Honestly @Walstafa, if the UK leave the EU I'm gone. I can't take that level of idiocy. Alone, England (+/-Wales & N. Ireland) is a fading former imperial power, as part of the UK and Europe it's a part of an economic powerhouse. Might just be time to renew my New Zealand passport.
I'm with you on that one. To be completely fair I think the PM knows that leaving the EU is economic suicide. I think even the leaders of UKIP know that, but I suspect he's trying to use a tough stance to argue more powers for our absurd little island.
Fascinating! If the Scottish loose the natural gas reserves... the economy is essentially without a leg to stand on, correct? This could be a major issue. Independence is a MASSIVE thing. A lot of things will then be heaped upon the government they never even considered before. I hope they aren't biting off more then they can chew. I like Britain, quite a lot, it, along with Scotland and Ireland are the home of all of my ancestors and I do miss the days of old when the British were the mighty, before the U.S. was a glint in the milkman's eye. Also, as a country currently suffering under an ultra conservative government we feel the British pain...
@Corvino come back to the green grass my good man (Kiwi myself) it's not to bad. Granted I live in Australia now. With the primitives...
It's a blow, but if the UK government insist on keeping the oil (and if they can do so) then there'll be nothing to stop an independent Scotland from walking away from our portion of the national debt. Again this is one of these unknowns whereby the UK government is taking a tough line and refusing to even discuss the matter right now to discourage a Yes vote. I'm expecting a change of heart come September 19th.
Depressingly low at the moment, polls have Yes trailing No 40% to 60% right now with two and a half months to go. Not ready to abandon all hope just yet as Yes has been gradually gaining ground.
Interesting, so it might not be a go at the moment. Could be interesting to see what happens. Going to be some pretty serious repercussions if Scotland becomes independent as far the natural gas and oil reserves and the idea that the Shetland Islands might take that as a cue to bugger off and do their own thing as well... apparently they consider themselves "Quite distant" from Scotland and the reserves are much closer to them...
If I recall @Anduin is British is he not? What are your thoughts on this my good man?
Interesting, so it might not be a go at the moment. Could be interesting to see what happens. Going to be some pretty serious repercussions if Scotland becomes independent as far the natural gas and oil reserves and the idea that the Shetland Islands might take that as a cue to bugger off and do their own thing as well... apparently they consider themselves "Quite distant" from Scotland and the reserves are much closer to them...
There's definitely some of the reserves near the Shetlands, but not even most of them:
I wouldn't focus on the Oil/Gas aspect to be honest. Estimates of how much we even have left vary wildly and it's disbursement hasn't even been discussed. It might help us over the hump of starting up and we might even manage to set up a modest fund for future generations (as Norway has done and Westminister failed to do), but if an independent Scotland is going to thrive it's not going to be on Oil alone.
The last polls I saw suggested about a third of Scottish voters are undecided, so it could swing either way. Unfortunately, because the whole thing is pretty unprecedented both sides don't really have convincing evidence about what a "Yes" vote would really mean.
@Corvino pretty much. At the moment we can't know simply because it's not in Westminister's best interests to negotiate before they have to. The more ill-defined and scary it seems the less likely people are to vote Yes, and it seems to be working to some degree. Although with the UKIP wins in the EU/Local elections it's becoming more apparent that Scotland's choice is "maybe get screwed by Holyrood, definitely get screwed by Westminister".
Apathy with a helping dosage of Nimbyism allows greed and fear to overwhelm common sense here.
Corruption is rampant here but people do not care. Ontario just went through an election where it is common knowledge, that billions of dollars have been wasted by the governing party and are under 2 police investigations. Corporations such as Hershey, Heinz, and Caterpillar have been leaving the province taking thousands of jobs with them (as well as all the tax revenue they were giving). The economy is shot to hell and the two other parties forced an election after a budget increasing spending and raising taxes was tabled.
After the election, the governing party not only won, but gained more seats forming a majority allowing them do whatever they please for the next four years.
However, I do know other people around the world have it worse than I when it comes to freedoms so I generally keep my mouth shut but sometimes it is extremely difficult to do so.
Well, I am from Slovakia (no point in hiding. @bengoshi has already ratted us out), which is Central Europe, next to Czech Republic.
