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JOEL KOTKIN ON Bipartisan Distrust Of The Beltway.

Much has been written and spoken about the deep divide between “red” and “blue” America, but
the real chasm increasingly is between Washington and the rest of the country
. This disconnect may increase as both conservatives and liberals outside the Beltway look with growing disdain upon their “leaders” inside the imperial capital. Indeed, according to Gallup, trust among Americans toward the federal government has sunk to historic lows, regarding both foreign and domestic policy. . . .

 

This chasm between the ruled and the rulers has both widened and deepened during the Obama years. Initially, Democrats supported the idea of a strong federal expansion to improve the economy. Yet, as it turned out, the stimulus and other administration steps did little to help the middle and working classes. The Obama economic policy has turned out to be at least as much – if not more – “trickle down” than that of his Republican predecessor.

 

Similarly embarrassing, the administration’s embrace of surveillance, as demonstrated by the National Security Agency revelations, has been no less, and maybe greater, than that of former vice president Dick Cheney and his crew of anti-civil libertarians. And it’s been the Left, notably, the British Guardian newspaper, that has led the fight against the mass abuse of privacy. Americans as a whole are more sympathetic to leaker Edward Snowden and increasingly concerned about government intrusions on their privacy. A July Washington Post-ABC News poll found fully 70 percent of Democrats and 77 percent of Republicans said the NSA’s phone and Internet surveillance programs intrude on some Americans’ privacy rights. Nearly six in 10 political independents who saw intrusions said they are unjustified.

 

The Right intrinsically opposes expansion of the civilian part of the federal government, but it supported the national security state both during the Cold War and after 9/11. This has now begun to change. The revelations about IRS targeting of Tea Party and other grass-roots groups likely have not reduced their fears of Big Brother. Yet, by better than 2-1, Democrats, according to a Quinnipiac survey, also supported appointing a special prosecutor to get to the bottom of this scandal. . . .

 

Besides shared concerns over Syria, the NSA and IRS, grass-roots conservatives and liberals increasingly reject the conventional wisdom of their Washington betters. What increasingly matters here is not political “spin,” but the breadth of anti-Washington sentiment. After all, while most of the country continues to suffer low economic growth, the Washington area has benefitted from the expansion of federal power. The entire industry of consultants, think tanks, lawyers and related fields, no matter their supposed ideologies, has waxed while the rest of America has waned.

 

This has been a golden era for the nation’s capital, perhaps the one place that never really felt the recession. Of the nation’s 10 richest counties, seven are in the Washington area.

 

 

 

If only there was some sort of profession that was paid to ask questions of the people in power...........................................

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted

It works for liberals because they have no answer. So they define the Tea Party in their own minds. To them, the Tea Party means believing in Jesus and hating the faggots and wanting to shoot the blacks and starving the babies and killing the blue hairs, blah, blah, blah.

 

One day the GOP will wake up and think, "Our party must be horribly FUBAR'ed if the country thought Obama was a good alternative...twice...and their best idea is Obamacare and starting a group called a Coffee Party!?

Liberals have to find something to demonize to cover the fact that virtually everything they touch turns to ****. They've repeated the Tea Party stuff often enough that it's gaining significant traction with the typical American idiot (low information voter). It's the equivalent of "if the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit".

Posted

So, if this thread going to end up like the Trayvon Martin thread? We'll go back to the first 5 pages and laugh at what was being said when we knew so little about the goings on?

Posted

So, if this thread going to end up like the Trayvon Martin thread? We'll go back to the first 5 pages and laugh at what was being said when we knew so little about the goings on?

 

That's pretty insensitive, even from a redneck NC guy who found a way to kitty out of the Great PPP Debate Competition. Look at it this way, those misinformed, easily led panty waists could naturally scream from their barely formed gonads that some black kid in Florida got hisself shot by a "white hispanic". Like any of this is news. Maybe we should start a new thread about the violence in Chicago?

Posted

President Obama shouldn't negotiate with these insane Republicans who are threatening to destroy our economy if they don't get their way. they are like the Confederates in 1860, crazy, nihilistic and stupid. Stand firm Mr. President

Posted

President Obama shouldn't negotiate with these insane Republicans who are threatening to destroy our economy if they don't get their way. they are like the Confederates in 1860, crazy, nihilistic and stupid. Stand firm Mr. President

 

Now that isn't even trolling. More like fishing from the dock with a bobber on the line. Just downright pathetic.

Posted

President Obama shouldn't negotiate with these insane Republicans who are threatening to destroy our economy if they don't get their way. they are like the Confederates in 1860, crazy, nihilistic and stupid. Stand firm Mr. President

 

Absolutely. The Republicans should give the president everything he wants, whether they agree with it or not. Just like the Democrats did in 2003.

