the learning squirrel

i am an 18 year old who lives in Washington. i am new to politics and have been loosely studying our government for the past three months, and i have to say... i am not pleased.
from what i am seeing on this forum and the information i have read from both republican and democrat sites. i have come to the conclusion that we are heading downhill towards complete chaos.
i live in a liberal community near Seattle and i must say whenever the subject of current politics is brought up everyone in the room is completely blind and don't even care.
it has gotten to the point that when my teacher asks the class what first comes to mind when they think of Italy (in the subject of politics), a girl in my class (who is in honors mind you) says... Paris.
its d********g and sad. my HS has gotten to the point where a gpa is more important than legitimately learning something. i went to a summer camp last year and met a guy who was from the south and was trying to adapt to the way of life in Washington and he said that in Texas he was able to put his gun in a gun rack in his truck and park his truck at school as long as i didn't leave the truck. at my school the police officer who guards the school would taze you immediately.
of course i wouldnt blame him, we live in the snoby suburbs, not a small town. however it was at this point that i wanted to know more about our government and the thinking behind why this is as it is
i came to this forum to learn more about politics and the current bull**** the government is giving the people, i am trying to remain as unbiased as possible but this is absurd and disgraceful how this forum is turning into another s***storm, almost as bad as the ones on forums that debate on meaningless things like "which video game is better"
before i enter the discussions of this forum i would just like to say how i want this forum to be as it is supposed to be, a civil discussion of world politics as well as politics at home. we should not let loyalty to any party get in the way of making this discussion civil. that means no blind insults at any party, and links to unbiased sources. :thumbup:

AuntiE Loc: 45th Least Free State

Welcome to our site. It is good that you are having an interest in our government and see how the educational system may be failing to provide full information.

Let me present some psychology relative to political discussion sites.

Because it is anonymous, people may feel freer to vent their pent up angst toward their adversaries, as they see it. Some people simply throw anything out there just to achieve reaction and negativity to, supposedly, prove their point about the "other" side. There are other people who have been for many years pursuing political ideals and can be unmoving. The one thing you will not find here is apathy, which is a good thing.

Having said the above, may I take you to task? You are eighteen years old, just joined the site and feel you have the right to issue instructions to individuals who, in many cases, are old enough to be your grandparents. You feel so, words fail me, as to dictate behavior of people who have worked long years, studied long years, raised families, served their country (we have many Veterans here) and continue working and learning. Further, because I am an absolute grammar, punctuation and spelling nitpicker, you might want to go to your high school English teacher and ask for a refresher course in grammar and punctuation. Hint, compound sentences require a comma (,) before the conjunction joining the sentences.

We will look forward to hearing from a youthful outlook. I have become aware we have several recent college graduates just lately who joined us.

othWill

Hi Squirrel. First off, as far as unbiased sources goes, there aren't likely going to be many, if any. As to public school, I have to admit that it is worthless beyond any academics and music and sports. I am very sorry that I couldn't have had a positive effect but by the time my daughter was enrolled, the secular humanist religion had gained total control and was so firmly entrenched that my only recourse was to teach my daughter (my version of the) t***h at home. My personal take on our US government is that IF they had obeyed the constitution that the current tyranny would have been impossible. The constitution of the United States is (in my opinion) The most godly document ever penned by man. Nab yourself a copy, read and comprehend it and I believe You too will find it an incredibly unassailable piece of work. All of the injustice, governmental thuggery, and slick back-room deals are expressly forbid in it. When You have a solid understanding of our founding document, You will plainly see where to go.

Over the hill, Will.

the learning squirrel

1. this is the internet, not a grammar test, over the years the terrible grammar and punctuation from my peers over the internet has gotten to me. it has become a lazy habit
2. respectfully, i wasn't trying to give orders, it says on the news letter page that, "We are not some political camp blindly advocating an agenda by following a pre-set list of bullet points. Instead, we let individuals voice their opinions and back them with facts and logical reasoning." (emphasis on "facts and logical reasoning" ) so with that being said, i was relating this to how people are acting on the forum and i was severely disappointed at how some of the posts on the forums had no facts or even logical reasoning to back up any claims made, i was trying to address that. i did so badly, considering i was asking the human mind to be as logical and calculable as a computer.
why i said that is because i want to acquire as many unbiased facts about the current state of our political system a possible to better understand politics and government in general. however i'm very aware of the rarity of unbiased facts in politics.

