Something I’m starting to notice, and I’m wondering what are you guys’ opinion on this, that politicians that had a job before becoming politicians are much honest and actually trying to solve problems.
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Politicians that previously had job do indeed seem to be more honest and forthcoming at the beginning of their political careers, however, the longer they sit in office, the more removed from reality they become – this is a phenomenon that can’t be denied either.
Term limits would prevent professional politicians. The problem is it’s fine for your Senator to deliver pork to your district, but not for another Senator to deliver to his.
He set the terms of the discussion in his first sentence, he was going to vote according to his own conscience.
“Something I’m starting to notice, and I’m wondering what are you(YOUR)guys’ opinion on this (is), that politicians that [have] had a job before becoming politicians are much(more) honest and [ARE] actually trying to solve problems.”
Abit rough on the American english there..
But YES. its true.
THOSE that have had a LIFE’ insted of being POLITICAL-IZED all their lives. Are the ones that KNOW more and understand people better.
Take a person that done Customer service for 10 years and has a Good record. THEY can see people better and KNOW how to listen.
I tell younger folks, the smartest person STOPS and listens to everyone ELSE, then Thinks over what has been said and MAKES up his own mind about a subject.
There is a FACT not being said in most of this. WORKING people are paying medical. the employer pays it(IF you get benefits).
the Employer pays Medical as well as Workmens comp(which is on the job medical) for EACH employee. ANd if this is done correctly, WE will be paying LESS in the long/SHORT run.
Think about that. Even if you quit a job, you are covered. YOU DONT have to WORK to have coverage. YOU Dont worry about a major illness/accident that will lay you up for 3 months(3 months is how long medical covers you when you arnt working, then STOPS). you dont WORRY or work MORE if you have to cover kids and a WIFE and you DONT PAY MORE for them.
This may sound FUNNY to those with FULL medical and making GOOD money, but its HARd on those TRYINg to make ends meet, which is about 60% of the USA that get LESS then $10 per hour.
#1 and #2 -perfect.
However, nobody seems to ask the most obvious question:
How on earth can you have a “public option” without first addressing the rampant corruption, chronyism and complete disregard for the constitution and the people.
Nobody in their right mind would double the size of their building when it is obvious the foundation has been gutted, -unless their intent is for that building to fail
This is fundamental in *anything*
Until you see someone, anyone, state and address this, you know any and all discussions involving expansion are outright deceptions.
-failure can be their only goal.
To deny this is a grave injustice to yourself.
-s
5. “Abit rough on the American english there..”
Why are you talking about motherboards?!
Seriously, Guilherme’s from Brazil and as far as I know English (American or otherwise) is not his first language.
And BTW, great post and comment Guilherme!
Hmmm. I didn’t notice any canned political speak. I like the way he looks at other countries successes and cherry-picks what works best, rather than only looking for their faults to justify discarding everything unjustly. He has intuitiveness and ability gleaned from living in the real world…. whereas a career politician may only be interested in politics rather than substance.
Sound,
There is another reason..
CONTROL.
For all that we pay the HEalth industry, do you see ANY OF IT coming back to you? NOT 1 penny. And if you do get sick, they will TRY to find a way to deny your claim. Iv seen it.
So if the industry ISNT doing it RIGHT, how do you FORCE them to do it RIGHT. YOU JUMP IN.
NOW I want you to think about something..REAL hard now. WHAT major development in this NATION HASNT had the government STEP in and START IT. And the ONLY way things change is when the Gov. gets involved and FORCES change.
From the original RAIL ROADS, to Starting CELLPHONES in the CONTINENTAL USA(it was originally in Hawaii ONLY, it was easier then installing land lines in the BASALT).
SN,
Im not picking. Just wondering if he needs assistance with it. I know I have problems MUCH of the time and a good editor is nice to have around.
MOTHERBOARDS??
Yes this is a great topic. POLITICS SHOULD NOT be a primary job.
#4. I dont think he will. He’s not a “fall in line” Republican.
