We need to wipe the slat clean.and let all the ones know if there not doing there job there gone to.
I was working and paying taxes at 13 in a gas station. I'm now 57 all good I have 5 kids
and they started work at 16 summer jobs they need to see that nothing you get in life is free. So these occupy movement people want it all for free I say get a job no matter where and pay your own way thats how it works.

 

I have been trying to follow the Occupy Movement. They are not well organized and there are different view points being expressed. The one thing I have not heard is anyone asking for a handout! They are trying to point out that in this country 99% of the wealth is owned by 1% of the population. They are also pointing out that 1% of the population is controlling the government and writing the laws the benefit themselves. The occupy movement says they are part of the 99% and they don't like it. Newt Gingrich was quoted by USA Today as saying the Occupy Movement needs to stop protesting, get a job and take a shower.
I am hoping the Occupy Movement gets better organized and becomes a political party.
I don't know about you but I do know about me. As far as I am concerned I too am one of the 99% and I don't like it. The laws being enacted now are not for the benefit of the common man but instead to fatten the wallets of the fat cats at the expense of the common man. I am tired of the establishment stealing my money and opportunities. We need to clean house and I like what someone else had suggested. The politicians should wear driving suits with the sponsors. At least then you would know who owns them.
I am trying to figure out how to run for president in 2016. We need an outsider to come in and set things right. I do believe in what John F. Kennedy said right about the time of my birth. L
"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." I am not running for president because I want the power and glory, I am running because I want to change the path of destruction we are currently on. Being president one gives up lots of freedoms for himself and his family. I don't want to put my children thru this but I feal the alternative is worse. Gregg

 

Honestly, if lobbying was illegal, that would solve MANY of the problems in our federal government. That is how the laws are getting written to favor the 1%. They know if they pass the laws the lobbyists want, they'll get as much money as they need to get re-elected. Because of lobbyists and the media, there is no accountability to the politicians in power by the people. This also includes the foreign influences as well. If you think that there aren't lobbyists with foreign ties trying to influence our policy, you're out of your mind. Why else would we have spent the last 6 decades as the world's police with no end in sight?

There are certainly elements of the Occupy movement who are asking for handouts. When it first popped up there were many who kept blabbing on and on about how they needed their student debts wiped clean. Sorry guys, but if you had chosen a degree worth something in a specialized field or hell, gone to a public university, you wouldn't be hundreds of thousands in debt, or you'd at least have the means to pay it off. Used to be the only people with that kind of student debt were doctors. Now you have people who spend 8 years in school for a pair of worthless degrees and either become professors or are up the creek without a paddle because there's nothing for them in the real world. Nobody it seems looks at the ROI when they decide where they go to school and what they get their degrees in.

The Tea Party had the right idea, at least to begin with. Reduce the size and scope of the federal government. I have yet to hear that from any of the Occupiers. Take back the power of the higher levels of government and put it back where it belongs (at the state and local levels) and you'd see a lot of things change for the better. Even RP, who I prefer to any of the current candidates, has not said a whole lot about that.

Right now we have 47% of housholds who either pay zero federal tax or get more money back in their tax returns than they put in. This is another part of the problem. They want to talk about the rich "paying their share" when most of them aren't paying a dime. If people actually owed the feds money year in and year out I bet they'd want to know where the hell that money is going. I guarantee you there'd be all kinds of hell raised at that point and change would actually be implimented. But as long as the feds are buying votes via the tax system, they will always remain in power. This is why it's so difficult for democratic forms of government to remain together for long periods of time. Once the people realize they can vote themselves money out of the treasury they will only vote for those who promise to at the very least maintain that. The only reason Communism lasted as long as it did in Russia is because of brute force. Same goes with China, although their economy is not strictly socialistic anymore. But they still use force to maintain control. Those governments also used their power to benefit themselves and give the 99% the finger. This is a fact that many of the occupiers have no clue about.

Sorry about the long winded post but there was a ton I felt I had to say.

 

Next national election will be my first to vote in, I'm excited. I really want to vote for Ralph Nader, he has always been a personal hero of mine

 

I like your enthusiasm; but why Ralph Nader? He made his name by creating trouble with General Motors and Chevrolet. You should read "Unsafe At Any Speed". It is a tirade about the Chevrolet Corvair being unsafe. When it was all said and done the car was unsafe with an inexperienced driver pushing the car beyond its limits. Personally I don't care for him. Ranks right up there with Al Gore as far as individuals whom blast others with rhetoric that isn't true but because they yell the loadest the masses listen.

 

He's the reason for seatbelts and air bags and that saves many lives a year for those unfortunate enough to be caught in a collision I mostly support his idea that there needs to be more than two choices for president and that politics should not be so heavily influenced by corporations. For example both Obama and McCain wanted to expand nuclear energy when it has proven increases in cancer in the areas surrounding nuclear powerplants. There was virtually no way that someone who felt against that ideal could have an impactful vote on a candidate with a chance to win who shared that feeling. Also with the corporations, it's crazy how much money is donated to PAC's, and for each politician to have that hanging over their head while they're in office is amazing to me. I like Naders feelings towards the environment, business and just the way he lives his life in general. He is said to have upwards of $3 million in investments and lives on less than $25,000 a year, spending most of his earning on his nearly 4 dozen charities! If that doesn't SCREAM honest politician I don't know what does!

