I'm outraged and nothing else matters

Well being one of the "outraged"....personally this is the way I see it....Yes we need government to cut spending (big time). But be SMART about it. There is sooo much waste and fat in our government that they need to cut that instead of going after key programs. Yes they need to stop the fraud in SSI and Medicare. But I can think of a whole lot of other places to start than with those programs. Like the defense budget. Those no bid contracts are ripping us off. Or how about the billions they give away in "research". Have you seen a lot of those programs? A lot of them are just stupid. The fact that we are paying for them is outragous.Also foreign aid. We give away billions each year to other countries. Which is great. If we were not in an economic crisis. Cut off the foreign aid for a little while til we get on our feet good again. They won't give grandma (an american citizen) a cost of living increase....but they will give money away by the bucket fulls to others (none americans). It's our money...it should be used here to help our own. Especially in times like this. I also love how congress got a pay raise this year (and every year) which cost us tax payers millions. How about they go without a pay raise for a while. There are thousands of different places they could have started to making cuts and saving money. The reason they are starting with these programs is because they DON'T want to cut spending. So they hit the american public were it hurts in programs that they won't want cut in first to shut us up. They say..."hey you wanted us to stop spending...then you complain when we do it". It is done on purpose to shut us up. They don't want to take the time to really drill down to see where they could cut fat or stop funneling money to "pet projects" and major contributors. Nothing against the President. He can't do much about it. Congress is the one who has to do it...and they won't. Heck they did not even do a budget this year. That is the NUMBER ONE job discription for Congress. It is in their job discription as the ONE thing they HAVE to do each year and is their primary function. But could they do that? No. Why? Because they did not want to deal with the red ink or how they go about fixing it. They also did not want the American public to see all the red ink and where it money was going and on what. When was the last time you could refuse to do your job and still keep it? Your boss would fire you in a minute. As for the GOP...I don't see them as any better than the Democrats when it comes to fiscal responsibility. They talk a good game...but they never back it up. Neither party knows what fiscal responsibility is...nor are they interested in trying to do it. It is ALL lip service. WHich leave us the America public who desparately want some kind of fiscal sanity in our federal government ticked off and fed up with all of them. I really am not mad at Obama. He can't control congress. He can't tell them what to do. He can ask them...but they are free to ignore him (and they have, especially Pelosi). Congress actually has more power than President. Most people don't realize that. So the "poster boy" (the president) gets the blame for it instead of them (congress). Let's face it boys and girls...our congress sucks and it has sucked for a very very long time. Want change? How about voting in a majority in congress that actually wants to do there job instead of pandering to special interest groups (on each side) that will in return fill the coffers of their re-election campaigns. I could careless what party they belong to. I just want a congress that will take the time to look at the problems, come up with a realistic action plans...and then follow through. Without the lobbyists (the root of all evil in my opinion) and speical interest groups interferencing (also a root of evil). All they do is throw money around to make sure money does not get cut from "their" pet projects and try like heck to funnel as much money as possible to their employers by buying off our elected officials. Unforunately it works too well. Ok...I am going to get off my soap box now. Sorry for the rant.

Gewcew, when you're right you're RIGHT! These people really have no clue what they want! The best and funniest example was the woman at a tea party rally holding the sign that read, "Keep Your Government Hands Off My Medicare". Did she really not know Medicare is a government program...lol? Then we have all the complaints about the cuts to Medicare in the health care plan yet the same people that are yelling the loudest about that are all gung-ho in support of candidates that plan to - you guessed it - CUT MEDICARE! They go on and on about the debt and deficit, blaming the Obama Administration for every penny of it but when they find out there will be no COLA because of a mistake made BEFORE Obama took office, they still blame him and the Democratic Congress. I'm not saying for one second the Obama Administration or the Democrats in Congress are perfect, but I wish these people would at least get their facts straight and aim for a little consistency in their complaints. They really want to have their cake and eat it too. That and they like to b1tch just to hear themselves! Annie

If the Republicans are out of step with the country then the Democrats will maintain control of the congress this November. Lets face it the majority of people in this country do not like the direction we are heading and they hod the Democrats and liberal Republicans to task for it. The American People voted for a change in 2008 but this is not the change they wanted. Now we will see if the new congress can make the changes the people want.

I have a question that is about Medicare/Social Security, wasn't it the Republicans that came out and said that people shouldn't use social security as a retirement plan? I remember hearing something like that several years ago (maybe 10 or so) thinking then why the hell did people pay into it all those years. And, also another question, are all the senior citizens that are complaining about the federal spending did they refuse their stimulus checks last year? Did they send it back with a note saying apply it to the deficit?

What you are seeing is the weakness of the GOP to promote a single fiscal agenda. The Republican party is sending mixed messages by saying they want to be fiscally conservative, but supporting increased military spending and farm subsidies. The Repubs want to act like adults, but when it comes time to tell their constituents that they should assume responsibility for their own lives (health insurance, retirement, employment, etc.) they back down the entitlement trail. That is why the Tea Party movement has been so influential. The willingness of the Tea Partiers to embrace smaller government and all that comes with it strikes a chord with an American populace which polls overwhelmingly Libertarian.

I am a democrat. And you could say that the same is true with them, just insert liberal in for conservative. The people who are always outraged get the most press. They are the ones that people hear about. I live in a very religiously conservative area, and find it hard to reconcile my more liberal views, with any of the candidates in my local elections. Add to the fact, that unless you have the time to really dig, all you get are negative, mudslinging campaigns. Uninformed public is the most destructive force in our country, in my opinion.

Some people are gladdest when they're the maddest. They are like my grandfather use to describe my grandmother - You climb a tree to worry when you could have stayed on the ground and not had to.

This isn't a GOP thing. It's a ME thing. These people want what they believe is theirs no matter what party they support or what it may cost the nation. "Take care of me first and if there's anything left...."

Yeah, they don't seem to have thought things all the way through yet. The libertarians are the only consistent ones, which is why I'm one of them.