I find myself in the uneviable position of living in sab land on this... at least to a point.
Its no secret im a lifelong dubbie and up until a short while ago i thought the whole thing was gonna get crushed by the desert god in a few minutes... so im really just learning this and gaining perspective myself, but here is what i perceive, at least for today:
I 100% agree that many americans ( i said many, not all ) are "social liberals, fiscal conservatives" (i suspect sab and i heard that from the same source and both liked it).
I also agree that obama scares me for that very reason. He is fiscally inept. Hes a boob with money. Its not debatable. Hes frankly an idiot i wouldnt trust with .50. He strikes me as the type to be sent to market to get food for the day and come home with magic beans thinking he got the deal of a lifetime.
He also comes off as soft when he tries to be tough. He is record of the last four years strikes me as one of constant crybaybing and complaining that he inherited this and that and people wont cooperate wah wah wah.... nobody wants the point man for the country being a wuss. Stand the hell up and make it happen. thats life in the real world. Results first, excuses later.
I live in a real world type environment. I dont listen to political radio much or watch political tv shows often, but i have more recently. The view of these analysts is in no way real world. It dosent match up with what the people i know, in my little part of the world, think or feel on anything. Shit aint good. The economy is way worse now than ever before. Blame whoever you want but obama hasnt fixed a thing. I know more people out of work than ever, and thats scary because the northern VA area is pretty much recession proof. He managed to screw that up. I hear the so called liberal folks on this board sometimes blame bush or whoever, but after 4 freakin years the man has to own whats here now. Results, not excuses.
THe whole healthcare thing... a fiasco of epic proportions. Financially our country simply isnt set up to provide health care for everyone for free. That's essentially what we are talking about. MAKING a company provide coverage to someone they otherwise wouldnt because it isnt economically sound. Thats stupid. If it made financial sense to do it they already would, thus they are being forced to insure people. It cant lead to anything good for these companies who eventually will go out of business or dramatically raise rates on everyone to compensate. Fiasco. Epic Fail. I understand the intention and, being socially liberal, i dont want to see anyone die. I'm not interested in creating a "survival of the fittest" experiment. I want everyone to get health care.. but not like this. Its not going to end well. restructure the system as a whole, open up competition across state lines, make more types available do any one of a hundred ideas i have heard discussed but this is simply not financially viable.. and if i understand the law correctly (and who could) the REAL tax hikes in this thing dont kick in till next year. in an already faltering economy.. This is Bad. REally really bad.
I know NC and others have real world every day health concerns and feel that this program will help.. unfortunately it dosent offer any real cures. It dosent wave a magic wand and allow all illness and disease to go away ala the desert god's kingdom. It simply claims to make health care affordable... not likly. Given that my own effin doctor closed up shop and told me that she wasnt gong to hang around and be run out of business, i cant imagine its going to be good (totally anecdotal and only one older doctors opinion). I would also point out that NC and others WERE getting health care under the system as it was. We could have improved and made changes.. instead we gave the whole thing to the government. Frankly i cannot think of one thing the government does so well i would want to give them more. My wife works for the federal government, as many in my area do. The real world stories of stupidity, waste and fraud are astounding. Its not gong to get better because we gave it to the federal government to handle.
but then i have to look at the other side, the republicans.... they had the white house for eight years with that clown bush. He may not have spent the trillions obama has but he spent a LOT. Way the hell too much.... and then add in some of the objectionable policies socially and it isnt much better than now.... I doubt Romney would have been any different.
I really feel like the two party system is flawed. Either side simply panders to their base and tries to capture a few extras so as to win elections. We need real choices and people with real vision and ideas, not this tired ass rehash of party politics.
