"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world's great civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence:
from bondage to spiritual faith;
from spiritual faith to great courage;
from courage to liberty;
from liberty to abundance;
from abundance to selfishness;
from selfishness to complacency;
from complacency to apathy;
from apathy to dependency;
from dependency back again to bondage."

Alexander Tytler (1801)

No, it's not apathy, it's the understanding that you are wasting your f&#$*ng time in HERE with any political discussion.

Mul, you think you're making a difference? You aren't. Not in here, anyway. I bet you haven't changed one mind, neither have any of the countless lefties.

So apply this attitude more broadly ... since almost everyone has a viewpoint, and since apparently no one ever changes his or her mind, political discourse in this country is useless.

I disagree. If you listen, you can hear all sorts of things. Doesn't mean you have to agree, but free discussion, open exchange of ideas, is the bedrock of democracy.

if anything Mul strengthens the resolve of the left because he is *so* over the top (and maybe even sways some fence-sitters towards the left)

That despite the best efforts of tech, pat and rodeo to convince people to go neocon :p

But we don't live in Bedrock, Fred...

Are you saying that *you* listen? Look through any recent political thread, it's the same people saying the same things, there is no exchange of ideas. It's the same fools talking at each other.

You bet I listen. Now, sometimes the same thought gets posted 100 different times, in that event you tune it out. But new issues come up, and when they do, I like to listen to different perspectives. Even if I ultimately disagree with someone, it sharpens my thinking, sometimes makes me consider an angle I would have overlooked.

Tuning out just isolates us and makes our brains even more inflexible.

The other thing to consider is that there is generally something even the most ardent political opponents can agree on. If you back up enough, as Americans we generally have some common ground on the basics of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness :) From there, it's all a matter of interpertation :)

WTF is up with the US men's hockey team? 2 5 on 3 PPs and they cant find the net?

Russia's gonna be fun.

Has anyone seen my 27 mm socket?

I'm having dungeness crab for dinner.

I wonder what the dark side of the moon looks like?

Wow! I never knew you could trap that much lint in a bellybutton...

Are we there yet? I have to pee.

Nice shoes.

NOW can we talk about something else in here?


:p

I have to pee too

See? I agree with that dickhead Icemaster about something :)

Hee hee - you said "dick"


:D :D :D

I've got toe jam to clean out.

Seriously though, on the other hand - I see it as a way of testing your theory - what happens if I say I believe this? What will prove me wrong?

At the end of the day, even though you don't concede in print - you think about what the opposition said, and you come back the next day and try it again.

It's classic debate. It seems that the real issue is the character assasination that usually happens after about 7 or 8 run in's.

It's just the internet, and most of y'all will never meet anyhow, don't be so serious.

Oh hey, let's talk about "team" sports. . . or the weather. . . .cuz I dunwanna look foolish talk'n 'bout politics.


Did some one's pet team win lately? Did anyone have any weather?


:cool:

Bryan, we all no you hate that you love the political threads so much.

Getting yourself banned didn't work; neither will this.


C'mon, let's hear it . . .'My name is Bryan, and I'm a Pelicaholic" :D