(no subject)

[lauralh]

I am totally out of touch with the common American, but I don't really care. The average American believes in God, a literal 7-day creation, and that the founding fathers were Christian. And that's merely the beginning. So, I can't really begin to speculate on how the upcoming election will go. Everyone I know right now is A) going to vote for Kerry and b) terrified he won't win. I don't even know that it matters. I mean, half the country doesn't vote anyway, so clearly they don't think it does. And to an extent it's true; local government has much more power over people, not to mention Congress actually having power. If Gore had been elected, Aghanistan would still have been invaded. Maybe Saudi Arabia instead of Iraq. Maybe Iraq would have waited a year, for the UN to join up with us. Well, never know now, i'm just saying people have this perspective that the President has all this power. How many members of Congress voted against him?

Comments

[bewing.livejournal.com]

> The average American believes in God, a literal 7-day creation

Seriously? Eeeew.

> I don't even know that it matters

You are oh-so-right. Like the Constitution says, the President sets foreign policy, and Congress sets domestic policy. Which of those really effects us citizens more?
If Shrub gets ousted for Kerry (I really doubt it'll happen) nothing particularly will change -- except that Kerry would spend the next 4 years desperately and fruitlessly trying to get the Europeans to like us.

[andrewx.livejournal.com]

> local government has much more power over the people,

*cough*patriotact*cough*
i mean, they (local) create laws that affects people's everyday lives more, but the federal gov. has the power to cut funding to any state. for any reason, pretty much. they also have the power to spend way too much money on "defense" or whatever, leaving the rest of the country with none. they also have police forces (FBI, Nat. Guard, etc.) that trump the autority of any local police, or at least ones that won't be argued with too hotly if push came to shove.

> people have this perspective that the President has all this power.
> How many members of Congress voted against him?

it's not a matter of voting for one man when you vote for president, it's voting for an administration. a man, and who that man apponts, and who those apointees appoint, and what they all do with thier power, etc. if gore was elected, there would've been no cheney, rumsfeld, powell, wolfwitz, etc. you don't vote vote for a president, you vote for a whole crew of people, with a certain directive, an ideology, an attitude. and all together, they have way more power to sway opinions (via whatever means) than congress does. the president is just the face.

> not to mention Congress actually having power

congress supposedly more accurately represents the common people because they are more like "real" people with jobs other than congress. and there's 535 of them each voted on by thier own small communities. the problem is that most common people don't have a clue what goes on outside thier immeidate lives because looking outside what makes them most comfortable makes them fear for thier children's lives. big money (federally funded to the max) campaigns, especially following history-making paranoia-enducing terrorist attacks, fueled by blatent lies, sway the opinions of the common man that believes in jesus, goes to work, comes home, watches the news, falls asleep, and repeats more than anything else. and members of congress, being of the "common man," or at least having to keep thier own voters happy, are subject to this influence, as well as widespread paranoia over terrorism, as much as anyone. some administrations (republicrat or otherwise) would play on that paranoid insecurity more than others, don't you think?