So you know I didn't pull those facts out of thin air

Nader Reports Big Portfolio In Technology - NYTimes.com

Ralph Nader (3) | Personal Finance Disclosure | OpenSecrets


That's just my .02, I feel he has earned my vote and I would be more than willing to give it to him, if he runs.


Also, Edit: In hindsight, I would've voted for Gore if I had the chance. I'm only 17 however hahaha.

 

Again I like your enthusiasm. It shows that you have passion about what you think and that you do think. I can't give credit to Nadar for seat belts. They were available in cars back in the fifties as optional equipment and Nadar really didn't begin to be heard until after his book was published. Seat belts became madatory equipment in 1966 but many of the car makers were making them standard equipment before that. I am not certain how Nadar influenced air bags. I do know however that the government website claims that air bags have saved 1750 lives since they became equipped in cars. They neglect to disclose how many injuries and fatalities they have caused nor about how many times they have deployed when they shouldn't. I have disabled the air bags in two of my cars and will eventually disable them in the rest. I don't like them and really dislike the fact that the government has shoved them down my throat whether I want them or not. I feel that my personal rights are violated by forcing me to use them as well as seat belts. I think seat belts are a good idea but the choice to use or not use them should be left up to me.
I did vote for Al Gore when I thought he was a noble man. I no longer think that. He shoved ethanol down our throats telling us it was good for America and the enviroment. He lied. It was good for corn farmers in Tennessee who are some of his paying lobbyists. Ethanol produces less power when compared to gasoline, costs more to produce, is no cleaned to burn, and damages your car because of the excess moisture. Corn farmers love the increased price for corn and the government subsidy that Gore got for them. Do some homework and you will find that his global warming agenda is all BS too. I have issues with hypocrites. He drives around in a limousine but says that you and I should ride a bike or drive a hybrid type car. I don't like anybody that gets ahead using fraud and deception at the expense of others, and both of those guys have done that. I don't have respect for either one. I am making plans to run for president in 2016. If I can't be elected for being honest and a person of integrity that my kids can be proud of then I don't want the job. Gregg.

 

I think we need a little more info

How do you feel about Afghanistan? Iraq? Guantanamo Bay?

How do you feel about taxes? Tariffs? Trade?

How would you lower the unemployment rate?

How do you feel about our current energy consumption? Oil? Gas? Coal? Nuclear? Renewable? What would you do to fix it?

Should the lower and middle class pay the majority of taxes? Corporations? Small businesses? Trickle down economics? New Deal?

What current/past presidents influence you?

How do you feel about the Bush doctrine? Monroe doctrine?

How would you have dealt with the situation in the Middle East?

How do you feel about health care reform?

How do you feel about second and third world countries developing nuclear programs?

 

You saw that Robin William's movie too ,didn't you??

And that bit about air bags shoved down our throats.... that a pun intended or unintended?


Have you watched tehse debates nad figured out what you would say in those things, how you would get your words in (how many times have you heard Michelle Bachmann screaming for the moderator only to be ignored), how would you get your message out, how would you prove your background qualifies you?


Politics is a dirty subject no matter how you look at it. I think most people start out in politics as clean individuals. I just don't think people sit around, look at their friends, family, and citizesn who live along side them and say "You know what, I want to royally screw these people!" And go to WAshington....

Somewhere along the line, between trying to establish an opinion, get elected to do the good they think they can do in the first place, and trying to gain the notoriety to get their message heard, they become corrupt. I'm not convinced even Gregg could become a notorious politician without having a few dollars to get his campaign running from a major corporation. Even if you don't become notorious, you could have a voting record to stand on to show that you will do what you promise.


Have you thought about trying to run for Congress for your congressional district next year, Gregg? Start out there, get your name heard in Florida, then start trying to move you way up. Being a Congressman from Florida would give you much better standing in a debate than just some guy who worked for a rodent with kids and a yard full of Mopars! Take Ron Paul for instance. He's just a Congressman from Texas, but he can stand up and say that he beleives in balanced budgets so much that he has never voted for an unbalanced budget. There have been several votes go through where he was the only "Nay" vote. You need something to stand on besides a wooden platform you made in your backyard.


And if you need a campaign manager/advisor, I'm graduating in May.

 

Yeah I'm iffy on the airbags myself. Like mousehouse said, they claim to have saved less than 2000 lives in over 15 years. One also gave me a concussion while functioning exactly as designed. As a result, I have been opened up to a myriad of effects from another airbag deployment when it was honestly unnecessary in my case. I wouldn't have come near the steering wheel and the combined force of impact was the same as if I had hit a concrete wall at 70mph. Go do some research on head injuries and you'll understand why they concern me. An air bag could possibly be fatal if it hits the wrong way on someone with a history of head injuries.