I don't have a clue what's going to happen anymore.
In the USA, Democrats have majorities in the House, Senate, and they have the Presidency. A majority of Americans support a carbon cap and trade system. A majority even support it if it raises their electrical bills $10 per month. Polls have consistently shown this support. We just had a major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It's the hottest year on record. There are massive heat waves along the US East Coast. One of the President's main campaign issues was to enact a carbon cap and trade system. It seems like a perfect storm to get a climate bill passed, and yet once again, they failed. For the fourth time. It's just hard to fathom. What is it going to take for us to get climate legislation?
As you note, the problem is that we don't live in a democracy. If we did, we'd have a strong climate bill. Instead, 41 Republicans and a handful of fossil fuel-funded Democrats obstructed the legislation. The minority held our government hostage. What's worse, the Democrats didn't even make them filibuster. That really bugs me - a 41?inority can just say "we're going to filibuster" and they get their way. The Dems are spineless - make them stand up there and read the phone book for days on end. Don't just cave at the mere threat, that's just begging them to continue to abuse our government. It's so frustrating. In an election, a 59-41?in is a landslide. In the Senate, 41?cts like a majority. It's insane.
That's not even the worst part. Americans realize that our government isn't working properly, as the Romans did. Rather than put a dictator in charge, our solution is to elect more Republican politicians. The very people who created the mess we're in. The very people who are blocking every effort to solve the problems we're facing. The very people who offer no constructive suggestions of their own. That's how stupid we've become. The system is broken, and now we're going to light it on fire and dance around it like crazed maniacs. Republicans are firing rifles at their own soldiers, and now we're going to give them missile launchers.
Honestly I would much prefer an intelligent dictator with a well-informed advisory staff. It's not going to happen - Americans love to believe that we have this great democracy which is the envy of the world. That egotism played a big role in justifying the war in Iraq. We're going to spread our great democracy to the Middle East! Yeah, that worked out great.
Our republic is already broken, not because of global warming, but rather it's going to prevent us from addressing global warming. I'm just at a loss right now. We gave Democrats control of the government, and Republicans still found a way to obstruct progress. And now we brilliant Americans are going to reward them for it. A republic can't work if one of the parties is rewarded for abusing the system and preventing majority rule.
But our system isn't going to change. Americans also think it's patriotic to keep everything just the way it is. Trying to improve the way our country operates is considered unpatriotic. Several times deniers on this site have criticized me because I 'don't say anything good about America'. There are a lot of good things about our country, but there are a lot of bad things too. I want to fix them, but it's just not going to happen. I think America is on the decline, like the final days of the Roman Empire.
It's almost funny, if it weren't so pathetic. Obama was elected on a message of change. As soon as he tried to enact that change, he was labeled a socialist. In another answer, CO2 Expeller said he voted for Obama, but didn't realize he was going to increase the scope of government. w*f? That's exactly what he said he would do! Universal health care and a carbon cap and trade system - that's what we were promised, and that's the platform we elected him on. Just goes to show how intelligent the American voter is. Now they think the Tea Party is the change they want. Crazy libertarians like Sharron Angle who want to shut the government down completely.
Ultimately there are several problems. We would be fine if not for the filibuster rule in the Senate, but that prevents majority rule. On top of that, we have an extremely uninformed public which seems to vote for 'change' without understanding what they're voting for. We also have a popular right-wing media which is badly misinforming the public. And Democrats sadly are utterly spineless, except a few like Nancy Pelosi, who actually did manage to get cap and trade passed through the House. As Paul says, our government wasn't built for modern day problems, and the public isn't informed enough to figure out what the problems are and who's going to fix them.
Answered By: Dana1981 - 7/23/2010 |