Hi all, Senior in HS and trying to understand

[18 and Life]

Graduating this up-coming year (yay!) and want to try and understand this thing we call our government...
Here to learn!

 

[defcon4]

Welcome.
Godspeed in your efforts.

 

[aaronleland]

Welcome to USMB. Good luck learning anything.

 

[18 and Life]

Welcome.
Godspeed in your efforts.

Hopefully you aren't being sarcastic... and Thanks!

 

[Stasha_Sz]

Congratulations, 18, good luck in the future, and welcome to the boards.

First thing you need to do in order to "understand this thing we call our government" is to forget all the sranje that your teachers have been filling your head with for the past decade or so. They have not been teaching you, they have been indoctrinating you, big difference.
The USA are/was a Constitutional Republic. Not a democracy, (or oligarchy as it appears to be becoming).
The foundation of the government is the recognizance that all men are endowed with the ability to rule themselves through their elected officials and thus enjoy the fruits of their labor without undue interference.

Keep this in mind as you enjoy the site... oh, and beware of Sorosians...

 

[Hossfly]

Graduating this up-coming year (yay!) and want to try and understand this thing we call our government...
Here to learn!

​

 

[Hossfly]

Welcome.
Godspeed in your efforts.

Hopefully you aren't being sarcastic... and Thanks!

 

[aaronleland]

Graduating this up-coming year (yay!) and want to try and understand this thing we call our government...
Here to learn!

​

 

[emilynghiem]

Graduating this up-coming year (yay!) and want to try and understand this thing we call our government...
Here to learn!

Good for you! Are you going to school in a state that leans
towards states rights and away from dependence on federal govt?

The biggest split I see between liberals and conservatives,
Democrats and Republicans, is the difference in belief about the role of govt:

Conservative Constitutionalists tend toward the position that rights and responsibilities
belong with people first, then the state, and last the federal govt which
should only exercise authority within the limits of the Constitution,
and only gain more authority by amendment to the Constitution.
This notion of courts making laws by rulings, or executive orders to bypass the legislature,
is seen as abuse and overriding separation of powers and checks and balances.

People who don't put the Constitution first as the guideline and central standard,
can be more relative, and push for "any laws" passing as long as they go through
the given process through legislatures and courts --
i.e., pushing for govt to take on more responsibility for the people's welfare,
even at the expense of Constitutional restrictions, until and unless
the courts find otherwise, all that is needed is majority rule and it becomes law.

The worse problems with the two major parties is
exploiting the division in class between the poor (who
tend not to have experience or education in ownership so
that making and keeping them dependent on party or govt for help
makes them vulnerable to buy out their votes and lose their leverage to check govt),
and the rich who don't want to fund dependence on govt and massive bureaucracies
built around social programs poorly run by govt when private sector could do a better job.

So one is conditioned to fear corporate welfare and blame the rich for abusing govt,
while the other is conditioned to fear social welfare and blame the poor for abusing govt.

Both sides, instead of correcting these problems, deny them and try to push blame on the other
for political points.

Where we are today is between Occupy, the Tea Party, independent supporters of
Sanders and Trump trying to overcome career politicians hijacking both parties, etc.
people are rejecting the partisan politics of corporate buying and selling of agenda,
and people in both major parties are calling for reform and answering to the working
people instead of politicians kowtowing to corporate interests that buy out both parties.

The corporations, the media and the political parties are NOT regulated by the Constitution.

So all of that influence is a distraction from enforcing the Constitution to get govt back on track.

But what you will see, instead of people enforcing Constitutional corrections,
are people lobbying through the media to influence politicians and public policy.

That's where America is because we are not educating and empowering our citizenry
to learn and enforce the laws and process in the Constitution, but just teaching them
as Clinton and Trump are doing, that whatever we see in the media is what influences elections and power.

The true power and authority lies with people taking back charge and responsibility
for self-governance, but you won't see that taught in the media.

If you find the Constitutional and Tea Party and Libertarian groups that teach
Constitutional history and law, you will understand how far we have strayed.

So it may be hard to teach these principles, since very few people are following and enforcing them.
Most people go with the popular means today of using party and media to lobby for reforms.

It's not about consent of the governed, and defending equal protections of the laws for all.
It's about fighting for one's own beliefs, and getting caught in competition with other people doing the same.

It's very sad to me we don't use our resources to work out conflicts, find common solutions
and invest in those instead. Most people just pour money into campaigns to compete to hire
or elect the bigger bully to override the other party equally fighting for those beliefs and members
trying to defend their interests.

So party politics has become more important than sticking with common Constitutional principles,
and pushing help for people to solve their own problems and govern their own resources locally.