This country suffers from a Post-communist syndrome. Which means - corruption is rampant, everyone is just trying to steal from the state as much as possible. People go into politics to steal money and get bribed. People go into business only to exploit political connections, the state and euro-funding. Basically, the whole state and it's politics is only here to be exploited by would-be-businessmen who double as politicians. The whole GDP is used on paying for these exploits and ends up in pockets of few financial groups (mostly, non-Slovak), which cases the country to have huge debts and gradually and slowly raising taxes. The general voter is so disillusioned, that the turnover rate at any election is very, very low as people have the feeling they don't have anyone to vote for, only to vote against.
There are two gimmicks to this setup 1) people don't vote FOR their candidates, they vote for whoever is more AGAINST the politician/party they hate the most. 2) Corruption is so much wide-spread, that whenever someone is caught being bribed/stealing/tax evasion etcetera, they sometimes don't even defend themselves, just state "So what? Everyone else would be stealing too!" and do not get jailed, nor do their numbers drop. People just do not care anymore.
...on the other hand, I am in a process of moving out of the country and even though my new prime minister will be a misogynist pig (as @CaloNord has already described earlier), it's still a change for the better.
O_o You guys have a branch of government completely unelected, choosen by the people that keep the tabloids running, who actually effect the laws and government in your country?! God... The stuff the don't tell you in world geography. That's a whole other issue though.
Many westminster systems of government have something similar. In canada we have the senate (also known as that place where retired journalists, failed politicians, and partisan appointments all end up).
In Canada's case the prime minister (who is himself not directly elected to the role of prime minister) recommends to the queen (Queen Elizabeth II) someone to sit next on the senate, the queen approves the appointment, and then that appointee basically gets a cushy job until they are 75.
Technically speaking one of our 10 provinces "elects" their senators (its more based on convention than any legal status), but the vast majority of senators have no sort of election to go through and retain the position until they either hit 75 or die.
Unelected chambers do have some arguments for them. It makes it very difficult for the political direction of a country to change rapidly in a totally new direction.
This may mean that positive change happens more slowly, but also that radical, populist and short-term change has a buffer against it. The general longer term drift in politics does get represented eventually, but if some rabid fascist got elected tomorrow they wouldn't be able to force through legislation and would eventually accumulate enough rope to hang themself.
I do know other people around the world have it worse than I when it comes to freedoms so I generally keep my mouth shut but sometimes it is extremely difficult to do so.
That's what we're here for. Now you can vent to your hearts content with like minded people! Granted, there are A LOT of places much worse off then we are, however, everyone wants to see the country in which they love change for the better.
...on the other hand, I am in a process of moving out of the country and even though my new prime minister will be a misogynist pig (as @CaloNord has already described earlier), it's still a change for the better.
Oh hello, coming to our wonderful land of heat and snakes are you? To be honest, he may be a misogynistic pig but he's very likely to be kicked out by his own party. There have been rumblings of a leadership shakeup as they continue to landslide down the polls. Wouldn't be the first time. Then we just have to outlast the rest of the Liberals term, highly unlikely they'll be voted in again. It's just sitting here and watching them destroy our reputation, commit crimes and breaching international law.
(Whatever you do, don't set foot on a boat at any point. :P)
On the topic of post-communist syndrome, is that not fairly rampant in the east of Europe? All of the idiot politicians that used to suck up to the communist state and Moscow for support are now in power properly and they've been joined by greedy capitalist businesses as well...
Unelected chambers do have some arguments for them. It makes it very difficult for the political direction of a country to change rapidly in a totally new direction.
This is true, although as you say it works both ways. We use the Westminster system but we do not have any monarchy appointed office. Both the House of Representatives (Lower House) and the Senate (Upper House) are voted in by the masses. The only exception being the Governor-General, (General Sir Peter Cosgrove) who is appointed by the Prime minister to represent the Monarchy as well as appointing ambassadors, ministers, judges and giving Royal assent to various bits and pieces. Largely a ceremonial role, although in theory he does have fairly substantial power.
The good thing about a democracy like this, in a few years they'll be out Labor will be back in, all the changes the Liberals made will be reversed, bar the whole "Levy" thing because governments never give up a tax once they've got it. As opposed to a dictator where change really only occurs when the military gets sick of them and knocks them off or the masses mount a full on revolution.
