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It seems that elections are coming up everywhere! The UK is looking forward to a general election with Gordon Brown announcing the Labour strategy and David Cameron attempting to be "cool". While the British elections aren't as interminable as the US ones are...YET--we do have this build up going on that makes me have this yearning for dictatorship. At least they don't have elections.

The US ones never seem to end. They are campaigning for the next election before the one election has even begun (e.g., they have been campaigning for the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections since 2007). We all know the date when the next "mid-term" election will take place (early November), yet they have been busily going on since lord knows when. And all that takes MONEY!

The British elections are sort of Secret, we know there is a general one coming up sometime this year. It's due because even though Gordon and Dave have been "electioneering", they haven't actually called one and time is running out for the current Brown Government! They have to call an election sometime soon, or we will all be bored as hell with their twaddle. Not to mention the pre-election warm ups on the News getting us prepped for what the issues will be (the fact that everyone is pretty much skint--including the government).

At least they deal with the issues. Unlike in the US where "Conservative" politicians are all talk about "tax and spend", yet the same people who talk that rubbish are working to ensure loads of government money for their constituencies. Not to mention they have done fuck all for about the wars they started.

I am a reluctant lefty, especially by US standards. In the US, Richard Nixon would be considered a liberal these days looking at the programmes he advocated (and the current republicans work to dismantle)!

So, with that said, I now take Alan B'Stard as my new mascot!  And Thanks to White Rabbit from whom I grabbed the Tory ad as it seemed so appropriate to this post.  If Alan B'Stard can become Labour, why can't Tony the Weasel become a Tory.

Tony the Tory!

One nice point about US "Democracy"

The US is the only country in the world to elect its village idiot.

Or is that idiots?

Democratic?

Anyone familiar with my blog should notice the theme that the United States is far from being a democracy. The Constitution is written to thwart popular rule. Case in point is the electoral college. Dubious Bush did not win the 2000 election by a popular vote, he won it through the electoral college.

So, why do the politicians kiss the wrong asses?

Because there is money in the current system and it totally obfuscates the fact that there is really no popular representation of the people. And the government is in no way responsible to the people.

Yet, people wish to believe that an presidential election process which lasts four years is responsible to the people. What has me going on this rant is the comment from someone in Virginia on NPR's Morning Edition saying that he plans on voting for Mitt Romney. Now as someone who voted for Bill Bradley in the 2000 PA primary and Kucinich in the 2004 primary that this is a great thought, but our friend's protest vote is the rough equivalent of abstaining. In fact, at this point, the candidates are pretty much decided. Hilary Obama/Barack Clinton for the Demicans and McCain for the Republicrats.

But, no matter who wins, it will be business as usual with the sideshow issues of abortion, gun control, and, the new one, Iraq/War on Terror. The whole time, the leaders are causing the united States to fall further and further behind the world.

Matt Miller wrote an article on why we need federal standards in Education in the atlantic and was on Today's "Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane". See Also http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200801/miller-education.

The problem is that the US is behind in health care, transportation, and education. Miller pointed out that third world countries are already passing us by. He predicts there will be another "Sputnik moment" during the Beijing Olympics when people see how far ahead they are as far as infrastructure.

Of course, the leaders don't want to take any leadership position and they are under no obligation to do so. This is because of the pretense of a democratic process, there is no real input from the people. The process takes so long that qualified candidates pull out.

The real winners are the party leaders and the lampreys who feed off the process. This won't change as long as there is money to be made.