Honestly folks how did we let this happen?

[Freewill]

Or more so, how did it happen.

1. The NSA is spying on people with out warrant in violation of the COTUS.

2. We are assassinating people with out due process using predator drones some of them US citizens.

3. Changing law though executive fiat.

Now, it doesn't matter when or who started this but this is where we are at, how did we let this happen?

 

[TakeAStepBack]

By choosing "leaders of the free world". You can see the oximoron of this on its face, yeah?

 

[Mac1958]

Or more so, how did it happen.

1. The NSA is spying on people with out warrant in violation of the COTUS.

2. We are assassinating people with out due process using predator drones some of them US citizens.

3. Changing law though executive fiat.

Now, it doesn't matter when or who started this but this is where we are at, how did we let this happen?

It could be argued that the Great American Experiment worked too well, that capitalism has worked too well. We've become fat, lazy and happy, more interested in "selfies" and Kim Kardashian than in maintaining excellence. We've dropped our guard, we've dropped our standards, we just don't care what's going on outside our little personal bubbles.

So we let our "leaders" get away with shit like this. Who cares? What really matters is that I get that new iPhone.

.

 

[hangover]

Or more so, how did it happen.

1. The NSA is spying on people with out warrant in violation of the COTUS.

2. We are assassinating people with out due process using predator drones some of them US citizens.

3. Changing law though executive fiat.

Now, it doesn't matter when or who started this but this is where we are at, how did we let this happen?

It could be argued that the Great American Experiment worked too well, that capitalism has worked too well. We've become fat, lazy and happy, more interested in "selfies" and Kim Kardashian than in maintaining excellence. We've dropped our guard, we've dropped our standards, we just don't care what's going on outside our little personal bubbles.

So we let our "leaders" get away with shit like this. Who cares? What really matters is that I get that new iPhone.

.

If capitalism worked, there wouldn't be a $17 trillion national debt. The failure of humanity is faith in money.

 

[aplcr0331]

Um, "we" voted for it.

 

[Circle_Breaker]

Or more so, how did it happen.

1. The NSA is spying on people with out warrant in violation of the COTUS.

2. We are assassinating people with out due process using predator drones some of them US citizens.

3. Changing law though executive fiat.

Now, it doesn't matter when or who started this but this is where we are at, how did we let this happen?

It could be argued that the Great American Experiment worked too well, that capitalism has worked too well. We've become fat, lazy and happy, more interested in "selfies" and Kim Kardashian than in maintaining excellence. We've dropped our guard, we've dropped our standards, we just don't care what's going on outside our little personal bubbles.

So we let our "leaders" get away with shit like this. Who cares? What really matters is that I get that new iPhone.

.

If capitalism worked, there wouldn't be a $17 trillion national debt. The failure of humanity is faith in money.

Haha blaming capitalism for government overspending. Just when i thought I've heard it all.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

I think Mac has nailed it. We're just a fat, gluttonous, slothful, country who could care less about the history that made us great. Many countries have fallen onto the ash heap with this mentality over the annals of time.

 

[whitehall]

We let it happen because the media that we used to trust to monitor the federal government let it happen. We did not vote for it nor was it upheld by judicial review. It happened because the mainstream media has become a propaganda arm of the government similar to fascist governments throughout history.

 

[Mac1958]

Or more so, how did it happen.

1. The NSA is spying on people with out warrant in violation of the COTUS.

2. We are assassinating people with out due process using predator drones some of them US citizens.

3. Changing law though executive fiat.

Now, it doesn't matter when or who started this but this is where we are at, how did we let this happen?

It could be argued that the Great American Experiment worked too well, that capitalism has worked too well. We've become fat, lazy and happy, more interested in "selfies" and Kim Kardashian than in maintaining excellence. We've dropped our guard, we've dropped our standards, we just don't care what's going on outside our little personal bubbles.

So we let our "leaders" get away with shit like this. Who cares? What really matters is that I get that new iPhone.

.

If capitalism worked, there wouldn't be a $17 trillion national debt. The failure of humanity is faith in money.

I don't disagree.

Look at the bigger picture: A key component in capitalism is the responsibility of our "leaders" to maintain sound economic policy, and our "leaders" (party affiliation irrelevant) have been an abject failure in that area. That lack of responsibility has spread to our culture, where we purchase homes and cars and myriad other items on credit, just as our "leaders" do.

Capitalism has been a success not in the plastic shit we can buy from China, it has been a success in the opportunity it has given people to improve their own lives and its ability to create. However, it has been corrupted and distorted almost beyond recognition, and that's what I mean by it "working too well". We have taken a good thing and made a caricature of it. And now, in some ways, we've become caricatures ourselves.

.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Or more so, how did it happen.

1. The NSA is spying on people with out warrant in violation of the COTUS.

2. We are assassinating people with out due process using predator drones some of them US citizens.

3. Changing law though executive fiat.

Now, it doesn't matter when or who started this but this is where we are at, how did we let this happen?

