The Myth Of American Exceptionalism: "Americans are so caught up assuming our nation is God's gift to the planet that we forget just how many parts of it are broken."

trot-trot · 1 month

So which countries were these and why ?

trot-trot · 1 month

No lesson learned. We weren't trying to get into space. That was a wake up call then the US came from behind and dominated the space race. So the lesson would be that we hadn't made it a priority until someone else did then we progressed passed them rapidly and ultimately won the space race. Not much of a lesson.

trot-trot · 1 month

Hmmmm....

I'm not even going to go in to the first part of your post since you're so incredibly wrong,

D-day, pacific front, European front, atom bomb, massive air raids....you have no idea what you are talking about. America was absolutely the most major force in ww2. Sorry. Idk where you are from but your history makes no sense. How someone can even deny that blows my mind. The largest navy force ever assembled in the history of man made up of US force for the majority. Honestly....wtf

trot-trot · 1 month

Well lets look at this. Since you want to be a smartass about it. Downvoting me and making some ridiculously stupid comment such as this.

The world lived for thousands of years before America.....sure did. In the dark or burning shit for light. America gave the world an environment that pushed progress. So for thousands of years we have very slow progress in technology and within the short history of the U.S. we go from shitting in holes to landing on the moon. Interesting. I'll just leave this here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_inventions_(before_1890)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_inventions_(1890%E2%80%931945)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_inventions_(1946%E2%80%931991)

EDIT: I only replied within your given debate topic. Just to make clear.

trot-trot · 1 month

when you said

Well, that's a load of crap. You weren't the most important player if either of the two world wars.

You just lost all credibility. I would maybe give you the first world war but even then we were a major force. The only reason Russia could push back was Germany having to devote so much attention to us. We were fighting all the way across the globe while Russia was just fighting a defensive war until Germany was stretched too thin because of our actions. We were absolutely the major player in WW2 and there is no arguing it. That is just ridiculous.

The rest of your statements overlook how influence works throughout history. As an example, if a tribe on a desert island formed the most perfect governmental structure ever thought of but it never left the island then what did it do ? We were a major player and had influence so spreading democracy has most certainly been an achievement that America can be proud of. You state things are arguable and give no alternative....sorry it doesn't work that way. I could quote each one of your statements but they are rather vague and would take to much time. When you showed your lack of understanding about the world wars but still decide to make a statement about it that showed me that it's not worth that much time.

trot-trot · 1 month

America reintroduced democracy to the world. Set a standard for freedom. Saved the world from collapse in two world wars. Push the industrial revolution. Created more technological progress than any nation in history. Managed the post atomic bomb age by suppressing the opposition. It is easy to see how people believe this is a great nation. The problems began after WW2 with continued militarism that leads to nation building and empire expansion. Then the reversal of progressive education.

Here is a myth for you.

Majority of the American populous accepts things how they are and doesn't believe it can be fixed. Oh wait....that isn't a myth they really do exactly that. The defeatism that people describe on here blows my gord. As if our minds aren't capable of creating a better world and system of government. To do so we have to both look at the old ways of doing things and understand them. Then create new ways that are based on that knowledge.

Sorry but I hate when people make quick little statements and others blindly follow without understanding exactly what was said or are ignoring the back story.

DJFracture · 1 month

It is evidently him and venom is his competition "nickname". He's the real deal.

DJFracture · 1 month

It is supposedly the same guy.

DJFracture · 1 month

So this gets top spot? I'm curious to have your opinion on these also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpGGPQiXjq0

EDIT: I believe his name is Florian Kohler, and he has won trickshot competitions

spokeadoke · 1 month

The two aren't equal. People think of the government the same way they think of themselves or a business. It isn't the same. By definition people have self interest. The government is not suppose to have self interest but instead of the interest of the people in mind. Shiner_man is absolutely right. We have a serious spending problem. We aren't just spending what we take in btw we are spending over one and a half times what we take in. During an economic downturn our nation is still amassing more debt. I'm going to break this down simply for people.