In news closer to home, 153 Tamil asylum seekers have been handed over to the Sri Lankan navy, right back into the hands of the people who will either imprison or kill them, in direct violation of the Refugee Convention. The government once again hides behind the "Cannot comment on an ongoing operation". What are we teaching our children here? Yea it's fine to send these people back to die, doesn't matter, they're just foreigners...
Also, in a laughable act, he has appointed an "Endangered Species Minister", so that when we are done destroying the great barrier reef, cutting down all the forests and building massive new coal power plants he can tell us how many species we managed to kill this month.
We also lost another Special forces soldier from 2nd Commandos overnight in Afghanistan. A senseless waste of human life in a senseless war we cannot win. Makes me sick to see young men I could have served with die for nothing.
corruption is rampant, everyone is just trying to steal from the state as much as possible. People go into politics to steal money and get bribed. People go into business only to exploit political connections Basically, the whole state and it's politics is only here to be exploited by would-be-businessmen who double as politicians. The whole GDP is used on paying for these exploits and ends up in pockets of few financial groups which cases the country to have huge debts and gradually and slowly raising taxes.
You've just basically described Russia too. Although it's not USSR any more, the system is the same.
And I have to say, there's one difference if compared to Slovakia: while in your country people vote against, our legislation DOES NOT PERMIT voting against so that TV and other means of mass illusion make people vote for the only one person - who is supported by the reigning power. We are told to vote: "Putin" - and everyone really seems to vote for Putin, then we are told to vote: "Medvedev" - and everyone really seems to vote for Medvedev, we are again told to vote: "Putin" - and everyone really seems to vote again for Putin.
Not only many votes are bought but people are so mass charmed and blinded that there's no alternative. And when someone not from the reigning power finally appears to become a real political force, suddently a court case is fabricated out of nowhere so that that person ends in jail or abroad.
Jesus man. That sucks. All the crap the Russian people went through under the USSR and now under this Putin - Medvedev tag team. Absolutely ridiculous. Some people's need to posses and retain power really scares me.
The fact he would ruin the economy, restart the Cold War and destroy social liberty and political freedom just to maintain his own person power... terrifying. Not to mention the fact he could well bring about another war, which is just what we need. I'd love to visit Russia but I don't want to do it with RAAF if I can help it.
Although Jess has forbidden me from reenlisting, if Putin did try and take half of Europe and we (The West in general) did get involved, I'd be in uniform in a heartbeat.
Never the less, hopefully it won't come to that. The Ukraine sets a dangerous precedent but I think he did that because he was fairly sure he'd get away with it... I also don't buy for a SECOND that those are "Ukrainian Separatists". Like hell they are. They might be Ukrainian but they are trained and supplied by Moscow.
At the moment though, the Ukraine appears to be on it's own. Sadly, it's not worth the trouble at the moment.
Damn. Politics in my country are bad news, over the last 2 centuries. It is the stuff that makes fortunes of a select few thugs, at the heavy expense of mostly everyone else's. Politicians here are bad, cheap actors, agents of foreign powers, completely indifferent or even downright aggressive against our own nation, yet still, they manage to lure and bait enough gullible idiots or crooked individuals to reelect them again and again, for countless decades of spiraling downwards and descend to shame, poverty, unemployment, betrayal, scandals both pink (...) and grey (money laundering), sellout in one word, of our own heritage and inheritance, and worst of all, future itself.
And spineless maggots, too. They do not even have pride, or feel shame, allowing themselves to be passively controlled, shouted at, degraded, or even downright BLACKMAILED, by foreign agents and diplomats, like back then when we were FORCED to stop that business deal with the european gas network passing from our home and getting shared profit from Russian pals. Forced from people CONSIDERED to be allies, and even militaristic ones, too...
Honestly, if at one point down the road war escalates between ourselves, i am so going to join the rebels' side and bleed those N...o vatos and traitor homies as bad as possible, to the best of my ability, before i draw my last breath, even if it will be the last thing i will ever do!
Yay a political discussion! Damn I am late to the party...
*Skim reads some of the above*... I sense a great deal of frustration and anger towards our governments around the world... yup definitely a theme here. It is striking how similar peoples' frustrations are given the diversity of countries we reside in, and the political systems we live under. There is a reason for that...