#2. Term limits have two problems. First, an indescriminate turnover will invariably also take a good person out of Congress to be replaced by someone less capable. Also, by having a limited term, it will make it more likely that they wil be a tool of lobbyists, with all the job offers they will be able to take when they are out.
Most recent list I could find shows 48 members of Congress “saying” they won’t take pork. Reviewing the list, I can see at least 10 who went ahead and did it.
Yes–they are all self serving corrupt carpet baggers. Voting in people like Franken certainly could help. Anyone that says “I admire your energy” rather than “Boy you sure are a dumbshit.” must remain suspect.
http://clubforgrowth.org/2008/01/house_members_who_have_sworn_o.php
I met Al Franken at a Demo caucus in Minnesota. The discussion at the caucus as well as with the people in the video implies that he’s a smart guy. Hopefully he can continue to do the right thing while he’s in office.
Preventive care isn’t actually said to reduce costs in the long run according to the government accountants exactly but follow up care does. I still like preventive care.
I will say this. Franken appears to have actually thought about this while Nancy P. does not. He actually seems to have some ideas that might reduce costs.
The problem is that medicare and medicaid are both running way, way, way, way over budget and I’d like to see Congress fix that before they expand.
I know some of you don’t have any use for religious books but the Bible has a book called proverbs and one proverb which says that before you trust somebody with big things you should first trust them with little things and judge the wisdom of trusting them with big things based on the outcome. Congress has wretchedly failed that test.
If I understood him correctly the Medicare option (government run insurance) in Mcallen cost more than the private insurance in El Paso. Medicare is fraught with fraud.
And I want to government to fix the problem?
I don’t have a problem with term limits. The workings of congress are so controlled by seniority that even a good person would eventually become a corrupt emperor.
Or in the case of Pelosi, a corrupt empress.
ECA,
We might have to FIRE you IF YOU DON”T STOP USING CAPS ALL THE TIME!
🙂
Kittyburgers said, on September 5th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Politicians that previously had job do indeed seem to be more honest and forthcoming at the beginning of their political careers, however, the longer they sit in office, the more removed from reality they become – this is a phenomenon that can’t be denied either.
Bingo…
#14–doill==”trust” has nothing to do with it. The current system run by private interests DOES NOT WORK. Government systems are shown to work all over the developed world.
What we really have is Paranoid Anti-Government Wingnuts vs Proven Records of Working Systems. What you are really missing is we can’t have any Republicans in charge of health care, because they live up to their promises==everything they touch is incompetent and corrupt.
When your a professional politician you tend to stay to the status quote.
Even though they may get elected on making change. They eventually fall in line. Politician/used car salesman. Its all the same. They tell you what you want to here depending on who they are talking too. Obama is not much better and I consider him a professional politician too.
A politician that actually listens to and respects his constituents… presidential material?
I’d vote for this guy.
11,
i WILL BELIEVE that 10-30% are DECENT folk.Shoot the rest.
14,
Agreed. Before asking anyone else, I would ask Medicare WHAT TO FIX..
20,
Obama has 1 Major Hurdle..300 other people to convince THAT any thing he does will work.
The problem is THEY dont care if it will work, they will MESS it up or kill it in congress. Just to spite him.
21,
NOT if the reps and demos have anything to say about it. AND I doubt he WANTS the job of CONVINCE 300 OTHER IDIOTS that he has a good idea..
Anyone with some spare time and the ability to attend to one article for more than a minute might do well to read this article from Atlantic Monthly: http://bit.ly/zIwu It’s extremely well argued. Too bad logic doesn’t apply in politics.
The irony for Franken is that Minnesota is in fine shape with its health care (along with a few other states). Yet he wants to take money from Minnesotans and use it to pay for the idiots in other states who can’t get their acts together (idiots in this case being both the citizens and the state governments, by the way).
Franken’s charitable impulse is not serving his constituents well. But that’s the problem with government largesse–you need to rob Peter to pay Paul. Sigh. If the feds would get out of the way, the states could actually perform their functions as incubators and testing grounds of ideas.
