# Who REALLY runs the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 25, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951 "2012-04-25T20:40:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/21 "2012-04-26T06:18:52Z")
20 posts and not a single mention of the Freemasons. Nobody respects the classic any more. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/22 "2012-04-26T06:24:28Z")
Well it used to be Dick Cheney, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/23 "2012-04-26T06:47:07Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > You may have heard it said, but the people who said it are wrong. > > Yes, the President is not a dictator. He has to deal with congress, the states, the judiciary, his political party, the voters, the media, the civil service, his appointees, his personal staff, his political cronies, and so on. > > But he doesn’t take orders from his political cronies. Why would he? He’s the president. Suppose his Illuminati puppet-master calls him in the middle of the night, with his orders. How does the Illuminatus make him obey? What threats does he use? > > Even with a weak hands-off president who is content to leave the details to others and simply ratifies the decisions of his underlings, he still doesn’t obey orders, because he chooses his underlings. And if his underlings annoy him, he can fire them and get new underlings, there’s no shortage of ambitious people who would push their grandmother under a train for the chance to work for the president. Assume for the sake of the argument that even half of what’s said about the Illuminati is true. There are PLENTY of ways that they could force obedience, even from somebody as powerful as the President. For example–“Obey us or be killed.” For an example of this line of thinking, see this link. [http://www.hermes-press.com/frs1.htm](http://www.hermes-press.com/frs1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/24 "2012-04-26T10:52:17Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > For example–“Obey us or be killed.” For an example of this line of thinking, see this link. > [http://www.hermes-press.com/frs1.htm](http://www.hermes-press.com/frs1.htm) I wouldn’t consider[Bo “The New World Order is forming a one world government so join the Christian Identity movement” Gritz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Gritz) an authority on anything connected to reality. [“Bo” Gritz: A Legend in His Own Mind](http://www.miafacts.org/gritz_legend.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/25 "2012-04-26T11:47:01Z")
It’s the Egg Council. I’ve said too much. Tell my wife I loved her. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/26 "2012-04-26T12:25:12Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > That and a great deal else is all covered in that little inaugural-day briefing a new POTUS gets. Ever notice how his optimistic demeanor always seems to shift to controlled hyperanxiety overnight? _“As you know, Secret Service agents will be standing right behind you, guns at the ready, until the day you die. Incidentally, they aren’t bodyguards.”_ ---
**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:** [April 26, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/27 "2012-04-26T17:38:19Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Suppose his Illuminati puppet-master calls him in the middle of the night, with his orders. How does the Illuminatus make him obey? What threats does he use? 😕 I thought this [was answered decades ago](http://conservapedia.com/The_Manchurian_Candidate): > [@](#): > > Why don’t you pass the time by playing a little solitaire? Yes, Google accidentally took me to conservapedia instead of wikipedia. This allowed me to learn that “Barack Obama is frequently accused of being a Muslim Manchurian Candidate, by WorldNetDaily and other sources.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/28 "2012-04-26T18:05:20Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Why can’t the Jews and the Lizard People work together? Think of all they could accomplish. Reptiles ain’t Kosher. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/29 "2012-04-26T18:08:13Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > To answer the OP, a complex mix of the electorate, businesses, other special interest groups (such as feminists or the gun-rights lobby), and politicians helps produce a solution after a while. The feminists are a major power in Washington DC? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/30 "2012-04-26T18:10:45Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Bush’s secret service code names were Tumbler and Trailblazer, and Cheney’s was Angler. Hmmm. Wouldn’t “Hunter” have been more appropriate for Cheney? ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/31 "2012-04-26T18:18:17Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Reptiles ain’t Kosher. > :rolleyes: I think that depends on how we kill em, sir! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/32 "2012-04-26T19:53:35Z")
I find it “amusing” that a poster called **SomebodyUK** is “smarting off” about the U.S. President being a “puppet”, when we know it’s the Brits’ fault in the first place. _“…a small group…has ruled this planet for thousands of years and have passed on their “rule” from generation to generation through their bloodline. The “rulers” have maintained this bloodline through the intermarriages of the so-called Royal Family monarchies over the course of thousands of years. The so-called “Eastern Establishment” in the U.S.A… and the “European and British Establishment” also intermarry in the same way to maintain their bloodline…ALL 43 PRESIDENTS IN THE U.S.A. ARE RELATED and…33 of the Presidents can be traced back to the bloodline of Charlemagne! This possible TRUTH alone should be sending off MAJOR ALARM BELLS in your mind. Like this is no coincidence; the odds of this randomly happening are billions to one.”_ Yup, they’re all reptile shape-shifters, and it starts with [the Queen of England](http://www.rense.com/general56/liz.htm). ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/33 "2012-04-26T20:21:11Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The feminists are a major power in Washington DC? Yeah, “feminists and the gun rights lobby” is sorta like saying Hollywood is run by Star Wars fans and media conglomerates. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/34 "2012-04-26T20:26:14Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Yup, they’re all reptile shape-shifters, and it starts with [the Queen of England](http://www.rense.com/general56/liz.htm). Sheesh, why do you have to discredit how evil the Queen of England is by going to that David Icke lizard-people nonsense? It just distracts from Lyndon LaRouche’s efforts to sanely tell us how evil she really is: [The Queen Does Push Dope!](http://larouchepac.com/node/14157) > [@](#): > > by Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. > > Yes, Mabel, the Queen of England does push dope. Anyone who seeks to deny this now, is worse than a Nazi-like liar. Worse, her government is presently engaged in the greatest attempt at mass-murder, planet-wide, in world history to date. In her regime’s effort to bring about the great, world-wide genocide advocated by the World Wildlife Fund of her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, her minions have also attempted to destroy the most prominent force against genocide operating world-wide today, the Catholic Church. > > Worst of all, she is using her dupe, the Nero-like, would-be, Hitler-like mass-murderer President Barack Obama, in the effort to accomplish those Hitler-copied objectives. > > We wish to say next to nothing here about British sex practices such as those associated with types such as the late John Maynard Keynes, et al.. We stick to the issue of her government’s resort to the combined practices of genocide and drug-pushing. The methods for promoting the destruction of civilization through opium production in Afghanistan is now McChrystal-clear. How can anyone remain blind to her evilness in the face of such irrefutable facts! “the great, world-wide genocide advocated by the World Wildlife Fund of her husband” is my personal favorite bit. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/35 "2012-04-26T20:30:05Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Sheesh, why do you have to discredit how evil the Queen of England is by going to that David Icke lizard-people nonsense? It just distracts from Lyndon LaRouche’s efforts to sanely tell us how evil she really is: [The Queen Does Push Dope!](http://larouchepac.com/node/14157)How can anyone remain blind to her evilness in the face of such irrefutable facts! > > “the great, world-wide genocide advocated by the World Wildlife Fund of her husband” is my personal favorite bit. You’re telling me Lyndon had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use one of the top 10 least-used hyphenated words, _Hitler-riffic_, and passed it up? I could never in good conscience vote for such a man. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/36 "2012-04-26T20:40:43Z")
> [@Scupper](#): > > I think that depends on how we kill em, sir! Aren’t they covered in that general clause “Things that creepeth on the earth”? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Crap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.crap/32/3131_2.png) [@Dr.Crap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Crap)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/37 "2012-04-26T20:43:12Z")
Who keeps the metric system down? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/38 "2012-04-26T20:46:15Z")
Who keeps Atlantis off the maps? Who keeps the martians under wraps? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/39 "2012-04-26T20:51:50Z")
XT! XT! He’s our man! If he can’t do it, no one can! (You have to sort of play a slightly off key and slower tempo version of the Mighty Mouse theme while keeping one eye carefully closed and reading the last 3 posts consecutively for it to make…well, perhaps ‘sense’ would be too strong a term) -XT ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951/40 "2012-04-26T21:27:41Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The feminists are a major power in Washington DC? Well, they are now, because they finally [put a man in charge](http://www.theonion.com/articles/man-finally-put-in-charge-of-struggling-feminist-m,2338/). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-runs-the-us/619951.md?page=3)