When this phase comes to a head, at some point we should figure it out we'd do better
working together to make sure all of America is equally represented, rather than parties
compete to dominate, each only representing half the nation, and taking turns undercutting each other.

 

[Lewdog]

Point to the place on the teddy bear where the government touched you.

 

[RWS]

Graduating this up-coming year (yay!) and want to try and understand this thing we call our government...
Here to learn!

Good for you! Are you going to school in a state that leans
towards states rights and away from dependence on federal govt?

The biggest split I see between liberals and conservatives,
Democrats and Republicans, is the difference in belief about the role of govt:

Conservative Constitutionalists tend toward the position that rights and responsibilities
belong with people first, then the state, and last the federal govt which
should only exercise authority within the limits of the Constitution,
and only gain more authority by amendment to the Constitution.
This notion of courts making laws by rulings, or executive orders to bypass the legislature,
is seen as abuse and overriding separation of powers and checks and balances.

People who don't put the Constitution first as the guideline and central standard,
can be more relative, and push for "any laws" passing as long as they go through
the given process through legislatures and courts --
i.e., pushing for govt to take on more responsibility for the people's welfare,
even at the expense of Constitutional restrictions, until and unless
the courts find otherwise, all that is needed is majority rule and it becomes law.

The worse problems with the two major parties is
exploiting the division in class between the poor (who
tend not to have experience or education in ownership so
that making and keeping them dependent on party or govt for help
makes them vulnerable to buy out their votes and lose their leverage to check govt),
and the rich who don't want to fund dependence on govt and massive bureaucracies
built around social programs poorly run by govt when private sector could do a better job.

So one is conditioned to fear corporate welfare and blame the rich for abusing govt,
while the other is conditioned to fear social welfare and blame the poor for abusing govt.

Both sides, instead of correcting these problems, deny them and try to push blame on the other
for political points.

Where we are today is between Occupy, the Tea Party, independent supporters of
Sanders and Trump trying to overcome career politicians hijacking both parties, etc.
people are rejecting the partisan politics of corporate buying and selling of agenda,
and people in both major parties are calling for reform and answering to the working
people instead of politicians kowtowing to corporate interests that buy out both parties.

The corporations, the media and the political parties are NOT regulated by the Constitution.

So all of that influence is a distraction from enforcing the Constitution to get govt back on track.

But what you will see, instead of people enforcing Constitutional corrections,
are people lobbying through the media to influence politicians and public policy.

That's where America is because we are not educating and empowering our citizenry
to learn and enforce the laws and process in the Constitution, but just teaching them
as Clinton and Trump are doing, that whatever we see in the media is what influences elections and power.

The true power and authority lies with people taking back charge and responsibility
for self-governance, but you won't see that taught in the media.

If you find the Constitutional and Tea Party and Libertarian groups that teach
Constitutional history and law, you will understand how far we have strayed.

So it may be hard to teach these principles, since very few people are following and enforcing them.
Most people go with the popular means today of using party and media to lobby for reforms.

It's not about consent of the governed, and defending equal protections of the laws for all.
It's about fighting for one's own beliefs, and getting caught in competition with other people doing the same.

It's very sad to me we don't use our resources to work out conflicts, find common solutions
and invest in those instead. Most people just pour money into campaigns to compete to hire
or elect the bigger bully to override the other party equally fighting for those beliefs and members
trying to defend their interests.

So party politics has become more important than sticking with common Constitutional principles,
and pushing help for people to solve their own problems and govern their own resources locally.

When this phase comes to a head, at some point we should figure it out we'd do better
working together to make sure all of America is equally represented, rather than parties
compete to dominate, each only representing half the nation, and taking turns undercutting each other.

The biggest difference is that everybody is going to disagree about one thing or the other. Never fails. Parties try to group as many of those disagreements as possible into one side or the other, to polarize us. Nobody is right, and nobody is wrong, yet they have to split us up in order to find a winner.

Once people believe that all Democrats are for their beliefs, or all Republicans represent their beliefs, is when American Politics becomes a "religion". We've been seeing that for a very long time, and it's time to understand how bad it is.

Because religion is the biggest horror story in human history, and why politics has to turn away from that mentality if we wish to betterment society.

Fuck the parties, let righteous people rule. Problem is how to figure it out... And we have 4 years before we go through this again! I'm working on figuring it out... I hope the OP and others do the same.

 

[Moonglow]

Graduating this up-coming year (yay!) and want to try and understand this thing we call our government...
Here to learn!

I'm a senior also, and still trying to figure out our govt.

 

[Boss]

Graduating this up-coming year (yay!) and want to try and understand this thing we call our government...
Here to learn!

