Bernie Sanders is more popular than Trump, but the press ignores him

Oh, I get that. I meant bitches in the California sense.

No, I’m calling a human running for office a human running for office.

Can we address the question? Why is any method of making running for office anything other than a moneyfest immoral, while candidates I vote against wasting fortunes to murder people overseas something I have to accept?

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Because running for office is not a “moneyfest,” and the changes you’re suggesting would violate my freedom of association by giving my money to candidates I don’t support.

If the system weren’t corrupt at the top levels, then the top level elections would be like the municipal elections: a mix of personality contests, some grandstanding, the issues that matter to people and who likes who. Instead the nationals are nothing like anywhere else in the world. A whole other level of nasty, moneyfesting, fully developmentally disabled bullshit. Nothing like the local elections. So, something is wrong, definitely. Running for office at the big levels IS a moneyfest. It’s corrupt.

@goodpasture: What do you think Rick Perry was talking about all during lunch? I can summarize it in one word: MONEY! We need money for this. We need money to get that. Money money fuckin money. That’s ALL they talked about in that restaurant today.

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Yes, it is a moneyfest. Money buys influence…which is why the military-industrial complex is so strong and people are still complaining about the ‘estate tax’ like it’s ever impacted somebody who wasn’t extremely well off already.

And you haven’t answered the entire question. You’re complaining about your money being used for things you don’t like and really stuck on that, but discounting the fact that my money is used for things -I- don’t like…except the difference here is the money usage I’m complaining about is murder and destruction and you’re complaining about somebody you disagree with talking.

Please address the entire question in context. You’ve described your money being used to fund elections as ‘immoral’, I do not think that word means what you think it means.

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He was well-behaved. I had the BEST fish tacos. Love that place.

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No, the difference is between someone who is in government and someone who is not in government.

Can you really not see the difference?

This is missing the point. You’ve said that once someone is elected they have gained the consent of the people to spend money on all sorts of things:

  • spend it on roads even if you don’t benefit from them, because they are a government agent.
  • spend it on wars even if you don’t agree with them, because they are a government agent.
  • spend it on organizations even if you don’t approve of them, because they are a government agent.
  • spend it on candidates even if you don’t support them, because they are a government agent.

Except you’re claiming the last one, and only the last one, is a violation of your freedom. What exactly makes it different from the others? You haven’t said.

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I can, I just think your priorities are batshit crazy.

I can’t comprehend why you’d obsess over such an insignificant point as if it was a moral issue and be totally uninterested in results that reflect actual morality.

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Think bigger - let popobawa write all the debate questions.

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A government agent’s actions are expended on behalf of the entire country. A candidate’s actions are expended on behalf of himself.

Simple enough?

Someone who has the the legal and moral right to spend our money versus someone who is merely seeking that legal and more right is not an insignificant point. It’s the whole ballgame.

@popobawa4u for Supreme Emperor of the Universe!!!

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Yeah, still sounds like you’re picking nits selectively rather than being focused on results or the bigger picture. As in ‘Don’t give this guy money, but it’s okay if the guys we have left waste ten times as much, start wars, and create more terrorists’

I’m sorry, I just can’t respect that worldview. It seems petty and immature to me.

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You don’t seem to grasp the distinction between someone who has been elected by a majority of voters (and therefore has the moral right to spend taxpayer money on various projects) and someone who is merely seeking that power (and will therefore spend my money on something that benefits him personally, rather than what benefits the entire country).

I don’t support Woodrow Wilson; he has a right to engage in World War I, because he’s the president. I don’t support George W. Bush; he has a right to engage in Iraq, because he’s the president. I don’t support John McCain and Sarah Palin; they don’t have any right to my tax money, because they are not agents of the government – If I choose to support them, and then they win, then they have a moral right to take my tax money for whatever country they want to bomb, no matter what I think about it, because that’s how a republic works.

The selection at Warby Parker?

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[quote=“goodpasture, post:245, topic:70876”]A government agent’s actions are expended on behalf of the entire
country. A candidate’s actions are expended on behalf of himself.
Simple enough?[/quote]
On the contrary, it’s special pleading because it’s not an inherent difference between the cases, just a matter of changing how you describe them. In every other case, the thing you’ve said counts is that an elected government agent has decided to spend the money:

  • You didn’t ask that the road act on behalf of the country before they could pay for it.
  • You didn’t ask that the war act on behalf of the country before they could pay for it.
  • You didn’t ask that the organization act on behalf of the country before they could pay for it.
  • For the candidate, though, you do ask that they act on behalf of the country before the government agent can pay for it.

In this one case you have requirements on what is receiving the money, in all the others only for who is spending the money. That’s the difference you haven’t given any explanation for.

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Dude, I totally grasp the distinction, so does everyone here. Why do you keep saying that?

I simply disagree that the distinction is important and consider it a low priority in the real world we live in. I do not consider it worthy of holding back progress.

Also, why do you think somebody who I voted against in a governmental system that I had NO part in creating has a moral right to do things that result in the deaths of others?

That is not the case, nobody has the moral right to something immoral. Do you even know what that word means???

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Because that’s how a republic works – the one who gets the most votes gets to run things, no matter what the losing side thinks.

If you haven’t won, you don’t get to play with the piggy bank.

A government official has the consent of the governed; a candidate has not yet received the consent of the governed because he has not been elected.

I didn’t sign some paper to get born here, nor did anybody else. I didn’t volunteer for this system. I didn’t create it. I had nothing to do with it’s origin.

I do not lose my right to complain about it because you decide to legitimize it excessively in one way while nitpicking absurdly about it another way. You’re being very selective in what you approve of, and you’re also completely unfocused on the greater good or useful results. Why should your opinion on the matter be given any credence?

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