The author of the Atlantic Monthly article points out that we all currently pay the bill for health care, and there is no way to sustain the current system, let alone add to it with the current “reform” plan. People get so hung up on who pays–insurance or government, and forget that we pay, but through hidden taxes and employee benefits that have led to a perverse system of expectations that have led to our screwed up system. He also calculates that wringing all of the profit out of the health care companies (all insurers and the 10 largest drug companies) would pay for 11 days of our health care expenses as a nation. So think again if you blame those “evil” corporations for the mess.
It’s good to see Senator Franken addressing concerns, and it would be great to have some real debate on this topic. Unfortunately, the current administration’s penchant for overhauling the nation’s health care system with a bill that no one has read (who wrote it anyway?) and that must be passed quickly before anyone finds out what’s in it is far from the goal of open and honest discussion. But then, that’s politics, and we’re just stupid people who should be happy with what we get.
I know how to fix health care. Cut off terminally ill old people from their chemo therapy. You are only extending their lives by a couple of months at the very best. Instead give them all the pain meds and hospice care you want.
There I just fixed the health care crisis. Once you do that, you slash US health care spending by about 50%.
Oh but wait, that means telling the way too old republicans that they are way too old and dead no matter what, and old republican peeps are a buch of pussies and they have been lying about that christianity thing anyhow, and are deathly afraid they are gonna die and go to hell (because if there is a God, anyone who voted for Bush twice is hellbound) so they will happily bankrupt their grand children to avoid the flames a hell for a few more weeks…
Yeah they are that corrupt.
Then they have the f’ing nerve to make a political issue of their hellbound cancerous asses, as though they somehow deserve that couple of weeks of tortured life.
Looks like the Fox Jazeera republicans in the crowd got bored by facts.
It’s great to see the Democrats do something the republicans would never do, wade into a crowd and discuss politics.
Just like at the dinner table you should never discuss politics the Democrats do.
This is a huge improvement over how the Bush administration worked, if the Republicans had their way, anyone who criticizes them will be out of sight and out of mind.
For example::
When Bush came to the Pittsburgh area on Labor Day 2002, 65-year-old retired steel worker Bill Neel was there greeting him with a sign “The Bush family must surely love the poor, they made so many of us.” The local police, at the Secret Service’s behest, set up a “designated free-speech zone” on a baseball field surrounded by a chain-link fence 1/3 of a mile from the location of Bush’s speech. The police cleared the path of the motorcade of all critical signs, though folks with pro-Bush signs were permitted to line the president’s path. Neel refused to go to the designated area and was arrested for disorderly conduct; the police also confiscated his sign. Neel later commented, “As far as I’m concerned, the whole country is a free speech zone. If the Bush administration has its way, anyone who criticizes them will be out of sight and out of mind.”
Good job Senator Franken.
You are a credit to this country.
We need more politicians like you.
I capitalize WORDS that I feel are IMPORTANT. The FLOW of my SENTENCES is akin to that of a ROLLERCOASTER. Are YOU feeling NAUSEATED yet?
#15
I believe what Senator Franken was saying was that Medicare in McAllen costs more than Medicare in El Paso. He was trying to show how money can be saved by comparing two demographically similar areas.
I fail to understand how people are unwilling to trust the government with our health care, but are willing to trust private insurance companies. Isn’t it better to trust an entity that at least is trying to serve us, than one whose goal is to maximize profit and has no interest in the people they serve. Every health insurance company has staff whose main goal is to deny coverage to people who have paid them. These are the real “death squads”.
# 29 ECAlol said,
“I capitalize WORDS that I feel are IMPORTANT. The FLOW of my SENTENCES is akin to that of a ROLLERCOASTER. Are YOU feeling NAUSEATED yet?”
Sorry to say this but yes, I am, almost everytime I see your posts. It just serves as an irritation and it makes you look less intelligent than you probably are.
IMHO