Political Woes...

[Gorgoroth_]

I've noticed a few disturbing trends as time goes on....

I've noticed an increase amount of partisanship and dirty politics ( mudslinging ) in recent times... I think this election is more polar than the heated '00 election....

An increase in socialism. I think america is slowly begining to learn towards socialism. Civil rights of american citizens are slowly being encrouched upon by " Big Government " programs such as the Patriot Act. America is also begining to openly regulate her markets. The U.S government pounced on Bill Gates and Microsoft. Really , Microsoft doesn't have a " monopoly " because they are alternatives to Windows. You could choose a Linux based comp or a MAC .... yet people insist on punshing Microsoft for offering a superior product and Bill Gates for being a savy business man.

I've also noticed american children are being " dumbed down ". the School system is failing children miserably and test scores reflect this growing trend. Uneducated people are easy to influence , and the Government knows this.

[BigGreen]

All of these are genuine concerns, all of which are being debated and analyzed by people dumber than us and smarter than us. An extremely interesting study has been conducted by a historian on the 'natural' progression (he believes that even organized and artificial systems have a 'natural fate' so to speak) of representative governments. To sum up his theory, and with woeful inadequacy for sure, he claims that any and all representative governments are destined to fail in the long term because the citizenry slowly and eventually realizes that they may vote themselves certain benefits that cause the institution to collapse upon itself. Psychologically speaking, this does not occur until the collective consciousness of the citizenry views the institution as something separate from itself (it would not, otherwise, vote upon itself benefits that harmed the institution, as that would be harming itself)....an occurrence which took place here probably in the wake of Vietnam. Regardless, we are certainly there now, with the common discourse holding that "THE government" is something other than "us"...I'll try to dig that up as it is an interesting read and it tangentially addresses several of the things you have brought up.

[Gorgoroth_]

Another concern I have about our government is this up and coming presidential election.... Both the G.O.P and the dems have lawyers on the ground in each state... If Bush loses he'll throw a fit , same for Kerry... so I am left to ponder if the people ( the Electoral College rather ) will decide who wins this presidential election or if the Election system itself will be compromised ... if Lawyers and other politicians will decide who the president will be for us...

By the way , Nice post BigGreen

[BigGreen]

What is interesting in a society as diverse as the U.S. (and yes, the U.S. is incredibly diverse as compared to any other nation on this planet) is that a two party system simply can NOT encapsulate the views of its citizenry with anything remotely approaching adequacy. Yet, if we were to go to a three, four, or five party system, how would the population react to a leader chosen by a plurality as opposed to majority vote? Let's say the president was elected with 33% of the popular vote....could have some extremely unpredictable consequences, as that type of political system would reward extremists - those willing to forego any and all other political ideology for one cause.

It is possible that politics in general aren't quite caught up to society in this regard.

[decadbal]

i feel the black carkus is gonna have to step out the debates and perhaps eliminate a strong competitor for the good standing of the entire group.