Centralized government is the antithesis to liberty, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness. Always has been, and always will be. The degree of corruption, lies, theft, and violence perpetrated against the citizens by the Federal gvt is staggeringly depressing right now!! (I realize that most don't comprehend the truth of that statement as it takes an open mind, real world experience, true grit, intelligence, and candor at all costs). Pretend, for a few minutes, that my hypothesis is correct. How many citizens live 1000 miles away from D.C.? 1500 miles? 2500 miles? The average citizen will almost never be seen in D.C., and even less rarely actually be heard . It is too far, and thus too expensive to get there for the vast majority of folks. But, if state power was properly balanced against centralized government, a VERY different reality occurs. The vast majority of citizens would only live a few 100 miles from the most important secular corridors of power in their lives. The average citizen could afford to be seen and heard in the state capital once a month or more. The potential is revolutionary!! Community would mean something again. The greater the power of centralized government 1000s of miles away, the less the local community matters. The federal government has its' fingers in purdy much everythAng right now. They are the real gatekeepers. Not the state, not the county, and not the cities. America was founded on the ideal of local politics as a way to prevent and interfere with corruption. Initially the centralized government was too weak. Now it has swung all the way across and is way, way, way too stronK. And this trend will bear the same fruits as every other time in history, blood and horror for all. I would prefer a bloodless revolution. But a revolution is coming, one way or the other. Reality always wins, in the end. Printing money is legalized counterfeiting. Phony wars for profit is heinous. Placing convenience above the lives of tens of millions of fetuses is immoral. The human toll, when the health of women that abort more than once is calculated, is enormous. Reality. Always. Wins. Good night and best of fortunes.
Fetal development - 12 weeks pregnant http://www.webmd.com/baby/ss/slideshow-fetal-development Your baby is about 5.4cm long from her crown to her rump and weighs slightly less than 14g. The big news this week is that your baby's reflexes are becoming more honed. She'll squirm if you prod your belly, although you probably can't feel her moving around yet. Fetal nerve cells have been multiplying rapidly and the neurological connections in her brain (synapses) are forming. She can close her fingers, curl her toes and clench her eye muscles. All the while, your baby's face is beginning to look more human. Her eyes, which started out on the sides of her head, have moved closer together. Her ears are almost in their final positions on the side of her head. Inside her body, her organs are performing more complex tasks. Her liver is making bile and her kidneys are secreting urine into her bladder. http://www.babycentre.co.uk/12-weeks-pregnant#ixzz3gsMni4g3 Week Twelve: Fingernails and toenails appear You are 12 weeks pregnant. (fetal age 10 weeks) The fetus is now about 2.5 inches (6cm) length and weighs about 0.7 ounce (20 g). The feet are almost half an inch (1cm) long. The fetus starts moving spontaneously. The face is beginning to look like a baby's face. The pancreas is functioning and producing insulin. Fingernails and toenails appear. The baby can suck his thumb, and get hiccups. From this week you may well be able to hear the baby's heart beat through a doppler monitor on your tummy. You will notice that the rate is up to 160 a minute, double that of a normal adult. Your baby now has a chin and a nose and a facial profile. Vocal chords are complete, and the baby can and does sometimes cry silently. The brain is fully formed, and the baby can also feel pain. The fetus may even suck his thumb. The eyelids now cover the eyes, and will remain shut until the seventh month to protect the delicate optical nerve fibers. The hair is on the head and the fingers and toes have developed soft nails. The kidneys are developed and begin to secrete urine. http://www.baby2see.com/development/week12.html Edit: Nice to see signs of humanity on the rise. http://dailysignal.com/2015/07/23/p...donors-after-coca-cola-ford-and-xerox-object/
So the rebuttal to federalism and unnatural termination of tens of millions of fetuses is the following: Edit: Giant pic of a cricket removed. It did spark many logical comments by 3+ posters.
I agree with many of your statements about the federal government overstepping their bounds. As for abortion, I'd rather see the approximately 40 million abortions each year than further suffering of children that are not properly provided for.
