Why do people get upset when I say Obama is starting a dictatorship.

1. 65

   SportsBetterposted 12 years ago

   Why do people get upset when I say Obama is starting a dictatorship.

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   Josakposted 12 years ago

   Because it's mindless rhetoric, every president since Lincoln has been accused of the same (particularly Lincoln actually) and it has never happened and it's the sort of groundless accusation made by people with no food arguments, I don't like Obama but saying he is any more dictatorial than several other presidents is entirely false.

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      What about Obama assassinating American citizens without due process, or the military arresting citizens without a trial? Invading countries without consulting congress. Signing executive orders, sounds dictatorial to me.

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      Sue St. Clairposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      What about Lincoln's closing down the free press, his mass murder of Indians at Mankato, his forcing conscription which led to the New York Riots which ended when troops opened fire on civilians? That sounds pretty tyrannical to me.

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Your right Sue,  I agree,  he wasn't as great as people depict.  I can accept it if I'm wrong, and I hope I am wrong.  Times are different now, and with a dollar collapse coming the govt is going to have to control the people with a dictatorship.

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   Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years ago

   Why?
   
   Because the CIA writes his speeches full of doublespeak and lies so well, that is why.

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah I agree, it is hard for people to distinguish the lies.

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      IDONOposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not picking on you SB. It's interesting. However, I believe people in general listen to the partisan media analysis of a speech rather than the speeches themselves. Therefore, cheating themselves from creating their own opinion.

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not feeling picked on IDONO, I like the discussion.

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      Attikosposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I don't think the CIA writes his speeches. He does read them off the prompter, and you can always tell when he goes off script (that's when the bloopers occur), but they come from speech writers at the white house and campaign headquarters.

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   pagesvoiceposted 12 years ago

   I believe people get upset by claiming President Obama is starting a dictatorship for a number of reasons. First of all, what name or label hasn't been attached to Mr. Obama? Even before he was sworn into office he was called a Marxist, Fascist, Communist, Nazi, foreigner, racist and a Muslim. In other words, every single derogatory and demeaning name, meant to belittle and debase his position as president has been and continues to be hurled his way. I personally think the majority of people are tired regarding the lack of decorum shown to the person holding the highest office in the land.
   
   Although we may not agree politically, I do hope we can unite in showing more respect not only the president, but for the candidates as well. We need to remind ourselves that these are humans, who are parents and spouses and who are passionate about their causes, regardless of what side of the fence they are on. Remember, "You'll catch more bees with honey than with vinegar."

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Candidates who receive millions of dollars from Goldman Sachs, passing laws contradicting the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and take powers they are not allowed to have are all signs that the above statements could be true.

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      Attikosposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You're right. Retardicans should be every bit as civil toward Obama as demwits were toward Bush.

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      Larry Wallposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Since only Congress can pass laws and it would take a combination of Republicans and Democrats t pass laws contradicting the Constitution and Bill of rights, just what are you referring to.  Your problem is not the president, its the Congress.

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Larry, Obama writes executive orders. Which are laws. He isn't supposed to use executive orders for writing legislation.

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      junksellerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Executive Orders can not direct agencies to do something illegal or unconstitutional, are open to judicial review, and can be revoked by future Presidents. There have been like 8,000 of them since FDR (who wrote over 3,000 by himself).

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      They are all unconstitutional. There supposed to be used for moving troops not writing laws.

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      tom hellertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Page, he is what he is you hang around with marxists you are a marxist Bernadine Dorn, the "new Black panthers Bill Ayers, these people hate the US as it is almost as much as OBL, truth-hurts huh.

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      junksellerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      The argument is that the authority for EOs comes directly from Article II of the Constitution. They are NOT laws. They have the force a law. It is different. They are meant to carry out duties of the Executive Branch.

