I pray, that the Republicans take back the White House- yes, the upcoming election is that IMPORTANT!

Hope you gentlemen are joking. I may be fooling myself, but I wonder whether it'll take the election of "Third Party", or Independent candidates to teach both of the bad & boughten parties a big lesson? Right now it's the political equivalent of "Good Cop/Bad Cop", and I doubt this will change, as long as both parties are guaranteed one of them will win.

A more parliamentary form of government with, maybe, 4-6 different parties works elsewhere. The good examples are more fair and efficient than our, limited, Terrible Two system of governing. The USA has so much wealth we don't realize how bad our government is. Until voters beat their bad voting habits, there's no reason for politicians to change.

The electrorate cannot even decide on which one of TWO candidates to vote for. How in the heck are they going to decide with 4-6 candidates? More elections are too close to call. Even when there's an obvious difference between candidates the voting public is split pretty much 50-50. How about having one candidate? That's what they do in some countries, right?

Geoff Kait
Machina Dynamica

Yes, Comrad Kait. Essentially, we have only one party, but it's schizophrenic, and we switch voting between both realities.

Here, in the very blessed USA, we voters are our own worst enemies, and seem to know more about any other subject than our political system. Yet, many believe they're well-informed or don't vote at all. Perhaps a wiser electorate might wander between multiple parties while avoiding the extremes. Yeah, ya, some day?

What do I know? Never would I have thought we'd elect either "W" or Obama, once, much less twice. Talk about extremes! It's good that I rarely gamble.

I was surprised by a lot of them myself. Jack Kennedy, Richard Nixon, George Bush I, Nancy Reagan.

Geoff Kait
Machina Dynamica

It just depends on what that single issue is.

I believe a person's politics directly reflect their value system and as we all gravitate toward those who share our values, we draw some pretty clear lines on issues that call into question a person or party's values. Nobody agrees with everything the parties stand for or that is contained in their respective platforms, but the platform does define the values of the party and their supporters.

Everytime there's a GOP primary campaign, the candidates are forced to say such stupid things in order to get to the right of each other and win the support of republican voters that they make idiots of themselves. Look at the "sensible" candidate; Jeb. He's polling at the bottom. Look at the front runner. He calls women fat and ugly, calls those who disagree with him losers, makes fun of the other candidates looks, makes stuff up on a regular basis, has protesters roughed up at his events,
and his numbers keep going up.Now he made some joke about Hillary going to the bathroom! The best repub is Kasich, but he doesn't stand a chance.

How our government work and politics has interested me shortly after girls first did, in grade school. I know it's unusual, but I always thought it was important to know how our country operated. Besides audio info, I consume a lot of political droppings and even held a minor, local, elective office, and remain active in local government. From this long-time perspective I and other, "real", experts have observed our continued shift towards more conservative governing and legislation. That's why Obama's election blew me away. "The exception proves the rule?" Who knows? I'm hardly an expert, but do pay more attention than the average voter.

My concern is how labels get tossed around, as though by pasting a label on someone, their ideas become invalid, and not worth discussing. Who would have ever thought being progressive could be bad? The USA had once prided itself on its scientific advances, and progress in many important areas. Now, we seem to have degenerated into every-man-for-himself, and damn everybody else. Too bad some real Christmas spirit can't extend to congress and last all year.

In order to win you have to appeal,to the young folks. Like JFK Obama knew how to do that. Bush Senior knew how to do that supposedly by putting Dan Quayle on the ticket. He won anyway. Oh, well. I suppose a lot of Republicans probably think Bush Junior appealed to young people. Lol

Geoff Kait
Machina Dramatica