Do You Really Think A New President Will Make A Difference?

In general, I don't think the vast majority of people- including myself- really know what they are talking about when addressing various issues or concerns of their own city- let alone the state...the country....or the world.

I don't think the complex machine that runs the nation really leaves the affairs of the nation up to a four-to-eight year blind draft based, pretty much, on which candidate is most convincing to people who are relative idiots.

And I think we've seen good examples that our vote really doesn't matter as much as we think. You're going to hav your lefties or righties dquabbling over this or that subject and while a ship does roll left to right, it generally moves in on direction. This is called sanity. By this, I mean that no matter who you choose from whichever party, little is decided by this. The tone of the administration will have a Republican or Democratic wrapper, but the function of government will be, predominantly, singular and coordinated.

Does anyone really think that governent is in a virutal civil war with itself- Red and Blue eternally trying to undermine each other in any significant measure?

My thoughts... It doesn't matter who is in White House. Hillary, Trump, Kermit the Frog...

This may sound like a bit of a stretch, but think Game of Thrones. Everyone wants to know who is going to sit on the Iron Throne, but no one seems to have been paying attention. It doesn't matter. The Throne, as far as we have seen, is one of the most unstable positions in that world- always under attack and usually manipulated by powerful groups around it. When the Throne fails to appease these groups he is severely endangered. If the King can't hold the support of his most powerful Lords and such, or appease the Iron Bank, he'll be taken down.

My case is that our actual government functions much like this- blatantly so. The President is known to spend the last of the four years he's supposed to dedicate to service cow-towing to one interest group or another in exchange for some form of support for his re-election campaign. That's the practical estimate. In truth, his whole Presidency is a performance to accrue future support from various interests.

So...if you think you are changing anything by voting for this or that had, I'd say it was a delusion.

 

If that's how you feel then stay home on election day

 

To borrow from The Who....."Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

 

It is true that the president actually has very little power outside of his role as CIC.

What they do affect is where we head. They are the captain of the ship and they set our course, they determine which issues get pushed to the front and which get a lower priority. Foreign policy is where they can make dramatic changes however so even though they do not have much power, the powers given to them under the constitution can have serious effects.

The idiotic war powers act has ensured the president the power of a king in foreign affairs basically and the weakening of congress over the last few decades has given the president more implied powers then he should have.

Basically on foreign affairs the president can run wild but domestically he has no more power then a little kitten does.

 

That's the nature of power, though....a President is either manipulated by interest groups or he manipulates them himself. There are strong Presidents and weak Presidents. Successes and failures. A good wartime President may make a poor peacetime President, and vice-versa. It's always been that way.... the trick is in finding the right person for the job at the right time and then voting them out when they don't fit the bill anymore.

I don't know what else you expect.....? This is the real world - Jon Snow isn't going to come back from the dead and discover he's the rightful heir to the Throne and end up living not-so-happily ever after with Daenerys here.

 

It matters a lot in local elections, especially if you live in smaller area. For instance, we have a local surveyor who sits on city council who has stopped them many times from making huge mistakes. Proposed ordinances sometimes get designed with one situation in mind and the people involved with those become too focused on achieving what they want to achieve without fully appreciating what effects that may have outside of that situation.

State elections can sometimes make a difference. Federal not so much unless you are just reelecting a person with some seniority who can bring home the bacon.

 

Did Obama make a difference? Guess it depends on your interpretation of the word difference.

 

Bush certainly made a difference...a negative one.

If you think President's don't matter...then please don't vote.

You clearly don't know enough

 

If you're a Democrat, I don't think you want to be driving down turnout on that basis.... people who don't know enough seem to be a significant portion of the base.

 

The minority in Heller, a 5/4 decision said that our right to keep and bear arms was only connected to our service to a State Militia. So clearly the next Supreme Court pick matters for our rights recognized under the Second Amendment.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said it looks like “President Trump” will fill the slot.

http://www.12news.com/news/nation-n...t-impasse-over-supreme-court-vacancy/63276214

 

I'll take Kermit. But no, our government has gotten so big no one president can change its direction. There has been many times I wonder if our elected officials actually are running our government. There are so many agencies, departments, bureaus, projects,you name it. It is impossible to keep track of them. The thing is these un-elected bureaucrats are there before any president arrives and there after any president leaves.

This is not counting the lobbyists, special interests, Wall Street, Corporations, mega money donors who influence our elected officials via the money they give. A lot of them give to both parties just to make sure they continue to hold their influence over them.

No, everything dealing with government is pretty much set in stone. That is except it expanding and expanding to gain more and more influence over the citizens daily life. The goal of government is to make its citizens so reliant upon government, government can do pretty much as it pleases.

No president or any one else can change that.

 

I almost completely agree with you're thoughts, What Americans really need to do is go out and vote for there representatives the house and the senate is what drives change Washington. It doesn't matter who the president is if we don't elect representatives that drive the change we voters want, then we might as well put David Duke in the white house...