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5. 59

   IDONOposted 12 years ago

   Starting a dictatorship? I never heard it put that way. It's not like starting a bowling league or a scrapbooking club. This is something that involves millions of people across a big country.You would have to take control of the whole existing government, military and private enterprize to create a dictatorship. No one man can be that powerful in so little time.
       I'm not a government expert in any way, but I am sure that Obama hasn't done anything that is outright violating our rights. That's why we have a supreme court and an appeal process.
        Also, we have term limits, which were enacted after Roosevelt served 4 terms, to not allow any one man control long enough to create the strength it would take to even attempt complete control.
        If anything it would be opposite. You are not going to create massive followers by cutting unemployment and other entitlements. You create followers by luring them in with treats.
        I'm not upset. I just think people get carried away with their thoughts and in their minds, it becomes a reality.

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      No not in so little time, but this has been a process guided by presidents for the last 100 years.  Obama just may be the one to fulfill our destiny towards dictatorship.   This is how dictators start.  Remember Hitler was elected to office.

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      IDONOposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That may be true, but if after 100 years, this is as far as they have gotten with the idea, I'll start worrying in 2312.

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It takes generations to change and teach public values.  It's fine though, most system collapses happen without you ever knowing it is coming. We are doing the same thing the Soviets did.  It is coming.

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      darklandposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You make a good point IDONO, but I think we need to let government know that they aren't fooling anyone.  Obama needs to be called out for what he's doing wrong and held accountable for it.

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes starting a dictatorship.  There are many countries that didn't have dictators that do now. For example, Iran was a Republic before we took over their government and installed a dictator.

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   tom hellertposted 12 years ago

   THIS IS EASY ... THE TRUTH HURTS... he has lied to all of the U.S. on more than one occassion since before his election to office. He rules by executive fiat - (dictator), he ignores the will of the people 9dictator), he jams through laws he wants using archaic practices (budget reconciliation) after the people voted in someone who would stop it, he berates other branches of government, he does not believe he needs to explain or even share his past,he thinks he is better than everyone else, He has screwed up the economy to levels probably 3 times more than he inherited, shall i continue....
   TH

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for backing me up and telling the truth.

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      pagesvoiceposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Was there truth in weapons of mass destruction? Was there truth in jobs being created with golden shower economics? Was there truth in Cheney's secretive energy policy? Is there truth with the skewed views of the Koch brothers? I rest my case.

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      darklandposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I hear what you're saying, Pages, but it's obviously out of control with Obama and your statements only show more clearly the magnitude of the situation.  Obama isn't exonerated because other Presidents did similar things.

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   rickyliceaposted 12 years ago

   Dude, how can you compare Obama to Hitler???
   He's definitely a statist, but he's nowhere close to a dictatorship.
   He's just following the trend from Bush.

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      All presidents before Bush have been following the trend.  Hitler was elected, I'm sure the people didn't think he would turn into a Fascist dictator

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      Josakposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hitler was not elected but appointed as Chancellor. He also wrote a book long before outlining exactly what he would do and how he would do it, no one should have been under any illusions.

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      darklandposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Actually he was elected by the Austrians with 97% of the vote., but you are correct, Josak,  Hindenburg appointed him chancellor.  Do you think he wouldn't have been elected if it came to that in 1933?

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Your right at the moment I can't compare Obama to Hitler, but it is going in that direction.

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      rickyliceaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      As josak says Obama hasn't written a book where he advocates the genocide of most of the world's population.
      I don't like Obama or Bush, but you lose credibility when you make such wide-eyed comparisons.

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Rickylicea, "when fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jackboots. It will be Nike sneakers and smiley shirts. Smiley-smiley." George Carlin

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   Old Empresarioposted 12 years ago

   I think it depends on the justification. If he is a "dictator" because of the way he uses government agencies to arrest, kill, or harass citizens, then ok. If you are saying he is a dictator because he wants to reform our out-dated healthcare system, than people think you are mis-informed. I happen to agree that a dictatorship is forming, but I don't think it is forming in the oval office. I think presidents are losing control. We'll have a military dictatorship in this country before we have a presidential one.