Every political system is an apparatus of control, an arena of competition for power (for those with sufficient resources to participate) and populated by human beings with inevitable human flaws. The extent to which these flaws manifest in political corruption, oppression, deception etc... can vary between countries and over time, but they are as inevitable as the cycles of day and night.
"We the people" can only hope to exert enough pressure on the shaping of our institutions such that the worst excesses of government are curtailed and constrained by rules and regulations designed into the system itself. Unfortunately those with the most power to shape institutions are typically the flawed individuals who run it in the first place.
The problems @Southpaw described about Slovakia could just as well be China or the USA. "But China is still run by the Communist Party! So it cannot be post-Communist, right?" No... Chinese people have long woke up from the illusions of Communism, and the Chinese system today is post-Communist in all but name. "But the USA is the global leader of democracy, freedom and free speech, an example for the world! Surely it's not so bad!" Well... a respected Princeton University study concluded that the US had become an Oligarchy in all but name. Oligarchy? Doesn't that sound familiar to our Chinese and Russian friends?
Not all systems are equally bad, but every system of government is flawed because the people who designed them are flawed, as are the people who shape them and run them.
So... time for global revolution? Power to the people? Anarchism ftw!?
No... because the only thing worse than a flawed system of government is no government at all. Just look at every state where the government has ceased to function and ask if you would like to live there. Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria... etc
@Heindrich - I was given a book last Christmas called "On Politics" by Alan Ryan. He seems to think similarly to this Princeton study, terming most Western democracies "Elected Aristocracies" rather than true democracies. It's a good book, but could be used as a doorstop or possibly a blunt weapon, so I've not finished it yet.
Agree with @Heindrich. I am not saying it's only like that in my country, just that that's the "feel"of it and that's the most defining characteristic. Also, been to China several times - yes. Communism in a name only. I do agree, that most countries are being run by oligarchy. We won't get out of that damned feudalism, ever ... or so it seems.
For once, why can't we have a good politician? Someone who isn't in it for the money or power? Surely there must be a lawful good aligned politician out there somewhere. *gagging on his own words*
Sorry, I had a momentary madness.
What if we all started following Buddhist teachings? We wouldn't need a government. There would be no crime, no racism, just a world population meditating, shunning material goods and seeking self enlightenment... and playing Baldur's Gate on the weekend... on the laptop they just shunned...
It's late and I'm very tired I will attempt to add some constructive stuff to this thread tomorrow.
Got some AMAZING and insightful stuff from our newest contributors. Welcome to the BG Forums League of the Politically Minded. It's like the league of extraordinary gentlemen only better.
Also, on a side note, what are your thoughts on the Chinese government? Did you know that every comment made by the 591 million Chinese citizens that use the internet every day is analyzed at the "Peoples Daily Online Public Opinion Monitoring Center", with summaries sent in real time to party leaders? Some pretty draconian stuff. Although from what I hear they are rapidly surpassing the U.S. as the worlds top superpower. They are just lacking a few key military components (though not for long) and the U.S. will be a distant second.
All in all I think I'd prefer an NG politician to a LG one. There have been a few who have managed it well. Gandhi is the obvious one. He often gets thought of as a fairly spiritual figure, but he was intrinsically bound up in party Politics in India for much of his life. He encouraged standing up to injustice, peacefully breaking unfair laws and pioneered non-violent resistance. Using Gandhi as an example might give our politicians a bit too much to measure up to, though.
Perhaps when you're on the recieving end of injustice it is simpler to see the clear, moral path. Gandhi and MLK were both products of repression within their own countries, and responded ethically and bravely. Now that everyone is close to equally free Western Democracy is rudderless. I can't think of a politician in recent times who comes close to real moral authority.
Is that the substantial issue at the moment? There is nothing to fight against? No major enemy you can rally against, no major social issue? The 40's had Nazi Germany, the 60's had Vietnam and the equal rights movement... in the background was the Cold War through to 91... then what? What do governments do now, what do we focus the masses on now?
For once, why can't we have a good politician? Someone who isn't in it for the money or power? Surely there must be a lawful good aligned politician out there somewhere. *gagging on his own words*
Because
a) A politician who speaks honestly wouldn't get elected and
b) Considering how much crap you have to put up with (members of the media rooting through your personal life and past, being disliked by probably 1/3 of your constituents no matter what you do) its not exactly a position that inherently attracts people not in it to get either money or power out of it.
