Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News News What Can We Do To Change Political Discourse?

I agree on all three choices. I read al Jazeera and BBC everyday, and I find the Christian Science Monitor to be very well written on analysis.

What to do to change political discourse?

We could start by no longer affording America-hating Liberals a forum to spew their nonsense. To even suggest that America is falling behind because of a lack of government spending would be simply laughable if it wasn't so destructive.

If you read only one John Kerry speech today ...



Everyone knows that whatever infrastructure is required would be built by private industry better, faster and cheaper if the government would just get out of the way and stop stealing Americans' hard-earned money.

Irked;
I am a little confused. Are you saying that our infrastructure is dandy and private industry will take care of whatever we need? http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/

Perhaps you are suggesting that private industry is going to 'donate' the over 2 trillion dollars to fix it?

So, you are against gov paying to fix it?

I also don't understand your thought that private industry can fix it better than gov. To my knowledge gov doesn't actually do anything but fund the fix which, then, is accomplished by private industry. I am, obviously, missing something here?

I am, obviously, not understanding exactly what you are saying. Perhaps you could clarify a little?

JGW said that he doesn't believe it's the hate speech so much as the fear peddling. I think he's partly right.
Fear, uncertainty and doubt, also known colloquially as "FUD" are the seeds of hate. We hate what we fear.
I fear that you will take my job away, I am uncertain about my future security, and I doubt that you have good intentions for me and my loved ones. Where else can one go after that?

See, these media whores figured out long ago that direct hate speech is considered the province of lunatics, and that it is much more effective to sow FEAR instead, and let the hate sprout organically and grow free range amongst the faithful. Sometimes the shortest distance between two points is NOT a straight line.

As for what to do about the civility of discourse, I don't think it is so much the lack of civility alone that troubles us, it is the lack of civility together with the sowing of FEAR and FUD which is proving to be the deadly chemical combination which has found a direct route to the collective limbic system of our right wingers and, to a very real extent, to our extremist libs as well.

The problem has more to do with the WAY our discourse is controlled, and that's intentional. The Hegelian Dialectic and the Delphi Technique are not only effective psyops, they're ratings monsters. Imagine a 24/7 train wreck with a heaping helping of NASCAR's Best Crashes...you just can't turn away, can ya Uncle Cooter?

If we could return to the days when it was more important to foster an UNDERSTANDING of the issues instead of figuring out how many were FOR or AGAINST them, we'd have a healthy start.
And unfortunately, such an approach is totally unacceptable to the plutocrats who represent the power base.
Sure enough, after a modicum of soul searching and impartial research, the spotlight would inevitably wind up pointed at them. And they just can't have that, can't allow it, which is why instead we have a nonstop parade of "paper or plastic, Coke or Pepsi, you're either with us or against us".

Keeps us fighting, keeps us divided, keeps them out danger, an all around winner of a formula.

Of course.

There's no question about the private sector "donating" anything. However, private industry is more than willing to provide the goods and services people are willing to pay for.

If government would go away, if there was an end to regulations on industry and an end to the blatant Statist theft of property and money from Americans, the Free Market would provide all the infrastructure people deem is worthy of their hard-earned money.

Under the only True and Sensible way of doing things, people would get exactly the infrastructure they want and not some Liberal Elite toy like "High Speed" rail or Scientific flim-flam like "Green Energy" or a job and patient-killing Communist take over of health care. Those who believe that a real, American economy could be based on anything other than private automobiles and the burning of fossil fuels are either delusional or shills for the Eco-Sci-Fascist.

By the way, in answer to the burning question,
"What Can We Do To Change Political Discourse?"

Apparently not much if you're a conservative:
Civility Project Disbanded, Only Three Lawmakers Signed On

Of course one reason so few signed on (and NO Democrats) might be because of his pedigree.

American Center for Law and Justice, Concerned Women for America, Focus on the Family, Franklin Graham Festivals, Jerry Falwell Ministries­, Liberty University­, Prison Fellowship Ministries­, Promise Keepers, Regent University­, and Salem Communicat­ions Corporatio­n.

Here's the pledge DeMoss asked major politicians to sign:

I will be civil in my public discourse and behavior.

I will be respectful of others whether or not I agree with them.

I will stand against incivility when I see it.

I wonder which part of it was anathema to 582 out of 585 Senators, Representatives, and Governors.

Maybe if it was 2000 pages long, they would have signed it without even reading it?

I think we need to weed out the paid talking heads on TV and radio who influence their wacko watchers and listeners to do the dirty deeds they want done but do not want to do themselves.

Glenn Beck has been linked to three unsuccessful assassination attempts, according to David Brock, when he was a guest on Hardball. http://mediamatters.org/research/201101130002

And I'm sure we all remember Bill O'Reilly calling Dr. Tiller the baby killer. Then, lo and behold, Scott Roeder shoots the doctor.

There must be some way to stop them.