# Our Fucking Government is run by Children! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 23, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145 "2016-06-23T14:36:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/21 "2016-06-24T02:19:10Z")
I thought this was going to be about the 22-year-old staffers who write all the legislation. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/22 "2016-06-24T02:44:51Z")
Do you people just ignore your State Legislatures or something? As bad as the US Congress is, they look the model of democratic efficiency in comparison. We may have children for congressmen, but we have evil for our city counselors … if you see my name, give me your vote, please … I promise not to eat anyone … ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/23 "2016-06-24T06:19:12Z")
If that promise should prove too burdensome, I have some suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/24 "2016-06-24T13:17:24Z")
[QUOTE=New York Times] The continuing breakdown in Washington’s ability to govern seemed to spread like a contagion Thursday through all three branches of government. The Supreme Court, left short-handed by a Republican refusal to act on President Obama’s nominee in the final year of his presidency, deadlocked … House Republicans approved … a bill to address the Zika health threat months after the White House sought the money. But the package, assembled with little Democratic participation, contained elements they knew Senate Democrats would oppose. The calculation appeared to be that if Democrats now block it, they will [be] the ones blamed rather than Republicans. Even normally staid C-Span engaged in guerrilla video warfare, streaming a feed from a House member’s phone on its House channel … Republicans said that some of their members urged the leadership to employ a cell-signal-jamming device to cut off the coverage, but that was deemed a bad idea. [/QUOTE] But don’t worry! Rejoice that “both sides do it.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/25 "2016-06-24T13:29:08Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > For all the casual tossing around of the word “hero” in this country, John Lewis is one of the few who is a genuine hero. If you are finding yourself thinking that John Lewis is acting childish, then the problem is you, not him. He was a hero. Was. Now he’s taking the tactics that he once used to protect and expand freedoms and using them to try to limit and destroy freedoms. No Fly = No Due Process, and those supporting it are the enemies of freedom: more so if they are trying to extend it to other freedoms. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/26 "2016-06-24T14:30:10Z")
The no-fly list is a genuine freedom that matters to me but that’s not what this action is about. Stopping suspicious people from acquiring firearms violates no great freedom that I care about. His use of extraordinary means to fight the firearms industry is heroic in my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/27 "2016-06-24T14:53:33Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > We get the government we deserve. Elected officials aren’t some sort of alien species that springs up out of nowhere. If they suck, it’s because the people who vote, or fail to vote for better people, suck. Better people aren’t running. Look at the two turds we have to pick from in November. > [@Acsenray](#): > > Stopping suspicious people from acquiring firearms violates no great freedom that I care about. What about when a great freedom _you do_ care about gets violated? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/28 "2016-06-24T15:18:09Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Better people aren’t running. Look at the two turds we have to pick from in November. Hillary Clinton is possibly not one’s dream candidate, but no one is. She’s certainly not a turd. Almost all her negatives are due not to her personal qualities but the result of 25 years of relentless substanceless propaganda and demagoguery applied against her. > [@](#): > > What about when a great freedom _you do_ care about gets violated? :rolleyes: I think the Second Amendment ought to be repealed entirely, so so far as I’m concerned it’s not comparable at all to freedoms I care about. Not all freedoms are the same. I don’t care whether public officials fail to fight for individuals’ right to rape, pillage, and murder. The freedom to easily acquire weapons capable of killing a lot of people in a short amount of time is closer to that kind of freedom than it is the kind of freedom I want my officials to care about protecting so far as I’m concerned. Not getting shot by someone who shouldn’t have been allowed to acquire a firearm is a pretty important freedom. Being able to stem the availability and unnecessary proliferation of firearms to benefit the public health is a pretty important freedom. (The right to not get shot for no good reason.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/29 "2016-06-24T15:27:26Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > We get the government we deserve. Elected officials aren’t some sort of alien species that springs up out of nowhere. If they suck, it’s because the people who vote, or fail to vote for better people, suck. Bear in mind that before you walk into the polls, a lot of things in which you have no input whatsoever have happened to determine what candidates are or are not on the ballot. Many if not most of those things involve money, and none of them should. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/30 "2016-06-24T15:47:28Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > [snip] … I think the Second Amendment ought to be repealed entirely, so so far as I’m concerned it’s not comparable at all to freedoms I care about … [snip] Technically, you’d want the 2nd Amendment replaced … otherwise the 10th Amendment kicks in and we’re no closer to banning guns in the USA, just those few States without gun rights in their own Constitution. But I understand … “Go ahead and take my rights away, I wasn’t using them anyway.” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/31 "2016-06-24T15:52:29Z")
