World's Smallest Political Quiz

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

Originally Posted by nwagner

I don't know about the average person but I have strong and well thought-out stances on most of those issues. A couple of those question were too vague for me to answer though ...

Replace government welfare with private charity
I believe that the government shouldn't be handing out money to "the unfortunate" in a majority of situations it does but I believe there are programs such as unemployment benefits (strictly job training and a short period of unemployment pay) that I think are vital that I could see the private sector royally f**king up like they have with financing health care.

Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more
Way too simplistic. I know there is a ton of waste in government spending and would love to have a lean and efficient government but to think that cutting taxes by some arbitrary number will accomplish that is wishful thinking at its worst. Local, state and federal politicians time and time again have cut deep into vital services to preserve pet projects while maintaining excessive beaurocracy. Our education system is a perfect example of that.

Thank you. Exactly what I was getting at. I don't believe the average person in todays sociey truely understands, because they don't bother to take the time.

[Russell J. Hensel]

Big goverment is in CHARGE of the people, they make you DEPEND on the goverment. What about a goverment FOR the people, BY the people. OK military should be goverment run...Taxes, some laws, But WHY does our goverment decide what is right and wrong for me...why not the PEOPLE. Can you fertilize your lawn in the summer? I can't it against our city law. Does it mean its stupid? No based on our weather, rain and location it is good for the environment not to fertilize. So its different strokes for different folks.

As far as learning from what other say....I hate to tell you, but thats the way most of us are taught. How do you know what color red is? A teacher/parent told you, this is RED. From that point on you know what red was and never questioned it. What if your teacher/parent was color blind? You tend to look at the people you admire, listen, experience and then come to a conclusion, but the vast majority of what you learn is from what your told.

If you had an electrical grounding question and Joe, Mark, Brian all told you the exact same thing, would you believe them? YES......Do you know what they are saying to be absolute fact? NO, but you have faith in your fellow man and believe them to be an authority on the subject, hence you believe what they say without the need for absolute proof. SO when you say most people (making it sound like they are idiots) learn from other tell me, them call me an idiot, because when I go to schools, church, and even here on our little message board...I learn from what I am told for the most part...

As always, in my humble opion.

[tdietrich1]

Originally Posted by jjonas

do they just go with their "emotional" choice, without much thought at all ???

Sounds like you discribed 99.9% of the voters out there, and how we got Jimmy Carter for a Prez once.

tom

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

Originally Posted by jjonas

Does the average person actually read the question, think about the consequences pro/con of the statement/question, and then answer...

Or... do they just go with their "emotional" choice, without much thought at all ???

What is... An average person? Pulleeze!

Me, it is the same as when I go into the voting booth, I just get off on flipping the switches and pushing buttons.

If voting changed anything do you think it would be legal?

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

For the sake of clearity, let's remove 'politics' from the equation for a moment. The following videos do a good job of portraying what I am talking about. The effect of hearsay information that was taught to us growing up... (irrelevant if the info is true or false, same effect)

(And yes, I was 'generalizing' with the term 'average')

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EEbRxTOyGf0


http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KVsgXPt564Q

Hopefully, ya'll can see the parallels.

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

Originally Posted by jjonas

Hopefully, ya'll can see the parallels.

I have seen the light and the parallels are striking. High fructose corn syrup is just like the Republican party, full of empty calories that provide little nutrient and is being shoved down our throat by those who think they know what is best for us... Teach! Did I pass?

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

Originally Posted by jburkeson1

I have seen the light and the parallels are striking. High fructose corn syrup is just like the Republican party, full of empty calories that provide little nutrient and is being shoved down our throat by those who think they know what is best for us... Teach! Did I pass?

Joe, Joe, Joe...

You are helping my case by going to Helium...


For Helium visitors

Every day, our diverse community shares on everything from politics to parenting advice, to pop culture, to the environment and more. You’ll find Helium rich with quality content, different points of view and expert insight.
Whether you are doing research or discovering something new, looking for pet care advice or learning how to fly-fish, Helium is your one-stop shop to read what you need.

[Russell J. Hensel]

I like the high fructose corn syrup. Its made from corn has the same calories as sugar and is ok in moderation. LOL........this is the hype people want you to believe and you fell for it hook line and sinker...LISTEN to the add and HEAR it. Do not just take the parts you want to fit and make them fit.....

The following was taken from a nutritional website...True or not? Who knows I am not a nutritionalist.....

