The Reaffirmation of our National Motto

So...By now you all have probably heard of it...but let's recap.

Obama said he feels the national motto is "E Pluribus Unum".

Congress decides to ut it up to a vote, on who wants the national motto to remain "In God We Trust."

People trot out philosophically reprehensibe arguments to defend the motto, "If this becomes an atheist state, then we have no purpose in gathering here. We might as well allow anarchy, as we are all worm food."

Reaffirmation passes 396-9. Or rather, 97% of peopl vted to keep the motto "In God We Trust".

...Am I the only one who thinks this was the biggest waste of fucking time Congress has ever entertained?

I mena, I'm not naive. I knew the reaffirmation would be passed. What congressman wants their name on the part of the people going AGAINST the 'godly' title of the united states? I get it, I really do.

But holy fuck...I mean honestly, when I see "In Gd we Trust" on our money, I don't give a damn. The only time I DO give a damn is when people decide to use that to say, "See?! We'sa christian nation!" to which I simply point out that both the "In god we trust" on paper money, and the phrase becoming a a national motto, and "Under god" being put in the pledge didn't occur until the Red Scare...

So, essentially, congress spent time that couldhave been spent...oh I dunno, passing a bill to help the fuckig financial crisis, o at least DISCUSSING the financial crisis ad what do they do? Spend the whole time talking about how shitty it would be if the united states were considered atheist. Talking about how shitty everyhitng would be if we simply...changed the motto of the country. 4 fuking words. That was REALLY worth all this consideration? A fucking vote? FOUR WORDS?

this ithe least intelectual rant I've ever typed up but...it's just that this has got me so riled up, it's the dumbest fucking thing, and it became personally insulting many times throughout the discussion. And it was all COMPLTELY unnecessary. The fucking country motto wasn't under attack or anything! The motto was PERFECTLY FINE, even in a time where most people could GIVE a shitabout the conept of god, and lve their lives apathetic to the idea. Even in a time where atheists outnumber ews...the chances of the motto getting changed might as well be zero.

Gah...I mean what more can I say? A waste of fucking time, personally insulting, and a display of the philsophical ineptitude of the people RUNING THE COUNTRY.Can tings GET any more pathetic?

I couldn't believe the house would waste time like that so I went and looked for it myself.

H.CON.RES.13 -- Whereas `In God We Trust' is the official motto of the United States; (Referred in Senate - RFS) November 2nd Senate Resolution

H.CON.RES.13 -- Whereas `In God We Trust' is the official motto of the United States; (Engrossed in House [Passed House] - EH) Passed House November 1st with vote that BigLundi said

H.CON.RES.13 -- Whereas `In God We Trust' is the official motto of the United States; (Introduced in House - IH) Introduced in House on January 26th

H.CON.RES.13 -- Whereas `In God We Trust' is the official motto of the United States; (Reported in House - RH) March 31st

I don't think this was a priority since it took them almost a year to go from introduction to a resolution in the House alone. I'm not familiar with how things work in Congress on a time-scale but I would imagine something dire, like the current economic situation, would be something that if any new resolutions are proposed those would be voted on first.

The stuff they did yesterday (3rd) was pretty relevant. So I think this motto thing is just one of those "we have to get this out of the way quick" deals that they couldn't put off any longer.

Although I could be giving the benefit of the doubt....I'm crossing my fingers I'm not.

I don't agree with the idea that Congress should have spent its on something more important; I'm sure there are a ton of stupid things that Congress spends its time on, that as brok3n_butterfly said, they just have to get out of the way. And what if no one has brought up something that is actually important? Every hour of every day cannot be productive.

However, I do agree that voting on it was a waste of time. Like you said, BigLundi, who's going to vote to change the motto? These people are so scared of not being elected or being cast in a poor light in the news and by commentators that it's inconceivable to imagine a majority saying that we should get over this whole God business and adopt a more governmental motto. It's like asking a group of Neo-Nazis if they should keep hating Jewish and black people. It's practically self-evident that the response is going to be "yes."

I wish America had never adopted the "in God we trust" motto. It's just begging to separate people, and that's all it's done. Perhaps not on a major scale, but we've seen proof that certain people don't like it and things along the same line (such as the father that didn't want his son to have to say "one nation under God" in the pledge of allegiance). And I cannot think of a good argument for keeping it. It doesn't seem to bring people together, unless they're getting together against a person or group that's different from them.

You do realize that money is nothing but a piece of paper right? What makes its inherent value, is the trust of the populace.

I probably butchered the quote but, you probably get the jist.

I don't think I really need to comment on the subject, my opinion is painfully obvious.

Though I would like to see the members who voted "yes" lynched and hung outside the congressional building as a warning to their replacements to not "fuck around" but, that's a tad extreme.

I feel like no intellectual on Earth really wants to be involved in politics- or, at least our politics. That would explain why we end up with such blatant idiots in the government. So much crap to worry about, and yet it's all just consistent, self-destructive bickering.

It's not like this is anything new though. People have been stupid for longer than government's been around.

Am I the only one disturbed by the fact that 97% of our congressmen still believe in fairies and unicorns? We're trusting the fate of America in people who believe in a magical man in the clouds rather than science and logic. It's pathetic.

*takes off rose colored glasses*
Wow, I guess my country is full of stupid people after all (unfortunately I'm one of them).

It's actually not paper it's made out of rags that's why dollars can go through washing machines and still be readable.

OT: Yeah it's a fucking waste when there are so many other things they can be doing now that would be productive.

No, he mis-quoted it.

The house reaffirmed the fact it was In God We Trust just to be assholes and remind him.
It was never up for debate.

The Daily Show went over this in depth....

/thread

Feels kinda nice knowing that other counties also have morons for legislators, guess it's true that misery loves company.

It's been said that no sane person wants to be a politician, and it's pretty true. Who wants a job where you'll be incredibly stressed out and given more power than any person deserves, given the task to decide the fates of people you'll never meet.

People tend to freak out over having children, worrying if they're going to fuck up the kid's life in some way by being a shitty parent. Being a politician is like being in charge of thousands of kids, and anything you do could drastically affect their lives.

I believe Plato said that the only men that should be allowed to rule are those that don't want to, because anybody that does want to rule obviously is either selfish or crazy.

My thoughts exactly