Disabled Veteran 47 Percenter: 'I Guess I'm One Of The Leeches On The System'

Hoskins didn't say he wasn't going to vote.

There are alternatives to voting for Democrats and Republicans.

Not voting for Obama doesn't mean voting for Romney, or vice versa.  Or not voting at all.

The lock that the two parties have on certain kinds of voters' minds is impressive, and it's what makes the saying "you get the government you deserve" true.

Wake The Heck Up!
About We Are The 47 Percent
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Obama To Romney: 'There Are A Whole Bunch Of Millionaires Who Aren't Paying Taxes At All Either'

Who is it that you believe doesn't pay taxes?

Meet the 47% - They pay taxes.

Example: From The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities­:

At a hearing last month, SenatorCha­rlesGrassl­ey said, "According to the JointCommi­tteeOnTaxa­tion, 49 percent of households are paying 100 percent of taxes coming in to the federal government­." At the same hearing, CatoInstit­uteSeniorF­ellow AlanReynol­ds asserted, "Poor people don't pay taxes in this country." Last April, referring to a TaxPolicyC­enter estimate of households with no federal income tax liability in 2009, FoxBusines­s host StuartVarn­ey said on Fox and Friends, "Yes, 47 percent of households pay not a single dime in taxes."

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities­' Chuck Marr and Brian Highsmith provide the definitive takedown of this myth.

In 2009, Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation found that 51 percent of households owed no federal income tax. According to Marr and Highsmith, that figure was inflated by special recession-­related factors -- In a more typical year, "35 to 40 percent of households pay no federal income tax."

But that does not mean that these households pay no federal taxes at all. Far from it: Nearly all working Americans pay payroll taxes to fund Medicare and Social Security.  In 2007, the poorest Americans -- taxpayers in the bottom fifth of income -- paid 8.8 percent of their income as payroll taxes. The next fifth paid almost ten percent. The top 20 percent of earners paid only 5.7 percent.  And while the government has that money, they use it and make money off of it.

And of course, these numbers don't include state and local taxes or excise fees like gas taxes, which tend to have a regressive impact that hits poorer Americans harder. Bottom line: only 14 percent of Americans don't pay either federal income taxes or payroll taxes -- and that group is made up primarily of "low-incom­e people who are elderly, unable to work due to a serious disability­, or students."

The rich have gotten rich off of the sweat and labor of others and then have taken those profits to buy politician­s who've gamed the system so that they wouldn't have to pay taxes through all manner of tax schemes not available to the poor and middle classes.  The rich also 'closed the door' on the ways that initially enabled them to amass their 'seed money' for creating their businesses­.
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John Boehner Says Mitt Romney Campaign Not Dead Yet, Jokes 'I Just Hope I Survive'

I think the Simpson Bowles thing is an election ploy to shore up the more conservative elements of his base.

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I'll bet that you told yourself the same thing in 2008 when he flip-flopped on FISA.

It's amazing to me the lengths that Obama's 'most ardent supporters' go in order to justify their continued support.  

Here - This link's for you.  ;-)
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John Boehner Says Mitt Romney Campaign Not Dead Yet, Jokes 'I Just Hope I Survive'

Actually, I use to occasionally vote Republican before the tea party took over. Now, you are right. I am terrified of the Republican policies.

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Two articles that speak that I think are must reads for Democratic voters are John Cusack's Interview of Law Professor Jonathan Turley About the Obama Administration's War on the Constitution and journalist Russell Mokhiber's Ten Reasons I'm Not With Barack Obama.
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John Boehner Says Mitt Romney Campaign Not Dead Yet, Jokes 'I Just Hope I Survive'

At this point, I would argue that Obama and Democrats are worse than Republicans.  Bush-Chene­y-Republicans make no bones or excuses for what they've done and who they are, whereas Obama and Democrats ran on knowing better.  "Lesser of two evils"?  No, Obama's the more effective of the two evils.  More effective on behalf of the corporate elites.  