1. It didn't start with Bush. We have always spied on our own people.
2. A lot better than hundreds of thousands of innocent people killed in wars. A lot cheaper price tag too.
3. Every president has used Exec Orders. President Obama has used fewer than almost all others but its not going anywhere.

As noted above, we voted for it.

 

[TakeAStepBack]

Or more so, how did it happen.

1. The NSA is spying on people with out warrant in violation of the COTUS.

2. We are assassinating people with out due process using predator drones some of them US citizens.

3. Changing law though executive fiat.

Now, it doesn't matter when or who started this but this is where we are at, how did we let this happen?

It could be argued that the Great American Experiment worked too well, that capitalism has worked too well. We've become fat, lazy and happy, more interested in "selfies" and Kim Kardashian than in maintaining excellence. We've dropped our guard, we've dropped our standards, we just don't care what's going on outside our little personal bubbles.

So we let our "leaders" get away with shit like this. Who cares? What really matters is that I get that new iPhone.

.

If capitalism worked, there wouldn't be a $17 trillion national debt. The failure of humanity is faith in money.

Capitalism requires a free market. A free market requires sound money systems. The true failure here is government intervention and progressive, inflationary monetary policy. A true capitalist society, as opposed to the corporatist one we have, wouldn't allow for 17 trillion in debt.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

It could be argued that the Great American Experiment worked too well, that capitalism has worked too well. We've become fat, lazy and happy, more interested in "selfies" and Kim Kardashian than in maintaining excellence. We've dropped our guard, we've dropped our standards, we just don't care what's going on outside our little personal bubbles.

So we let our "leaders" get away with shit like this. Who cares? What really matters is that I get that new iPhone.

.

If capitalism worked, there wouldn't be a $17 trillion national debt. The failure of humanity is faith in money.

I don't disagree.

Look at the bigger picture: A key component in capitalism is the responsibility of our "leaders" to maintain sound economic policy, and our "leaders" (party affiliation irrelevant) have been an abject failure in that area. That lack of responsibility has spread to our culture, where we purchase homes and cars and myriad other items on credit, just as our "leaders" do.

Capitalism has been a success not in the plastic shit we can buy from China, it has been a success in the opportunity it has given people to improve their own lives and its ability to create. However, it has been corrupted and distorted almost beyond recognition, and that's what I mean by it "working too well". We have taken a good thing and made a caricature of it. And now, in some ways, we've become caricatures ourselves.

.

You must be living with a very different "capitalism" than we have on Planet Earth. On this planet, it has had the exact opposite effect.

 

[TakeAStepBack]

It could be argued that the Great American Experiment worked too well, that capitalism has worked too well. We've become fat, lazy and happy, more interested in "selfies" and Kim Kardashian than in maintaining excellence. We've dropped our guard, we've dropped our standards, we just don't care what's going on outside our little personal bubbles.

So we let our "leaders" get away with shit like this. Who cares? What really matters is that I get that new iPhone.

.

If capitalism worked, there wouldn't be a $17 trillion national debt. The failure of humanity is faith in money.

I don't disagree.

Look at the bigger picture: A key component in capitalism is the responsibility of our "leaders" to maintain sound economic policy, and our "leaders" (party affiliation irrelevant) have been an abject failure in that area. That lack of responsibility has spread to our culture, where we purchase homes and cars and myriad other items on credit, just as our "leaders" do.

Capitalism has been a success not in the plastic shit we can buy from China, it has been a success in the opportunity it has given people to improve their own lives and its ability to create. However, it has been corrupted and distorted almost beyond recognition, and that's what I mean by it "working too well". We have taken a good thing and made a caricature of it. And now, in some ways, we've become caricatures ourselves.

.

Actually it requires that they not be involved at all. Central planning is always a failure. Whether it be pure command, or command in a round about, corporatist way. The real failure here isn't something we haven't had in over 100 years. And i'm tired of people blaming capitalism for failures when it isnt even present or is so watered down its laughable to even say capitalism in regard to the system.

Correctly pinpointing the problem is the first step to solving it. Blaming the drug addiction on someone else is not he way to begin healing an addict. They must first admit they have the problem and begin to address it. Scapegoating will not do.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

If capitalism worked, there wouldn't be a $17 trillion national debt. The failure of humanity is faith in money.

I don't disagree.

Look at the bigger picture: A key component in capitalism is the responsibility of our "leaders" to maintain sound economic policy, and our "leaders" (party affiliation irrelevant) have been an abject failure in that area. That lack of responsibility has spread to our culture, where we purchase homes and cars and myriad other items on credit, just as our "leaders" do.

Capitalism has been a success not in the plastic shit we can buy from China, it has been a success in the opportunity it has given people to improve their own lives and its ability to create. However, it has been corrupted and distorted almost beyond recognition, and that's what I mean by it "working too well". We have taken a good thing and made a caricature of it. And now, in some ways, we've become caricatures ourselves.

