The US federal government might shutdown Friday. WTF?

[saturnfan]

Yea, I would certainly place Ron Paul in the radical category. I am certainly a fan, but I don't deify politicians, he is only one person after all.

[jfrost]

Hopefully the government shuts down and never comes back and we can have fundamental change in how the government operates. And for those who think that "tea baggers" (I love that word) are radical, get a clue, you have obviously never met a real radical. I want to abolish the United States government, revoke the charter to Federal Reserve and default on all the debt owed, abolish all governmental spending on overseas interventionism (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc), dismantlement 90-95% of all overseas military bases, dramatically reduce all welfare and entitlement spending, dramatically simply the tax code and perhaps eliminate federal income tax, and I could go on.

That my friend, is a "radical". Not the Tea Party.

Let's be friends.

[jfrost]

Isn't that Ron Paul?

He's alright, but his stances on abortion and open borders are not thrilling to most libertarians.

[Ack]

Ah, I'm unaware of his stance on abortion. I just knew that he'd expressed a desire to close most or all of our military bases overseas while cutting overseas intervention and wanted to oust the federal reserve while also drastically reducing federal taxes. He's been pretty open about these things since before the election though.

As far as the "tea baggers" are concerned, what they're mostly interested in cutting isn't really a major portion of the budget. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, our defense budget, and interest on our national debt takes up the largest portions, if I remember correctly. But politically most folks don't want to bring up cutting any of those (beyond some cries to lower our national debt and the defense budget) because they think it won't go well with voters..and admittedly it wouldn't. I do know that our military is attempting to shrink the amount of manpower coming in (they're becoming selective in their enlistment choices, particularly the Air Force, which has been paying people to quit), and with our presence in Iraq getting smaller, I expect our overall defense budget to follow suit, though probably not as drastically as some will like.

[Flake]

I want to abolish the United States government, revoke the charter to Federal Reserve and default on all the debt owed, abolish all governmental spending on overseas interventionism (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc), dismantlement 90-95% of all overseas military bases, dramatically reduce all welfare and entitlement spending, dramatically simply the tax code and perhaps eliminate federal income tax, and I could go on.

Yeah, I bet you could go on. There's no shortage of bad ideas out there. But hey, you keep on talking that way.

It's your right. And don't worry about losing that right. Paid or not, the people who swore to protect you no matter what you say will be there on Monday on our own dime to do a job that needs doing. Even if that means protecting short sided, selfish pricks who created the problem in the first place.

Sleep easy, dude. We'll keep you from having to live in the Mad Max world your ideas and wishes would create.

[saturnfan]

I want to abolish the United States government, revoke the charter to Federal Reserve and default on all the debt owed, abolish all governmental spending on overseas interventionism (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc), dismantlement 90-95% of all overseas military bases, dramatically reduce all welfare and entitlement spending, dramatically simply the tax code and perhaps eliminate federal income tax, and I could go on.

Yeah, I bet you could go on. There's no shortage of bad ideas out there. But hey, you keep on talking that way.

It's your right. And don't worry about losing that right. Paid or not, the people who swore to protect you no matter what you say will be there on Monday on our own dime to do a job that needs doing. Even if that means protecting short sided, selfish pricks who created the problem in the first place.

Sleep easy, dude. We'll keep you from having to live in the Mad Max world your ideas and wishes would create.

Because an insult is always the best way to make your point valid right?

Besides, how did "short sided, selfish pricks" like myself cause the problem? Neither of our political parties embraces or enacts legislation from a libertarian perspective. If anything, the selfishness and bickering between liberals and conservatives are to blame.

[Flake]

Because an insult is always the best way to make your point valid right?

Besides, how did "short sided, selfish pricks" like myself cause the problem?

That's funny. I didn't say anything about you being a 'short sided, selfish prick'. All I said about you was that people will go to work on Monday to keep you safe, despite your beliefs. Ain't that something?

[saturnfan]

Ah, I'm unaware of his stance on abortion.

Abortion is divisive no matter what, in terms of libertarianism there are two main perspectives on the issue.

a) It is a medical decision only to be made by a person and the government is not authorized to interfere in medical decisions.

b) One of the few legitimate roles of government is to prevent murder and threats of violence, and therefor it must do what it can to outlaw abortion.

Ron Paul falls under category b.

[Flake]

Yeah, except for that part that Planned Parenthoods abortion practices are separate both physically and financially from the main wing of the organization. Federal money that goes to Planned Parenthood only funds first-line health care for impoverished women, sexual education, and birth control assistance.

The clinics that provide abortions? Those are privately funded. They are also located at different sites.

So no, this isn't about abortions. But that makes for a good sound bite. It's also effective since most people never bother to read up on stuff themselves.

Here's some irony: In rhetoric, the Tea Party is anti abortion. In practice it is anti-birth control. Ain't that stinker?

[saturnfan]

Because an insult is always the best way to make your point valid right?

Besides, how did "short sided, selfish pricks" like myself cause the problem?

That's funny. I didn't say anything about you being a 'short sided, selfish prick'. All I said about you was that people will go to work on Monday to keep you safe, despite your beliefs. Ain't that something?

Keep me safe how? By draining away our tax dollars to fight undeclared middle eastern wars and remake them in our image? By repeatably re-voting for the Patriot act so they can spy on me? By continuously printing and borrowing money?

I wont lie, I may not have all the solutions, but I can see some of the problems.