I'd be very curious, and my family and friends have discussed this at length, we think it might actually work here in Australia. Australians love things they can relate to. If you were just the average working man, with the same backgrounds as most other people do, worked for your house, ate at the same corner store they did. The first thing I'd do is cut my own pay down 450K a year, I wouldn't take up residence in the lodge and I wouldn't claim a Prime Ministers pension. All the money that's saved can go to the old age pension or paying for medical care or education. I would LOVE to be a politician for the reward in it self. I don't want to get rich or powerful, I want to make the world a better place. Sadly, theres no place for people like myself in politics. It's everything that's wrong with politics at the moment.
Now they're all obsessed with terrorism. Which is pretty ironic in a number of countries. In the UK we've had far fewer terror attacks since 11th September 2001 than we had in the decade before it.
Because "Terrorism" is a completely nebulous and decentralised thing, used as a bogeyman rather than with real understanding, it's nigh-impossible to stand against in a coherent way. "I oppose terrorism" has about as much meaning as "death is sad", or "poverty is bad". Add in that the response to "Terrorism" has been poorly planned, haphazardly exectued and tends to involve high levels of both civilian casualties and untargeted domestic surveillence and politicians have p***ed away the moral high ground very effectively. Rant over.
TWAT (The War On Terror) is one of my favorite acronyms though. Sums it up nicely.
Comments
I like Britain, quite a lot, it, along with Scotland and Ireland are the home of all of my ancestors and I do miss the days of old when the British were the mighty, before the U.S. was a glint in the milkman's eye.
Also, as a country currently suffering under an ultra conservative government we feel the British pain...
@Corvino come back to the green grass my good man (Kiwi myself) it's not to bad. Granted I live in Australia now. With the primitives...
If I recall @Anduin is British is he not? What are your thoughts on this my good man?
http://cdn.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/6937858-1.jpg
I wouldn't focus on the Oil/Gas aspect to be honest. Estimates of how much we even have left vary wildly and it's disbursement hasn't even been discussed. It might help us over the hump of starting up and we might even manage to set up a modest fund for future generations (as Norway has done and Westminister failed to do), but if an independent Scotland is going to thrive it's not going to be on Oil alone.
Corruption is rampant here but people do not care. Ontario just went through an election where it is common knowledge, that billions of dollars have been wasted by the governing party and are under 2 police investigations. Corporations such as Hershey, Heinz, and Caterpillar have been leaving the province taking thousands of jobs with them (as well as all the tax revenue they were giving). The economy is shot to hell and the two other parties forced an election after a budget increasing spending and raising taxes was tabled.
After the election, the governing party not only won, but gained more seats forming a majority allowing them do whatever they please for the next four years.
However, I do know other people around the world have it worse than I when it comes to freedoms so I generally keep my mouth shut but sometimes it is extremely difficult to do so.
This country suffers from a Post-communist syndrome. Which means - corruption is rampant, everyone is just trying to steal from the state as much as possible. People go into politics to steal money and get bribed. People go into business only to exploit political connections, the state and euro-funding.
Basically, the whole state and it's politics is only here to be exploited by would-be-businessmen who double as politicians.
The whole GDP is used on paying for these exploits and ends up in pockets of few financial groups (mostly, non-Slovak), which cases the country to have huge debts and gradually and slowly raising taxes.
The general voter is so disillusioned, that the turnover rate at any election is very, very low as people have the feeling they don't have anyone to vote for, only to vote against.
There are two gimmicks to this setup
1) people don't vote FOR their candidates, they vote for whoever is more AGAINST the politician/party they hate the most.
2) Corruption is so much wide-spread, that whenever someone is caught being bribed/stealing/tax evasion etcetera, they sometimes don't even defend themselves, just state "So what? Everyone else would be stealing too!" and do not get jailed, nor do their numbers drop.
People just do not care anymore.
...on the other hand, I am in a process of moving out of the country and even though my new prime minister will be a misogynist pig (as @CaloNord has already described earlier), it's still a change for the better.