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   Larry Wallposted 12 years ago

   Most people have faith in our form of Government and even if they do not like the president, they do not want to hear about a dictatorship. It not like he could get a group of soldiers to protect him in the White House. It is not going to happen. People like to bash Obama and even those who do not agree with the President are tired of hearing those things. People want more time spent on solving the issues facing the nation and not name calling of the President.

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      In my opinion the president isn't the supreme leader of the country. There are supposed to be checks and balances and he his not following them.  So a president who takes power into his own hands is not following our form of government.

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      Larry Wallposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      SportsBetter the President is the leader (I do not think supreme is needed) of the country. Congress has considerable authority, but is too caught up in partisan politics to be effective, so the blames falls on the president--it has happened before,

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      SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not blaming the president I just don't agree with him taking powers he isn't supposed to have. But he has made things worse.

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    junksellerposted 12 years ago

    Do people really get upset, or just think it is absurd? If you walk into a zoo and insist to the zookeeper that a giraffe is really a zebra, will they get upset? Maybe, but more than likely they'll just think you're an idiot. If you walk around insisting the American Republic is a dictatorship I would expect you will get the same reaction. One is not in anyway like the other. One has black and white stripes, the other is really tall with a huge neck, eats leaves, has cute ears...
    
    Now, if you wanted to, you could argue that the trend during the modern era has been towards increasingly more power vested in the government, but even so to be honest you would have to say how far along the line we are. It is a long way to a dictatorship. And even were we to agree that the government overall has increasingly more power, that doesn't mean in anyway that that power is being concentrated in the single spot of the presidency. There is a LOT of power spread out all over the place.
    
    And even after all that, is it really appropriate to in some way blame the Presidency or the government. It seems pretty normal for entities to take what power they are given. As long as Americans pay more attention to Snooki than they do their elected representatives we will get what we deserve--degraded democracy, eroded civil liberties, corrupt governments. There are still plenty of institutions in place through which the will of the people could exert their will. The real problem is that we are asleep at the wheel and have been for at least a decade.

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       SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I'm not saying Obama is a dictator, I'm saying it is moving in that direction.  He is taking powers that a president shouldn't have.  Even though people pay more attention to Snooki, it isn't like we have much of choice, leaders are put in place.

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       junksellerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       For every hour spent watching our reps in action or spent watching reliable news there are probably 1,000 hours spent on reality TV. That's a choice forced on to no one. All of our leaders have a very long list of people who gave them their vote.

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       SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       The people we vote for r were chosen by corporations.

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       junksellerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I don't vote for anyone chosen by corporations. I encourage everyone I can not to do so. That's all I can really do.

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    Attikosposted 12 years ago

    Kneejerk partisanship. The same people who lose their composure at that were shrieking that Bush was a dictator who, they feared, would arrange an October Surprise at the end of his term in order to stay in office. You can't say anything critical of the symbolic figurehead of such people without upsetting them. You shouldn't worry about it. They're not worth one minute of your concern.

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    Doc Snowposted 12 years ago

    I haven't the faintest idea, SB!  I find it a suggestion that's wrong enough to be amusing, speaking personally.  He certainly appears to be playing election politics with the best of them just now.

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    SportsBetterposted 12 years ago

    "Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty."
    -Plato
    
    “It had been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience had proved that no position is more false than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure deformity.”
    -Alexander Hamilton
    
    Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.
    -John Adams
    
    'Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.'
    -James Madison
    
    The experience of all former ages had shown that of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short-lived.
    - John Quincy Adams
    
    “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”
    -Thomas Jefferson

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       SportsBetterposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       The founders didn't seem to be happy with the idea of Democracy,  I also think Plato's quote fits perfectly in my question, since we are considered a democracy, and it looks like we are going towards dictatorship.

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