AuntiE Loc: 45th Least Free State

1. This may be the internet and not a grammar test; however, presenting facts, opinions and ideas in a clear, concise and well written style tends to receive more attention and thoughtful response. There will be some, no matter how you present, who are going to react in an adversarial and rude manner. We have a few.

2. Finding unbiased facts is a near impossibility, and you have learned this fact at a good age. I will say of late several of my tutored individuals have said they are utilizing the English version of Der Spiegel (spelling may be wrong) and found it relatively unbiased relative to US Politics. I once told my progeny to pick an issue, go to three sites with opposing views, read all three views, and a possible conclusion may come. The three sites I recommended were, in alphabetical order, Brookings, Cato and Heritage Foundation.

OTHwill already recommended you obtain and read the Constitution. I would strongly reiterate that advice! If you have read it, read it again. I am sure your school has governmental study texts; however, if they are recent, they are probably not worth the paper they were printed on. As time is available, I will see if I can contact my progeny's former AP Government Instructor. To this date, nary a single student could tell you his political leanings and the text was quite good. I will see if he has a recommendation. I know, you are thinking, geeez I can get lectures elsewhere, and this is not what I registered for. I am a busybody. It is my firm belief that a well educated and grounded in basic government knowledge is what we need in our citizens. Our public education system is abysmally failing our students in this subject matter.

Have an enjoyable time with us.

the learning squirrel

Thank you, I will :thumbup:

UncleJesse Loc: Hazzard Co, GA

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as civil discourse except in academia. It is eye opening to see the difference between expectations you believed were fair and reasonable versus reality. Life after school involves a job. Jobs are performance based. The take away from school is that it is not necessarily your expectations of how something should be done but how you are graded. The same holds true in holding a job. So too are expectations about forums. It is a fair and reasonable expectation of a political forum that civil discourse occurs to avoid childish antics that have no benefit to the idea of exchanging ideas. Unfortunately, that is not case and I encourage you to study the phenomena to understand the reason why. Below is a link of some history that shows some history of political disagreements that resulted in duels. A popular saying is never talk politics or religion in polite company. It is because experience has shown that it often results in the behavior you observe on this site.

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/03/30/famous-duels-from-american-history/

Loki Loc: Georgia

For once, Uncle Jesse and I concur. Bienvenidos, squirrel. Don't let the woollyboogers rattle your cage. I suppose this forum might be considered a microcosm of life. Lots of viewpoints. Some sincere, some just want to stir crap to make it stink. Enjoy, contribute when you wish.

Tasine Loc: Southwest US

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Welcome to the wild, wild world of political blogs. I understand your plea to keep things level and honest and honorable. That's a decent request. To an extent it can be attained, but bear in mind that politics is volatile and humans don't handle volatile issues very quietly. Politics is down and dirty, NOT statesmanlike as it was designed to be. One reason today that people get so agitated about it is that one side believes in the Constitution and its Bill of Rights and the other side believes the Constitution is "in the way" of progress as is the Bill of Rights - and will remove same at the first opportunity to do so.

The federal government has its fingers into every aspect of your life. I don't believe there is a single thing you do every day that some form of government does not meddle in - yet we are supposed to have a minimal, lean government. We supposedly are represented, but many of us know (feel) that simply isn't true. I was alive when WWII ended and we knew the true cost of life in Hitler's reign. One room was filled to the ceiling with children's shoes. We do NOT want that type of government to be established here in the United States.

Yes, we can get pretty vocal about our beliefs. Too bad ALL Americans don't get hot under the collar - it is NEEDED.

Looking forward to your comments!

Augustus Greatorex Loc: NE

Define: Unbiased. I am sure that will give certain instruction as to why there are no "unbiased sources." A source that accepts certain positions, must reject contradictory positions. What is the point of writing with no objective?

If you want unbiased, you need just stop thinking. It will not make the source less biased, but you will not know it to be biased.

griff

Welcome to politics squirrel, you'll find out as time goes on that most liberals resort to name calling and insults. They can't defend what's been happening the past 5 years.
I was a democrat some 15 years ago, but when I started to pay attention I realized how liberal the Party had become and that I was v****g for the same people they were.
Anyway, good luck there in Washington, I know it's tough living with all those liberals.