I say this from time to time - Sorry for the long one.
I think it's somewhere in the middle. As i was saying a few days ago, Democrats seem to carve out groups of people and have policies just for them. Republicans seem to just say hey, you either agree with our philosophy or not, we don't care who you are.
If you go for the carve out method, you will literally go too far, as I believe Democrats have. And if you don;t address these varying groups at all, you won't relate, as the Republicans have seen.
I know this. We cannot afford whatever is happening, be it the last 4 years or the last 12. It's so easy to say someone cares when they spend trillions of dollars on you. But what is the return on investment.
Think about this. How much was spent in Afghanistan and Iraq? What was the return on investment? Now, I am all for killing people that can't play nice and i know America needed to bloody some noses. But it just went on far too long. If you look at the trajectory of the last few years, it seems on the surface like things are improving. They absolutely are not. I say this because far fewer people are working, many are making far less, and many that are working work fewer hours. When you look at how much money was spent to get us to this point, there is absolutely no return on investment. You can't justify any small gains by spending 4+ trillion dollars.
So what happens when we can't keep spending money? Nothing real has been created yet. Every sector has shrunk. Nothing new is on the horizon. Correct me if I am wrong. And this is the fault of the President and the Congress - both sides.
We took a point that was tough and we flipped the whole thing such that far more people require the government's help than before. When you have a president that seems to want to grow that, there is no motivation to correct it.
You can say all you want about any gains that have been made, if there are any. But none of it was a result of the President or Congress, outside of the few jobs that were created at a cost far more than they were worth.
It's like hiring a guy to cut your grass and paying him $90,000 a year. It sounds great. It's awesome that he makes so much and if that's all we focus on, life looks good. But when the guy paying him only makes $75,000 a year, well then it sure as hell ain't worth it.
So we can say hey, let's have health care for all. Let's give a ton of money to alternative energy companies that don't need it. Let's increase food stamp, disability, unemployment, and welfare payments to the highest levels ever seen, let alone imagined. But now we seem to have policies (both Dem and Republican) that make it all too easy to choose government assistance over work. Sounds great until you realize the government simply cannot and will not ever be able to afford that.
And for these policies, I and others get to pay more. I am going to be forced, along with many of you, to give more of my salary (and damn hard earned salary) to support these policies that often hurt more than help. I just simply do not agree with that at all.
We all know I can give a million examples how none of you agree with it either - if it was your money and affected you in the same percentage that it will all of us collectively. It's been painless for me (outside of being on the verge of losing my job) for all of this to go down. My taxes are pretty much the same as before. Yea - gas is higher, food is higher, health care is a lot more - but generally all this increased food stamp growth, etc. has been painless for me personally. So far. But how long can that last?
The basis of this argument is simple. You can take all of the money from all of the wealthy people and it doesn't even come close to taking a dent out of where we are at. So let's say we all just gave in and the rich paid another 10%. Because of the deepness of this issue, it is absolutely meaningless. It's a moral victory for some and that's it. I'd say it's a band aid, but that's an insult to band aids.
So then of course there is the social side. This to me is the more difficult side, but I think it's what decides these things. In fact, I think if Democrats adopted the Republican (supposed) ideas on low taxes, everyone sharing, no free ride kind of attitude, you'd never see another Republican in office. Ever. Because you'd probably have a stronger economy and all the social positions of the majority of the country. I don't think Romney made a big deal out of social issues, but of course they have a platform and it's all right there. I understand religion so I fully respect people's opinions, even if I don't agree with them. There is nothing crazy or extreme about tea party people. That's just BS to scare people. I know many folks in that category and they just tend to focus on the economic more than the social.
So while yes, the Republicans are out of touch, the Dems are in great danger of collapsing the whole damn thing. Too many people think this was a victory for big and expensive government and I am not sure that can be turned around. If you are being honest with yourself, clearly we are tipping the balance too far to ever afford all of this.
I don't know how you fix it. I think the public voted for a sympathetic and empathetic president and a congress to hold him in check. But the power of the president is so big now, there is no holding anyone in check anymore. I hope the two sides work together to figure this out. I hope the president stops being so short sighted on our energy issues. We need gas and coal and all that shit until someone comes up with something better. Otherwise it's $4 gas forever. And then some. And lost jobs. I hope Republicans become more willing to work through issues. And I hope bosses like mine can somehow get waivers from Obamacare so I can keep my insurance and hopefully my job.
One of the hardest workers I know - have ever known - got laid off a few months ago. I talked to her tonight. Her focus was on getting as much from the system as possible, including a bad disability claim in the months ahead rather than focusing on finding work. She said employment out there just isn't the same anymore and collecting from the government might be a better option. I hung up thinking please please raise my taxes so I can support this person. It really lowered my spirit. From the ultimate worker to a freeloader. And you know that has been repeated over and over. I hope we make it.
apologize to you ? 
