Interesting thread, whilst the thread generally highlights and then proceeds to be appalled by choices government officials or corporations have chosen, I can't help but be lost by where exactly everyone stands when it comes to changing how much it's going to happen in the future.
Simply put; I don't know who you
support (political parties) to make it so these terrible occurrences don't continue to happen.
The only discussion I picked up on this was on page 3 Onwards
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=85981.30In theory, a libertarian Republican would be your ideal candidate. However, party orthodoxy makes political life short, nasty and brutish for any Republican professing to be pro-choice, even when that decision is framed as one of "personal liberty". Plus, too many libertarians are very laissez-faire on environmental regulation--which, left to the good graces of the private sector, essentially equals "Favors allowing companies to make and sell Baby Seal Jerky if they choose to".
I think what this demonstrates is the core ideological paradoxes at the heart of both parties. The Republican party is supposed to be the party of limted government and personal liberty, but since the religious Right got their claws into them circa 1980, they've also made legislating morality a key component of their platform, which inherently conflicts with their stated core principles.
The Democrats are supposed to be the party of social welfare, equality and individual freedoms, but frequently attempt to do so in hamfisted or "one-size-fits-all" ways which often wind up not solving the problem at all, or only partially doing so.
Personally, my ideal platform would be one that is fiscally conservative, socially liberal and foreign policy moderate. Since no such party exists, I am and will continue to be an Independent.
The important part (and probably the point of my post) in this quote is the conclusion, since no party exists the person defaulted to being independent.
What this thread makes me wonder is why people will not choose to found their own organization to pursue their own interests, especially
if the world currently at large is disgusting them.
This isn't the first site I've had the discussion on either, other like-minded individuals recited how any non-republican presented has been butchered by scandals to get them out of office as soon as they're elected or that it'd be too much effort to change the members of congress so we don't have a congress full of private corp owners who hold the real power instead of the president himself.
I myself am a plebeian who has difficulty really seeing massive pictures like this, as much as I like change. It seems that if a Government stays the same way for a long enough time, even if things are really
really bad, that change may not be the best option (or rather, change is a feared thing and probably why traditions, religions and such are still to this day in government).
I ask myself why people don't find it interesting to take part in, or at least read/study debates as in-depth about current political happenings and the answer is generally "because American idol is on!" (Panem en Circenses).
Hmm, probably just another tangent of mine, I very much enjoyed reading the thread though.