2016 Prediction

[Cato]

It won't happen, but I would love to see Gary Johnson run for President as a Republican.

[stonedape]

He's not running.

His son, RAND Paul is but he's no libertarian. He's an authoritarian conservative.

This is the thing. If Rand Paul is president, he'll be forced to seek common ground with the democrats. The REDEEM act he worked on with Corey Booker is an example.

The worst thing about Obama was he ran out of the gate and proposed healthcare reform, before establishing a functional relationship with moderate republicans. That spilled the jar of nuts. This is clearly the result of his lack of bipartisan experience.

[DeistPaladin]

If Rand Paul is president, he'll be forced to seek common ground with the democrats. The REDEEM act he worked on with Corey Booker is an example.

Sorry, is this the same Rand Paul that voted to destroy the American economy back in October of 2013 because Obama wouldn't give in to political extortion?

Yes, I'm putting it in dramatic terms but that is essentially what happened.

When the GOP lost the election where Obamacare was a major issue, when the lost their Supreme Court challenge and when they didn't have the votes after voting to repeal Obamacare some 40 times, they resorted to what can only be described as extortion. "Give us what we want or we'll destroy the country."

If Rand Paul had his way, the GOP would have followed through with it's threat. The US government would have defaulted on its debts, foreign investors would flee America and our credit rating would be somewhere around Argentina's. The fall out would be an economic crash that would have made 2008 look like a minor correction.

I'll never forget what a scary time that was. And Rand Paul was one of only a few senators crazy enough to push the economic nuclear button.

He needs to be kept the hell away from sharp objects, never mind levers of power.

The worst thing about Obama was he ran out of the gate and proposed healthcare reform, before establishing a functional relationship with moderate republicans. That spilled the jar of nuts. This is clearly the result of his lack of bipartisan experience.

No, the worst thing about Obama is he threw his liberal base under the bus and gave away the store to moderate Republicans, hoping that his sacrifice would bring an era of bipartisanship that anyone paying attention outside the Beltway Bubble could have told him was never going to happen. I voted for "Yes, We Can!" and I got president "Aw, C'mon Guys".

History will have to determine whether Obama was a spineless wimp who lacked the courage of his convictions or tragic idealist who, like Chamberlain, thought he could appease his opponents and find a way we could all get along.

Even his signature legislation, "Obamacare", was mostly a GOP plan at one time, hatched by the Heritage Foundation, advocated by Newt Gingrich in 1992 as an alternative to Clintoncare, promoted by Bob Dole in his 1996 bid for president, implemented by Mitt Romney as governor of Massachusetts. To pass this conservative reform on health care, Obama sacrificed everything including "The Public Option".

He demoralized his liberal base. He even bitch-slapped them before the elections of 2010, telling us to "stop whining" and "buck up". Great moment in leadership.

As president, Obama couldn't have reached out to the GOP any harder, short of resigning and appointing Speaker John Boener to be acting president. The GOP has, since his inauguration, made their top priority to sabotage his presidency by any means necessary, even if it means hurting the country.

There are no moderate Republicans. There is no negotiating with them.

[Losty]

Very very very well said DP

[stonedape]

DeistPaladin
I agree with everything you said.
Obamacare is an authoritarian right-wing insurance scam. That's why I don't like it. I also don't like the republican tactic of holding the dollar, they hold so dearly hostage. That's why I supported calling their bluff. I don't give a fuck about circumstances or consequences, you never cooperate with extortionist.

You can call me twisted, but I can handle the stock market crashing. I think that the bailout proved nobody had the backbone for change. Instead of bailing them out, they should have been busted up. But we don't live in that world.

Corporations control the media, media controls public opinion, public opinion is democracy and there is no un-brainwashing the public to break the cycle without the media. But now we have the series of tubes. "Common Carriers" are catching on to their new responsibility of controlling public opinion.

All of these politicians are tools. Rand Paul seems like the only tool that has a useful purpose and I believe he can be bargained with in the long run. Hillary would happily drag us into WW3 and Elizabeth Warren is all talk and no track record(like a certain optimist I voted for). Excluding the blatant psychopaths these seem to be the options.

[DeistPaladin]

Largely agree with all you said except at the end with Hillary. I'm liking her less and less by the day, and I never really liked her to begin with. She certain doesn't shy away from neo-con saber rattling and it worries me how easily she buys into it. Saying she'll trigger WWIII might be a bit much, though.

Mostly, we voters are in a defensive mode, sad to say. Elections aren't going to be about putting people in power that will take the country in the right direction but about keeping people out of power who will burn the house down and dance on the ashes.

Rand Paul's vote to default on our nation's debts convinces me he's firmly in the latter category.

I'll take a chance on Elizabeth Warren if she runs.

[The Valkyrie]

My simple prediction: Someone will win and someone will lose.

If the Repubs win there will be a lot more losers, nationally and internationally, than there will be if the Democrats win.

[Minimalist]

If Rand Paul is president, he'll be forced to seek common ground with the democrats. The REDEEM act he worked on with Corey Booker is an example.

This is the same Rand Paul who thinks people should be free to discriminate against blacks in the name of private property. Probably looks back fondly to the days when blacks were property.

Fuck him. And his old man.

[Polaris]

Progressives can vote Green.

Yeah...thanks. That fuckheaded strategy stuck us with Bush the Dumber.

Oh you're one of those people....if all you offer is horseshit, don't expect people to eat it up.

Republicans may win by a narrow margin because the Democrats have been sabotaging themselves since Obama took office (well starting in 2006, which is why the Tea Party had such an unexpected success).

The Tea Party is unpredictable, and might hurt the GOP more than help it. They seem to strike a chord among the rank-and-file conservatives and pseudo-libertarians much more so than the Green Party does among liberals. Because the USA has limited itself to two distinct political parties, the main effect any third party has is to drain votes from one of the two. The extreme polarization of politics here makes a mockery of the democratic ideal. We're only one choice short of having no choice at all.

That's because the majority of American liberals (especially the ones who prefer to play the blame game instead of seeking for reform) don't end up being all that liberal when it comes down to it. I went to this site called Huffington Post and as soon as the Democrats there found out what actually adopting progressive reform meant, they would turn into Republican clones with their BS excuses. Then again, many of the people on that site came off as conservatives pretending to be liberals because it was the cool thing to do.

[stonedape]

This is the same Rand Paul who thinks people should be free to discriminate against blacks in the name of private property. Probably looks back fondly to the days when blacks were property.

Fuck him. And his old man.

The redeem act has redeemed that shit. Rand Paul and his old man take unrealistic positions of principal. None of that shit actually matters.

For example Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, YAY! But he also started the draft, BOO! Therefore exchanging one slavery for another. If it wasn't for slavery the south would have been justified in breaking off into their own shitty little 3rd world nation.

Civil rights came at an unintended consequence. It deliberately removed representation from rural districts, since that's where the racists came from. The consequence is the rural farming districts have to obey the rules that are needed in industrial urban districts. Right now there is a collision of function.

There's a reason why when you look at the electoral map it's always the unpopulated rural areas are red and the urban industrial areas are blue. They have their own needs. It's not just philosophy. Unfortunately if you're in for a dime, your in for 17 trillion dollars.