Today, America gets changed forever

[SargeSmash]

I've voted in the last three Presidential elections. I just missed the Clinton/Dole election.

I voted McCain (begrudgingly), and Bush twice. There were better options, but they didn't survive the primaries. Except for this last time, where I'm convinced that all the Republican nominees were terrible.

 

[science]

Ted Kenedy just had a seizure during the lunch, and had to be taken out in an ambulance. Hope he is ok!

 

[SargeSmash]

Also, everyone is STILL overlooking the fact that cutting taxes across the board improves government revenues, which seems to be the only way people think poor people can be helped. Raising taxes doesn't help the situation, it makes it worse. Unless, of course, you enjoy the idea of soaking the rich, at which point reason will not convince you otherwise.

I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd like to be someday so I can give back and help the people who helped me. I don't think the government is the answer, and everywhere I turn, I see them erecting barriers to my upward mobility.

If you think that rich people are greedy, power-hoarding, and corrupt, they've got nothing on the people in our federal government. And I can understand someone balking at supporting such a corrupt entity. Our current government has far exceeded the Founders' intended limitations, and with both Bush and Obama, it has not and will not show any signs of slowing.

 

[granville]

I will repeat my earlier comment:

The interesting question is, in my opinion, how many of you are old enough to vote? For the record, I voted for Obama.

edit: before any mods over-react, i'm not trolling here.

I'm 20 now (was 19 at voting time). I voted for Obama. The more interesting thing isn't even the age of people here, but WHERE they are. GBAtemp is full of people who aren't from the US, and a lot are responding to this topic. But I have to admit, few elections have spanned the entire world like this one. All countries are interested in our president after the Bush administration's foreign policy.

Ted Kennedy has been through a lot lately. I hope he'll be ok. They're saying he was conscious when they took him to the hospital.

 

[BlueStar]

People don't have to go along with the tax cut if they don't want it - every time you get your paycheck, go and give a bit of it to 50 Cent or someone or donate it to your phone company or bank.

As for the government being more corrupt than big business, at least you can vote out the government, which is more than can be said for some companies which have a dubious monopoly and stranglehold on their industries. How many people in the US have a genuine personal choice on who provides their health care?

 

[SargeSmash]

As opposed to giving the government a monopoly on health care? No thanks.

 

[Mangofett]

Haha I just came back from school and didn't read the rest of this thread, but Obama screwed up twice right before being declared president.

Must be tough to have ~3 million people watching you.

 

[granville]

As opposed to giving the government a monopoly on health care? No thanks.

Healthcare would be free for those who CAN'T afford it, but I love the fact that everyone forgets one fact in the discussion: you can still keep your expensive health care. No one is forcing you to use the government care.

I can't afford it for one.

 

[BlueStar]

As opposed to giving the government a monopoly on health care? No thanks.

I live in a country with universal healthcare and I couldn't be happier. There are no parties in the political system, no matter how right wing they are, who would do away with the NHS because it's seen as one of the things about which we can be proudest. It's such a crucial issue that if it's allowed to fall into a poor condition the party in power is almost certain to be kicked out, as has happened in the past.

And for what its worth, the government doesn't have a monopoly on it - if you like, you can still buy private healthcare from companies like BUPA, but even the well-off rarely bother because the NHS usually does the trick for them.

 

[Costello]

Haha I just came back from school and didn't read the rest of this thread, but Obama screwed up twice right before being declared president.

Must be tough to have ~3 million people watching you.

ah I missed the exact moment of the inauguration.
What happened exactly?

 

[Satangel]

I think he only forgot his text only once, not twice.
I watched it all live.

 

[m3rox]

I think he only forgot his text only once, not twice.
I watched it all live.

Yeah, it was funny because the speech was being recited to him by a judge, yet he still forgot the words.

 

[SargeSmash]

As opposed to giving the government a monopoly on health care? No thanks.

Healthcare would be free for those who CAN'T afford it, but I love the fact that everyone forgets one fact in the discussion: you can still keep your expensive health care. No one is forcing you to use the government care.

I can't afford it for one.

The problem, of course, is that when the government does this, they're subsidizing the "cheap" health care with our tax money. The private insurers won't be able to compete, hence they stop making money, go under, and leave only the federal government to provide the health care. Unless the feds choose to bail them out, too, which means MORE of our money for health care plans that most people won't be using in the first place.

That being said, I think health insurance in general is one giant racket. Health care would be cheaper across the board if people didn't abuse the system.

 

[BlueStar]

They said on BBC News that according to the secret service there had been a specific threat towards the inaugaration. Can't have been too serious though because then they went back to talking about how cold it was there for about 20 minutes.

 

[Satangel]

I think he only forgot his text only once, not twice.
I watched it all live.

Yeah, it was funny because the speech was being recited to him by a judge, yet he still forgot the words.

Indeed.
But I understand it, there were about 2 million people watching him in person, and then another 100 million (wild guess) over the whole world.

 

[BlueStar]

As opposed to giving the government a monopoly on health care? No thanks.

Healthcare would be free for those who CAN'T afford it, but I love the fact that everyone forgets one fact in the discussion: you can still keep your expensive health care. No one is forcing you to use the government care.

I can't afford it for one.

The problem, of course, is that when the government does this, they're subsidizing the "cheap" health care with our tax money. The private insurers won't be able to compete, hence they stop making money, go under, and leave only the federal government to provide the health care. Unless the feds choose to bail them out, too, which means MORE of our money for health care plans that most people won't be using in the first place.

There are still private healthcare companies in the UK even after 60 years of the NHS and they seem to be making a tidy profit (The UK health insurance arm of BUPA made a profit of £115.6m in 2007), even with the limited amount of people who opt for them.

 

[granville]

I think he only forgot his text only once, not twice.
I watched it all live.

Yeah, it was funny because the speech was being recited to him by a judge, yet he still forgot the words.

At first, he just started speaking before the guy was finished reciting. But that was more of the other guy's fault for pausing and making Obama think he was supposed to speak.

The second part was a bit hard to understand. And when asked to repeat the recital, the guy who was repeating messed up repeating it.

Simple mistakes. I'd like to see any of the people here do better.

 

[granville]

The parade is on now. I noticed one interesting thing about the limo Obama is in:

There are 4 secret service guys around the limo. the 2 on the left are black and the two on the right are white. Sort of a random observation, but for me, it sort of symbolized the unity of races!

 

[Mangofett]

Haha I just came back from school and didn't read the rest of this thread, but Obama screwed up twice right before being declared president.

Must be tough to have ~3 million people watching you.

ah I missed the exact moment of the inauguration.
What happened exactly?

He stuttered while taking the oath, RIGHT before the judge said that he was president.

Also, I-Robot I would probably faint if I had to make such an oath in front of 3 million people. I think it was a genuine mistake. I mean his speech afterwards was perfect. Not a single um or uhh or stutter.

 

[science]

The parade is on now. I noticed one interesting thing about the limo Obama is in:

There are 4 secret service guys around the limo. the 2 on the left are black and the two on the right are white. Sort of a random observation, but for me, it sort of symbolized the unity of races!

Nah, seems more like segregation to me!