Obama has done nothing to engender my or the People's trust.  In secret budget talks, Obama left EVERYTHING on the table, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.   Just as Obama ran on SinglePaye­r, then backed down, then said he wouldn't sign any legislatio­n that didn't include a public option, and then reneged, in the weeks after the election he's going to be cutting another secret budget deal with Republican­s (he'll push SimpsonBowles, the 'CatfoodCommission's' report), just like the one he cut on the lousy health insurance legislatio­n and Bush's (now Obama's) tax cuts for the rich, that ends Great Society programs.  And then there's the KeystonePipeline - Obama already put the land-grab for the southern route on the fast track.

'In bed with corporations'-secret deals is Obama's mode.  It's how he operates.  HE'S A REPUBLICAN­-IN-DEMOCR­ATS'-CLOTHING.   Obama is not a man of the People; he's a tool of the Corporatio­ns.  

Why should Obama and Democrats do anything for Obama's 'most ardent supporters' if they know they've got you over a barrel, that you're going to vote for them no matter what, because you're terrified of Republicans?
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John Boehner Says Mitt Romney Campaign Not Dead Yet, Jokes 'I Just Hope I Survive'

I'll assume you meant that facetiously.

We're not limited to voting for just Democrats and Republicans. There are other alternatives besides sitting out the election or voting for Republicans. There are other candidates running as independents, from Green to Libertarian (Jill Stein, Rocky Anderson, et al), in just about every race.  If you don't know which candidate best fits your views, you might want to take an online quiz.   

If for no other reason than to get enough of a percentage of the vote necessary for getting a seat at the table, I think that may be enough for great numbers of Democratic voters this time around who are dissatisfied with Obama and the Democratic Party and are willing to vote third party to make that happen.  The reason for doing that, voting third party, is a considered, longer term approach instead of just accepting the traditionally passive role of citizens to vote for whatever slate is offered by one of the two parties that is closer to your opinions on issues.  

We saw this in the 2008 when first Obama and Democrats were swept into power on a platform of CHANGE, and in 2010 when disappointed and dissatisfied voters took out incumbents in both parties.  We'll see if that trend continues in 2012, and how it will be spun by political operatives in the media.  In 2010, the media spun it (and Obama framed it) as a mandate to move the government even farther to the right, despite the fact that while Blue Dogs were turned out of office big time, progressives/liberals only lost 3 seats.

I never advise people to sit out elections, because if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. It's what p!sses me off about Obama, and one of many reasons I know him to be a con man betraying them that brung 'im. Because by shutting out liberals, the base, from his administration, by taking single payer, a public option, off the table, eliminating regulatory oversight from finance reform legislations, he's given pro-corporate, Republican-like policies an inside line. The People's advocates can't even get in the door of this government.  

I say this as an old, OLD liberal Democrat (a 'New Deal' Democrat) who has never voted for a Republican, never will, but I can honestly say that I can't imagine ever voting for a Democrat again.
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Obama: Immigration Reform Inaction Was 'Biggest Failure'

I live in Phoenix where the housing market has gone from abysmal to boom in the past year. Housing starts are up dramatically and the resale inventory is very low.

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Terrific.  Another bubble.  It's not a realistic market, nor is it a stable one; it was never repaired.  It's the same old pyramid scheme ("Grow, grow, grow!"), the same old unregulated capitalism, that got us into this economic quagmire in the first place.

What's going on in Phoenix:  55% of homeowners with mortgages have high 'negative equity' (a charming term for owing more on the house than it's worth) and neither the banks nor the homeowners want to be left holding the bag.  And because prices are so low (almost 43% below the historical average), banks are trying to lure buyers (primarily investors who are converting the properties into rentals) with low interest mortgages, which banks then are slicing and dicing a few thousand times (that's how we got into the last bubble and crash) to make big bucks.
There really is so much wrong with what you are defending, so much that is an affront to Democratic Party values, it really is hard to know where to start.  On foreign policy, on environmental policy, on domestic/labor union/collective bargaining policy, on energy policy, there is nothing positive or progressive that comes from the kind of building, the kind of growth that you're talking about in Phoenix.  

And the work force that you're talking about, the low pay they receive, not only puts American workers who need a living wage out of business, it's money that doesn't stay in the United States; that immigrant work force sends the money to family in Mexico.
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