To be honest, not really all that interested in discussing anything with someone who uses words like "gooberment" and uses phrases like "always has been, always will be." Call me petty, but it seems like a waste of my time.
correct me if i'm wrong, but i thought the point of our system of government was that we elect people who go to the capital *for* us. regardless of where the damn thing is physically located i doubt it would ever be more than a tourist destination. when a lot of people want to go to the capital and have their voice heard, we call that a protest. otherwise, they either write to their representative(s) or grouse to their family, friends, neighbors, and random people online. a lot of the rest of that post is, to my eyes at least, overblown exaggeration based on a shaky premise. i know i don't share your political or religious views, so feel free to deny me any of the following- an open mind, real world experience, true grit, intelligence, and candor at all costs. i understand that you want stronger state governments with more important state capitals, i'm just not seeing where the unwashed masses would actually change in their apathy. i'm not seeing where all of a sudden america turns into a place where the citizenry care about policy instead of overblown politics. and potentially more importantly, what we are now is one country. it's sloppy, it's ****ed up, but it's united. what you're proposing starts eating away at the overall unity. if the USA was changed to look more like the HRE, i can't see how that ends well for us. maybe that's just my imagination running away with me. moving on to abortion- that's something that "always has been, always will be". it's been a common practice since, i would imagine, before history began. i have a hard time imagining how it's any more unnatural than the way we're having this discussion right now. if we're talking pure practicality, i think that it should be up to the woman who's carrying the child. should the father have a say? maybe, depending on circumstance. the guy still doesn't have to carry the thing to term, and if the potential mother doesn't want or isn't able to care for the child, then that's her choice. i'm not saying that i'm gonna throw a party for every aborted fetus like YEAH YOU GO GIRL WOOP WOOP ABORT THAT THING, just that there are a lot of people in the world, it's a person only in potentia, generally i care more about the parents than it, and would it kill you to adopt? if the father is really dead set on having a kid, maybe he should look into finding himself a different mom for it. aside from all that, DJ, you may notice that i've kept my responses in this thread scarce. this isn't because i don't have opinions, it's more because i didn't think i could actually convince you of anything and you've been the driving force of the thread. having said all that, this is a first draft and i'm too lazy to edit it right now. i quite possibly misspoke on something or, more likely, didn't add something in that i had meant to.
@darklord48 and @Dagda fair points. Disagreements are natural. Appreciate your respectful replies. @Sokolov I am always interested in those bothered by the word "gooberment". Why does it irk you? I am outraged by the US of A's abuses in the last few decades. Using 1 silly word is a bit of venting for me. My belief that centralized gvt is and always will be bad/regressive does not make it so. Apparently you have a strong conviction that absolutes are too stronK. And I have an iron conviction that lack of absolutes is weaksauce. I see at least 50 shades of moral gray in the world, but some things are cut and dry to me. Most are not. Reply if desired, as I have certainly characterized your position incorrectly in at least 1 regard. No hard feelings either way, I hope. And now some--random--inspiration:
That type of thing irks me because it shows a lack of respect for the discussion and subject matter. It's like if you said "I believe in liberty and freedom." And I replied, "Yea, libootee and FEEdom are just figments of your imagination. Always was, always will be." It's childish, and doesn't add to the discussion in any way other than make me take you less seriously. Same reason why I don't discuss politics with people who use terms like Libtard or Repugs or whatever the hip words are now. To me, it signals that you don't care about a discussion, rather, you just want a platform to broadcast your POV as the truth. There is certainly room for absolutes, and some have value, but I don't hold much value in the absolute of "what I believe is true now and all time."
The majority of politicians on the national level are lying to/about and stealing from scores of millions of good citizens. The last thing I worry about is if their feelings are hurt by a pejorative. I used to expect calm discussions, a la NPR style, but those years are long gone. Too much violence by the oligarchy against we the people for me to even pretend I am a Vulcan. (I respect Vulcans, but I am descended from Vikings). The professionals exude confidence, intelligence, and wisdom with their sterile and calculated speeches. But they continue to sell America down the river, or to kick the proverbial can down the road. They get filthy, and I do mean filthy, rich but the core problems worsen. Same actions. Same results. Insanity. I care about results, not polite sensibilities. This world is a dangerous place. Violence rules the modern age, just as it has all others. Sad reality, I agree. Hoping all y'all have a bright day. Gonna end with a good little gem of a quote. " Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." --MLK, Jr.
I oppose the unnatural termination of life. There are logical and scientific reasons for abortion, but they comprise a tiny percentage of the total # of abortions each year. Most women that choose to abort pay a terrible price. The physical pain can be high. The emotional pain is beyond excruciating. Millions of young women are lied to by the abortion industry. And the abortion industry gets filthy, filthy, filthy rich with their efforts. Politicians too, of course. A review of the genesis of PP is especially disheartening. Eugenics. KKK. True racism. True horror. But hey, peeps are making money on the suffering of others. Yay progress! Yay money! SMH.
How many women do you know well enough to have discussed their abortions? Of that number, how many were traumatized?
