As far as i always thought it the "we against the State"thinking of US-Americans always was some kind folkloristic comon ground.. I guess it was to say out loud after all those "at fouding time failed-states" in Europe - never again. Bad thing is that this tradition today weakens there own goverment, because it blocks a really nessecary reformation of there One-President (King -to-rule-them-all-System...
And sorry FA - but if People are without a State to get things running - they will do the very nearsighted, comfortable, corrupt and worst thing possible. The "No-Influence"-State is mainly available today in Africa, some Afghanian Tribal Areas and Oversized Third World Slums. So what is needed is not a weak state, but a self controlling, with Parts that keep a Eye on each other. So what make mor sense to discuss over is the beneftis between diffrent democratic Systems. Hope you don`t hate me for that Statement :)
Look at countries like the UK, our system of government has been going strong longer than the USA's entire existence, and its flexible enough to be incrementally tweaked and changed over time via reform, no one person holds all the power, and the vast majority of decisions require a vote of some sort, and the system filters all the way down from the top to the level of voting for a local councillor representing several square miles. Far more democratic than the US way imo.
Yeah, but we should be thankfull for the UK and USA saving Europe in WW2.. so i think they will make it through the rain, upgrad were nessecary and be that inspiring they once were. They found the UNO, and a lot Good things have there origin there. And in opposition to some Countrys were people believe every Shit the Goverment serves, peopl like FA who don`t trust the current Goverment are like a fresh Windbreeze. :)
Guessmyname wrote:Find me a Briton who trusts Tony Blair
Yo!
Although I trust him in a Jack Sparrow way:
"You can always trust a dishonest man to be dishonest. Honestly, its the honest ones you've gotta look out for, because you never know when they're going to do something really STUPID."
Dissing tony blair is overrated, those poorvoters who think voting for the conservatives to spite tony blair over iraq is something good are deluded.
Its like voting out the queen because you dont like her by voting to put stalin in her place. Nobody with any sense likes david cameron, or any of those tory toffs trying to make themselves out as centre left green politicians.
Where was david cameron on black wednesday? Giving the man who caused it a cigar and saying good luck? Should people vote for him to spite blair in the local elections a month before he quits his job? I'd say the prime minister who gave the UK record employment, the longest period of economic growth since the 19th century, and reform after reform that was badly needed from everything from abolishing the house of lords and hereditary peerages, banning fox hunting, better rights for employees, and family tax credits, is far better candidate than 20 years of recession, poll tax, record unemployment, government waste, corruption, and fraud.
Britain under labour since 1997 has gotten a heck of a lot better than Britain under Thatcher and John Major, and the rest of the world is a better place because of it.
AF wrote:Dissing tony blair is overrated, those poorvoters who think voting for the conservatives to spite tony blair over iraq is something good are deluded.
Its like voting out the queen because you dont like her by voting to put stalin in her place. Nobody with any sense likes david cameron, or any of those tory toffs trying to make themselves out as centre left green politicians.
Where was david cameron on black wednesday? Giving the man who caused it a cigar and saying good luck? Should people vote for him to spite blair in the local elections a month before he quits his job? I'd say the prime minister who gave the UK record employment, the longest period of economic growth since the 19th century, and reform after reform that was badly needed from everything from abolishing the house of lords and hereditary peerages, banning fox hunting, better rights for employees, and family tax credits, is far better candidate than 20 years of recession, poll tax, record unemployment, government waste, corruption, and fraud.
Britain under labour since 1997 has gotten a heck of a lot better than Britain under Thatcher and John Major, and the rest of the world is a better place because of it.
True, but as Blair is resigning - which leaves us with Gordon Brown - I'm not entirely sure who'd be best. Personally, I'd be willing to give the Lib Dems a shot
The lib dems were a viable option as long as charles kennedy was in charge, however their objectives are questionable, and it could be said they're the next conservative party in far left clothing, but with no experience in major government.
Gordon brown has presided over the UK treasury for 10 years and has given us the best economy we could have hoped for and numerous milestones that we'd never reach udner a conservative government, salvaging 20 years of economic mismanageemtn by his Tory predecessors, while still playing a major role in the blair government. If anything Brown would be good for the UK and foreign relations, and I'd rather see him in charge than see voters backlash over iraq and put the opposition in charge. A protest vote is a wasted vote.
Zpock wrote:This is a great thing about the american system, strong president is excellent.
Russians think the same of theirs ^_^ It's a double-edged sword. It's common sense that benevolent dictatorship is the best form of government, but when the dictator passes away, all hell can break loose. Once again, too many smart but selfish people...
i am not a racist, and this video is obviously not representative of the general population of the USA
what the hell was that?
Personally I think that even tough we are responsible for the world heating, that doesnt means we need to stop. People often forget that we are part of the nature like all the other lifeforms, and lifeforms always affected the evolution and survival of others, like now we are afecting the evolution of survival of many species by causing global heat. So I think we should care only about whats better for our specie, like all other species do, altough im not saying that we should fry the planet up since thats not the better for our specie.
Mano: Well, we've already determined that the climate change is likely not a good thing for us.
Zpock: There are better ways to establish a functioning leadership than handing all power to one man. Especially if the leadership is supposed to represent the population. Most democratic countries have proportional elections since that way a 51-49 split in votes results in a 51-49 split in power rather than 49% getting no representation at all. I mean, the US is pretty much split 50-50, a few hundred votes can decide which half gets represented. WTF? If that's not tyranny of the majority I don't know what is.
It's big. Really really big. Things are very different here in almost all facets of life. You would honestly have to be living in this country to understand a lot of things.
You know... On a sad note, people in other parts of the world think americans are stupid about the rest of the world. But exactly how much do those of you living in other countries actually know about america? I am willing to bet that it's not much.
A certain friend of mine from New Zealand tells me that his parents honestly believe that getting killed is a daily fear for people in america. Wow, it's amazing to me that people could actually believe that.
America is a BIIIIG place, with 49 continental states, that is a lot of area, and there is a LOT of difference from state to state. Truly, most americans probably have no idea that many european countries are smaller than than one of our states. For many people, that is a hard concept to grasp.
If the changes to the house of lords means that the lords are appointed by the house of commons then its pretty awful tbh. The whole point of the house of lords is to stop bad legislation getting through, by having peers appointed by MP's you lose this safeguard. It's diffrent of coure if hte peers get appointed by direct voting, but the old system is much more reassuring to me then having a bunch of labour / tory / whoever is in power puppets being told what to vote on.
And if gordon brown is a good chancellor, why did he wipe almost ├âÔÇÜ├é┬ú20 billion (almost $40 billion) of the value of peoples private pensions and then try to shift the blame by outright lying he got told to be hte CBI?
Hooray for 400% increases in council tax over 10 years!
Hooray for a shambolic stamp duty that SHOULD raise in-line with house prices, but has barely changed at all over 10 years!
Hooray for eliminating the 10% income tax band, allowing those who are already poor to get poorer, and those who arnt to get slapped by a plethora of stealth taxes.
Hooray for having some of the highest fuel taxes in the world! Infact, hooray for having an overall tax burden of 38%, the highest in our 2000 year recorded history, and the prospect of it getting even higher over hte coming years, contray to every other major industrialised nation in hte world!
The list goes on and on, and the thing is, i wouldnt mind at all if all the extra money that has been swuuezed out of us over the last 10 years was spent well, but it hasnt been. So much more could have been with all this extra money if government projects were actually managed competantly.
-to-rule-them-all-System...
