"These people are my representatives, not my leaders"
For 'reps': those folks sure do hand 'down' a god-awful number of directives.
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"One of the biggest criticisms of him, by conservatives, is that he isn't a strong leader."
First: I'm not a conservative...I don’t give a flip what 'they' have to say about anything.
Second: in my assessment. Obama is no different than any other sitting politician, that is, he wants power, has power, uses power to gather more power...to get and maintain power, he kisses the (collected) asses of some and directs others...for me: except as obstacle, he isn't relevant.
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"You can protect yourself against the nukes coming from Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan? Wow!"
Insofar as I'm aware: no atomics are en route to America from any of those places...
...more seriously: the possibility of atomics from one of those places is made all the more possible by the insistent intrusion of American 'governors' into the business of other countries when said intrusion was and is uncalled for and unjustified...tend to the esoteric and physical infrastructure of 'here', leave 'there' alone, and -- maybe -- 'there' will leave 'here' 'be'...also: I have no problem paying for civil defense since, of course, I benefit...as I say: send me the bill for the specific services rendered and -- if all is in order on the invoice -- I'll be glad to pay it.
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"Then others won't pay for that which offers them no benefit. Like your roads, your mail, your water, your sewage treatment, and whatnot. Good luck with those all by youself."
Lots of folks don't use the roads, the postal service, public water, public sewerage and whatnot, so, why should those folks foot part of the bill for those that do?
For myself: I (currently) use roads (send me the bill), the postal service (send me the bill), public water (send me the bill), public sewerage (send me the bill) and whatnot (send me the bill).
But bill me for the water I use, the specific roads I use, the specific sewage I produce, etc.; don't bill me as you would, for example, a long-haul trucker whose use of the roads is significantly large than mine.
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"You've opted in by living our beloved US of A."
HA! An accident of birth (that I should 'be', 'now', in 'this' place) obligates me to jack.
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"you might get a good deal on (the Unibomber's) property"
HA! Since my life is 'here', why the hell would I go 'there'?
Make no mistake: I live where I choose....I go where I choose...tough shit on any one who doesn't like it.
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"...they expect you to pay your share... but pay it at full price."
We could...
1-go to court and let some schmuck decide things.
2-use a private arbiter to decide things.
3-go to war...I shoot at 'them'...'they' shoot at me...folks die.
4-'they' could come to 'their' senses and accept, what is to me, fair: that is, my paying of my share of the collected half-price bill for the repairs. Keep in mind: that the neighbors came together to seek out this half-price deal doesn't make any of them my proxy, obligates me to nothing (other than paying what is, for all intents, the market value of my share of repairs).
*shrug*
Which do YOU prefer?
For myself: I'm torn between 3 and 4...