Many dozens of times. I have spent many 100s of hours studying this topic. I have discussed it with many scores of other medical providers and RNs. I was a CNA for a few years, then > 3 years of nursing school, then 6 years as an RN, then 3 years of PA school, and now 6 years as a PA-C. The human cost is wildly undersold by those getting absolutely rich on abortions. Their behavior is logical. They like money. The National Socialist German Workers' Party was NOT honest about what they cooked in certain ovens. Drug cartels do NOT seem to care how much suffering they cause, as long as they get their gazillion trillion pesos. Governments lie and steal and murder all the time. The majority of the media is propaganda. Plenty of large business are corrupt. The Ununited Nations is a joke. Corruption in FIFA is rampant. How many people has FIFA literally worked right into premature graves? And so on and so forth. Technology is a great boon, because truth can be determined. But it also allows for an insane amount of bread and circuses. Fire, and cars, and guns and etc are 2-edged swords as well. I don't know where abortion ranks on the list of evils committed by humans, but it is on the list. Except in rare situations, it is a negative for humanity. Thousands of medical facts and pics prove that very young fetuses are alive. Science is awesomesauce like that. Philosophy, the search for truth, is super cool beans as well.
I don't think anyone is promoting a Feudal Empire to replace the US. Well, no one in this thread anyway (the Bilderberg Group probably does but that's a different topic). Having a weaker central government would not erode at the unity of the nation, or make it any less of a nation. There would still be Federal Laws and the like, and there would still be a Constitution (indeed, it would be more observed than it currently is). Not having the Central Government fund social projects isn't going to erode the fabric of the United States. Indeed, it originally functioned for a very long time in that manner. I have no idea who you're addressing here, but I don't think someone having a different view means they lack open mindedness, experience, grit, intelligence, or candor.
I was the one that said it is difficult to see and accept the truth of our current predicament. Dagda posited that my comment is not 100% correct.
people also had a solid reason to care about state's rights once- when the country was made, odds were good that ye olde average citizen was never going to cross the state line. saying that it worked one way once does not mean that it can or should still work that same way. anyhow, i figured someone would jump on the HRE thing. what i meant by that is largely influenced by my eu4 playing time (go figure) and may not be entirely historically accurate (i'll leave history to the tabloids). here goes- most of the HREmperors that i've seen when just scrolling through the timeline don't have a particularly strong landbase to draw power from (not by comparison to many of the rest of the states in the empire, at least), instead they rely on strength of dynasty, and diplomatic ties. What ends up happening, of course, is some enterprising unknowns down Switzerland way start getting uppity, moving up from owning a castle to Austria and, eventually, the throne of the empire for 500 years. They tend to be good about consolidating their own force while keeping the rest of the empire not quite big enough to really challenge them. Why do I bring this up in connection to the US? Good question Dagda. There's already a push from a fair number of the states to let them do more things as they please. By reducing the federal government's ability to regulate what state governments are doing, it seems like while you may end up with more distinct cultures state-by-state, you also end up with... I'm trying to think of a way to say 'unruly vassal states with secessionist tendencies', but nothing's coming to mind. It's quite possible that I've overdone, in my mind, where he's going or what would happen as a result. That happens, I've already said this. And, to the constitution, lemme just ask- why do people care so much about it? It's the basis for the laws of the land, right? But then every state has its own as well, and the actual laws we live by seem more often laws of modernity. Why are the constitution and the founders so revered in America today (and I mean this partially as a comparison, based off hearsay- as in I've heard that many other modernized countries have their own constitutions but their citizens often couldn't begin to tell you what's in them)? on a note somewhat related to that- http://student-of-life.newsvine.com...prior-generation-what-do-you-think-about-that Feel free to ignore the article piece, really it's just TJ's words I'm focusing on- specifically the piece where he writes that he wants the constitution to be updated for every generation
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html Seems like they believed the best chance of success for them and future generations was an orderly and just set of laws. I like TJ's idea, personally. That is NOT what has happened the last 100 years though. The oligarchy has slowly and inexorably ignored more and more of the constitution. Less order = more chaos. Those at the tip of the pyramid have the resources and power to cheat "legally", or otherwise. Everyone else is forced to comply with ever more tyranny. I revere the constitution because I oppose tyranny. I believe in liberty, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness. NOT theft, bondage, and 1 mirage after another.
i mean ok, but if the constitution is so easily bent, abused, mistreated, broken, or otherwise trod on, why is it worth the reverence? or rather, how do you reconcile reverence of the thing with the idea that it's past its expiration date? and fwiw, you list off 3 ideals before saying you don't believe in 1 mirage after another- seems counter intuitive to me. i'll be back later.
