Politics 101

[Meister]

To be clear they think the welfare system should be removed also

Welfare should be used as a safety net until one gets back on their feet. Not to be used as a career. Would you agree?

Yea i agree nobody want's that

Well, yes there are people who want exactly that. They keep having kids to assure that they keep getting it.

 

[Unkotare]

If you're 16 you should be more concerned with educating yourself on everything you can than 'defending' a set of positions. Plenty of time for that when you have more experience and know what you are talking about (as most posters here do NOT).

 

[Liberal15]

Welfare should be used as a safety net until one gets back on their feet. Not to be used as a career. Would you agree?

Yea i agree nobody want's that

Well, yes there are people who want exactly that. They keep having kids to assure that they keep getting it.

Yes it need's reform but it shouldn't be removed

 

[Liberal15]

If you're 16 you should be more concerned with educating yourself on everything you can than 'defending' a set of positions. Plenty of time for that when you have more experience and know what you are talking about (as most posters here do NOT).

Indeed, i took a strong interest in politics and I always listen to both sides

 

[Unkotare]

If you're 16 you should be more concerned with educating yourself on everything you can than 'defending' a set of positions. Plenty of time for that when you have more experience and know what you are talking about (as most posters here do NOT).

Indeed, i took a strong interest in politics and I always listen to both sides

There ya go. Carry on. Maybe you can study Political Science if you choose to go to college.

 

[alan1]

Hey guy's I am 16 and im just getting into politics, from what I have read I believe I am a Liberal. I always argue with my friends who are very far right and they talk about the social programs and how none of them are run efficiently. I don't know enough to stand my ground but one point that they bring up is about Social Security and how people should have been responsible enough to save there money and not have the government do it for them.

Thought's?

Disagreeing with how social programs are run doesn't make one "very far right". Please try to remove that judgement from your opinion.

Welcome to the board.

They have many other far right opinion's I used Social Security as 1 example

Do you think disagreeing with SS being forced upon ones paycheck is "far right"?
From your posts so far, it seems that you do.
Do you have an income where you are forced to pay into SS and your employer is also forced to pay into it on your behalf?

 

[Two Thumbs]

If people had been responible enough to save for their retirement, there never would have been a need for Social Security.

In other words, I have to pay your bills because you are stupid and irresponsible?

Is that some kind of liberal moral principle?

They paid into Social Security that is there money?

Not everyone that gets SS paid into it.

 

[alan1]

Hey guy's I am 16 and im just getting into politics, from what I have read I believe I am a Liberal. I always argue with my friends who are very far right and they talk about the social programs and how none of them are run efficiently. I don't know enough to stand my ground but one point that they bring up is about Social Security and how people should have been responsible enough to save there money and not have the government do it for them.

Thought's?

Disagreeing with how social programs are run doesn't make one "very far right". Please try to remove that judgement from your opinion.

Welcome to the board.

As I read the original poster, his friends want to eliminate social security. That would make them very far right indeed: WSJ/NBC News Poll Finds Support Lacking for Entitlement Reductions - WSJ.com

Anyway, as the poster says, his or her characterization of them as far right never rested solely on their views on social security.

His OP says "social programs", not only "social security".
It says, and I quote, "and how none of them are run efficiently". It says nothing about his conservative friends calling for elimination.
Your interpretation is interesting, ladyliberal. Your defense of what was not said is also interesting.
Your partisanship is showing.

 

[Liberal15]

Disagreeing with how social programs are run doesn't make one "very far right". Please try to remove that judgement from your opinion.

Welcome to the board.

They have many other far right opinion's I used Social Security as 1 example

Do you think disagreeing with SS being forced upon ones paycheck is "far right"?
From your posts so far, it seems that you do.
Do you have an income where you are forced to pay into SS and your employer is also forced to pay into it on your behalf?

Again wanting Social Security removed is far right

 

[asaratis]

Hey guy's I am 16 and im just getting into politics, from what I have read I believe I am a Liberal. I always argue with my friends who are very far right and they talk about the social programs and how none of them are run efficiently. I don't know enough to stand my ground but one point that they bring up is about Social Security and how people should have been responsible enough to save there money and not have the government do it for them.

Thought's?

Congratulations for surviving beyond 15. Now what you must do is realize that a google or two of significant things happened before you and your friends were born. Pay attention to HISTORY (that is: things that happened before now) and study human nature and the reasoning behind various philosophies and political agendas.

You have received some good advice already in this short time. Listening to both sides is extremely important. Not only can you learn what those opposed to you think, you can hone your skills in presenting your own thoughts by listening to those with whom you agree.

To be clear they think the welfare system should be removed also

That is a good example of generalizing and making an assumption about a group of people. (Liberals and conservatives alike do that.) Do not think that all of any group think exactly alike on a particular topic. Do not think that someone's criticism of the welfare system means that they think it should be abolished. Do not assume that a Republican voting against a particular environmental bill...for whatever reason he may have...wants dirty air and water. There may have been a sly amendment attached to it that made it a horrible bill to pass.

Study government and how the houses of Congress operate. Learn to detect the sound bites and talking points each side uses repeatedly to carry their arguments forward.

