What has the American government dome right in the past 15 years?

[donttread]

Well two questions really. What has the America government done right in the past 15 years? And what have they done right in the past 40 years? By right I mean things like fought and won a just war or helping bring about social change like the civil rights movement in the 60's.
In my opinion the answer to both questions is very little. They have over spent, over borrowed, behaved in an imperialistic manner and simply ignored both individual and states rights while committing huge resources to projects like the "wars " on terror, poverty and drugs which have failed miserably almost since there inception.
I will give them a nod for their initial actions in Afghanistan which I believe to be the only remotely just war we have participated in since WW 2 . But even there we switched enemies and stayed too long for the wrong reasons when ALQ left town
Perhaps some of you have different views.
Please try not to make this a republican vs democrat thing. Both the 15 year period and the 40 year period have seen mixed control of both the white house and congress. These questions are about what collective successes you feel your government has achieved over all that time with all that money and of you wish a comparison of those successes to their failures as I have noted.

[iustitia]

Absolutely nothing. Does that count?

[Matty]

The shinning achievement was our space program.

[midcan5]

The turn of the century was the end of the Clinton presidency. The internet bubble burst and the SCOTUS selected our president. Given the incredible mess Bush Cheney made can we blame the court? Tax relief, a mantra of republicans helped create another bubble of quick money. Real estate was the golden goose and some lived happily for a while. Regulation a victim of free market mania died some more, and soon the economy teetered at the edge of a great depression cliff. Bailouts for some even in the face of welfare reform for others. Government stimulus again became necessary. Even war became a failure of the utopian belief in the viral spread of this thing called democracy. It seems so easy till the democratic dream found itself on a host that wouldn't support it. Tribalism had the upper hand. Reasons mounted and finger pointing became the way forward. Another election, another chance.

Then it happened, an event that would change the dynamic of sense and reason for eight long years, a black man won the presidency. He promised change, accomplishments of hope, but some felt they had lost their way. Surely something was amiss, birth questioned and even reality came to be something else. Muslim Marxist socialist. Black helicopters of thought took over. Still change came, fought tooth and nail, government the problem - Where the solution. Healthcare passed, wars sorta ended, guns took to the schools and colleges, jobs improved, deficits went down, economy bounced back a bit, how could this be, where are the black helicopters. Social mores changed, gay marriage passed. But in all this came a turmoil that changed many, flags turned yellow, a fitting color, is it the government's fault that Americans do not really like democracy, it brings with it a complexity many cannot accept. When government is at war with itself can it really accomplish anything? Look close I think it did.


"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." Dwight D. Eisenhower


"The unity of Government, which constitutes you one people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very Liberty, which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee, that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment, that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the Palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion, that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts." http://www.quotedb.com/speeches/washington-farewell-address

[Peter1469]

The turn of the century was the end of the Clinton presidency. The internet bubble burst and the SCOTUS selected our president. Given the incredible mess Bush Cheney made can we blame the court? Tax relief, a mantra of republicans helped create another bubble of quick money.

The Bush tax cut created the largest increase in government revenue in US history. I am on my Netbook and don't have my trusty graph. Will be at the main computer late tomorrow. Revenue is never a problem in the US. Spending well beyond revenue is one of the major problems in the US.

[Bob]

The turn of the century was the end of the Clinton presidency. The internet bubble burst and the SCOTUS selected our president.

Oh my GOD. To me, the Florida supreme court tried to select the president and got stopped.

[Bob]

Well two questions really. What has the America government done right in the past 15 years? And what have they done right in the past 40 years? By right I mean things like fought and won a just war or helping bring about social change like the civil rights movement in the 60's.
In my opinion the answer to both questions is very little. They have over spent, over borrowed, behaved in an imperialistic manner and simply ignored both individual and states rights while committing huge resources to projects like the "wars " on terror, poverty and drugs which have failed miserably almost since there inception.
I will give them a nod for their initial actions in Afghanistan which I believe to be the only remotely just war we have participated in since WW 2 . But even there we switched enemies and stayed too long for the wrong reasons when ALQ left town
Perhaps some of you have different views.
Please try not to make this a republican vs democrat thing. Both the 15 year period and the 40 year period have seen mixed control of both the white house and congress. These questions are about what collective successes you feel your government has achieved over all that time with all that money and of you wish a comparison of those successes to their failures as I have noted.

General Franks won Afghanistan with less troops than Obama plans to leave in the same country soon.

I do not put much faith in presidents. They can easily be railroaded by congress. Democrats blame republicans right now and to an extent it is a two way struggle between Obama and them. But Obama beats them with the veto and the democrats beat the Senate using the filibuster plus other tricks of their trade.

One poster says Space is a good thing done and that happened by the 1970s got very far. Fact is they landed on the moon by 1969.

Imagine this. Obama started messing with Keystone pipeline by 2009 and this is 2015 and the jerk still has not told us his verdict. This is just a pipeline Obama, not a journey into space.

