I haven't added to my pantheon of reasons why I'm glad to be leaving the United States in favour of Canada, but currently another one has raised its head: political extremists.
This nation is one-week away from losing the financial confidence of the world because political extremists on both sides of our two-party system have convinced themselves that compromise equals failure.
Politicians in the U.S. only get elected these days if they cater to special interests. The average cost of a House seat in the 2008 elections was $1.1 million dollars. Some campaigns cost up to $15 million. With those kinds of price tags, Congressmen and women have their minds made up for them by their supporters long before they reach Washington. And if they want that money again, they better play ball.
Congress in the U.S. has forgotten who it is there to serve. They operate in a bubble; drink their own Kool-Aid; you pick the cliche. In the current financial crisis the mantra on the left is "no cuts to entitlements" and on the right, it's, "cut the debt but don't raise taxes."
The only way they can even begin to get anything done is to actually circumvent the U.S. political process and convene a Soviet-style central committee to try and reach an agreement.
If this is the state of democracy, you can keep it. Despite some of the inertia that can come with a Parliamentary system, if the Government loses the confidence of the people, in general, you throw them out. What happened to the Liberals in the last election in Canada was good for democracy. It will never happen in America.
America is bought and sold. And I don't have stock in it. So I don't have a voice. The country is being run by the same people who are listening to the same advice that led us into the crisis that they aren't interested in getting us out of.
Get me out of this place.
This nation is one-week away from losing the financial confidence of the world because political extremists on both sides of our two-party system have convinced themselves that compromise equals failure.
Politicians in the U.S. only get elected these days if they cater to special interests. The average cost of a House seat in the 2008 elections was $1.1 million dollars. Some campaigns cost up to $15 million. With those kinds of price tags, Congressmen and women have their minds made up for them by their supporters long before they reach Washington. And if they want that money again, they better play ball.
Congress in the U.S. has forgotten who it is there to serve. They operate in a bubble; drink their own Kool-Aid; you pick the cliche. In the current financial crisis the mantra on the left is "no cuts to entitlements" and on the right, it's, "cut the debt but don't raise taxes."
The only way they can even begin to get anything done is to actually circumvent the U.S. political process and convene a Soviet-style central committee to try and reach an agreement.
If this is the state of democracy, you can keep it. Despite some of the inertia that can come with a Parliamentary system, if the Government loses the confidence of the people, in general, you throw them out. What happened to the Liberals in the last election in Canada was good for democracy. It will never happen in America.
America is bought and sold. And I don't have stock in it. So I don't have a voice. The country is being run by the same people who are listening to the same advice that led us into the crisis that they aren't interested in getting us out of.
Get me out of this place.
Do you think US citizens will ever wake up? Ive been asked this question over and over again....especially after being part of the egyptian revolution. I think that most of America has been drinking the kool aid and it ain't gonna change until the states are renamed as corporate subsidiaries. I believe that the average American truly has a belief that one day "they too" will be part of the rich elite.
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