They won't like it either when they find out there's a fat, Cab-Calloway-haired machine hack thieving his way through running it while the pretty face out front goes speechifying.

Also, "most" is a peculiar word for subkoolaidguzzler to use when TFA's poll also says that by a 50-42 margin, government is doing too many things that aren't its business.

Gulper Eel: Also, "most" is a peculiar word for subkoolaidguzzler to use when TFA's poll also says that by a 50-42 margin, government is doing too many things that aren't its business.

Or he might have just looked at, you know, TFA's headline.

I like my big government to be moderately incompetent to reasonably competent. Anything more is scary, and anything less id complete shiatstorm farkupery.

I like all the civil and social programs that directly benefit my own wellbeing, while believing that the ones I do not use or take advantage of are "waste" for the "lazy" or "incompetent." I am the average American.

Americans insist that everyone ELSE be conservative. THEIR government handouts, however... those are well and truly necessary, because those go to THEM.

/hit it, you did

Call me crazy, but I think government people who are smart, competent, and do their jobs are a good thing.

Gulper Eel: They won't like it either when they find out there's a fat, Cab-Calloway-haired machine hack thieving his way through running it while the pretty face out front goes speechifying.

Also, "most" is a peculiar word for subkoolaidguzzler to use when TFA's poll also says that by a 50-42 margin, government is doing too many things that aren't its business.

Did you also notice the headline of the article? "Most Americans OK with Big Government, at least for now". Kind of pointless to yell at the submitter when he took the words from TFA.

Alphax: Call me crazy, but I think government people who are smart, competent, and do their jobs are a good thing.

I also like unicorns.

Drakkenmaw: I like all the civil and social programs that directly benefit my own wellbeing, while believing that the ones I do not use or take advantage of are "waste" for the "lazy" or "incompetent." I am the average American.

Americans insist that everyone ELSE be conservative. THEIR government handouts, however... those are well and truly necessary, because those go to THEM.



On the left, you can make everything except Texas blue now.

this has always been a lie

the choice is not between "big" government and "small" government.

The choice is between "monstrously huge" government and "titanically massive" government, if we're lucky

Any government that is big enough to give you what you want is also big enough to take everything you have away.

Government works just fine without Republicans at the helm. Why on earth anyone thinks its a solid idea to elect people who tell you to your face that their goal is to ruin government is beyond me.

Alphax: Call me crazy, but I think government people who are smart, competent, and do their jobs are a good thing.

I also call it a myth. I've worked very closely with various government offices. The private sector is a bastion of bumbling incompetence. The government makes them look adroit in comparison.

Large organizations are very failure prone. Period. I don't care who you are, if you're trying to get more than a few thousand people doing the same thing at the same time, you're either using military discipline or failing.

I will grant that, after 8 years of Bush, Obama is an improvement. But that's faint praise. Colon cancer would be an improvement over Bush.

//No, I don't like your side of the political spectrum.
//I especially hate centrists.

Jackpot777: On the left, you can make everything except Texas blue now.

So you're saying that Democratic Congressmen are incompetent? Or that Governor Rick Perry is right in his recent comments?

I don't want to spoil anyone's party. So I hope it's not too early to point out that the Klan is behind all this tea-bagging. Have you sent in a donation? If so, the Klan thanks you. They've been waiting a long time to rekindle the pyramid scheme of hate and to think, all it took was a black man deciding how to spend this great country's hard earned money. The new coverage has been a bit surprising. Most of the major networks have been cautious and skeptical about who was behind this whole thing. But not Fox News, no sir, they were on this story like white on rice. Fox News, as fair and balanced as a burning cross on the White House lawn.

So raise your right hand if you're attending a Klan rally today! Honk you're horn at high hoon (Glenn's idea) and wear your tea badge of honor like only the proud white race can!

HotWingConspiracy: Government works just fine without Republicans at the helm.

So, warrantless wiretaps and indefinite detentions are okay when a democrat does it? My city is run by the Democratic party- it's okay that they're spending taxpayer money to turn our town into a surveillance state with legions of cameras?

t3knomanser: The private sector is a bastion of bumbling incompetence.

What if you left out marketing and HR?

LarryDan43: So I hope it's not too early to point out that the Klan is behind all this tea-bagging.

Hilarious thing: some of the upper-level members of the Klan endorsed Obama because they felt that betrayed by the Republican party.

The bottom line: Most Americans like big government --


unless they have to pay for it.

LarryDan43: I don't want to spoil anyone's party. So I hope it's not too early to point out that the Klan is behind all this tea-bagging. Have you sent in a donation? If so, the Klan thanks you.



/Daily KOS & its ilk are not accepted.

soy_bomb: Any government that is big enough to give you what you want is also big enough to take everything you have away.

Technically, almost any government is big enough to take everything you have away. My local police could pretty damn easily throw a molotov cocktail on the roof of my home and shoot anything running out of it, and they're not big enough to give me much of anything. I've never quite understood this maxim.