Kennedy announced the plan for the moon by 1963 and 6 years later, men walked on the Moon.

So space is a huge accomplishment. And in this case rightfully belongs to the Democrats who made it happen.

I actually credit Bush for Iraq. No, i did not want the war. Yes I feel terrible our troops died and many more were maimed. The dead are lucky but the maimed endure it for life.

The public were led to believe that just Bin Laden was the bad man. Bush captured the actual planner of 911 but to this day gets no credit from Democrats. But the fact is, OBL did not plan 911

Government is so deep in debt I am loathe to give them credit for much given they allowed the interstate infrastructure to degrade too much. Spending has never at any point rose to such enormous levels. We spin our heads trying to imagine a trillion dollars.

So here it is.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFP-2_iDYMU

[donttread]

The shinning achievement was our space program.

Fair point

[domer76]

Expansion of civil liberties for gays

[Ransom]

The USS HW Bush. And it's weapons systems designed by Lockheed Martin, defense systems by Raytheon, with a nuclear pressurized water reactors, from GE, driving 4 turbines themselves driving four shafts. It sails with a crew of over 6000.

Commissioned 2009, I believe.

[Ransom]

Out protecting our interests, the companies who built the technology though. The shipyard, the engineers, the firms who employ, and train, and provide insurance for families, they're the megacorps, the evil drivers of the violence. Huh?

[AeonPax]

`
Nothing. I cannot think of a federal (or state) project, law or service that is not severely tainted and uncorrupted.

[donttread]

The USS HW Bush. And it's weapons systems designed by Lockheed Martin, defense systems by Raytheon, with a nuclear pressurized water reactors, from GE, driving 4 turbines themselves driving four shafts. It sails with a crew of over 6000.

Commissioned 2009, I believe.

An expensive war ship is all you came come up with?

[donttread]

Out protecting our interests, the companies who built the technology though. The shipyard, the engineers, the firms who employ, and train, and provide insurance for families, they're the megacorps, the evil drivers of the violence. Huh?

Now you're getting it

[GrassrootsConservative]

They almost shut down a couple times. That's all I can think of.

[Carlsen]

.

http://images.sodahead.com/polls/000755645/polls_bush_phone_4910_651334_answer_1_xlarge.jpeg


.

[donttread]

They almost shut down a couple times. That's all I can think of.

Yes, they are least destructive when they are shut down

[midcan5]

OMG a machine to kill is the best it can do.... sadness fills the void....

As always there is whining and more whining. Oh whoa is me, the big bad government ruins everything, how do I know, well, how do you know. Allow a transformation of the question to where are people the happiest and why. Let's search far and wide and under the car. Ah found it, it was Denmark where they are happiest. Nah, you say I am an American, an individual responsible for my own happiness. Then the question appears in bold air quotes, why do you always whine? Face the mirror, it isn't the government it is you.


"The policies most conducive to human wellbeing turn out to be essentially the same ones that Einstein himself originally suggested: those associated with social democracy. In reviewing the research in 2014, Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn, a political scientist at Rutgers University-Camden in New Jersey, found that ‘societies led by leftist or liberal governments (also referred to as welfare states)’ have the highest levels of life satisfaction, controlling for other factors. Looking across countries, the more generous and universalistic the welfare state, the greater the level of human happiness, net of other factors."

http://aeon.co/magazine/society/what-political-system-does-happiness-economics-support/

[Boris The Animal]

OMG a machine to kill is the best it can do.... sadness fills the void....

As always there is whining and more whining. Oh whoa is me, the big bad government ruins everything, how do I know, well, how do you know. Allow a transformation of the question to where are people the happiest and why. Let's search far and wide and under the car. Ah found it, it was Denmark where they are happiest. Nah, you say I am an American, an individual responsible for my own happiness. Then the question appears in bold air quotes, why do you always whine? Face the mirror, it isn't the government it is you.


"The policies most conducive to human wellbeing turn out to be essentially the same ones that Einstein himself originally suggested: those associated with social democracy. In reviewing the research in 2014, Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn, a political scientist at Rutgers University-Camden in New Jersey, found that ‘societies led by leftist or liberal governments (also referred to as welfare states)’ have the highest levels of life satisfaction, controlling for other factors. Looking across countries, the more generous and universalistic the welfare state, the greater the level of human happiness, net of other factors."

http://aeon.co/magazine/society/what-political-system-does-happiness-economics-support/Yeah, if you want big daddy government coddling you from cradle to grave. No thanks, Bolshevik.

[domer76]

Yeah, if you want big daddy government coddling you from cradle to grave. No thanks, Bolshevik.

^biggest joke of any forum I've been on

[Boris The Animal]

^biggest joke of any forum I've been on
Why not? It is exactly what you Communists want. Total government rule over our lives, Bolshevik.

[Peter1469]

Expansion of civil liberties for gays
That doesnt merit a place on the chart. Try something that matters to more than 2-3% of the population.

