Nope not a trick question and not an attempt to be funny and mock anyone. It's just that people look at what others are trying to do rather than taking into consideration human beings and what their true aspirations are.

For every step forward mankind takes he gets setback two because the intentions of the heart are not set on the good of mankind but on selfish goals. That's why nothing meaningful ever gets done by legislators and politicians. Everyone has their own vision which is not shared by the next guy. Every one has their own opinion not shared by the next guy and the result is stagnation. Stagnation results in progress postponed or slowed to a snails pace. What ever progress is made is eventually overshadowed by another insurmountable problem, and it goes on and on and on and on.

Over the course of history mankind has only dug the hole deeper and deeper and the sad part is that they don't even see it. Yes there are honest hearted people who would love to see some serious changes made but the truth is the moral climate of the world will not allow it.

So in all honesty when i say "you actually believe this" I'm really asking everyone to look at the bigger picture. Look beyond the abvious. Don't argue for a band aid on a sinking ship. There is more to this than meets the eye.

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"What you hear in a great jazz band is the sound of democracy. “The jazz band works best when participation is shaped by intelligent communication.”
Harmony happens whenever different parts get to form a whole by means of congruity, concord, symetry, consistency, conformity, correspondence, agreement, accord, unity, consonance…….

The problem is that the law of physics generally make large cars and trucks safer, if we all drove smaller cars you would not have to worry about the jerk driving a Hummer.

Car makers resisted change in the 60's, 70's and 80's yet through government dictated standards we have cleaner burning safer cars. We need the government to force change for the good of the people.

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Loving my BMW

What do plan may I ask to do with all the big rigs on the road? Guess where the car is in this photo.

Good news is the airbag deployed as designed.

OK Ralph Nadar

Actually specs, designs, materials and advancements in technology have made vehicles safer for the average Joe. However, a Neon at 65mph will bash you off the road just as fast as a Hummer

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An unwavering defender of those I see worth protecting.

"promote the general welfare, not provide the general welfare"

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

It is because of government dictated standards, car makers embraced technology and made cars safer. This is not to say that some car makers like Volvo, MB and BMW were already providing leadership, it just forced the others to move in the same direction. This resulted in a better safer car for the common joe.

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Loving my BMW

I would say that for every 2 steps forward, there is a step back. When you study history, you find that we are gradually progressing, but every once in a while there is a setback for mankind.

For example, 250 years ago, every country in the world had a monarchy. Democracy had been written about for centuries, but it was seen as a pipe dream and those who were in favor of it were seen as idealists who were not living in reality. Today most of the countries in the world have a democracy or republic of some kind. There are very few monarchies still around.

And 100 years ago, racism was wide spread and most people in the world were racist. Yes, there were people who preached that one day there would be no racism, but they were seen as idealists who had visions of a utopia, and that we will never get rid of racism. But fast forward to today, and I think you will agree that not only is racism no longer considered acceptable by the mainstream, but most young people today are not racist -- probably the first generation where this situation exists.

Those are just 2 examples of major issues that mankind has tackled and come to grips with over the course of centuries. And yes, there have been setbacks. WWII was surely a setback for both of the above issues. But one could also argue that the response of mankind to WWII was to give an ever bigger effort to tackle these issues, and thus much progress was made in the period after the war. More democracies were born between 1945 and 1970 than in any other 25 year period in world history, and more was done to fight racism during that period than in any other period in world history.

If we learn anything from hisitory, what we learn is that new progressive ideas are first flatly rejected by the mainstream and those in favor of them are seen as extremists or radicals. Then when such ideas start to gain momentum in the general population, the mainstream resists them and fights against them with every available method. Then finally, the mainstream gives in and accepts the idea and works to force the progressive idea on any holdouts in the general population. Eventually the holdouts are few and far between, and they themselves are seen by everyone else as extremists.

This has been the patern of almost every major new progressive idea, whether we are talking about the idea of equality for all races, equality for women, democracy, labor laws, human rights, or new scientific ideas such as the earth being round and revolving around the sun. Much of what you today consider to be radical, will probably one day be considered mainstream.

And what does this have to do with the subject of this thread? Global Warming is following this exact trend. We have now reached the point where most of the mainstream is accepting, while some is still resisting the idea. In a few more years, this will no longer even be disputed, except by some extremists. We have even seen the Bush Administration cross the pond in the last couple of years.

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my experience on X5world when I spend too much
time posting in political threads in the lounge...

What part of that rant proves that Al Gore is right about Global Warming?

Who knows, Al's insane power bill????

__________________

An unwavering defender of those I see worth protecting.

"promote the general welfare, not provide the general welfare"

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

You really should be more positive; I think most people are good and try to help each other. What may appear as a "band aid" (Prius) may be the first step toward improvement and positive change. No question that everyone cares most about themselves but a lot of people (like Al Gore) have lots of money and now spend time trying to help the world For that matter a lot of people of lesser means also donate time and money to charitable causes.

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Loving my BMW