NotConvinced

I think life may very well be a game....reduced to some form of amusement

One of the main sentiments I guess I was trying to express in the off-topic post....was the notion of losing ones identity. I feel as though the more 'enlightened' I become, the less of myself I am. The more "neutral" my comments, the less opinionated I can be. The best example I can think of is the Presidency. Everyone dreams to some extent of being President, however for those who actually get to run a serious campaign for it, you have to essentially hide who you are and become someone else. Saying it another way, to reach your highest goal, you have to become someone else entirely, only you Don't Know before hand that you have to do so.

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Aaron

I'm a republican for the most part. However, I'm fed up and disgusted with the whole Bush administration. I was welcoming the opertunity to vote democrat, and this is the choice I get?

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AB517

If God doesn't laugh at us at times; He aint no God of mine

again I am with you. The AB517 of 25 years old no longer exists.

Skepticologist

I'm not at all convinced that life is a game because there is real suffering by those who aren't part of the power structure, and it doesn't feel like a game to them.

It's no surprise that a presidential candidate feels compelled to make his or her stated views congruent with his or her constituency. They have to pay attention to the polls and align themselves with the base they're counting on to cast votes for them come November.

The problem, in my view, is that their positions are so watered down when that process culminates that, once elected, they're powerless to make the kind of differences that motivated them to run in the first place. They're solidly in the hands of the power structure without which they'd never have had the resources to be serious contenders for high office.

The net result is that they continue to perpetuate the status quo, which has been working in the interest of the power structure all along, and those who have no power continue to be overlooked and left to fend for themselves.

Nothing is going to change in this scenario until we figure out how to allow worthy ideals to come to the attention of the American populace without having to be sold out to the power structure. The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill was an aborted attempt to make that happen, but it was essentially ineffective by the time it had worked its way through the system.

We've got to get back to Abraham Lincoln's ideal that American government is "of the people, by the people, and for the people", or we're going down the same historical tubes as the Romans and the Greeks and all the others that followed.

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NotConvinced

They can simply make it a 'game' to stop the suffering, or we make it a game to help as many of the sufferers as possible. Competition is rarely a bad thing, and can motivate both those involved and not involved to increase their efforts.



The rest of your post is pretty much right on, except after they get elected a 2nd time, or if it's clear they have no real chance of getting re-elected, they can pretty much do what they want, regardless of the power structure. Still doesn't mean congress or judiciary would cooperate.

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truthrealized

I am in the exact same situation. I am 33 and realize now that as a republican, I have only voted for Bushes so to speak. Now I am open minded and ready to vote my heart and not my party.h

ima_metaphor

Not so sure about the Asians against Obama reference...

http://www.asianamericansforobama.com/home/

http://www.safo2008.com/

http://keithpr.com/archives/90

But the mexicans???

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SirArthur

What a stupid statement. So why not say blacks are mass voting Obama because they're racists against white also? Or under your understanding the only possible racism is against black people?!
Why not simply let people vote on whoever they want instead of making stupid statements about racism?

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Skepticologist

Well DUH!, because racism is indeed alive and well in good ol' America. And, because blacks (to at least some degree as a result of their own self-bashing) are the predominant underclass, they're the logical victims.

I'm old enough to have been a sentient individual during the civil rights struggles of the 60's. I identified back then, to the extent possible, given that I was a member of the ruling class (albeit in its lower realms), with the plight of black people and the oppression they had suffered during the days of slavery and extending into the then present moment.

When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was voted into law, I actually celebrated because I thought the path was clear for black people to shed their shackles and become fully participating members of American society. Well, to put it succinctly, I was WRONG AGAIN.

The reason, in my humble estimation, that blacks haven't prospered in the interim (all the income and other demographics remain largley unchanged since 1964) is twofold: First, despite the best efforts of the Johnson administration and its visionary Great Society, racism went underground and continued to fluorish; secondly, blacks in America have yet to stop thinking of themselves as victims who are owed something by the rest of us.

Consequently, young blacks don't get the same positive, hopeful reinforcement that young whites or young Asians, or even young Hispanics benefit from. They continue to be told by their parents, uncles, aunts, etc. that no matter how hard they try, "whitey" will never let them get ahead.

I reject that notion as patent bullshit because everyday I see other ethnic minorities believing that their efforts can pay off and making them real. Bill Cosby and Barack Obama are right on target when they characterize American blacks as being their own worst enemies.

That's an issue that only black Americans can deal with if they have the insight and energy to do so. Meanwhile, there are plenty of died-in-the-wool American whites who will hold them down if they allow themselves to be held down.

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"I am an agnostic; I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of."

Clarence Darrow

Telimaktar

I agree Skept, being from South Africa and having a very similar situation. Racism will be around for a very long time still. Instead of letting old hurts heal, people keep licking their wounds and that of their parents and so it never heals and finally leaves a scar that just constantly reminds them of the wrongs done to them.

The ANC party constantly gets voted in mainly out of fear that the white man will rule and once again bring about Apartheid, they vote for a government which is so corrupt that it does not deliver on any promises to lift the underprivileged and poor. Hopefully we don't end up like Zimbabwe.

I guess all anyone can hope for is a better tomorrow and do our little bit to help that hope blossom.