[Peter1469]

The space program in general. It hasn't gone as I would like but it is much better than other government spending.

[domer76]

Why not? It is exactly what you Communists want. Total government rule over our lives, Bolshevik.

You're even a caricature of yourself. Pitiable

[domer76]

That doesnt merit a place on the chart. Try something that matters to more than 2-3% of the population.

It's huge on the chart because it expands civil liberties. Just because it doesn't involve you doesn't diminish its importance. In the scheme of things, you aren't shit anyway. Much less than those 2-3%

[GrassrootsConservative]

Just because it doesn't involve you doesn't diminish its importance.

Funny, I don't recall Peter saying anything of the sort. You seem to be just making things up.

[Peter1469]

It's huge on the chart because it expands civil liberties. Just because it doesn't involve you doesn't diminish its importance. In the scheme of things, you aren't shit anyway. Much less than those 2-3%

2-3%

[domer76]

2-3%

6-9 million

[zelmo1234]

Then it happened, an event that would change the dynamic of sense and reason for eight long years, a black man won the presidency. He promised change, accomplishments of hope, but some felt they had lost their way. Surely something was amiss, birth questioned and even reality came to be something else. Muslim Marxist socialist. Black helicopters of thought took over. Still change came, fought tooth and nail, government the problem - Where the solution. Healthcare passed, wars sorta ended, guns took to the schools and colleges, jobs improved, deficits went down, economy bounced back a bit, how could this be, where are the black helicopters. Social mores changed, gay marriage passed. But in all this came a turmoil that changed many, flags turned yellow, a fitting color, is it the government's fault that Americans do not really like democracy, it brings with it a complexity many cannot accept. When government is at war with itself can it really accomplish anything? Look close I think it did.
Above is a quote of Midcan 5

I did not want to tackle his entire post and I just can't get that selective quote thing down yet.

But This was a perfect example of how dishonest the left in this country has become. It is a shame as there are plenty of positions to argue without resorting to down right lies.

So lets look at the lies and then the deceptions that are in this post. Why should it bother us? because this is what is being taught as fact to your children and grand children in the public school system.

Jobs improved was the fist thing that caught my eye. Now there is no rational person in this country that does not understand what is happening.

Sure there has been some hiring, but we know because of the ACA that many if not most of those have been part time and one person can account for several jobs created. All in all, there are just under 10 million fewer people in the workforce today than the day that President Obama took office.

So there is no job creation.

Deficits went down????? Compared to what? You see the truth once again is far from what the left is trying to sell. The largest deficit attributed to GWB was 486 billion dollars, which shows a total lack of leadership on his part. However; when you compare that amount to the Obama deficits, It is the picture of physical responsibility. The truth is, that the Obama administration in 8 years will double the national debt of all other presidents combined.

This shows total and complete failure.

The economy bounced back? From What? people are living a lot lower standard of living than the day that Obama took office.

5K less in annual income, healthcare a much larger part of their expenses, just the fact that the middle class has lost 40% of it's wealth under this administration, should send the population into a head spin, but the left just lies about it instead.

Gay Marriage Passed? in his first paragraph he is anger with the court which he claims selected GWB. though each and every entity that actually did a recount afterward came to the same result. Bush won the election and the lying democrats tried to steal it. But here he tries to tell you that the people wanted Gay marriage, NO the supreme court changed the definition of marriage with no constitutional authority at all, and now they are using this to try and destroy the religious freedoms of others. It never passed.

What is quite clear is that Liberals and progressives no matter the party affiliation are not interested in the truth. They lack the moral fiber that this great country was founded on. They are hell bent on destroying what is left of the American experience and seek nothing less that total and complete control of all those that do not think and believe as they do.

you can't trust them, you should be very careful if you employ them, and they are exactly what is wrong with this country. You can't strike a compromise with people that lack honesty and integrity

[Lineman]

And He managed to more than double the National Debt. And he didnt lose the power of VETO during his terms.



The Bush tax cut created the largest increase in government revenue in US history. I am on my Netbook and don't have my trusty graph. Will be at the main computer late tomorrow. Revenue is never a problem in the US. Spending well beyond revenue is one of the major problems in the US.

[donttread]

Yeah, if you want big daddy government coddling you from cradle to grave. No thanks, Bolshevik.

Good for Denmark and I mean that. However , small federal government isn't the law of their land is it?

[donttread]

The real point here is that our federal government accomplishes little and less and less as time goes by. In fact the only thing it seems to do really well is grow

[Ransom]

The real point here is that our federal government accomplishes little and less and less as time goes by. In fact the only thing it seems to do really well is grow

Agreed. And yet where is today's Democrat Party? Hillary Clinton leading their polls....barely....her biggest threat Joe Biden. Who would be an Obama third term. Much of the Dem Party wants a massive and growing government.

[Tahuyaman]

Expansion of civil liberties for gays

what civil liberty were you denied in the past?