Welcome to USMB. The first thing I can tell you is, you're probably not going to learn much from the posters here. Most here are partisans who are promoting our own points of view and not really spending much time teaching. Sometimes you can learn by reading various viewpoints and perhaps that will be of some help. My suggestion for you would be to study the Federalist Papers. It's tricky because the language is old English and a bit hard to decipher sometimes but it is the most insightful resource for discovering what our government is all about.

There have been many times when I have encountered a question about certain issues that arise, where I am uncertain about what is actually "constitutional" or what the constitution means, and I will Google "federalist papers" along with the subject and bring up a relevant document to show me what the founders thought. You are so fortunate to live in an age where this kind of information is at your fingertips.

I would like to hear more about you. What do you plan to do in life? What are your goals and ambitions? Do you plan to go to college? Etc.

 

[IsaacNewton]

Graduating this up-coming year (yay!) and want to try and understand this thing we call our government...
Here to learn!

Not the best place to learn about government. School is the best place to learn how it works, the branches, the separation of powers, gerrymandering, etc.

You come here to read opinion, not fact.

 

[Bush92]

Graduating this up-coming year (yay!) and want to try and understand this thing we call our government...
Here to learn!

Not the best place to learn about government. School is the best place to learn how it works, the branches, the separation of powers, gerrymandering, etc.

You come here to read opinion, not fact.

Always question the angle of your college professors in PoliSci and US History classes.

 

[defcon4]

Graduating this up-coming year (yay!) and want to try and understand this thing we call our government...
Here to learn!

Not the best place to learn about government. School is the best place to learn how it works, the branches, the separation of powers, gerrymandering, etc.

You come here to read opinion, not fact.

The school will leave you with want about how the government was set up and will teach you only the revisionist version what gradually takes the country down the road of servitude as the generations before you die out. If the school teaches you anything at all.

 

[emilynghiem]

Graduating this up-coming year (yay!) and want to try and understand this thing we call our government...
Here to learn!

Good for you! Are you going to school in a state that leans
towards states rights and away from dependence on federal govt?

The biggest split I see between liberals and conservatives,
Democrats and Republicans, is the difference in belief about the role of govt:

Conservative Constitutionalists tend toward the position that rights and responsibilities
belong with people first, then the state, and last the federal govt which
should only exercise authority within the limits of the Constitution,
and only gain more authority by amendment to the Constitution.
This notion of courts making laws by rulings, or executive orders to bypass the legislature,
is seen as abuse and overriding separation of powers and checks and balances.

People who don't put the Constitution first as the guideline and central standard,
can be more relative, and push for "any laws" passing as long as they go through
the given process through legislatures and courts --
i.e., pushing for govt to take on more responsibility for the people's welfare,
even at the expense of Constitutional restrictions, until and unless
the courts find otherwise, all that is needed is majority rule and it becomes law.

The worse problems with the two major parties is
exploiting the division in class between the poor (who
tend not to have experience or education in ownership so
that making and keeping them dependent on party or govt for help
makes them vulnerable to buy out their votes and lose their leverage to check govt),
and the rich who don't want to fund dependence on govt and massive bureaucracies
built around social programs poorly run by govt when private sector could do a better job.

So one is conditioned to fear corporate welfare and blame the rich for abusing govt,
while the other is conditioned to fear social welfare and blame the poor for abusing govt.

Both sides, instead of correcting these problems, deny them and try to push blame on the other
for political points.

Where we are today is between Occupy, the Tea Party, independent supporters of
Sanders and Trump trying to overcome career politicians hijacking both parties, etc.
people are rejecting the partisan politics of corporate buying and selling of agenda,
and people in both major parties are calling for reform and answering to the working
people instead of politicians kowtowing to corporate interests that buy out both parties.

The corporations, the media and the political parties are NOT regulated by the Constitution.

So all of that influence is a distraction from enforcing the Constitution to get govt back on track.

But what you will see, instead of people enforcing Constitutional corrections,
are people lobbying through the media to influence politicians and public policy.

That's where America is because we are not educating and empowering our citizenry
to learn and enforce the laws and process in the Constitution, but just teaching them
as Clinton and Trump are doing, that whatever we see in the media is what influences elections and power.

The true power and authority lies with people taking back charge and responsibility
for self-governance, but you won't see that taught in the media.

If you find the Constitutional and Tea Party and Libertarian groups that teach
Constitutional history and law, you will understand how far we have strayed.

So it may be hard to teach these principles, since very few people are following and enforcing them.
Most people go with the popular means today of using party and media to lobby for reforms.

It's not about consent of the governed, and defending equal protections of the laws for all.
It's about fighting for one's own beliefs, and getting caught in competition with other people doing the same.

