America

[Luke Garfield]

I don't want to turn this into something more than it is but thought I'd put it out there as a "hey, here's something different".

I was at a NYE party last night with, in hindsight, and interesting mixture of nationalities and cultures. We had an Iranian, Aussies :-P, a Texan .. no I'm not setting up for a joke. Anyhow I'm in the south, not the deep south but south enough so the rest of the party was made up of people from Tennessee, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

What is that about not discussing politics at parties? Well toward the end of the evening the Texan, who is a great guy and quite aware of his own roots. Starts lightly talking about the up coming presidential elections. I was interested to hear what they all had to say as I had been exposed to some of the candidates over the past few months. The discussion went fairly well (I thought) until the majority of the people moved off to "refill their drinks because of social discomfort". I was quite happy to talk more about the elections.

Now here is the interesting thing. Between syphoning off his spittle from the tobacco he was dipping* (I kid you not). This larger than life Texan let's me know that he would like Ron Paul to get the presidencey.. because... he wants to bring the troops home, close down all the worldwide US military bases and get America to focus on looking out for it's own issues. And the reason behind it: He felt America tries to push itself on other nations to say this is the best, do it this way.

I had to smile to myself. Sure it was talk at a party, sure Ron Paul may never do any of the things that he says, sure I could be cynical about a lot of things ... but I was excited. Here was a guy who on the outside might seems like the typical Texan (which is no derision) and who you might assume proudly supports the US occupation. But no, he just wants them to fix the country he lives in - not for himself, he does quite well - but for as he put it "all the children who went to bed hungry tonight".

Anyhow just thought I'd share that with anyone who cares to read it. It certainly gave me a good feeling and dispelled some of the misconceptions I had. If one person is thinking like that there must be more and here's hoping that something changes.

*dipping tobacco is akin to chewing it however the difference being that you put a "wad" in the side of your mouth and blast your brains with nicotine.

[Roy]

That's great Luke. I still have no idea why or how Bush got a second run! I just assumed the majority of US citizens were either smothered in propaganda or just stupid! It's great to know I was wrong and that there are a lot of US yankees out there who see the Bush government for what they are.

Team America is one really funny documentary! Hehehe.

[Jason Dirckze]

Remember that voting isn't mandatory over there. I don't know the exact percentage of people who do vote, but I remember it being very low.

[heathen]

Now here is the interesting thing. Between syphoning off his spittle from the tobacco he was dipping* (I kid you not). This larger than life Texan let's me know that he would like Ron Paul to get the presidencey.. because... he wants to bring the troops home, close down all the worldwide US military bases and get America to focus on looking out for it's own issues. And the reason behind it: He felt America tries to push itself on other nations to say this is the best, do it this way.

Ya sure he was'nt on an E. Heh.

Yeah one of my mates brought back a few tins of that stuff from the states, had a couger picture on it, smelled like cougar pisssss. Sure gives your brain a nico blast though, made my toes and fingers tingle too.

I think all Americans and half the rest of the world are going to be feeling the ill effects of George Bush's legacy for a long time to come, the wheels will still be falling off long after he's gone.

[TimS]

I still have no idea why or how Bush got a second run! I just assumed the majority of US citizens were either smothered in propaganda or just stupid!

Remember that in the US, it's not compulsory to vote - it is a voluntary thing.
Hence why Bush (and previous others) get re-elected..
Tim..

[Mark Bassett]

It's not the number of people who choose not to vote that's the problem, it's the number of people who aren't allowed to vote.

[heathen]

It's not the number of people who choose not to vote that's the problem, it's the number of people who aren't allowed to vote.

100% true, I heard people were being thrown off the voting register for having unpaid fines for jaywalking and stupid stuff like that. They were turning up to vote and thier names were not there.

[Sammas]

I still have no idea why or how Bush got a second run! I just assumed the majority of US citizens were either smothered in propaganda or just stupid!

Remember that in the US, it's not compulsory to vote - it is a voluntary thing.
Hence why Bush (and previous others) get re-elected..
Tim..

I don't know if I entirely agree there, Tim.

Mandatory voting doesn't really equate to more educated voting. I'm sure many Australian's vote like they are playing a game of pin the tail on the donkey, they only vote because they are forced to vote. I must say, one thing that does my head in is the notion that Australian's are somehow more involved in politics than the USA. A lot new south welshman probably couldn't even tell you who the opposition leader was in the last NSW state election.

[Thirteen]

Dictatorship: Where the people only have the choice of one leader.

Democracy: You get a choice of two.

[Mark Bassett]

"35 people telling 45 what to do is not a democracy".

[Roy]

I think dictatorships are a great idea! Have someone solely in charge and responsible. But the problem is there's never a 'top bloke' to be the dictator. It's always an a-hole! Hahaha.

[Howard Jones]

America is not meant to be a dictatorship. It does show signs, however, of turning into an heriditary democracy. Shades of Pakistan and - dare I say it? - North Korea. Just joking, just joking. But if Hillary makes it in against Barak, you'd have to start wondering...

[Sammas]

America is not meant to be a dictatorship. It does show signs, however, of turning into an heriditary democracy. Shades of Pakistan and - dare I say it? - North Korea. Just joking, just joking. But if Hillary makes it in against Barak, you'd have to start wondering...

I think the USA has probably been an oligarchy for a while...

[Jason Dirckze]

I don't think America will vote in a woman, nor a black man... I'd love to be proven wrong though.

I spend a lot of time in the States due to work, mainly in San Francisco, sometimes NYC and I have to say most people I've met have been knowledgeable and passionate about politics. The southern and mid west states are a different story though.

[Thirteen]

I was in Salt Lake City Utah last year and I saw a bumper sticker on a large pick up truck: "How did our oil get under their sand?"

But I have to agree, in the coastal cities most people seem pretty horrified by current foreign policy.