In the end imagine this scenario. If you believe the government can take care of us and spend out money wisely then lets go ahead and say it would be fine for us to pay 50% income tax and 20% to our state level. I mean that still leaves us with 30% of our money and we will get all the cool stuff from the government. They will take care of it efficiently so it's all good. I mean yea, we wouldn't be able to chose what happens with our money that we worked hard for......but i'm sure they will use it wisely.

BTW if you think this is far fetched think about this. To actually pay off our debt we would have to raise taxes in this manner or.......actually make cuts to our extremely overblown government.

RunningObjection · 1 month

Agreed, TILs should probably not involve things that may or may not be true without explaining that fact.

RunningObjection · 2 months

I swear pulling things over on the world is easy today. All you have to do is label something a conspiracy and it's immediately proven to be false. It's interesting how we have turned the definition of the word conspiracy from "for 2 or more people to create a plan in secret with the purpose of achieving specific goals" into " stupid shit that dumbasses believe"

No one has ever planned things in secret before. History has proven that ever single event throughout time was completely transparent and the rest of the world new about it.

EDIT: I have no idea if this TIL speaks the truth I was just making a point.

hahnsolocup · 2 months

I'm sorry but I believe in true republican ideals but Romney is not one. Neither is Santorum and someday we have to wake up to this fact. I live more conservatively than I would bet anyone you know. I live by the political ideology that I believe in. Romney is not going to fix the country. He will give breaks to big business and continue to amass debt. That is all there is to it and the banks will make shitloads of money. Doesn't matter because he can't beat Obama in the first place. Obama's entire campaign is based around being someone like Romney and he will.

magister0 · 2 months

Which would be an awful idea. Santorum is a corporate shill just like Romney. There is no way around it both of them are just going to give more power to corporations.

ac1dm00se · 2 months

The reason we don't emulate them is because business interest are effective at creating legislature. Which is the core of the problem. I would be fine with 20% spending to GDP. For the middle class American they are getting hit with the 40% and the middle class is where the strength of a country lies. We continue to undermine them and we are screwed.

ac1dm00se · 2 months

I have to completely disagree. Spending 40% of our paychecks in taxes is most definitely a bad thing. We can't reach 1902 levels because our world is different but we cannot continue on this path. Social security isn't the problem. If one does the numbers on social security it isn't hard to see that program can work just fine. The problem is medicare, medicaid, intelligence agencies, and military. This is another example of Washington's simple inability to understand the problem. When it comes to healthcare they sit back with a complete lack of understanding about why prices are so high in America. They haven't realized the inflation that our government programs have done in the US. With a governmental system that allows for corporations to push legislation through congress, linked with programs that allows those very companies to make insane amounts of money from these government programs then socialized healthcare will do nothing but inflate prices. If we want to fix healthcare cost then we have to understand this and figure out how to make government socialized medicine not inflate prices. It has been doing so for decades and it is bankrupting our nation. I'm not against programs that take care of the sick. I know people like to label others when they denounce our healthcare programs when they haven't let themselves look past party politics to see that maybe these programs are broken and better alternatives can be created.

ac1dm00se · 2 months

By really looking at all the programs and looking at the beneficial affects, I mean just that. We have to figure out how much it helps the economy even if it requires massive studying. For example the bloated department of education. Over the past ten years the more money it spent the worse grades in k-12 got across the nation. Completely ineffective at achieving it's goals. The problem with education is a social problem and washington doesn't begin to understand that. It just throws cash at it which does nothing. If they want to change education there has to be a push socially to do it.