Last week I asked readers to submit any questions that they may have, and I got a good one from Vik. Vik asked “Is “high fructose corn syrup” worse (in whatever way) than sugar?“. Great question and one that I am sure many people have asked themselves!
From what I understand, high fructose corn syrup is a bunch of corn syrups that have undergone a process to increase their fructose content, thus making them sweeter. The reason you see it in everything from soda to cookies to energy bars is that real sugar can be expensive and it is much cheaper to use HFCS as a substitute. Plus it has a longer shelf life than sugar, making it even more attractive to food manufacturers.
In soda, it has been found that by using HFCS instead of pure sugar it can make the soda 10 times richer in harmful carbonyl compounds. According to one study, carbonyl compounds are elevated in people with diabetes and are blamed for causing diabetic complications such as foot ulcers and eye and nerve damage. Another study concluded that foods with increased fructose “produced significantly higher fasting plasma triacylglycerol values than did the glucose diet in men” and “if plasma triacylglycerols are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, then diets high in fructose may be undesirable”. Sounds good, right?
However, it’s not that sugar is good for us and HFCS is not. Both can be very damaging to our bodies, causing obesity, liver damage, heart disease, etc.. Pure sugar just happens to be a truly natural substance that has not been mixed in vats, chemically derived and played with, and used as cheap substitute in almost everything on the grocery store shelves. Everyone should limit the amount of sugar they ingest. But according to an article in SF Gate, “The body processes the fructose in high fructose corn syrup differently than it does old-fashioned cane or beet sugar, which in turn alters the way metabolic-regulating hormones function. It also forces the liver to kick more fat out into the bloodstream.” So, I guess HFCS is seen as much worse by a lot of nutritionists, but either way you look at it, ingesting as many empty calories as we all do from sugar is not good for anyone. Personally I try to stay away from the stuff. Sure, I do have the occasional Coke or whatever, but I do look at the labels of food before buying it and try to get stuff that does not have HFCS in it. It’s hard, but it can be done.
Oh, and don’t let anyone fool you into thinking that high fructose corn syrup is a “natural” substance. I know 7-Up was calling their drink “100% Natural”…but the fact is that HFCS is not natural at all because of the process it goes through to make it, along with the fact that it has at least one genetically modified enzyme in it. Don’t let the label on things tell you what is natural, you need to know the facts so you don’t fall for deceptive advertising!

Now Jeffrey I hope you read this thread. I think it was YOU who said we just believe everything thrown at us. It seems you guilty of this yourself. Before publsihing the HFCS you tube advertisements, did you research it, or just believe the advert because it is waht you wanted to believe? I am sure I can find 100 websites stating sugar is better and another 100 stating Sugar is better.....

[Russell J. Hensel]

I was reading someones posting and it talks about Obama and his Muslim faith. MUSLIMS are not all terrorists nor are they ALL bad people. I lived in the middle east for 7 years, 1 as a army service man and 6 working for a goverment contractor. Tell me something you KNOW about Muslims. Not stuff you read or head, BUT KNOW...My guess is you have no idea about Muslims probably never shook their hand, ate with them and know nothing about their beliefs. NO, I am not a Muslim and will never be one. Why are people so paranoid to have a Muslim, black man, woman, or whatever as President? Live amongst people as a minority, SEE and LIVE their culture. See things from their point of view. EXPERIENCE life and don't just live it from CNN or the Rush Limbaugh show.

I laugh at the people who stick their noses up at the Middle East and Argentina. If your wish came true and they ignored us and withdrew all their assetts from the US it would cripple our economy. So before you go bashing people, educate yourself...Not by WHAT OTHERS TELL YOU, but by meeting them, talking to them and respecting them...I think your eyes would open.

I met a middle eastern guy right after the 9-11 bombings and asked him "Do you think we will catch Osama Bin Laden?".....He laughed at me and said I was nieve and misguided. Now remember this was RIGHT after like on 9-15ish...He told me that the US has the technology to tell him how many pimples were on his behind and they make the public believe they cannot find a millionaire 6 foot 7ish guy on dialysis in the middle east. He said if they catch him then they will have no reason to go into Iraq, so no they will not find him and they will go to war because thats what they want to do....So now either this guy is Nastrodamus's son or just a person who looks at things from another point of view....

Timothy McVeigh was Irish catholic and Roman Catholic.....should we go persecuting them? O wait, that was different..........he was a mad man who had a grudge against the US Goverment....I love how we listen and see things so they fit the way we want them to fit........

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

Originally Posted by rhensel

Now Jeffrey I hope you read this thread. I think it was YOU who said we just believe everything thrown at us. It seems you guilty of this yourself. Before publsihing the HFCS you tube advertisements, did you research it, or just believe the advert because it is waht you wanted to believe? I am sure I can find 100 websites stating sugar is better and another 100 stating Sugar is better.....

