My aim, actually, is not to understand the ‘other side’. I already do, as much as I care to.
I want to know: what promises are you (the politicians) making, and to whom, and why (sans all the loaded vocabulary - I don’t believe a word of it anyway). And what do you pols get out of it? More money, more power, what?? Are you REALLY into this for the good of the 'people?"
And how to pay for it.
That’s about it. The fog of politics is just that, fog, meant to conceal.
Let’s distribute Hillary’s illegal gains from selling our uranium, or sell two of Bernie’s houses and distribute the profits, or get back the money AOC has already taken illegally, and distribute that. Then I might believe 1 word, not more, of their insanity and hypocrisy.
I expect people to pull their own weight in this world.
Then it’s naïve of me to answer you by presenting it.
No more naive then me, Bob, posting all this stuff with no acknowledgement of it to speak of.
We’re in that naive boat together, thinking anything we say will actually be appreciated. 
Plus, others beside myself read you, so it is worth your effort, eh?
No, I think there is much truth to that. But then the point of my observations about the differing outcomes would appear to be that the nations Sanders highlights must have a more effective system of accountability.
Maybe - or maybe countries that have 4 airplanes and spend no money on defense can use that money to take care of their populace - freebies in other words - knowing full well the USA taxpayers pony up billion of dollars to have a military that will save the bacon of those countries if they need us. For now, they can be all ‘so compassionate’.
It’s fine if you aren’t interested in understanding or engaging challengers vantage point. But I find most participants here are expressing appreciation for your pieces. Many said they missed you while you are gone, and even now some have said what they want and cheer is the more political Dave 1.0.
And you’re right, I stick out my minority neck for others who are only reading, thinking especially many non-Americans are reluctant to share their skepticism, but wonder if all American Christians share all of the positions of the pro-Trump right.
Yep, maybe I should try that sometime
2.0 is not a nicer guy, but was ashamed of 1.0’s giving in to obvious taunts and such with name calling. 2.0 will not let that happen.
It’s hard for types like you and me to resist, when we feel strongly about issues.
And I agree both sides need to avoid name-calling.
I didn’t start this thread, way back when. But I almost immediately lost my faith in my fellow man, the media, and all politicians when, within 4 hours of Trump being elected (not even in office yet) a ****storm of opinions from buffoons all over came at me fast and furious. Some from other countries! What is that to them? How did they ‘learn’ that Trump and republicans hate everything? That our country would be ruined by Trump? How despicable he was? How ugly Melania is?
Where did their HATE come from? I was amazed - I wasn’t even a Trump supporter, just asking to see what the man actually DID.
And now that Trump has proved to be presiding over a resurgence of American honor, raising everyone’s standard of living - especially black folk - trying to keep the country safe - I hear not one word of approval, no acknowledgement that they were wrong.
America holds the world together. It may not be able to much longer, because there are forces - real actual political forces - that want to fundamentally change America. Really? Those haters in other countries better be careful what they hope for.
Free education? Isn’t it already ‘free’ until you get to college? And then, we want to have our money taken from us to pay for snowflake courses that run down America and its taxpayers, teach communism, socialism, gender studies, basket -weaving - none of which leads to a job, but by golly they had fun on our dime. Then since they no job, MORE of our tax money to aid their living style in the their parent’s basement? What are they doing with the college we paid for with loans that some people want to forgive?
Ach, that’s more than enough…
I’m not so buffoonish as to try to explain the other side you’ve said you don’t aim to understand
Ha - you’re no buffoon.
And really - do we NOT understand one another? Am I going to say anything that surprises you, or vice versa? I think that you do not understand me much at all, and no doubt you feel the same.
We’ll talk.
I think under Capitalism everyone is treated the same under law but human nature motivates us to try to get an advantage. But can you give some specific ideas of how Free Enterprise is different then Capitalism and also if you were President, what would you try to do?
Doesn’t Paul or Peter say something about “Let those who don’t work not eat”?
Not knowing who Sanders is puts me at a disadvantage, but none the less, accountability, and the understanding of the human condition, is the key to working our way through many of our social problems. Accountability, both in a society view as well as a political view could be very important. Would you agree?
Yep, but then we need to realize that was not said in the 21st century 
Gabe, from my point of view that is a verse that is a verse.
I appreciate your point, but Paul and Peter in my view have nothing to do with how we deal with things today.
Umm, we became persona non grata…
Actually it is interesting to see everyone’s view.
Bernie Sanders is the ‘Democratic Socialist’ who is running for president. And yes, accountability is vital in a society!
But I find it is a myth that the ‘Democratic Socialist’ nations don’t practice forms of accountability. They well know that without incentives, human nature will not be very productive, and the reality is that they enforce some things more harshly than our system does. For example: Just try drunk driving in Europe, and foolishly expect to keep your license.
Right, I was just pointing out that people who appeal to the Bible (Paidion) seem to be in contradiction of it on many policies!
There is most definitely inequality in the USA. But so it exists everywhere else… Still, I can feel it here in my position. I work hard, pull a decent income, but watch exec’s way above me cut jobs, throw parties for themselves and generally receives an income 10x greater than me (sometimes 1000x!!!). Why do they deserve it more than me?
See in a corporation, the top has no REAL accountability. If you have been in a large corporation, you can see this plain as day. The only accountability is to the “shareholder”. Because the shareholders are thousands of random people all over the world and only care about the bottom line, the CEO and execs can do whatever they want with the money, as long as their produce some measurable profit. Let’s say a business projects 50 million surplus on the board, the top can say "Let’s spend 45 million of it on salary increase and perks for the top 80%, trickle down the bottom 20% and still make the shareholders “satisfied”.
You see lavish parties for the top level execs. Pretty sad, to be honest. Anyone with open eyes can see the inequality.
In regards to the federal budget. We spend 650 billion on national defense… Like, really? I mean, we could cut that in 1/2 and STILL be the dominate power easily. We have tons of military assets, do we really need more? What if we shifted even 100 billion of that budget into social/education programs?
I am astounded on how much money we spent on national security… It really is out of control. A true conservative should see that plain as day. The military spending is an enormous atrocity. It is overkill. double overkill.