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[misko27]

Now for Christ's sake guys and gals can we talk about something that is actually going to happen in this universe? Donald Trump is going to be President of the United States. Things will be bad enough without having to concoct unrealistic apocalyptic scenarios.

[Rockphed]

Dirty foreign invaders will be resisted to the last man women and child in the heartland of Murrica.

* martinuzz vows to take a bath before invading

No ritual but waving a tiny American flag can wipe away the spiritual taint of EUROPE.

And singing, on repeat, The Star Spangled Banner (all the verses), followed by My Country Tis of Thee, at least half of The Stars and Stripes Forever, America the Beautiful, and God Bless America.  Okay, you don't have to sing God Bless America, but only because it is a pretty lame song that gets played (poorly) way too much by middle-school bands trying to be patriotic.  And you can probably just substitute "John Phillips Sousa Rocks" for the lyrics of The Stars and Strips Forever.  I didn't even know it had real lyrics until I looked them up just now.

[Erkki]

80 % of world's international trade is at least partially by naval routes, be it aboard a container ship, tanker or other.

USN totals probably over 40 % of the total tonnage of all world navies, and when you discount old rusty barely floating permanently docked junks from North Korea and such it probably goes up to about 45 %, at least. And probably somewhere around 60 % of all naval firepower. Also well over 50 % of all nuclear submarines, 100% of supercarriers and about 70 % of all carriers. US naval aviation strength alone is larger than all world air forces except Russia's and China's, and the only air force that has more modern fighters and radar aircraft is the USAF. Navy also flies more and in tougher conditions and excercises than most world air forces, and likely has one of the best if not very best pilots, on the average.

Additionally, most of the next powerful naval powers are in the NATO or are otherwise allies of the USA, and most of them are located along the most important naval trade routes.

This all means USA has the potential to control and if necessary shut down most of the international trade if she so wishes, and there is nothing anyone can do about it, short term. In globalized world, there are many countries including potential enemies to the USA that cant even feed their population should their ports be blockaded.

[Sheb]

I think you're understimating the number of US carriers because they tend to call "amphibious assault ships" ships that would be classifeid carriers in other navies.

[Shadowlord]

Yeah, a million individual gun owners trying to play real murrkin hero is the same thing as an army, right?

The might of the US military armed with guns, planes, ships, tanks, and chemical weapons like napalm and agent orange lost to a bunch of rice farmers with guns and pointed sticks in a sweaty jungle in the 1970s. Do not underestimate a bunch of dudes with guns in hiding.

Let's not forget the benefit of morale and determination. They were fighting a war of independence from colonial powers and saw us as just the latest one. We were fighting a war in some jungle we didn't care about and didn't want to be in, and public opinion eventually turned against it pretty strongly.

[Egan_BW]

This is actually an interesting topic, so I think I might just drag it to Armchair General thread where it belongs.

[smjjames]

The only Democrat in Michigan on how and why the Dems lost Michigan.

I keep seeing (not around here though, I think we're all in agreement that Clinton screwed up, hard, though it's not the only contributing factor) that the Dems keep blaming Russia, Comey, email leaks, basically everybody but themselves. If the Dems don't learn from their mistakes, they're going to fail in 2018, and potentially 2020.

[PTTG??]

Yeah, we need someone to send the moneylenders from the temple.

[Lagslayer]

Yeah, we need someone to send the moneylenders from the temple.

This, so hard.

If the bankers are dealt with, a whole lot of society's problems will begin correcting themselves.

But the ideas, concepts, and systems they have fostered over millennia are difficult to break in the minds of the people.

[smjjames]

The problem though, is that lobbying is the grease which makes the political machinery move. Even in places like the Scandinavian countries, Netherlands, and Canada, there is lobbying. So, attacking lobbying directly might not be the answer.

If there is a way to have a government while removing lobbying entirely, I'd certainly love to know it.

[Lagslayer]

The problem though, is that lobbying is the grease which makes the political machinery move. Even in places like the Scandinavian countries, Netherlands, and Canada, there is lobbying. So, attacking lobbying directly might not be the answer.

