Now I am confused about DU (a different answer to cali's OP)

[Savannahmann]

36. The question seems to be feathers or lead?

Would you rather be crushed by a ton of feathers, or a ton of lead? It doesn't matter which you choose, you will die either way. The Democratic Party may be the feathers in this scenario, but a ton of feathers will crush you just as dead as lead.

My argument has always been that to gain power we must return to the roots. We must embrace principle. JFK, Carter, and many other greats used to speak of principles in grand terms. Robert Kennedy, spoke of them as well. Our great leaders, they told us what they believed, they told us why they believed it. They inspired a nation.

Yes, I include Carter. Because Carter's bad luck was Iran. A mess we had before him, and one which has continued to plague us since.

I have always had great respect for President Carter, he showed great leadership in the Three Mile Island disaster. I could go on, but you see what I mean. He did not just tell us it was now safe, and the danger was going to pass, he went personally to the site, and placed his own life on the line to show us what he knew to be true.

Reagan, while I hate his policies, was the last of those who could stand up and tell us what he believed, and why. Reagan got a tax cut through a hostile congress. He got it through because he went to the people and he made his case to them. Everyone since, and I include President Clinton and Obama in this grouping. Everyone else has been the French Radical. Those are my people, I must find out where they are going so I can lead them.

Remember the great speeches, where the leaders would inspire us to reach for the stars. MLK and his dream speech is studied to this day, because he told us what he saw, what he knew we were capable of, and the dream of the future. JFK inspired a nation to go to the Moon. Reagan touched us all with his words at the Challenger Disaster. Even my Father, who would rather have a rabid weasel dropped down his trousers said it was a great speech.

Carter didn't just tell us to conserve energy, he wore a sweater to show he was doing it too. Carter didn't just say the rest of the Government had to cut costs, he did it by ditching many of the frills on Air Force One.

We have had such great statesmen in the past. Wilson and his theories were a generation, or two ahead of everyone else. So what do we have now? We have people who give decent speeches, but they don't inspire. Those who do, are dismissed as fringe, flakes, or tools of some hidden shadow figures with an agenda.

We quit trying to get the best into the Oval Office, and now we just want the safe bet so the other side doesn't win. They are doing the same thing, and in the end, we are left with the lesser of who gives a shit?

We bemoan the lack of participation in the elections, but we fight mightily to make sure they have nothing to vote for. Our national candidates won't take a stand on an issue, because someone might object to that stand. So they make promises to groups, but the promise was already dead because to another group they would give a different promise.

So we object to the corporate ownership of the Rethugs, while telling ourselves that the Corporate Masters of the Democrats are somehow more noble, better. So we choose to be crushed to death by a ton of feathers, because the lead is just hard and heavy or something.

If you want to see people waiting in line to vote. Give them a dream to vote for. Give them a candidate who desires a grand conversation on the issues. Give them someone who can stand up there and tell the people what they honestly believe. Because from where I sit, here is what both parties believe. We want to win, and we want the other side to lose. When the discussion turns to bipartisanship. Each side promises to work with the people they spent the day before likening to pond scum.

Now, we are turning into the Eastern Front during World War II. Each side has to get revenge for some atrocity or wrong that the other side did. Principles have gone by the wayside. Nobody believes in anything anymore, because we have to get even with them, and they have to get even with us, and neither side will work together.

We've seen it here. People taking the side of an issue that if we had a core principle, we would eschew in a second. But we have to be for it because the other side is against it and we won't work with them.

Our next President has been selected, and we need only walk in step to make it happen. Sure, she's a corporatist sell out. But hey, she's not a Rethug corporate sell out. She only sells out to Democratic leaning corporations. If GM donated to the Republicans, we would all demand that the Government stop buying GM cars because they are rethug bastards. If Boeing donated to Rethugs, we would jump up and down demanding that Boeing jets be banned because of it. But Boeing is a great company, because they have a union and they donate to Democrats. We've turned a political party into a group of rabid sports fans who wear the team colors and scream at the top of our lungs that our team is better than your team because we wear blue and they wear red.

So how is it better that a Democratic President opens up the Eastern Seaboard to drilling than it would be if a Rethug did it? I guess it's a good thing, because this way, the feathers are softer than the lead, I just wish they were lighter.