vote for whoever represents me, no matter what party they belong to, and I find myself respecting people from most points along the spectrum. I hope that applies to everybody. I think, for the most part, it does.

I'm not surprised at all.. Any person seems pretty much able to get along with any other person.. It's group think that gets things all screwed up.. You hear about the wisdom of the masses, but I don't think that there is any such thing..

I've been called a fascist for my views on welfare and self responsibility and a tree hugger for the green way I live my life, according to dogma I should really by burning tires for heat or not driving my F350 Dually..

Of course there is this wisdom of the masses. But most of the time it is not heard or it is oppressed. How many voters in this country will vote for one candidate and the other thousands or millions will vote for the other one... One voter would think that the other is a good vote and the other is not, and vice versa. so which ever candidate will win, one voter will be disappointed.