Firstly, the "political machinery" shouldn't me moving so much in the first place. Law that changes, and becomes ever more complex on a daily basis, only serves to cloud it's meaning and function for the average person. As it stands, only super rich people who can hire dozens of lawyers could ever hope to understand the laws. The law is supposed to be stable.

Second, by lobbying, I assume you mean with bribes/favors etc, and not just advocation. This is just corruption, pure and simple. If that's how the system runs, then all the more reason to bite the bullet and stop it immediately. It will only get worse the longer we wait.

[smjjames]

I was thinking more of the advocation part of lobbying rather than the money part, but yes, the exchange of money or favors is the main problem.

The Scandinavian countries, Canada, NZ, and Netherlands seem to do it well, so, I wonder what their policies are as far as lobbying goes.

The really hard part though, is that you have to find someone who actually, definetly, absolutely, will tackle lobbying because Obama said he would try to clean up Washington a bit, and he only did a little thing which has no effect, Trump said he would tackle it and all you have to do is look at his cabinet lineup (and his conflicts of interest), Clinton said she would (though that was kind of after Sanders forced her leftwards), but I don't know how effective she would have been, if at all.

[Rolepgeek]

@Lagslayer

Nominally, lobbying should be the process through which groups connect to and communicate with political entities, primarily Senators and Representatives but also committees and the like, with the intent of giving them more information on subjects such that that they understand why it's in the best interests of their constituency for laws favorable to the lobbying group be passed.

In practice, and by the literal definition, it's anyone who tries to influence a politician. This includes advocacy groups for minorities, environmental protections, animal rights, labor unions, and so on, not just corporations.

The law is supposed to be two of the following, at minimum, preferably all three: fair, just, and necessary. If a law is fair and just, but unnecessary, there is usually little reason to remove it. If a law is just and necessary, but unfair, we kinda have to bite the bullet. If the law is fair and necessary, but unjust, we call it a regulation. The law should neither change more nor less than is necessary for it be simultaneously relevant and understandable. The real world is extremely complicated, and laws model a simplified abstracted form of the real world, which is why they become ever more complicated.

Furthermore, the laws are a varied and numerous race; to which laws do you refer when you say only the super rich could ever hope to understand the laws? Do you mean literally all of them? That I can understand, but in terms of what is actually likely to apply to most people and their business, it's usually not too difficult. You might need a legal-saavy friend or the internet, and some sleuthing, which true, not everyone has/has time for, but nonetheless.

Also, don't know if it was millennia that banking has 'corrupted' society, but I would say that getting money out of politics would make things much easier. The hard part is that the money doesn't want to go. :/

[Lagslayer]

Also, don't know if it was millennia that banking has 'corrupted' society, but I would say that getting money out of politics would make things much easier. The hard part is that the money doesn't want to go. :/

Goes back to at least the time of Christ, because the bible rails against it. That's where "sending money lenders from the temple" comes from.

Not that I necessarily believe in everything the bible says, but it does show that this has been a problem for a very long time.

[misko27]

I'm highly concerned that well-meaning, would-be reformers like Lagslayer will end up paralyzing the government permanently. Banning Earmarks, that widely reviled practice, has already done more than almost any piece of legislation in recent history to force the government into a perpetual standstill.The fact of the matter is that Congress hates each others guts, and in an absence of reasons to stop doing so, they will never work together, period. That's all well and good if you live in a world where everything is all fine and dandy and the government is unnecessary, but anyone who thinks the government needs to do things is screwed.

Someone give me a reform that will actually make the government work. All I've heard are reforms that will make it stop working.

Also, don't know if it was millennia that banking has 'corrupted' society, but I would say that getting money out of politics would make things much easier. The hard part is that the money doesn't want to go. :/

Goes back to at least the time of Christ, because the bible rails against it. That's where "sending money lenders from the temple" comes from.

Not that I necessarily believe in everything the bible says, but it does show that this has been a problem for a very long time.

Oh please. Bankers didn't exist as a group with serious power until the rise of capitalism, none of this "millennia of cultural indoctrination" nonsense. I mean Jesus Christ, the Bible is an example of cultural influence in the other direction, telling us of the sin of Usury.