HotWingConspiracy: Government works just fine without Republicans at the helm. Why on earth anyone thinks its a solid idea to elect people who tell you to your face that their goal is to ruin government is beyond me.

Any totalitarian government is bad, don't even try and deny that.

t3knomanser: HotWingConspiracy: Government works just fine without Republicans at the helm.

So, warrantless wiretaps and indefinite detentions are okay when a democrat does it? My city is run by the Democratic party- it's okay that they're spending taxpayer money to turn our town into a surveillance state with legions of cameras?

My thinking was more along the lines spending/taxing/economic policy.

T-Servo: t3knomanser: The private sector is a bastion of bumbling incompetence.

What if you left out marketing and HR?

Marketing and HR is where the low level incompetents live. The people who will never escape their cubes. Problematic, but not dangerous. It's the incompetents in corner offices that are the real hazard.

Also, never underestimate institutional incompetence. No matter how competent your individual members are, when wrapped in a structured institution, the total competence of the group is inversely proportional to the talents of the people involved.

Drakkenmaw: Technically, almost any government is big enough to take everything you have away. My local police could pretty damn easily throw a molotov cocktail on the roof of my home and shoot anything running out of it, and they're not big enough to give me much of anything. I've never quite understood this maxim.

You must live in Philadelphia.

/MOVE on, nothing see here.

HotWingConspiracy: My thinking was more along the lines spending/taxing/economic policy.

They're not any different in those regards. They both fleece the public for the benefit of their cronies and personal coffers.

t3knomanser: Hilarious thing: some of the upper-level members of the Klan endorsed Obama because they felt that betrayed by the Republican party.

I wouldn't doubt they did, but not because of feelings of betrayal. Extremists don't like any government that is on the table right now. They also knew a black man in the white house would send people running to sign up with them.

Drakkenmaw: I like all the civil and social programs that directly benefit my own wellbeing, while believing that the ones I do not use or take advantage of are "waste" for the "lazy" or "incompetent." I am the average American.

Americans insist that everyone ELSE be conservative. THEIR government handouts, however... those are well and truly necessary, because those go to THEM.


Winner.

Tat'dGreaser: HotWingConspiracy: Government works just fine without Republicans at the helm. Why on earth anyone thinks its a solid idea to elect people who tell you to your face that their goal is to ruin government is beyond me.

Any totalitarian government is bad, don't even try and deny that.

Agreed.

HotWingConspiracy: Government works just fine without Republicans at the helm. Why on earth anyone thinks its a solid idea to elect people who tell you to your face that their goal is to ruin government is beyond me.

This.

I had this debate with someone at work that spouted when Reagan said the worst thing you could hear is someone saying "I'm from the government, I'm here to help" (I know, it's meant to be nine words) and I asked him if he'd pick a plumber that did that. Your pipe needs fixing ASAP, in comes the plumber and says "the worst thing you could hear is someone saying they're a plumber and they can do some plumbing. What you need is less plumbing, because it's YOUR money...".

And Republicans wonder how they fail so often. The cognitive dissonance is incredible.

HotWingConspiracy: Agreed.

I'm glad. I'm not a full blown Republican and I have no problem sharing power but it's scares me when people get really really excited when only one political party has complete control over the government, that's very dangerous. I know tensions are high but we have to find a way to work together, or just say f*ck you and force the two parties to split into at least two more parties.

LarryDan43: I don't want to spoil anyone's party. So I hope it's not too early to point out that the Klan is behind all this tea-bagging. Have you sent in a donation? If so, the Klan thanks you. They've been waiting a long time to rekindle the pyramid scheme of hate and to think, all it took was a black man deciding how to spend this great country's hard earned money. The new coverage has been a bit surprising. Most of the major networks have been cautious and skeptical about who was behind this whole thing. But not Fox News, no sir, they were on this story like white on rice. Fox News, as fair and balanced as a burning cross on the White House lawn.

So raise your right hand if you're attending a Klan rally today! Honk you're horn at high hoon (Glenn's idea) and wear your tea badge of honor like only the proud white race can!

Best troll I've seen this year. I see Soy Bomb bit. Bravo. 9/10.

Jackpot777: And Republicans wonder how they fail so often.

Somebody doesn't remember anything before 2008.

DarnoKonrad: The bottom line: Most Americans like big government --


unless they have to pay for it.

Holy crap. Who are you and what did you do with Darno?

Jackpot777: Your pipe needs fixing ASAP, in comes the plumber and says "the worst thing you could hear is someone saying they're a plumber and they can do some plumbing. What you need is less plumbing, because it's YOUR money...".

And Republicans wonder how they fail so often. The cognitive dissonance is incredible.

But the GOP tends to do well in places with less plumbing, doesn't it?

Pocket Ninja: Gulper Eel: Also, "most" is a peculiar word for subkoolaidguzzler to use when TFA's poll also says that by a 50-42 margin, government is doing too many things that aren't its business.

