Gryzemuis on 6/10/2009 at 14:26

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True. But I don't think anybody expected quick change. First of all, Obama inherited the current situation. And you can't just change it overnight. Secondly, Obama never was a left-wing commie to begin with. He stated that he thought the war in Afghanistan was more important than the war in Iraq. So even before the elections, I didn't expect him to pull out of Afghanistan.

And thirdly, the goverment doesn't rule your country.

When I was a lot younger, I was told, and believed, that it was the "multinationals" that ran the world. The military industrial complex. During the nineties I slowly started to believe that this was maybe a little exaggerated. I was getting older. Getting more mellow. So I thought that this view was just a stereotypical view of old-timer commies.

But last year refreshed my mind. Your financial instutions stole multiple trillions of dollars from your citizens. With the aid of your goverment. And it didn't make a difference whether it was the Republicans or the Democrats in control. Your politicians are too depending on the backup of multinationals. Your media are owned by multinationals. It's not just the oil-industry, the weapons-industry and other "old world" industries. It's clearly also the financial world that is in control of your goverment. Your pharmaceutical industry is now pissed that they are the only ones taking the punches. So they are showing their teeth. And they will get it their way, don't worry about that.
BTW, my own goverment (in a country with just 16 millions citizens) gave 23 billion euros to one bank (ABN-AMRO). That's something like 2000 dollars per Dutch citizen. To save just one bank. Our government is just as bad as yours.

And of course, multinationals got smart. Why support only the Republicans ? You can infiltrate both Republicans and Democrats. And make sure that both sides do what you want. You just need a few more lobbyist. You just need to invest a bit more money in politicians. In the end they can own both sides.



I have a good memory too. Although of course I don't know that much about US politics, especially the crazes of the day. But it seems to me that the Republicans are much more sore losers than the Democrats ever were. And more aggressive. With more violence. I think the dumber you are, and the more you are convinced you are right, the more these people think they are allowed to do. As if they are at war with the other side. Just look at the way right-wing nuts are fighting abortion rights. If you are a christian, and it's your opinion, then it must be Jezus's opinion. And therefor you are allowed to do anything you seem fit, because it's in Jezus's name. Or something like that. Nutcases.



I live in a European country. With many political parties. And I can tell you, it can get messy there too. And ridiculous. When you have 10 parties with each more than 5% of the voters, and you need 3 or more parties to get a 50% majority, basically the result will be a very middle of the road goverment. In our country, the Christian parties (conservatives, all though more social than US conservatives) have always been able to sneak their way into goverments, because they are in the middle. And thus we keep having this backwards retarded confessional influence in our goverment. Even when most of the country isn't confessional anymore since decades.

Italy is a huge cesspit.
I don't think politics in France is much better.

I think the problem is not two or more parties. I think there are much more fundamental problems that cause political stupidity everywhere. And the root cause is that money can buy you everything (media, lobbyists, scientists, even politicians). And in the end, the big companies have the most money. Politics are not done for the benefit of the people. It's done for the benefit of big companies.

CCCToad on 6/10/2009 at 14:43

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A winner take all system doesn't mean that the winning party gets all of government. It means that, instead of positions being awarded proportionally like in a parliamentary system, the winner in an individual constituency or state gets ALL the votes. This has a particularly drastic impact on presidential elections which rely on the electoral college.

Granted, there are upsides to the system, like the fact that it lets you vote on specific names instead of a party. My previous post was referencing the downside that tends to narrow your choices, as such a system usually means that (it becomes that way over time) that only two parties will be viable. With only two parties, to have an enthusiastic support for a party means that you have to turn a blind eye to all its misdeeds.

It encourages "label" thinking that is pretty much the opposite of rational, logical political analysis. It also doesn't help that the public school systems have rendered Americans ignorant of how American government works. As Hilaire Belloc wrote, when there is a lack of logic, emotion fills the gap, and one doesn't look far to see that in America. More so now than ever, we seem to be dominated by fired up mobs who, when questioned about their candidate or their beliefs, are unable to back them up with a single accurate fact. (I wrote that ambiguously because it cuts both ways)

Aerothorn on 6/10/2009 at 19:11

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LittleFlower IS Thomas Pynchon.

heywood on 8/10/2009 at 04:02

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I'm curious to know which NPR programs are laughably stuck up. I don't think the regular morning & evening news programs (Morning Edition and All Things Considered) are stuck up at all. In fact, they're about the best quality news broadcasts I can find on either TV or radio.

The BBC can be a bit stuck up, and they're definitely more opinionated than I'm used to hearing from a "news" source, but I still try to listen to BBC World Service when I can because there's no better source of English language international news in the broadcast space. One of the local Boston public radio stations produces a program called The World which isn't bad either, but the BBC is better.

Another one of the Boston stations produces a conversational show on current events & culture called On Point that I try to catch, and there's an American Public Media show called Marketplace that I try to catch too.

I also occasionally listen to the CBC's As It Happens, and the Pacifica network shows and some conservative talk radio too. I guess I'm a radio new junkie. Radio is a great way to stay informed because you can listen while you do other things.

CCCToad on 8/10/2009 at 14:50

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Pity that they prefer 30 minute reports on obscure African tribal customs to covering world news.