Studying the budget and understanding where it's non effective and anti economic progress is not that hard it is simply time consuming.

ac1dm00se · 2 months

Do you not understand why starving the beast hasn't worked? Your statement was very interesting to me.

ac1dm00se · 2 months

Totally agree. Republicans and Democrats both refuse to cut spending and basically have the same policies with different social agendas but ultimately both sides bow to corporate masters. I will have to say the republicans do this moreso than others. That is why limiting the powers of government is the only option. Removing the items they have up for auction removes the problem at it's root.

ac1dm00se · 2 months

So, we should just never cut spending because it helps the economy. I'm sorry but i'm tired of lazy replies on reddit. You didn't think about what it said. Analyze all programs any program which can be cut without affecting the economy then cut it. Then I went further to say look at all programs and if the economy benefit is less than the revenue taken in for that program then cut it. If you think that our ridiculous bloated government can't be slimmed down without hurting the economy then it's hard for me to understand your position. It isn't based in any kind of fact.

ac1dm00se · 2 months

against, you assumed as did this other fellow that since I mentioned cutting taxes that I am just some republican ideological idiot. Not the case at all. Those tax cuts I would not support because they weren't followed with spending cuts which only lead to more debt and they targeted a select few at the top. If we are going to cut taxes it needs to benefit the average American and not the top.

ac1dm00se · 2 months

As I said, I didn't expect you to agree. I'm just going to ask a simple question. Is it acceptable that 40% of every dollar earned in the US goes to some form of government program? Reddit makes me so sad. I lay out nothing but logic and i get......sure thing, grover norquist really? History proves without any doubt that governments can only expand. They do not have the ability to limit themselves. If you bring in more tax revenue then it will be spent and it will increase the size of government.

The hypocrisy of reddit astounds me.

"I hate invasion by the CIA FBI DHS into my life"-- Supports politicians that expand this behavior

"I hate the wars and drone strikes on innocent people" --Wants to re-elect the a president that expands these strikes...yet....slams the former president for his wars which have been carried on by the current.

"The drug war is unfair and bankrupting our country for no reason" --Supports politicians who do nothing about it.

"Unemployment is a bigger issue than our deficit and debt" -- Ignores the fact that the deficit and debt are a fundamental issues that affect unemployment over the long term.

"Hates the corruption in Washington between corporations and government" -- doesn't realize the cause of that corruption comes directly from the powers that Congress can auction off.

"I believe in open and serious debate. Free speech is the key to our nation" -- Doesn't want to hear anyone else's opinion and doesn't reasonably respond.

At the very least though reddit is interesting....

ac1dm00se · 2 months

There is one reason that our deficit is in the shape that it is in. Once governments are given a specific amount of money they will always expect that amount of money. The people creating the legislature are disconnected from the real world and find it impossible to step back from the political game to see the facts. Between state and federal revenue our government takes in nearly 40% of our nation's GDP. In 1902 it was taking in 7% of our nation's GDP. So here is what the average redditor doesn't want to hear because it goes against their political ideologies. Seeing as how most of reddit comes from a liberal mindset.

Our government simply spends to much money. I have already seen in this thread people saying we should raise taxes and cut spending. This is not a good idea because if you begin bringing in more revenue then the government will spend it. Tax increases historically lead to more government spending. There is nothing but evidence to support this. So, how do we fix out government's spending problem without hurting the economy?

We have to look at the different sectors of government spending and figure out which ones directly affect the amount of money on hand that the average American has. For instance if you cut a lot of money from medicare it will take cash out of the bank for many Americans. Then those people tighten their belts and spend less money in the economy which causes economy downturn.

So if you want to fix our deficit and our debt it is simple enough.

analyze all government spending and determine which sectors can be cut without harming the economy.
Make those cuts.
Look at remaining spending and determine which government programs are costing the populous more in taxes than the economy is receiving in beneficial effects.
Cut those programs and reduce taxes for the populous to give them a net increase of cash on hand.

Ultimately it is simple math that revolves around the idea of never harming the pocket books of the average American. Either giving them a net gain in tax breaks or cutting programs that are overblown and give little beneficial effects.

If one of these programs happens to be military then we can't just ignore that common sense approach because people deem it as a band wagon here on reddit. The military is overblown and there is no way around that.

KStransplant · 2 months

^this is why the world is dying a slow painful death.........

reddit4 · 2 months

There is one politician who wants to cut the budget and not do it by killing safety net programs.

letitring

TROPHY CASE

letitring

TROPHY CASE

you'll need to login or register to do that

create a new account

login