In Canada's case the prime minister (who is himself not directly elected to the role of prime minister) recommends to the queen (Queen Elizabeth II) someone to sit next on the senate, the queen approves the appointment, and then that appointee basically gets a cushy job until they are 75.
Technically speaking one of our 10 provinces "elects" their senators (its more based on convention than any legal status), but the vast majority of senators have no sort of election to go through and retain the position until they either hit 75 or die.
This may mean that positive change happens more slowly, but also that radical, populist and short-term change has a buffer against it. The general longer term drift in politics does get represented eventually, but if some rabid fascist got elected tomorrow they wouldn't be able to force through legislation and would eventually accumulate enough rope to hang themself.
That's what we're here for. Now you can vent to your hearts content with like minded people!
(Whatever you do, don't set foot on a boat at any point. :P)
On the topic of post-communist syndrome, is that not fairly rampant in the east of Europe? All of the idiot politicians that used to suck up to the communist state and Moscow for support are now in power properly and they've been joined by greedy capitalist businesses as well...
This is true, although as you say it works both ways. We use the Westminster system but we do not have any monarchy appointed office. Both the House of Representatives (Lower House) and the Senate (Upper House) are voted in by the masses. The only exception being the Governor-General, (General Sir Peter Cosgrove) who is appointed by the Prime minister to represent the Monarchy as well as appointing ambassadors, ministers, judges and giving Royal assent to various bits and pieces. Largely a ceremonial role, although in theory he does have fairly substantial power.
The good thing about a democracy like this, in a few years they'll be out Labor will be back in, all the changes the Liberals made will be reversed, bar the whole "Levy" thing because governments never give up a tax once they've got it.
In news closer to home, 153 Tamil asylum seekers have been handed over to the Sri Lankan navy, right back into the hands of the people who will either imprison or kill them, in direct violation of the Refugee Convention. The government once again hides behind the "Cannot comment on an ongoing operation".
What are we teaching our children here? Yea it's fine to send these people back to die, doesn't matter, they're just foreigners...
Also, in a laughable act, he has appointed an "Endangered Species Minister", so that when we are done destroying the great barrier reef, cutting down all the forests and building massive new coal power plants he can tell us how many species we managed to kill this month.
We also lost another Special forces soldier from 2nd Commandos overnight in Afghanistan. A senseless waste of human life in a senseless war we cannot win. Makes me sick to see young men I could have served with die for nothing.
Nothing to see here voting public and/or law enforcement. Just another politician making a living in hard times committing crime...
And I have to say, there's one difference if compared to Slovakia: while in your country people vote against, our legislation DOES NOT PERMIT voting against so that TV and other means of mass illusion make people vote for the only one person - who is supported by the reigning power. We are told to vote: "Putin" - and everyone really seems to vote for Putin, then we are told to vote: "Medvedev" - and everyone really seems to vote for Medvedev, we are again told to vote: "Putin" - and everyone really seems to vote again for Putin.
Not only many votes are bought but people are so mass charmed and blinded that there's no alternative. And when someone not from the reigning power finally appears to become a real political force, suddently a court case is fabricated out of nowhere so that that person ends in jail or abroad.
The fact he would ruin the economy, restart the Cold War and destroy social liberty and political freedom just to maintain his own person power... terrifying. Not to mention the fact he could well bring about another war, which is just what we need. I'd love to visit Russia but I don't want to do it with RAAF if I can help it.
Although Jess has forbidden me from reenlisting, if Putin did try and take half of Europe and we (The West in general) did get involved, I'd be in uniform in a heartbeat.
Never the less, hopefully it won't come to that. The Ukraine sets a dangerous precedent but I think he did that because he was fairly sure he'd get away with it...
I also don't buy for a SECOND that those are "Ukrainian Separatists". Like hell they are. They might be Ukrainian but they are trained and supplied by Moscow.
At the moment though, the Ukraine appears to be on it's own. Sadly, it's not worth the trouble at the moment.
And spineless maggots, too. They do not even have pride, or feel shame, allowing themselves to be passively controlled, shouted at, degraded, or even downright BLACKMAILED, by foreign agents and diplomats, like back then when we were FORCED to stop that business deal with the european gas network passing from our home and getting shared profit from Russian pals. Forced from people CONSIDERED to be allies, and even militaristic ones, too...
