"This Election Will Change The World"

See my sig.

What Billy is trying to say, I assume, is that when change is implemented on the part of a national political entity, a whole lot of factors have to fall into place. Sure--every president has a vast impact on the country for the time that he or she(one day, gods willing) is in office. But what fundamentally changes as a result?

We will still have a partisan two-party system. The pros and cons of issues like abortion or gay marriage will still be hotly contested. Our economy will live and die on Wall Street, and we will still be befuddled by the tax code. Inherently, the core of America will remain the same--the same divisions, the same patriotism, the same woes and challenges--and in the end, we'll be asking ourselves again four or eight years from now "Is there someone who can help us change?"

We control the amount of change that happens in our personal realities. My success two years from now depends almost entirely on how hard I work to get it.

And expecting a President to implement that change for us is placing an incredible and insurmountable burden of responsibility on his shoulders. That's not a slam on either man, by the way, not by a long shot. I wouldn't wish that type of Sisyphan rock upon any person who had to shoulder the weight of America on his back.

Not elections, these events changed my world:

Pearl Harbor
Being drafted (altered my choice of career through time and distance perspective)
Assassination of JFK
9/11

billythrilly7th said:

Don't put yourself in a position for the next 50 years where you can't handle stuff like that.

Get educated.

be successful

or be undereducated and successful....either way your prefer..

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"Life sucks. Life's unfair. Get used to it." That sum it up about right?

If none of this matters, then what is all of this debate that has been going on in these threads all about?

Where did anyone say it doesn't matter?

kuwisdelu said:

"Life sucks. Life's unfair. Get used to it." That sum it up about right?

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My interpretation is this: They said "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Pursuing anything takes effort. I have a high regard for anyone who says they are expecting life and liberty, I say "you're god damn right," but happiness is entirely up to you. You want to be happy, guess what...work at it. PURSUIT. Not happiness handed to you in a box. Work for it.

mscelina said:

I'll forget it in a couple of hours. I had to take a morphine just to be able to stand myself.

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That's what women say to thrilly after those fateful nights.

donroc said:

Not elections, these events changed my world:

Pearl Harbor
Being drafted (altered my choice of career through time and distance perspective)
Assassination of JFK
9/11

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I think the Vietnam War also changed the US, if not the world.

As a person who grew up outside of the US, I caution us Americans to look outside of our own backyard and realize how much American policies, foreign relations, monetary decisions, military prowess and strategies, foreign aids, and culture affect the rest of the world. I grew up in a faraway land significantly affected by the US -- so before you say, "oh screw the world" or "the world doesn't need us," try again.

Right now, around the world as we speak, people are planning celebrations for Bush's departure. Do they really care about Americans that much? No. They care about what changes will affect them in the future.

billythrilly7th said:

No.

Not even close. Duh.

Personal Responsibility.

Your life is in your hands. You will succeed or fail based on your actions and decisions.

And to put your hopes and dreams in the hands of narcissistic, meglomaniacs called politicians is both naive and foolish.

Your life is up to you.

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Stew21 said:

My interpretation is this: They said "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Pursuing anything takes effort. I have a high regard for anyone who says they are expecting life and liberty, I say "you're god damn right," but happiness is entirely up to you. You want to be happy, guess what...work at it. PURSUIT. Not happiness handed to you in a box. Work for it.

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Lovely, but all that had nothing to do with my original post #15.

My point is you can still work your ass off and then lose it all through no fault of your own. There's a difference between working for it and being secure in your success, and working for it and still feeling like you're on a balance beam. Of course there's no constitutional guarantee to happiness. Hell, there's no constitutional guarantee to an education, either. But does that mean trying to make sure kids can get a good education, trying to ensure decent healthcare, trying to protect the financial security of hardworking Americans--does that mean all these things are just pipe dreams? That there's nothing to be gained by working toward them?

I never discounted personal responsibility. I never suggested happiness was a right. No, the government cannot hand out success, but I do think it can directly affect whether you're better off or worse off relative to where your personal "success" lies.

Let me put it this way, in statistical terms. Personal responsibility can get you a confidence interval of "success." What you do dictates where that confidence interval falls. The situation around you, the things you can't control, will dictate where on that confidence interval you'll fall. Politics is--for better or worse--one of those things.

billythrilly7th said:

http://inthefield.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/04/this-election-will-change-the-world/

I think people have really gone off the deep end.

2000: This is the most important election of our life times.
2004: this is the miost improtant....ssdf.s""'
2008: thtaetdpsoaktjaskdtjas sdf" """" eof our life times


It will change the world!!

People are insane.

This election will do nothing to change the world that any other President did or didn't do.

Shit will happen. Policies will follow.

World basically stays exactly the same.

And then in four years, and eitght years and 12 years and 48 years, more elections, more world generally being the same.

Get a grip, people. You are settting yourselves up for major disappointment.

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Here. If this indeed is all true, then what does any of it matter?

ricetalks said:

Here. If this indeed is all true, then what does any of it matter?

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It's good for entertainment and wall street.

Plus gas prices always fall before elections. Always.

(By the way, fill up now before the prices spike after today)

I'm not downplaying charity, goodwill, or doing the right thing. I'm not saying there are people who don't get plowed under by no fault of their own.

I've worked my ass off and still wound up in a house we couldn't afford and had to change my entire life. I have my degree and I'm still paying the loans. I was the first and only in my family (including my parents and older siblings) to get a college degree. I've gone through times with small children and no health insurance, no job, at times, medical bills and mortgage a toss up, but I never expected that my president was going to give it to me. I expected that I had to change my circumstances to work things out and make them right. And I have. I do not live above my means. And we had a couple of years of hell to get to "not-scary". I don't expect that anyone will hand me anything I didn't work for. Much as it would be great if they did, and as much as I feel I was above board, but got the wrong cards; I know better.
I had life and I had liberty. I had to work for happiness. So be it. And so I did.

Say what you want. Those things aren't pipe dreams, but it's not Owed.

*sigh*

Because it's our civic resonsibility to participate in the electoral process. Because it's our right to have a say in our government. Because, regardless of blown expectations, our government will continue to function much as it has for the last 232 years.

Because it's our burden to chart the course of our country for the next four years.

Stew21 said:

My interpretation is this: They said "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Pursuing anything takes effort. I have a high regard for anyone who says they are expecting life and liberty, I say "you're god damn right," but happiness is entirely up to you. You want to be happy, guess what...work at it. PURSUIT. Not happiness handed to you in a box. Work for it.

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Nothing in the Constitution says you're gaurenteed happiness.

You're only gaurenteed the pursuit of happiness.

ricetalks said:

Nothing in the Constitution says you're gaurenteed happiness.

You're only gaurenteed the pursuit of happiness.

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Um...that's exactly what I said.

George Bush born into a different family would have been only an average guy.

Ulysses S. Grant was an incompetent store clerk before the Civil War broke out. Without the war, it was likely he would have remained that way.

"Genuis is the right man who is given the opportunity to do the right thing in the right time."

And then there is General George Custer, who rode into the valley dispite all advice.

Boom, Bust and Echo. It is a myth that the individual is in control of his destiny. Luck always plays a great hand in the reward of hard work. And hard luck will always play a hand in not rewarding hard work. I don't know anybody who achieved anything who didn't aknowledge a that there was certain amount of luck.

That being said, the adage is also true that "sometimes the harder you work, the luckier you get."

But first you must acknowledge and thank your lucky stars that you live in a country that allows that equation to sometimes work.