I wondered why they didn’t just repeal Obamacare and leave it at that. I never was into how one was going to replace it with another government program designed by bureaucrats

Very disturbing. I already have concierge family doctor access (125 per month just for access to pcp). Mayo Clinic is abandoning Medicare and Medicaid patients as fast as they can, and starting up concierge membership at 6k per yesr

I agree. Ryan is two-faced. He didn’t win VP slot and is envious

I was hoping Trump would wake up and find a way to get rid of Ryan, once he realized he is a great an enemy as Pelosi and her gang of thieves.

Yes, and that was why the the republicrats could not repeal it, it was made clear to them on both sides that a lot of graft would stop. That was so obvious from the A: take forever to come up with a plan, B: The plan the come up with is worse than what you have. That is why he never had a hope of repeal, and they will continue to gouge us until it become single payer, where they will be getting all their graft direct from the government and we will get a 20% tax increase and a VAT to pay them, and all along there will be screams of "You can't take it away millions will die" and it will be entrenched.

Look at the hassles over health care- all the hidden special interest agendas. 5 years ago health insurance for a 35 year old male friend of mine cost 156 per month with 1000 deductible. Now it’s 426 per month with 6000 deductible. The insurance companies are making bank and don’t want repeal of Obamacare. It Is a giveaway to them as configured

That is true, but you cannot ever get a group of people together, and when only the rich have the time and resources to hang out and draft a overall plan for a country, and will NOT cut all their interests out. I have always seen the inconsistencies and outright hypocrisy of it, but it was the best they could do. It was also much better than anything else at the time. Now maybe is time for an overhaul.

Our constitution was a narrowly passed compromise which didn’t prevent the creation of the swamp, allowed slavery while touting that all men are created equal, and allowed the stealing of land from the Indians. It wasn’t intellectually consistent, and the country has paid the price for that.

Yep, that was what I thought you wanted, and that is true, they all seem to gather like flies to dung and suddenly find neat ways to scam the nation.

I think I used the wrong word. I meant that they each on their own figured out they wanted to use the government to their own ends and not acting collectively.

i am not so sure on the "independent" part, maybe independent projects, scams and wants, maybe, but they all have the same basic idea, "scam as much as possible, as long as possible".

I did see some of that and you are right, he was good there.

"People will vote to have a balanced budget probably 90% in favor, because THEY have to live with one"
I wish this rang true to me. I have no evidence so maybe it is true. It seems to me that most people are somewhat out of control in their personal finances, not using a budget, not executing a good plan for paying for medicine, childcare, kids' college, retirement, parents' care, and other things they desire, and these things turn into mini-crises. They elect people who run the country about the same way, actually a little worse because once gov't spending is a large portion of GDP it becomes easier to lobby for a share a little share of the pie than for across the board cuts. A 1 million dollar grant costs all tax payers $0.01 each, so they don't lobby, but the person getting it does. That's the only way he can get some of his taxes back.

The evil forces thing reminds me of a documentary I watched on the food industry that claimed evil companies are manipulating consumers with scientific research aimed at making food taste wonderful. They turn fruits and vegetables into smoothies and V8, giving us less healthful alternatives to heating our fruits and vegetables. I saw this and thought I know the facts. No one's stopping me from eating my vegetables but me. That's how I think of politicians promising gov't money/intrusion to solve problems.

I love the notion that of a majority of people voting for a balanced budget and smaller gov't. Who gets to control other people's money should not be up for a vote, but I am thrilled by the thought of average people en masse saying no.

I would suggest that the swamp is mostly inhabited by independently thinking persons united by the availability of governmental power to assist in the achievement of their individual goals. That’s the major reason it’s hard to drain the swamp

The swamp is deep and wide . Trump has the ego and audacity to stand up to them. Problem is that he is only the president and our system seems to require the agreement of the swamp to effect any meaningful draining of that swamp. I would love to see Ron Paul as president, but he would have even less cooperation in an effort to drain the swamp. I voted for the non intellectually consistent trump in hopes we could at least get a small reduction in the swamp. I have to hand it to trump for taking all the sniper fire day after day from the left and just constantly deflect it and go on

Either there is a single, large controlling group in the background with a world wide agenda, or we are totally screwed by greedy money grubbing, power crazy imbeciles, either prospect is not good for us.

No, I said that if there was a national plebiscite, that the power brokers would ensure it never happened, as it would allow people to override the corrupt power brokers, which will never be allowed. Even the Convention of States will probably end up sabotaged. People will vote to have a balanced budget probably 90% in favor, because THEY have to live with one, as they know what being in debt is like.

Yep, Ron Paul could have learned a thing otr two from him on presentation and sheer audacity. Trump is no worse than any other politician, he is just different. For people who celebrate "diversity" Trump is proof they are hypocrites.

How do get racist applying to him? Of all things. Or are you just applying all the bad names out there just to justify your feeling about him?

"Johnson just didnt have what it takes to be a president. "
Yes. He seemed to get angry when people asked him questions. Sometimes he could pull off cheerfully rejecting the premise or refuting the claims but other times he lost his cool. There was the time he stuck out his tongue while answering a question.

I was less concerned about his blanking on questions. Most politicians have ten answers memorized and they just give the one that's sort of closest to the question.

And Trumps attention-seeking racist idiot act is beyond the pale for me. I wouldn't work with him in any context. That means even if her weren't imposing increased spending, increased govt intrusiveness, and tripling the deficit, I couldn't abide him. The main reason, apart from the redneck idiot act being tedious to listen to, is that I suspect he craves attention so badly he might foment a crisis just to get more eyes on him. I've heard he drops the moron act in person, but I think the attention-seeking is real.

" That would allow people to over ride the corrupt."
You seem to believe they would vote for less spending. I think they might or might not, depending on how it's presented/structured.

Absolutely right. Trump has the ego to just blast through the establishment. Too bad he isnt a consistent libertarian. Mix the huge ego with a Ron Paul, and we might have something.

Look at the fight the establishment is putting up against Trump. A nice consistent libertarian would be very dangerous to the establishment

You could have a point here. I just dont understand WHAT they get out of it. Long term, it doesnt work at all- proven time and again. Is it just a pure power grab for a few years, regardless of what happens with the society in general?

Yes a perfect market for AI. No critical thinking required.