What, in your opinion, are the biggest political travesties of our time?

[NLT]

the election of barry obammmy

 

[Mr Natural]

St Reagan and his Voodoo economics.

 

[blackhawk]

17 trillion and counting national debt.

 

[TooTall]

I said it before, in different context, but let me repeat that in my opinion the greatest travesty in American politics is the sad and tragic lack of term limits for elected offices. The wisdom of the American electorate inexplicably stopped at limiting ONLY the President, but allows the likes of Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Charlie Rangel, John McCain etc. etc. to run and run and run way past the point when they are certifiably senile.

And the second greatest travesty is the lack of line item veto for the President which would allow the President to nullify pork loaded on important bills by worthless freeloaders.

And let us not forget passing Obamacare in order to find out what's in it.

Amending the Constitution to put term limits on House and Senate seats makes for a good debate, but is not very likely to happen. Such a movement would have to be started in the Congress, and the congress critters aren't going to do it, period!

The lack of a line item sounds good, but an unethical bastard like Obama would line out everything going to a red state and anything that helped veterans or religious groups. He proved that with his choice of what he cut during the partial shutdown of the government. Perhaps a Republican President would do the same, but I seriously doubt if we will ever find out. I think the Supreme Court ruled on this and turned it down.

I suggest that the Obamacare disaster and will eventually collapse due to its cost. My only hope is that enough Republicans get elected in 2014 to kill it. The problem I have is that there are some very good reforms to the health insurance industry that will result in slightly higher costs to the consumer, and the Republicans may not keep them.

 

[The Rabbi]

St Reagan and his Voodoo economics.

What was GDP growth under Reagan?
What is GDP growth under Obama?
Case closed.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Liberalism in general. It's the cancer that's destroying everything that made us great.

Yet another "intelligent" post from the plague that is destroying america. The brainwashed, ignorant, radical right.

your post wasnt much different BL.....you just demonstrated it from the left side.....

 

[Harry Dresden]

!) The Hypocrisy of the Democratic Party
2) The Hypocrisy of the Democratic Party
3) The Hypocrisy of the Democratic Party.

how about the hypocrisy of the Republican party?....

 

[rightwinger]

I said it before, in different context, but let me repeat that in my opinion the greatest travesty in American politics is the sad and tragic lack of term limits for elected offices. The wisdom of the American electorate inexplicably stopped at limiting ONLY the President, but allows the likes of Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Charlie Rangel, John McCain etc. etc. to run and run and run way past the point when they are certifiably senile.

And the second greatest travesty is the lack of line item veto for the President which would allow the President to nullify pork loaded on important bills by worthless freeloaders.

And let us not forget passing Obamacare in order to find out what's in it.

Amending the Constitution to put term limits on House and Senate seats makes for a good debate, but is not very likely to happen. Such a movement would have to be started in the Congress, and the congress critters aren't going to do it, period!

The lack of a line item sounds good, but an unethical bastard like Obama would line out everything going to a red state and anything that helped veterans or religious groups. He proved that with his choice of what he cut during the partial shutdown of the government. Perhaps a Republican President would do the same, but I seriously doubt if we will ever find out. I think the Supreme Court ruled on this and turned it down.

I suggest that the Obamacare disaster and will eventually collapse due to its cost. My only hope is that enough Republicans get elected in 2014 to kill it. The problem I have is that there are some very good reforms to the health insurance industry that will result in slightly higher costs to the consumer, and the Republicans may not keep them.

With a line item veto....

If Democrats proposed a bill and Republicans said they would support the bill if the following five things are added. So the Republican line items are added and the bill passes
All Obama has to do is line item veto the things Republicans wanted

Too much power for a president

 

[FJO]

I said it before, in different context, but let me repeat that in my opinion the greatest travesty in American politics is the sad and tragic lack of term limits for elected offices. The wisdom of the American electorate inexplicably stopped at limiting ONLY the President, but allows the likes of Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Charlie Rangel, John McCain etc. etc. to run and run and run way past the point when they are certifiably senile.

And the second greatest travesty is the lack of line item veto for the President which would allow the President to nullify pork loaded on important bills by worthless freeloaders.

And let us not forget passing Obamacare in order to find out what's in it.