.

You must be living with a very different "capitalism" than we have on Planet Earth. On this planet, it has had the exact opposite effect.

Capitalism made the US the greatest country the world had ever seen. Our decline is in our slothful nature.

 

[FJO]

Or more so, how did it happen.

1. The NSA is spying on people with out warrant in violation of the COTUS.

2. We are assassinating people with out due process using predator drones some of them US citizens.

3. Changing law though executive fiat.

Now, it doesn't matter when or who started this but this is where we are at, how did we let this happen?

4. Letting/allowing/helping the 'takers' outnumber the 'makers'.

As to how we let it happen, ask the ghost of the father of "Great Society", LBJ. It started with him.

 

[TakeAStepBack]

Actually it started with Wilson and the federal reserve system.

 

[cutter]

Back in the 60s and 70s when I was younger I and most everyone I knew was working 8 to 10 hours a day 6 days a week while raising a family. We weren't forced to work that much but the work was available and the opportunity to buy nicer homes and provide a better life for our loved ones was our motivating factor. We just didn't have time to pay much attention to what our government was doing. Most people that gravitate toward a career in politics are self centered and put their own interest above the interest of those they represent and while we were busy and not paying attention they formed an elite group of politicians and wealthy people to bankrupt the country and middle class workers for their own profit. We let it happen because we were too busy to pay attention to what was happening and we trusted our elected officials to be honest. Now we have time to look back and we can see we are just screwed.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Or more so, how did it happen.

1. The NSA is spying on people with out warrant in violation of the COTUS.

2. We are assassinating people with out due process using predator drones some of them US citizens.

3. Changing law though executive fiat.

Now, it doesn't matter when or who started this but this is where we are at, how did we let this happen?

4. Letting/allowing/helping the 'takers' outnumber the 'makers'.

As to how we let it happen, ask the ghost of the father of "Great Society", LBJ. It started with him.

Oh, don't worry. All those jobs will trickle down pretty soon.

 

[PaintMyHouse]

Or more so, how did it happen.

1. The NSA is spying on people with out warrant in violation of the COTUS.

2. We are assassinating people with out due process using predator drones some of them US citizens.

3. Changing law though executive fiat.

Now, it doesn't matter when or who started this but this is where we are at, how did we let this happen?

This process started long long ago when you guys got all nervous and couldn't sleep at night because of the terrible "others" who were out to get you. Your paranoia got you exactly what IKE warned you about, and once you boys have the toys you have to try them out.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY]Eisenhower warns us of the military industrial complex. - YouTube[/ame]

You wanted to sit fat, dumb, and happy and watch the ballgame while the government kept you safe and didn't bother you with those pesky details. And guess what, they did, almost without exception. You traded risk for security, and you were warned about it but you thought those people were just left-wing loons and it would never affect you because you weren't the enemy, and you reap what you sow. The government still watches the "others", wherever they might be, which now just also happens to include you. I feel no sympathy for you, none...

 

[Londoner]

Or more so, how did it happen.

1. The NSA is spying on people with out warrant in violation of the COTUS.

2. We are assassinating people with out due process using predator drones some of them US citizens.

3. Changing law though executive fiat.

Now, it doesn't matter when or who started this but this is where we are at, how did we let this happen?

Four words: The War on Terrorism.

Study history. This is exactly how the old Soviet Union did it. They used real national security threats to convince people to give up their privacy and build a surveillance state. Then, once the surveillance state was fully in place, those in power used it merely to protect themselves.

Case in point. Eliot Spitzer was one of the biggest enemies of the Bush administration. He published scathing articles in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post about the Bush administration's complicity in the Wall Street meltdown of 2008.

In response, the Bush Fed set up a surveillance web over his life using the Patriot Act, a tool designed to prevent terrorism not domestic political enemies. Once Spitzer moved over $10,000 in cash, they had him dead to rights. This is what happened in the old Soviet Union: they created laws under the pretense of national defense, and then they used those laws to hunt domestic political enemies.

When Bush asked the nation to change its laws so big government could get bigger and more invasive; and so that bureaucrats could have more access to our private communications, he argued that it was four our protection. He wanted us to trust in the competence and the ethics of big government. Not one Republican/libertarian questioned him. Not one Republican/libertarian brought up the law of unintended consequences. The Bush administration created the legal infrastructure for surveillance over the American people, and his base, the people we count on to curb the power of government, cheered him on.

People say that Obama is doing it too. But everybody knows that if Obama ever tried to curb Bush's War on Terrorism, Cheney would be on Fox the next day saying that Obama was compromising our safety. It's already happened several times. But even so, everybody knows that once a government program is in place, it only gets bigger. This is why Libertarians don't want to give government more power, because they know that successive administrations will only abuse it.

The real question is: where have all the Libertarians gone? How was it so easy for them to be converted into cheerleaders for the Republican party and it's big government?