What is Politics?

[tigwelder56]

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, "What is Politics?"



Dad says, "Well son, let me try to explain it this way: I am the head of the family, so call me the President. Your mother is the administrator of the money, so we call her the Government. We are here to take care of your needs, so we will call you the People. The nanny, we will consider her the Working Class. And your baby brother, we will call him the Future. Now think about that and see if it makes sense."



So the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said. Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets up to check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper.

So the little boy goes to his parent's room and finds his mother asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room. Finding the door locked, he peeks in the keyhole and sees his father in bed with the nanny. He gives up and goes back to bed.



The next morning, the little boy say's to his father, "Dad, I think I understand the concept of politics now." The father says, "Good, son, tell me in your own words what you think politics is all about."



The little boy replies, "The President is screwing the Working Class while the Government is sound asleep. The People are being ignored and the Future is in deep shit."

[tigwelder56]

[tigwelder56]

Remembering Independence Day



Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?



Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.



Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.



Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.



Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.



These patriots signed, pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.



What kind of men were they?



Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.



Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships "blasted" to the bottom of the ocean by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.



Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.



Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.



At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr, noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.



Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.



John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children gone. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.



Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.



Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."



They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought the British imposed government, for the right to govern our own country!



Unfortunately, many Americans take these liberties for granted -- but we shouldn't. Please take a few moments (at least) to remember the price paid for your freedom. Publicly and privately remember the patriots who gave so much, for you and me.



Remember: freedom is never free!



Lets never forget there's a lot more to the 4th of July holiday than fireworks, picnics, and baseball. At least one day a year, lets show some true patriotism for, this great country, the United States of America.

[agonist]

Great stuff Tig. I'm going to start another thread asking everyone to post any information they have about the presidential candidates in relation to the 2nd amendment.

[tigwelder56]

That's great Ag! I look forward to it. It's time for Americans to take back our Country. Before I die I want to feel better about the direction our government is taking our Country. If we don't take care of business ourselves, RIGHT NOW, these liberal bastards that take pleasure in smiling and telling us how much better the Country will be if we let them rule the roost, our children and grandchildren will be living the American Dream!! Unfortunately the dream is going to be the one shared by the socialist left, not the intelligent, conservative right. You don't even need to be "right", be moderate, be whatever you want but don't think that you can buy the United States with all your personal wealth and pathetic lies and last minute additions to new legislation (bills). This Country belongs to the "People", the "Citizens", not to some loud mouth, billionaire that has ruined things before and is planning on doing it again! Our politicians have forgotten who they work for and it's high time they were put back in their place. I wish it was easier to fire some of them, we need to be able to clean house and hire people that follow the rules of the road, namely the US Constitution. I don't want someone in office that thinks that they have the duty, obligation or the unilateral right to change the document that is America! Why do we have to sit back and accept the narrow minded, self serving bullshit legislation that the left is trying to serve us up on a silver platter? When did we lose the right to just say NO? With Ronald Reagan? Hell NO! We just forgot to get involved and so many failed to vote. Don't expect your views to be put into effect by hoping that everyone else votes the way you would if you got off the couch and voted! You don't even have to get off your couch, file for an absentee ballot and vote while sitting on your couch. No excuses people! Everything is falling apart because we got lazy and assumed our politicians would do the right and proper thing. Unfortunately, instead of that happening, they took advantage of their positions of power and shoved their fist and views right down our throats. We simply have to return this Country to the People. If we lose this next election to the self serving left, we're screwed.

[agonist]

I can see you're really wound up! I gotta differ on one thing though. I don't see the left as "self serving." If anything, their problem is thinking we have to serve everyone leaving no personal accountability or responsability from

the so called "downtrodden" and "oppressed."

On the other side the far right seems self serving, using political power for personal gain and both sides feel the need to force their warped sense of morality on honest, hard working, private citizens.

Our problem in this country right now is that it's being run by extremists. The Republican party is controlled by the extreme right and the Democratic by the extreme left. I would urge every American to not affiliate with either party, opening the door for real people to take back our government. I would love to see an honest, open presidential debate for a change, with candidates actually giving their positions on issues and not hiding behind retoric and lies.

[tigwelder56]

I think we're on the same page and using different terminology. My idea on the self serving left pretty much follows your statement. They want and expect absolutely no personal accountability or responsibility for any of the assinine tricks they're attempting to pull as we speak. Used to be the Dumbocrats were the voice of the working class, voice for the Union worker, but now as far as I'm concerned that isn't at all true. I don't see how you can reverse my impression of the Liberals by blaming the Conservatives. Who's trying to make all the changes to the Constitution? Check out which party/ideal is behind all the attacks on the Second Amendment. Dumbocrats, liberals, socialists hiding behind the Democratic banner. I don't agree that our country is being ran by extremists. I think that the extremists are doing their level best to take over our government and I believe that they are a mixed bag of right and left self serving nut jobs! I think our beliefs are close and I also believe that there is an awful big gray zone involved in politics. No longer can we divide each political party by drawing a bold line between the two. Again, big gray zone. I wish ignoring both of the major political parties would be enough to change the path of things to come. If it were actually possible, yes things would change dramatically. But Ag you know as well as I do that that isn't going to happen anytime soon if at all. The thought is colorful but abstract and theoretically possible but improbable. I think your idea is good and is what's needed to restart the trust in the Presidency. They need to abolish political parties as far as I'm concerned. You're either right or left or somewhere between the two. End all the fighting inside and outside of party boundaries. Politically we look like fools to the rest of the world! How can we expect people from other countries, ethnic backgrounds, or people with different political ideals to trust us when we can't even trust each other? It's time to make some changes and I think the biggest hope is with the voters.

[S&W910]

Either way you look at it they Both Self Serve, be it left side or right side of the aisle. Most political Figures period have a Napoleans Disorder(you want to know what that means look it up don't feel like typing it) We had Reagan with Iran Contra. We had Sr Bush with no more new taxes which didn't happen. And my personal Favorite Bill Clinton got Blown in the Oval Office,,,, Suffice it to say 99% of politicians are attention whores and i don't use that word loosely.