A manifesto for liberals in the waning Bush era

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Depends on the issue, like most people.

quit doing the erekose dance

I call it the two step!

I liked the two-step from a few weeks back - where you can call someone anti-american and refuse to actually substantiate it. You know... give some weight to your opinion

In all your posts there is "NOT ONE" positive remark about america! which leads me to my conclusion. From my reading of your previous posts I am not alone in this OPINION. With that being said you can now resume the infamous "TWO STEP" Just remember to keep both feet firmly planted on the ground so you dont start to SPIN in a circular pattern, As this spinning motion can cause severe dizziness!

That's ok - its not like you need to prove it or anything And if you remember it wasn't me that you made that "anti-american" remark to (though you did broaden it to include me).

So as for negativity - for the most part (99.99999% of my posts) they are about the US Government (which I probably don't need to say that I disagree with on many issues). But please feel free to generalise on what you 'feel' I said, not what I actually did say. At the end of the day you know nothing about me, nor I you.

Incidentally, calling someone "anti-american" is a bit of a paradox, because I as I see it, no honest, genuine freedom loving patriot would use the label.

[Carol&Marc 0]

Depends on the issue, like most people.

quit doing the erekose dance

I call it the two step!

I liked the two-step from a few weeks back - where you can call someone anti-american and refuse to actually substantiate it. You know... give some weight to your opinion

In all your posts there is "NOT ONE" positive remark about america! which leads me to my conclusion. From my reading of your previous posts I am not alone in this OPINION. With that being said you can now resume the infamous "TWO STEP" Just remember to keep both feet firmly planted on the ground so you dont start to SPIN in a circular pattern, As this spinning motion can cause severe dizziness!

That's ok - its not like you need to prove it or anything And if you remember it wasn't me that you made that "anti-american" remark to (though you did broaden it to include me).

So as for negativity - for the most part (99.99999% of my posts) they are about the US Government (which I probably don't need to say that I disagree with on many issues). But please feel free to generalise on what you 'feel' I said, not what I actually did say. At the end of the day you know nothing about me, nor I you.

Incidentally, calling someone "anti-american" is a bit of a paradox, because I as I see it, no honest, genuine freedom loving patriot would use the label.

[Erichu 0]

To anyone here who may comfortably believe that this is just the current version of the eternal conflict between liberal and conservative viewpoints, I would disagree. I have always been more conservative in my own viewpoints due as much as anything to my belief that government just isn't very good at accomplishing many of the noble goals it may have. I'm not a liberal because all the good intentions in the world all too often run into the brick wall of government mismanagement, inefficiency, and opportunities for corruption.

I can only point to the example of the USCIS and their handling of a very simple and basic first-come-first served processing of the I-129F Visa. The operation is so appallingly slow, unfair, and unresponsive that it has strongly reinforced my opinions about government run services. They have the nerve to provide a Customer Service 800 number that connects us to people who can tell us nothing, who are not allowed to communicate with the processing centers, and who provide timelines for the most simple and routine issues that boggle my mind. This kind of service would never last long in the private sector because the "customers" would vanish very quickly after such mistreatment.

And yet I wrote already in this thread how the Bush administration has reached a new low in the dirty world of politics. I am not the only person with a conservative attitude about the role of government who is thoroughly disenchanted with their cynical values and willingness to sacrifice any standard of truth or evidence to political ends. The religious right has an agenda that is anything but conservative, trying to break down the wall between Church and State. I am no longer Republican because that party has moved away from basic conservative values and towards more activist government intruding on my life.

And please do me a favor and spare the "patriotic" talk because the very essence of democratic government is holding elected officials accountable for their performance and making voting decisions in light of that performance. Anyone with an ounce of understanding of the foundation of our government would agree that open discussion of these issues and an informed population is a good thing.

Save the unconditional love for your fiances!!

Edited October 21, 2006 by Erichu

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

This kind of service would never last long in the private sector because the "customers" would vanish very quickly after such mistreatment.

True, but the reverse is that privatisation doesn't necessarily equate with better service - when companies monopolise the market in the way that say, the health insurance companies do. You still end up being screwed because there is no alternative to a sub-par "profit first" service.

[Erichu 0]

This kind of service would never last long in the private sector because the "customers" would vanish very quickly after such mistreatment.

True, but the reverse is that privatisation doesn't necessarily equate with better service - when companies monopolise the market in the way that say, the health insurance companies do. You still end up being screwed because there is no alternative to a sub-par "profit first" service.

A monopoly is when one company owns or totally dominates a market. Health insurance is not a monopoly. There are a number of players in a highly competitive environment. The treatment I have received from USCIS has been a hundred times worse than anything I have experienced with private health care. Any health care provider who operated like USCIS would be ruined in months and deservedly so.

For those in extreme poverty, I support a government run health care service. Just knowing the painful process of being served by the government, those unfortunate folks would be saved from disaster but also given a good incentive to climb out of poverty on their own.

For the general population, I would be very much against putting myself in the hands of people who have no incentive to be provide efficient or responsive service. The existence of the Visa Journey website is a testament to the terrible management, unfair treatment, politicized rules, and misinformation provided by our government.