I love America

[DaBurglar]

This is the "ANYTHING and EVERYTHING" section so.......It's the epitome of ignorance when people resort to accusing other people of being "anti-american" or not loving "their country", when all a person is doing is pointing out the truly absurd and VERY real problems that exist with the USA........this country has major faults and issues, and if I want to point them out and talk about them, WITH a view to raising awareness or coming up with answers/solutions, THAT in itself does NOT mean I do not LOVE my country.There are many wonderful things about the USA, that much is obvious and without question.    Among the greatest things is the fact we can have open debate and discussion about our problems.......in many parts of the world people cannot do this....Here's another thing:  just because I happen to support Veteran's rights, or give money to several organizations that help Veterans (like providing service dogs, or giving to the local VA Hospital a yearly donation), this does not confer upon me sainthood or make me a better person than someone who chooses to NOT give to Veterans groups.......I do not abuse my best friend because he gives all his charitable donations to greenpeace.....!!Everyone see where I am going with that????

[Minn. Fatz]

After considerable thought, study and not inconsiderable experience I've come to the conclusion that the USA, like most powerful nations throughout history, does not act in the world out of "good" or "evil" intentions. It acts in the world because it can, and in defense of its interests; which usually if not always are the interests of its ruling elite. In this respect, it's no better or worse than Russia, China, Iran, Israel, or the British, Hapsburg or Roman Empires.

There is a myth/propaganda line that, even though the USA acts in its own interests most if not all of the time, for some reason those interests are the same as the "interests of the world," whatever those are supposed to be. There is another that the failings of the USA, international and domestic, are somehow the fault of individuals or groups that have lost sight of some uniquely American vision/mission, and if only the right people ran things this vision/mission would be fulfilled.

I myself, when younger and in my own way, bought into these myths. But the recent disaster in the Middle East, the global economic near-collapse and the realization that the two major political parties are nothing more or less than two branches of the same party, entirely owned and operated by a small elite, have lifted the scales from my eyes. I no longer subscribe to the myth of "American exceptionalism," and imo more clearly see the many shortcomings of the country in which I happened to be born.

As for support for veterans, my last used car but one came with a set of special license plates expressing support for veterans. I renewed them for several years, thinking it was in a good cause and paying the extra "contribution" to Minnesota's veterans' fund.

Then I learned that a previous Governor had raided that fund in order to raise the salary of an individual in his office who was supposed to be a sort of liaison on veterans' issues with faith communities from $60,000 to $90,000.

I got rid of those plates in short order.

[doris13]

was it jesse ventura?

[DaBurglar]

Thanks for that awesome post Minn fatz......very well written, and I agree with most of what you stated.I totally agree with your statement that BOTH major political parties in this country, Democrats and Republicans, are essentially the same in terms of being controlled by "elite" groups of wealthy donors and constituents, and also for both being influenced by certain ZEALOUS special interest groups and organizations that are able to wield influence and power FAR beyond their numbers actual merit.Here is what I mean:  The Republicans are well known to be recipients of large donations from the EXTREMELY wealthy individuals in the USA, like the KOCH brothers (who by the way are one of the PRIME beneficiaries of the KEYSTONE deal), Donald Trump, "Shelly" Adelson and many other BILLIONAIRES (with a "B")    They are also the party of special interest groups like the NRA, and many so-called Christian Evangelical organizations whose actual numbers do not justify the actual influence and dominance of the Republican agenda that seems to happen at times.On the other side, the Democrats have supposedly in their corner, Warren Buffet and Mr. George Soros....they are also the party that seems to attract LARGE donations from WEALTHY groups / organizations like the many powerful UNIONS.....Democrats also have their agenda(s) dominated by zealous groups like the Gay and Lesbian Caucus, and many other special interest groups with a narrow focus and limited numbers of memebers, and yet they seemingly DOMINATE the democrats message and  headlines!!!It's insulting to most middle of the road, intelligent Americans like You....and me!     I would wager that many people who ZEALOUSLY proclaim themselves to be either a Democrat or a Republican truly do not realize the full extent of what their party represents or what their party supports......Democrats are portrayed as the party of "BIG Government"  while Republicans are portrayed as the party that wants to "limit Government"....by what the hell do these two viewpoints/positions actually MEAN, in theory OR in practice?      Where I stand (or sit), it is simply a difference in what each party WANTS to spend money on via the government, or WHICH areas of life each party wants the government involved in.......The Republicans simply want to spend MORE money on different things than the democrats, and vice versa, and they differ on who should and should not PAY for it in the form of TAXES (and who should PAY those taxes)......Some examples:  The democrats want to spend spend spend on social programs like helping working mothers who give birth to stay at home for 3 months while the baby nurses so that they receive FULL pay and benefits during this time, and then pay for daycare.....the Republicans say this is an example of too much involvement in everyday life and too much spending, yet turn around and plop another 15% increase in defense spending on SUPER-cool weapons that, in theory, we HOPE we never ever have to use!!!!  (By the way.....see the absurdity of excessive and wasteful defense spending??)      The problem with Democrats is they have all these nice wonderful ideas on how to help poor and disadvantaged people raise themselves up (in theory), but they have NO clue at all how to pay for such things unless it involves taxing EXCESSIVELY the people who are working very hard to succeed in life.......the truth is the UBER rich and wealthy (like Mr Adelson, or Mr. Trump....or even Mr. Steve Wynn)  do not pay very much TAXES in terms of a PERCENTAGE of their income & wealth for the simple reason that they have the ability and access to ALL the loop holes, all the credits, and they have literally TEAMS of people working for them to help them take advantage of every possible benefit, something the average person (or even a well off person making $250K/yr) does not have!      The top 5% do pay over half the total TAXES collected by the federal government each year, but in terms of PERCENTAGE of everything it is quite low, and the current levels (i.e. TAX RATES of the higher income brackets) are actually among the lowest in the last 65 years!!

[Carcounter]

Indexed flat tax. No loopholes, no deductions etc. first candidate that proposes this, will not regret it.

[olds442jetaway]

I always seem to recall what Lord Acton said. Also anyone notice how so many politicians are also Lawyers....

[Minn. Fatz]

was it jesse ventura?

His immediate successor. Say what you will about Jesse (and I've said most of it, including that he could have written a chapter in Minnesota's political history but settled for a footnote), I don't see him raiding a fund meant to help veterans like himself in order to give a political crony a 50% raise.

[doris13]

after what he did to chris kyle's family i put nothing past him

[Minn. Fatz]

It's insulting to most middle of the road, intelligent Americans like You....and me!

You'll have to speak for yourself there, I doubt I could be located in any part of the US political road.

[quote].....the Republicans say this is an example of too much involvement in everyday life and too much spending, yet turn around and plop another 15% increase in defense spending on SUPER-cool weapons that, in theory, we HOPE we never ever have to use!!!!  (By the way.....see the absurdity of excessive and wasteful defense spending??)[/quote]

I recently concluded the reason the US needs to spend twice as much of its GDP on defense as any other nation on Earth is so that we may continue to win most, if not all, of the battles in the wars we will continue to lose -- certainly until we as a nation impose meaningful consequences on the individuals responsible for losing, and in many cases starting, them.

[flamingomom]

DaBurglar and Minn.Fatz--your thoughts are so eloquently expressed. It is so very sad that those who purport to represent their fellow Americans on the local, state and federal levels have lost their way. Sadder yet is those who vote for and believe what most politicians supply for public consumption. I believe American exceptionalism exists in the individual but not in our government at any level. This spoken by a citizen of what once was called the Land of Lincoln--now the Land of Corruption as an Art Form.