Modern Republicanism is Anti-Amarican

[AC]

Where is the Righteous Indignation?

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/244.html

[Vermouth]

Sadly, cronyism is neither modern nor limited to Republicans. The Senate has confirmed Bush's appointees.

How would you improve the appointment process?

"The presidential appointments process was designed to maintain a delicate balance between recruiting talented citizens to service and preventing corruption. "There is nothing I am so anxious about as good nominations," Thomas Jefferson wrote at the start of his presidency in 1801, "conscious that the merit as well as reputation of an administration depends as much on that as on its measures." On the other hand, the Founders understood that some citizens might be drawn to governmental service for personal gain. Benjamin Franklin was so worried about protecting what he called the "posts of honor" from self-interest that he urged the Constitutional Convention to prohibit the executive officers of government from receiving any "salary, stipend, Fee or reward whatsoever for their service."

The Founders dismissed Franklin's proposal without a word of debate, but they did check the president's appointment power by giving the Senate the power to advise and consent, albeit by a simple majority, not the two-thirds vote required for approval of treaties. As a counter-check, the Founders provided the president with the authority to make recess appointments, suggesting that they were as concerned about filling vacancies as preventing flawed nominations.

This delicate balance between promoting merit and preventing corruption has held throughout American history, but the appointments process itself has come under increasing strain as the layers of government have grown thicker and the procedure for confirmation more complex. Today's invasive and time-consuming confirmation process has produced long delays in staffing, continual administrative vacancies, efforts to circumvent Congressional confirmation, and a reluctance on the part of many talented citizens to serve in the national government. As the administrative bureaucracy has expanded, the effort to ensure merit (or, considered less charitably, to avoid scandal) by scrutinizing each and every nominee has dealt serious harm to the effective functioning of government."

Public Interest, 2002

[AC]

I'd be interested to learn of another time in American history where rampant cronyism (think Larry Bremer&Co,) has been so in-your-face and rife with corruption and criminal ineptitude.

Now is our time to Stand Up.

It's now or never (or so I imagine).

[SDML]

I imagine Grumpy would say that spelling American "Amarican" is un-American...though I'm not sure how anti-American it is.

[AC]

You see a lot of typo's here?

Sorry

Why are these boards so s l o w?

[they call me MR. GRUMPY god damn it!]

the check on cronyism is supposed to be the electorate.  unfortunately over time the voters have demonstrated that their memory is short, their attention span is shorter and their votes are for sale.  some would have us believe that republicans exercise sole proprietorship of cronyism, incompetence, corruption etc... short memory or intellectual bias/dishonesty take your pick.  regardless selective amnesia serves not you or the country.

[conley]

i dont know who righteous indignation is, but i wouldnt hold my breath waiting for him or her to show up

grumpy is actually right on this one, republicans arent the only corrupt ones in this country. the corrupt republicans want you to believe that only republicans are corrupt, that way the corrupt democrats can get away with it. it is true that the republicants are more hippocritical about it because they pretend to be the party of morals and family values

the more i think about it the more it seems that politicians by focusing on democrat v. republican etc distract people from the larger issues which are that there are a lot of corrupt politicians both demo and republicants and we the american people should be focused on that rather than party fighting.

[AC]

It's time that Republicans stood-up to throw the bums out, rather than making excuses.

[Vermouth]

The boards aren't slow ... and this isn't school, so don't worry about your spelling ... just wait til Grumpy gets a couple of Bloody Marys in him. 

[conley]

this is school...ring the bell...conley is here to educate you

if you have a question i have the answer

ask me anything

[AC]

this is school...ring the bell...conley is here to educate you

if you have a question i have the answer

ask me anything

What is the fate of Neocons in America?

[conley]

the neocons are enjoying the nadir of their influence. much like fat alley cats during the peak of the roman empire, they are feasting without regard to the common good. the neocons have sufficiently cowed the american people into believing the boogey man al queda is under every bed in every small town, from topeka to waco and sea to shining sea. the neocons thus pursue their agenda and put money in their pockets with all the defense contracts and special interest lobbysts who buy the votes of the republicans.

the fate of the neocons is that they will only die out after they have effectively destroyed the american empire. all the current prosperity was founded on a different philosophy of working with the rest of the world, not trying to blow it up

[AC]

All with the approval of the GOP?

[conley]

yes the GOP serves the needs of the neocon, as evidenced by the vp given to cheney, and the appointments of rumsfeld and wolfowitz

now the neocons are not as visibile but they are still pulling the strings, just not so much in the public eye. when the us invades iran (and you know its coming) you will see it again.

[AC]

Neocons should be strung-up in public before they are allowed to attack Iran, either with our own inadequate military or with Israel's.

It's insanity.