It's very sad to me we don't use our resources to work out conflicts, find common solutions
and invest in those instead. Most people just pour money into campaigns to compete to hire
or elect the bigger bully to override the other party equally fighting for those beliefs and members
trying to defend their interests.

So party politics has become more important than sticking with common Constitutional principles,
and pushing help for people to solve their own problems and govern their own resources locally.

When this phase comes to a head, at some point we should figure it out we'd do better
working together to make sure all of America is equally represented, rather than parties
compete to dominate, each only representing half the nation, and taking turns undercutting each other.

The biggest difference is that everybody is going to disagree about one thing or the other. Never fails. Parties try to group as many of those disagreements as possible into one side or the other, to polarize us. Nobody is right, and nobody is wrong, yet they have to split us up in order to find a winner.

Once people believe that all Democrats are for their beliefs, or all Republicans represent their beliefs, is when American Politics becomes a "religion". We've been seeing that for a very long time, and it's time to understand how bad it is.

Because religion is the biggest horror story in human history, and why politics has to turn away from that mentality if we wish to betterment society.

Fuck the parties, let righteous people rule. Problem is how to figure it out... And we have 4 years before we go through this again! I'm working on figuring it out... I hope the OP and others do the same.

Dear RWS and 18 and Life
Good point, that people have different beliefs and are going to disagree.

That brings up another MAJOR point:
Since people in the distinct parties have their OWN political beliefs and platforms,
why not separate taxes and responsibilities for policies,
and let each govern their own members and resources through their own party?

What legislative changes or agreements between parties are necessary
to establish equal respect for political beliefs, as we argue to separate
religious beliefs from govt and keep them private?

Because political beliefs inherently involve govt,
such as gun rights and voting rights,
right to marriage and right to prayer through public institutions,
right to life and right to health care, etc.,
these are harder to separate from govt.
So the other way to treat them equally is to endorse them all
and include them all in govt as an equal choice.

I propose a third house of Congress that
allows representation by party, for the purpose of conflict resolution,
and mediation to reach a consensus on policy -- where the parties
agree shall be public policy and govt jurisdiction, and where the
parties disagree that is delegated to states or parties as needed.

Is an Amendment to the Constitution needed for this?
Since there is no mention or Amendment involving political parties
and beliefs, can such an agreement also be done through parties.

Where any reform touch tax policies and state-federal relations,
each issue of law would require its own revisions through
the given legislative process.

I would also suggest separating the powers of President
and Vice President into Internal/Domestic and External/Foreign Affairs.
So we can elect 2-4 people for these positions, divide the work,
and possibly employ leaders from more than one party instead
of competing for the same office. That would take a Constitutional
Amendment to change the rules on positions and elections.

In general, I believe we need parties to be represented in a
Constitutional conference to review judicial powers and interpretation
of the Constitution, because there is irreconcilable disagreement.

We do not agree on political beliefs, so how do we manage those
differences and respect equal protection and representation of interests?

If we cannot agree on the above suggested solutions,
I suggest having an agreement or amendment
that conflicts concerning political beliefs should be
resolved by mediation and consensus to protect the
equal interests and beliefs of all citizens. If people involved
in a conflict agree to majority rule to decide the law for them,
then the current process can be used; but where people do
not agree to compromise their political beliefs for majority rule
or court ruling, then those citizens can invoke the right to
conflict resolution, mediation and consensus until the issue
is settled to the satisfaction of all parties to the conflict.

This is an extension of both Amendment 1, 10 and 14,
and also addresses issues of discrimination by creed under
the Civil Rights movement to extend equal protection of
the laws to public institutions. I also suggest extending
equal protections and responsibility for the laws to all
citizens and corporations, including political religious
nonprofit partisan business educational media etc.,
to be equally responsible for enforcing the
Bill of Rights, and 14th Amendments on equal protections,
and the Code of Ethics for Govt Service, and redressing
any grievances, objections, or complaints of abuse or
conflicts infringing or threatening equal protection of laws.

 

[WorldWatcher]

>

You will come to understand that government is like a woman.

.......... Just when you think you've got it figured out,

...................She changes the rules.



>>>>>

 

[miketx]

Graduating this up-coming year (yay!) and want to try and understand this thing we call our government...
Here to learn!

Not the best place to learn about government. School is the best place to learn how it works, the branches, the separation of powers, gerrymandering, etc.

You come here to read opinion, not fact.

School is the worst place to learn anything because all the teach is left wing nonsense.

 

[IsaacNewton]

As you can see 18 and life, this isn't the place to look for fact. Unless you can weed through the derps who think opening a book is tantamount egging Jesus' house.