I am saddened to see all the attacks against both parties with neither backing their accusations with fact. With this hub, I am going to give us all the opportunity to research and learn truth. All comments should be made in such a way as to educate and lead to better understanding.

Respond with facts and post challenges to encourage discovery. Answer other peoples challenges, but do not answer your own unless no one can meet your challenge within 7 days.

Please (both Dems and Reps) start discussing with fact-backed arguments and not just party sound bites. Let's take our discussion up a level and support our statements with verifiable facts. Statements like "We have had eight bad years of Bush" need to be supported. If you are going to make a statement, submit your challenge to specific data that proves it.

I will get us started with a challenge about Republicans:

We can all acknowledge that the Congress makes and passes laws and the president can only recommend legislation and veto what the Congress passes if he disagrees with it. The Congress can then over-ride the president if enough members really want the bill. Thus it is the Congress, not the president that ultimately has to bear the fault or receive the credit for what happens.

Now a really strong president, such as Reagan, though he had a Democrat controlled Congress, was able to get the people to influence their Congressman and thereby was able to get more of his recommendations passed. However, that has not been the results of most presidents. The Congress has had all the control. In fact, during the Reagan years, NOT ONE of his annual budgets that he submitted made it through Congress.

Now that said, there has only been six years out of the past 100+ years that the Republicans controlled the Congress and also had a Republican president that would not veto their bills.

FIRST CHALLENGE:

Discover when was the ONLY 6-year period during the past 100 years, totally controlled by Republicans. Review the GNP, unemployment, interest rates, inflation rate, housing starts, new business starts and (feel free to use any financial barometer) during those six years. Compare them to ANY six year period in the past 100 years.

How did those six years, that were controlled totally by Republicans, compare to any six year period totally controlled by Democrats?

Your turn:

If you are able to meet this challenge, research it and comment, not with what you have heard, but with what you KNOW and can support with facts. After answering a challenge you are encouraged to post another challenge. Also feel free to challenge someone else's answer.