Posted

BWeF8FkIUAAyJH1.jpg

 

In DC today ...................to prevent citizens from visiting open-air memorials.

 

 

BWd1ezkCYAA3OK9.jpg

 

Veterans Remove Barricades from Memorials and Bring Them to WH

 

 

 

 

311281.jpg?filter=wtop_article

 

Crowd storms World War II Memorial

 

WASHINGTON - Thousands of people converged on the World War II Memorial on the National Mall on Sunday morning and tore down the barricades blocking it off, protesting the closure of the memorial during the federal government shutdown.

 

http://www.wtop.com/959/3479186/Crowd-storms-World-War-II-Memorial

Posted

BWeF8FkIUAAyJH1.jpg

 

In DC today ...................to prevent citizens from visiting open-air memorials.

 

 

BWd1ezkCYAA3OK9.jpg

 

Veterans Remove Barricades from Memorials and Bring Them to WH

 

 

 

 

311281.jpg?filter=wtop_article

 

Crowd storms World War II Memorial

 

WASHINGTON - Thousands of people converged on the World War II Memorial on the National Mall on Sunday morning and tore down the barricades blocking it off, protesting the closure of the memorial during the federal government shutdown.

 

http://www.wtop.com/...War-II-Memorial

 

Nice. This administration has the manpower to send at least ten brownshirts to prevent people from visiting what are normally unmanned memorials, all in the theory that they don't have enough manpower to man the unmanned memorials? Is there any reason why people doubt our scepticism about government controlling things like healthcare?

Posted

One more picture of the "radicals" taking a Barrycade to the White House . . . . . a legless veteran

 

BWd3EphIIAAsyPW.jpg

 

What the !@#$ is wrong with our douchebag politicians and president who are trying to exploit veterans to twist it and appeal to the publics outcry to try and make republicans look bad.

 

Obama is a !@#$ing scumbag

Posted

What the !@#$ is wrong with our douchebag politicians and president who are trying to exploit veterans to twist it and appeal to the publics outcry to try and make republicans look bad.

 

Obama is a !@#$ing scumbag

cruz palin and their merry throng are right there, front and center. if the dems had analogous d bag, rabalrousers, do you think they'd be seen making a scene in front of the labs of 4/5 current american nobel scientists on furlough right now?
Posted

yeah, just the same...look at the nice people applauding the arrest in the backround. that was showing strenght before a hostile audience. the teabaggers are preaching to the choir. and what a gullible choir it is...

 

You are right it's not the same, the veterans served their country and are being denied access to a memorial they paid for. The others are mostly illigal immigrants looking for a way around our immagration laws.

Posted

You are right it's not the same, the veterans served their country and are being denied access to a memorial they paid for. The others are mostly illigal immigrants looking for a way around our immagration laws.

you want someone to blame for the horrific injuries trhe man in the picture and so many like him suffer? look no further: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/opinion/sunday/dowd-a-mad-tea-party.html?ref=maureendowd&_r=0
Posted

you want someone to blame for the horrific injuries trhe man in the picture and so many like him suffer? look no further: http://www.nytimes.c...aureendowd&_r=0

 

You should just stop. Your logical attempts at demonizing the veterans who stood in defiance of a dirtbag president who disrespects all veterans because he's a child throwing a temper tantrum is getting the ever crap pounded out of it. Instead of limping away, you return to Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld?

 

Just. Stop.

Posted

Anyone wanna take a quick informal survey?

 

How many people here have been personally affected by this shutdown?

 

Not enraged by news stories, or know of a friend or family member that has been affected, but you yourselves.

 

Anyone missed a paycheck, or not been able to use a gov't service that they needed? Just curious.

 

I have not noticed any difference or issue in my life since the shutdown.

Posted

You should just stop. Your logical attempts at demonizing the veterans who stood in defiance of a dirtbag president who disrespects all veterans because he's a child throwing a temper tantrum is getting the ever crap pounded out of it. Instead of limping away, you return to Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld?

 

Just. Stop.

no. the narcissistic anarchist should. stop. and the imperialistic unilateralists should have been. no one is demonizing the veterans. that's what the anarchists are trying to impose on the dems, apparently with some success, unfortunately.

 

Anyone wanna take a quick informal survey?

 

How many people here have been personally affected by this shutdown?

 

Not enraged by news stories, or know of a friend or family member that has been affected, but you yourselves.

 

Anyone missed a paycheck, or not been able to use a gov't service that they needed? Just curious.

 

I have not noticed any difference or issue in my life since the shutdown.

i've been to the cdc site several times since looking for info on infectious disease trends like pertussis and flu. there's a big disclaimer stating data is not up to date.

Posted

i've been to the cdc site several times since looking for info on infectious disease trends like pertussis and flu. there's a big disclaimer stating data is not up to date.

The horror.

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