Learn that ALL POLITICIANS LIE TO YOU OCCASIONALLY!!

Hey guy's I am 16 and im just getting into politics, from what I have read I believe I am a Liberal. I always argue with my friends who are very far right and they talk about the social programs and how none of them are run efficiently. I don't know enough to stand my ground but one point that they bring up is about Social Security and how people should have been responsible enough to save there money and not have the government do it for them.

Thought's?

Disagreeing with how social programs are run doesn't make one "very far right". Please try to remove that judgement from your opinion.

Welcome to the board.

They have many other far right opinion's I used Social Security as 1 example

Again, be careful how you pigeon-hole an entire group of people because of what a few of them may say.

If you're 16 you should be more concerned with educating yourself on everything you can than 'defending' a set of positions. Plenty of time for that when you have more experience and know what you are talking about (as most posters here do NOT).

Indeed, i took a strong interest in politics and I always listen to both sides

Maybe you should ask Admin if you can change you username to something less identifying. I suspicion that as you develop, you will see the light and be anything but liberal.

Liberalism is a mental disease.

 

[alan1]

They have many other far right opinion's I used Social Security as 1 example

Do you think disagreeing with SS being forced upon ones paycheck is "far right"?
From your posts so far, it seems that you do.
Do you have an income where you are forced to pay into SS and your employer is also forced to pay into it on your behalf?

Again wanting Social Security removed is far right

In your opinion.

Is not wanting it removed considered "far left"? (opposite side of the same coin)

P.S.
You didn't answer my questions.

 

[Amelia]

Do you think disagreeing with SS being forced upon ones paycheck is "far right"?
From your posts so far, it seems that you do.
Do you have an income where you are forced to pay into SS and your employer is also forced to pay into it on your behalf?

Again wanting Social Security removed is far right

In your opinion.

Is not wanting it removed considered "far left"? (opposite side of the same coin)

P.S.
You didn't answer my questions.

"Opposite side of the same coin" doesn't work here.

What %-age is the "far right"? Let's say 15% for the purpose of discussion.

If it is "far right" to want it removed, then that leaves a potential of 85% who do not want it removed: right but not far right, moderate, left, ....







Of course, my input is not to be taken as an agreement that "wanting Social Security removed is far right".

 

[MiltonFriedman]

How can we believe in Capitalism and have a program like SS?

 

[Barnes00]

Nice to see your getting involved kid. As you can tell the Republicans are a little loony. Stay focused. Yes wanting to get rid of Social Security is far right

 

[DaGoose]

Nice to see your getting involved kid. As you can tell the Republicans are a little loony. Stay focused. Yes wanting to get rid of Social Security is far right

More like EXTREME RIGHT NUTCASE. They are the only ones who advocate getting rid of programs that help keep millions of people out of poverty.

Social Security Keeps 20 Million Americans Out of Poverty: — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

 

[Mr Natural]

How can we believe in Capitalism and have a program like SS?

They've coexisted just fine for the last 70 years or so.

 

[DaGoose]

I'll make a deal with SocSecurity:

Let me have full ownership of my account to invest it as I please, and the government will never pay me another nickel.

Bullshit. RW nutters are fond of saying that. But if they squander it or make bad investments are they sayig they'll die of starvation in the streets rather than accept welfare?

Yeah, you're full of shit all right.

 

[MikeK]

Hey guy's I am 16 and im just getting into politics, from what I have read I believe I am a Liberal. I always argue with my friends who are very far right and they talk about the social programs and how none of them are run efficiently. I don't know enough to stand my ground but one point that they bring up is about Social Security and how people should have been responsible enough to save there money and not have the government do it for them.

Thought's?

The first thing your friends need to understand is when the stock market crashed in 1929 and the banks failed millions of Americans who had responsibly saved for their retirement were wiped out and left with whatever they had in their pockets. If there had been a Social Security program back then there would have been many thousands less deaths due to starvation and exposure.

Another thing you friends need to understand is human nature, which is the primary reason for their skepticism. With very few exceptions people under age fifty do not truly believe they will ever get old. They know it in an abstract way but they don't really believe it because it's impossible to believe that when you are firing on all eight cylinders and never get tired. So we start thinking seriously about saving for retirement when it is too late to do anything substantial about it. (I know this because I am seventy-five.)

Social security is not an investment program. It is an insurance policy -- and a damn good one. It won't keep you in the chips when you reach eligibility age and beyond but it will serve as an important and generous supplement to whatever other retirement programs (e.g., 401K) you choose to invest in. The main thing to keep in mind is Social Security is the safest and most abounding program of all because it is backed by the government. And if the government ever goes broke we'll have a lot more to worry about than Social Security.

Social Security is a good thing and you shouldn't allow the right-wing propagandists to convince you otherwise. They are all rich and they serve the interests of people whose objective is to undermine the middle class. These corporatists would like nothing better than to get their greedy hands on the Social Security fund and privatize it.

The fact you are only sixteen and interested in politics means you're smarter than most sixteen year-olds. I hope you'll take my advice and beware of the propaganda you'll be exposed to by those whose objective is to take America back to the era that gave rise to the Great Depression.

Be smarter.