Russell,
WOW... maybe you should re-read this entire thread. You have misunderstood my viewpoint entirely.

Originally Posted by jjonas

Does the average person actually read the question, think about the consequences pro/con of the statement/question, and then answer...

Or... do they just go with their "emotional" choice, without much thought at all ???

The point that I was trying to make is that I suspect the 'average' (generalizing) person doesn't do their own research, and take’s hearsay information to heart. With that in mind, does the average person give any real thought (past or present) to their answers on poll’s/quiz’s.


[quote-rhensel] So my answer to your question in "No I do not over analyze what my heart believes, because I feel if you question it, then do you really don't BELIEVE it! [/quote]

I never asked anyone to question what their heart believes. If someone has already taken the time to research a subject, so be it. Many times, people do not research a subject at all, then go around voicing their opinion as if it was fact. It is my opinion that these same people answer questions on polls the same way, thus placing into question, the validity of the results of such polls. These same people also vote for the people that govern our country.

Originally Posted by rhensel

As far as learning from what other say....I hate to tell you, but thats the way most of us are taught. How do you know what color red is? A teacher/parent told you, this is RED. From that point on you know what red was and never questioned it. What if your teacher/parent was color blind? You tend to look at the people you admire, listen, experience and then come to a conclusion, but the vast majority of what you learn is from what your told.

If you had an electrical grounding question and Joe, Mark, Brian all told you the exact same thing, would you believe them? YES......Do you know what they are saying to be absolute fact? NO, but you have faith in your fellow man and believe them to be an authority on the subject, hence you believe what they say without the need for absolute proof. SO when you say most people (making it sound like they are idiots) learn from other tell me, them call me an idiot, because when I go to schools, church, and even here on our little message board...I learn from what I am told for the most part...

I'm not talking about the color red, or any other basic life lessons. I'm not talking about asking a technical question and getting the same response from multiple experts. That is part of research. I posted the HFCS video links as a portrayal of what I am voicing my opinion on. In the HFCS commercials, one person has based an opinion on a product containing HFCS by stating "Havent you heard what they say about...". The other person challanges the first. The first person has no response, because they do not have any facts, just hearsay information. Substitue Obama, McCain, Palin, Jesus, Allah, Muslims, Irish Catholics, Republicans, Democrats, National Health Care, ASHI, etc...etc...etc... for the HFCS. Just read this MB, and all of the political and religious opinions being heatedly debated.

I was raised a Republican. Does that mean I should believe that all other parties are the enemy? Heck no. Did I take all the years of “training” from family and friends to heart that being a Republican was right (no pun intended) and Democrats were wrong? At first, yes. But as I became an adult, I developed my own opinions and beliefs based on what research I have done since then.

Originally Posted by rhensel

I was reading someones posting and it talks about Obama and his Muslim faith. MUSLIMS are not all terrorists nor are they ALL bad people. I lived in the middle east for 7 years, 1 as a army service man and 6 working for a goverment contractor. Tell me something you KNOW about Muslims. Not stuff you read or head, BUT KNOW...My guess is you have no idea about Muslims probably never shook their hand, ate with them and know nothing about their beliefs. NO, I am not a Muslim and will never be one. Why are people so paranoid to have a Muslim, black man, woman, or whatever as President? Live amongst people as a minority, SEE and LIVE their culture. See things from their point of view. EXPERIENCE life and don't just live it from CNN or the Rush Limbaugh show.

I agree with you about not only Muslims, but all the other races and stereotyped people in the world. I do not judge others based upon a “few bad apples”. I base my opinion on what I know based upon my own experiences, research, and beliefs. I have had many friends, aquaintences, and co-workers over the years. Yes, many of them are no different than you and I. We share the same or similiar ethics, morals, hopes and fears.

Originally Posted by jburkeson

I have seen the light and the parallels are striking. High fructose corn syrup is just like all political parties, full of empty calories that provide little nutrient and is being shoved down our throat by those who think they know what is best for us... Teach! Did I pass?

Joe…after my minor edit to your post…I am glad you have seen the light! Yes, you get a passing grade, but you still have room for inprovement!


And by the way Joe, Helium is just another Wiki site. Info based upon other peoples opinions. Who are these contributors, and do you trust their opinion?

Originally Posted by tdietrich

Sounds like you discribed 99.9% of the voters out there, and how we got Jimmy Carter for a Prez once.
tom

Looks like we have a winner!!!