> [@akennett](#): > > Now he’s taking the tactics that he once used to protect and expand freedoms and using them to try to limit and destroy freedoms. No Fly = No Due Process, and those supporting it are the enemies of freedom: more so if they are trying to extend it to other freedoms. In that case, let’s have a Congressional vote on abolishing the no-fly list. Surely the Republicans will vote to get rid of it, right? ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/32 "2016-06-24T15:53:11Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Better people aren’t running. Look at the two turds we have to pick from in November. There were 17 on the Stage of Clowns and 5 running for the Democratic nod. How do you think the winnowing-down was done? A paper-rock-scissors tournament? Since your post was unusually ignorant, just for fun I did a search on “Gatopescado Obama.” Most of the results were from 2008. (Cat got your tongue?) > [@McCain wins Democratic Primary](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-wins-democratic-primary/440192/29): > > … I’m an ass… > > Hey! I’m all for McCain winning and making the Bush tax cuts permanent. They work for me! 😉 > [@Anyone else creeped out by Cindy McCain?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-creeped-out-by-cindy-mccain/456162/29): > > > [@](#): > > > > I agree. Michelle Obama is totally hot. > > :eek: 😕 > [@Palin defenders, are you fucking stupid?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palin-defenders-are-you-fucking-stupid/463360/59): > > [In a thread titled “Palin defenders, are you fucking stupid?”] > And all of this makes Obama qualified, how? > [@Piss and Moan Poll: Who's Going to Complain More About the Election?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piss-and-moan-poll-whos-going-to-complain-more-about-the-election/464116/13): > > When Obama loses, his congregation will shriek like a chorus of scalded cats, proclaiming fraud and racism. > > This may well be drowned out by Hillary’s minions wailing like Banshees, beating thier breasts and gnashing teeth. \*“I told you so!” \*will echo through the hills and valleys for the next four years. > > Its really gonna be a hoot, I tell ya! > [@Republican Congressman calls Obama "boy."](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/141): > > [QUOTE=Doper being sarcastic] > I actually agree with him, Obama shouldn’t be monkeying around with that button. He’s much too niggardly to be our president. He must have balls the size of watermelons to think that he can get elected. This whole thing is just a gigantic tar baby. (Standing O for this!) Would it have been okay if Davis said it like Flava-flav? “That Boyyyeeeeee!” [/QUOTE] Those who blame the deficiencies in our political system on voters need look no farther than you for an example. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/33 "2016-06-24T15:53:26Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I think the Second Amendment ought to be repealed entirely, so so far as I’m concerned it’s not comparable at all to freedoms I care about. Until it’s repealed, it has the same force as the rest of the Bill of Rights. Do you really want to lose freedom of the press, no state religion or losing free speech? Trump wants to limit or curtail the press. Cruz and Huckabee wants Christianity established as a state religion. If one right is threatened, they all are. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/34 "2016-06-24T15:56:03Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Children would do a better job … Quite right. The OP insulted at least 65% of all preteens. There’s a line in a movie somewhere like that… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/35 "2016-06-24T16:09:23Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > If one right is threatened, they all are. Constitutional law does not work that way. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/36 "2016-06-24T16:18:42Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Constitutional law does not work that way. I was talking about the attitude of “I don’t like that right so it’s OK to eliminate it by any means possible.” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/37 "2016-06-24T17:43:57Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > There were 17 on the Stage of Clowns and 5 running for the Democratic nod. How do you think the winnowing-down was done? A paper-rock-scissors tournament? Don’t be silly. It was, “Eenny, Meeny, Miinny Moe”. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/38 "2016-06-24T19:01:48Z")
> [@YogSothoth](#): > > The Right needs to go. The Sit-Ins are a classic civil disobedience tactic, used for notoriously recalcitrant opposition who sit there and fan the flames of hatred instead of trying to fix it. I support the Democratic Sit-In. They may not have the votes to pass legislation, but Ryan and the GOP should just do a quick vote on it and get it out of the way. > > If I were the GOP Speaker, I wouldn’t block something like that. I know my party’s full of dipshitty assholes who won’t vote on an ambrosia to cure cancer if Obama supports it. I’d let them have their votes on guns any time they want. Ryan’s an idiot for dragging this on longer than it needs to be and the longer he waits, the worse he’ll look for caving in. > > And holding a vote to help the financial fat cats at the same time? Boneheaded move Considering that nearly 90% of the American population favors background checks and denying guns to terrorists, Ryan dare not allow a vote in the House on those measures. Since the will of an overwhelming majority of Americans would then be plainly thwarted by the GOP. Better to just deny, deny, deny the vote. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/39 "2016-06-24T19:11:54Z")
GOP Better start shakin’ Today’s pig Tomorrow’s bacon. - _Bernie Shave_ ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2016, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145/40 "2016-06-24T19:18:28Z")
Funny … The Dems took the Reps to task over gun control legislation … they’d of had better success pushing through this Supreme Court nomination … Dems lost a BIG one today over immigration, 4-4 tie at the highest court … Dems’ hearts are in the right place, but execution has always seemed to elude them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-fucking-government-is-run-by-children/758145.md?page=3)