Or he might have just looked at, you know, TFA's headline.

Screw you, ranting your Leftist bromides...

Oh wait. Nevermind.

priestrape:the choice is not between "big" government and "small" government.

The choice is between "monstrously huge" government and "titanically massive" government, if we're lucky

If you take the word "government" out of those sentences, it is almost exactly what I have been trying to explain to my wife for years.

Jackpot777: Your pipe needs fixing ASAP, in comes the plumber and says "the worst thing you could hear is someone saying they're a plumber and they can do some plumbing.

Of course, I can choose my plumber. Heck, I could become a plumber, or at the very least learn enough to maintain my own home. For government services, I have no choice in the matter. People are born within an arbitrary geographic location and are instantly owned by the government that's claimed that space.

And as for getting into the government, like I can get into plumbing- the barrier for entry is ridiculous. The barrier for entry has been constructed by the two major parties to ensure that nobody else can have any place in the public discourse. And since these two major parties refuse to analyze the underlying assumptions behind their power, they have guaranteed that there is no public discourse on matters of substance.

Organizational size is directly related to span of responsibility, scope of mission and population size.

The United States government's responsibility is to effectively run a continent-wide state of 300+ million people.

There's no way that government is going to be anything less than absolutely massive, and minarchists are kidding themselves if they think otherwise.

/Anarchists are a little more pure in their arguments
//Still wrong, though

soy_bomb: Jackpot777: On the left, you can make everything except Texas blue now.

So you're saying that Democratic Congressmen are incompetent? Or that Governor Rick Perry is right in his recent comments?

I'm saying the majority of Republican States, by far, are on welfare.

Oh, and Republicans are happy to display their lack of understanding in this regard.

t3knomanser: HotWingConspiracy: My thinking was more along the lines spending/taxing/economic policy.

They're not any different in those regards. They both fleece the public for the benefit of their cronies and personal coffers.

I feel that they are quite different.

Really, given that our last conservative president airlifted crates that can be measured by tonnage of cash in to a war zone, I can't really rage about anything our current president has done.

My popcorn.

Let me show it to you.

AnotherDisillusionedCollegeStudent: The United States government's responsibility is to effectively run a continent-wide state of 300+ million people.

Nope. The Federal Government's job is codified in a handful of pages. The job of the Federal Government is to manage 50 states, secure the borders and provide common defense.

I would argue that it is impossible to effectively manage an organization consisting of 300+ million people, and that anyone who attempts to do such a thing is an idiot. I repeat: once you break a few thousand people, your organization in incompetent.

Pro Zack: Jackpot777: And Republicans wonder how they fail so often.

Somebody doesn't remember anything before 2008.

2006 was before 2008, right?

Link (new window)

Somebody doesn't remember anything before 2008.

Am I the only one who thinks of these teabagging parties as massive amounts of conservatives getting together, dropping pants and boxers and gently guiding their nut-sacks into one another's eyesockets?

I mean, it certainly makes about as much sense as any of their policies and platforms do.

Right?

/dey took er jerbs!
//back in the pile

I am going to say the same thing I said when all this Patriot Act/DHS bullshiat started to get passed. Be careful what you wish for. Big government is NEVER the answer. Governments never relinquish power, they only add to it.

What seems like a good idea to you now can likely backfire in a few years. All those morons who were in the "tighter security" camp 8 years ago are now pissing their pants that the other side has the power. NO shiat. What did you think was going to happen? It is the rare representative who is actually working for the people nowadays.

HotWingConspiracy: Really, given that our last conservative president airlifted crates that can be measured by tonnage of cash in to a war zone, I can't really rage about anything our current president has done.

Really? So the fact that Obama is strengthening the Bush-era cases for warrantless wiretaps and indefinite detentions is okay. I mean, Bush started it, so it's okay if Obama reinforces it?

The amount of money the Obama administration is handing out to their cronies outside of the government is staggering, and it's clearly on the same order of magnitude as the money dumped into Bush's sand pit.

Repubs held accountable and lose Congress in '06 for spending too much.
Democrat spend even more.
It's Bushes fault.

Tat'dGreaser: HotWingConspiracy: Agreed.

I'm glad. I'm not a full blown Republican and I have no problem sharing power but it's scares me when people get really really excited when only one political party has complete control over the government, that's very dangerous. I know tensions are high but we have to find a way to work together, or just say f*ck you and force the two parties to split into at least two more parties.

I just want some semi-rational opposition. The things the modern GOP choose to focus on are bizarre and really useless in the grand scheme of things.

Nothing but social wedge issues. This isn't leadership.

Tat'dGreaser: HotWingConspiracy: Agreed.

I'm glad. I'm not a full blown Republican and I have no problem sharing power but it's scares me when people get really really excited when only one political party has complete control over the government, that's very dangerous. I know tensions are high but we have to find a way to work together, or just say f*ck you and force the two parties to split into at least two more parties.

Yeah I dont understand the desire to have one party in power either.