Term limits prevent the voters from electing the candidate of their choice

Line item vetoes give the President too much power

When Obamacare finally passed, everyone knew what was in it

If term limits for President is OK, so it should be for Senators, Representatives, Governors, etc., especially since the Founding Fathers never meant holding an elected political office a life long career. They had the honesty, integrity and decency to go back to their own private lives, after having done their best to serve their constituents. Sadly, today a politician needs to be dragged out dead or completely humiliated by fed-up voters before giving up the good life.

If voters knew that the person of their choice is there for a certain time, they would know that when that time is over, it is time to choose an other. Voting for President ring a bell?

Line item veto, regarding unnecessary loading of pork would test the mettle and integrity of the President, and it would not be any different from the already too-often abused power of the President issuing executive order.

When there is a bill, with the magnitude and potential impact of Obamacare comes on the floor for vote, each person who are about to cast a vote on that bill should be required to declare that he/she has read that bill and knows what is in it, rather than being a sock puppet and cast his/her vote according to the leader's instructions.

I stand by my contentions. Term limits would bring in fresh blood and line item veto would eliminate free-loading. (If used with honesty and integrity).

 

[Harry Dresden]

allowing the Far Right and Left to hold any kind of office that has an impact on the citizens...

 

[hjmick]

When Obamacare finally passed, everyone knew what was in it

Really? Are you going to stick to that story? Because at what? 2,700 pages? I guarantee not everyone who voted for it read it. I will further guarantee that the majority of American voters didn't, and still don't, have a clue what is in the damn thing...

 

[rightwinger]

When Obamacare finally passed, everyone knew what was in it

Really? Are you going to stick to that story? Because at what? 2,700 pages? I guarantee not everyone who voted for it read it. I will further guarantee that the majority of American voters didn't, and still don't, have a clue what is in the damn thing...

Each congressman has staff and subject matter experts who pour over the document and identify anything controversial
And I don't want to hear any of that Nancy Pelosi crap

 

[Peterf]

17 trillion and counting national debt.

Indeed.

In the days when the US national debt was measured in millions not trillions it was money owed to US citizens who had lent their savings to their government in exchange for a reasonable rate of interest. That time is long past. Now the money is owed to foreigners who demand an increasing say in the policies of the government of the US in return for the new loans that the US requires every day to continue functioning.

This reality is willfully ignored by the US msm. And Americans seem to be determined to ignore the warnings carried elsewhere. How many times is the silly claim made on these very boards that the US "is a rich country". No it is not it survives only on the willingness of foreigners to lend it money.

 

[Sherry]

The War on Poverty aspect of The Great Society, which just furthered the welfare state initiated during The New Deal.

 

[rightwinger]

The War on Poverty aspect of The Great Society, which just furthered the welfare state initiated during The New Deal.

Republicans have substituted a war on poverty with a war on the poor

 

[blackhawk]

The War on Poverty aspect of The Great Society, which just furthered the welfare state initiated during The New Deal.

Republicans have substituted a war on poverty with a war on the poor

What have the Democrats done to help the poor get out of poverty? We all know they will increase food stamps and various forms of government assistance but all that does is make poverty more tolerable it does not get you out of it.

 

[velvtacheeze]

The GOP's control of the House.

It's based on the 2010 election in which less than half of eligible voters participated. The gerrymandering after that helped them keep the House again. Granted, that's Democrats fault for not voting in greater numbers in 2010. But tens of millions of more voters took part in the 2008 and 2012 elections, and they are for that reason the more legitimate elections.

The GOP's control of the House isn't quite as fraudulent as Dumbya's first term, which was illegal and phony, but it's close.

 

[Sherry]

The War on Poverty aspect of The Great Society, which just furthered the welfare state initiated during The New Deal.

Republicans have substituted a war on poverty with a war on the poor

When the Republicans moved Clinton to work on welfare reform, it was a step in the right direction...a hand up, rather than a hand out. Bush working to get the community/churches involved to reach out and help their neighbors was a further move to show that government doesn't have to be the only savior. If it makes you feel better to think that the right hates helping people, then that's your sad state of mind.

 

[whitehall]

Wouldn't you think the (left wing) people who think the Iraq war was a "travesty" would be against the conflict in Afghanistan? Apparently political loyalty trumps hypocrisy. The biggest political travesty in modern times was LBJ's "great society" which we are still paying for and which was an utter and complete failure.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Mine:

1) The Bush tax cuts
2) Citizens United
3).The Iraq War

Bush did enormous damage that we probably can never really recover from. But, Citizens United has made honest elections a thing of the past.

Long term, Citizens United.

OTOH, the right threw a lot of money at the election and they still failed.