Honestly, if at one point down the road war escalates between ourselves, i am so going to join the rebels' side and bleed those N...o vatos and traitor homies as bad as possible, to the best of my ability, before i draw my last breath, even if it will be the last thing i will ever do!
*Skim reads some of the above*... I sense a great deal of frustration and anger towards our governments around the world... yup definitely a theme here. It is striking how similar peoples' frustrations are given the diversity of countries we reside in, and the political systems we live under. There is a reason for that...
Every political system is an apparatus of control, an arena of competition for power (for those with sufficient resources to participate) and populated by human beings with inevitable human flaws. The extent to which these flaws manifest in political corruption, oppression, deception etc... can vary between countries and over time, but they are as inevitable as the cycles of day and night.
"We the people" can only hope to exert enough pressure on the shaping of our institutions such that the worst excesses of government are curtailed and constrained by rules and regulations designed into the system itself. Unfortunately those with the most power to shape institutions are typically the flawed individuals who run it in the first place.
The problems @Southpaw described about Slovakia could just as well be China or the USA. "But China is still run by the Communist Party! So it cannot be post-Communist, right?" No... Chinese people have long woke up from the illusions of Communism, and the Chinese system today is post-Communist in all but name. "But the USA is the global leader of democracy, freedom and free speech, an example for the world! Surely it's not so bad!" Well... a respected Princeton University study concluded that the US had become an Oligarchy in all but name. Oligarchy? Doesn't that sound familiar to our Chinese and Russian friends?
Link to Study
http://www.princeton.edu/~mgilens/Gilens homepage materials/Gilens and Page/Gilens and Page 2014-Testing Theories 3-7-14.pdf
Not all systems are equally bad, but every system of government is flawed because the people who designed them are flawed, as are the people who shape them and run them.
So... time for global revolution? Power to the people? Anarchism ftw!?
No... because the only thing worse than a flawed system of government is no government at all. Just look at every state where the government has ceased to function and ask if you would like to live there. Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria... etc
Also, been to China several times - yes. Communism in a name only.
I do agree, that most countries are being run by oligarchy. We won't get out of that damned feudalism, ever ... or so it seems.
Sorry, I had a momentary madness.
What if we all started following Buddhist teachings? We wouldn't need a government. There would be no crime, no racism, just a world population meditating, shunning material goods and seeking self enlightenment... and playing Baldur's Gate on the weekend... on the laptop they just shunned...
It's late and I'm very tired I will attempt to add some constructive stuff to this thread tomorrow.
Got some AMAZING and insightful stuff from our newest contributors.
Also, on a side note, what are your thoughts on the Chinese government? Did you know that every comment made by the 591 million Chinese citizens that use the internet every day is analyzed at the "Peoples Daily Online Public Opinion Monitoring Center", with summaries sent in real time to party leaders?
Some pretty draconian stuff.
Although from what I hear they are rapidly surpassing the U.S. as the worlds top superpower. They are just lacking a few key military components (though not for long) and the U.S. will be a distant second.
Perhaps when you're on the recieving end of injustice it is simpler to see the clear, moral path. Gandhi and MLK were both products of repression within their own countries, and responded ethically and bravely. Now that everyone is close to equally free Western Democracy is rudderless. I can't think of a politician in recent times who comes close to real moral authority.
a) A politician who speaks honestly wouldn't get elected and
b) Considering how much crap you have to put up with (members of the media rooting through your personal life and past, being disliked by probably 1/3 of your constituents no matter what you do) its not exactly a position that inherently attracts people not in it to get either money or power out of it.
I would LOVE to be a politician for the reward in it self. I don't want to get rich or powerful, I want to make the world a better place. Sadly, theres no place for people like myself in politics. It's everything that's wrong with politics at the moment.
Because "Terrorism" is a completely nebulous and decentralised thing, used as a bogeyman rather than with real understanding, it's nigh-impossible to stand against in a coherent way. "I oppose terrorism" has about as much meaning as "death is sad", or "poverty is bad". Add in that the response to "Terrorism" has been poorly planned, haphazardly exectued and tends to involve high levels of both civilian casualties and untargeted domestic surveillence and politicians have p***ed away the moral high ground very effectively. Rant over.
TWAT (The War On Terror) is one of my favorite acronyms though. Sums it up nicely.