THIS is why the world laughs at us (or thinks we're batshit crazy)

[Triana]

[treestar]

1. Its not illogical

people disapprove of other peoples' congresspersons. Not their own.

[Vattel]

78. Exactly right. Moreover, there is nothing illogical about

your voting for an incumbent that you disapprove of if you think his opponent in the election would be even worse.

[Ampersand Unicode]

101. Kind of like how their own kid can never get in trouble

Only someone else's offspring could ever be a demon spawn.

I believe this is a form of confirmation bias or something along those lines. Maybe confirmation bias intertwined with a major dose of narcissism.

[Bluenorthwest]

2. Yes and the rest of the world has orderly, liberal, intellectually driven legislative bodies so they

have lots of room to talk.

[defacto7]

61. Many countries do have liberal, intellectually driven systems.

The rest of the World laughs for different reasons. Some because of our stupidity and others because of our screwed system and others because they see themselves.

[Bluenorthwest]

90. Give me your list, I'll tell you stories. Seriously.

I've visited dozens of countries. I communicate weekly with friends all over the world. I'm not really in need of others to tell me what people elsewhere say. I hear them say it myself, no matter what I do. The way the OP depicts other countries is not what I encounter at all. Maybe I just avoid the smug right wing types as I do in the US.

[defacto7]

107. I have a few experiences myself actually...

My first hand knowledge ended about 10 years ago and it's clear much has happened in that time, so I acknowledge you may have some information I'm not familiar with. My wife is East German, I have lived under the German social system before and after the wall came down, I had a residence in Amsterdam and in a city in Germany, I lived off and on or even at the same time in Great Britain, Japan, Italy and Sweden plus a short stint in Argentina. I can't even begin a list of visited countries. I still have friends from some of these locations and I do hear a pretty regular guffaw about how they see the states and it's politics. Most of my friends and acquaintances are definitely not of the RW persuasion as defined by... anyone, they are all quite socialist in character and choice to one extent or another, but I'm sure we both know that variations on that theme can be wide.

My statement in the reply to you was light, but I was basically saying that the laughter is there in my experience, but it comes from different angles rather than from the typical notion that may pop into most American's heads. But fear of what the future holds for the world due to the deterioration of American domination seems to lay beneath most comments from my European acquaintances, whether it's fear of the loss or fear of general insecurity created by the vacuum. That fear is played out as anger, fear of the unknown, or fear based on past experience as children in the aftermath of war. There's laughter... but for some it's based on the present news with no experience and for others it's anxiety laughter with memories.

[Scarsdale]

89. Maybe not

What most civilized countries DO have is healthcare that is sadly lacking in this country. The world laughed when W was placed in the WH the first time. They thought, just like he did, that he was actually elected!!

[malletgirl02]

3. My Incumbent Senator was a Democrat

My incumbent senator was Democratic Senator Mark Warner. In order to not vote for the incumbent I would have to vote for either the Libertarian or the Gillespie the Republican. Would you rather me not have voted Warner? If I don't vote I'm a stupid milennial. Seriously I can't win, who was I supposed to vote for?

[Riverman100]

9. The worst Democrat

is always better than the best republican

[KingCharlemagne]

17. Except Lincoln v. Douglas 1860 :) - nt

[elzenmahn]

32. Not necessarily...

...remember Blanche Lincoln? or Ben Nelson? These fine examples of congressional critterdom (among others) talk the Dem-sounding game, but look at their voting records. They, as bad Democrats, were worse in many respects than the "best" Republicans.

The cliche is true - you give people a choice between a Republican and a Faux Democrat, who do you think they are going to pick? A Faux Democrat (DINO), remember, is NOT A DEMOCRAT - no matter what initial they have next to their name.

[mountain grammy]

58. The majority party has a lot of say in the workings of Congress

so yes, the worst Democrat is better than the best Republican. We now have Republicans in charge of committees and investigations, not good.

[treestar]

86. The cliche is just dumb

And it has been debunked given the context.

Why would it not apply to Republicans? They have people they believe are RINOs Why don't they vote Democratic and pick the "real Democrat?"

[elzenmahn]

111. No, I don't believe it is dumb or has been debunked...

...I say this because the DINOs I referred to (among many others) advertise themselves and Democrats and sound like Democrats in their speeches, but they don't vote like Democrats, and the too often cozy up with the same big donors as the Republicans.

[treestar]

112. How come Republicans don't vote for us

because of the RINO's?

Why don't they pick the real Democrat?

It's illogical. It's saying people would be opposite of what they really want because they aren't getting enough of what they want. People are not like that. They don't starve themselves because they aren't getting caviar.

[elzenmahn]

113. Why do you think Republicans don't pick the real Democrat?

...and this applies whether they are dealing with a RINO (as Limpballs would define it) or a Teapiglican?

It pertains to the differences in perceived world views.

Look at 2006. The Dems made big gains in that election, in large part, because the Repubs stayed home IN DROVES.

I say again - a bad Democrat is not necessarily better than the best Republican. To say otherwise opens up the process for conservatives (who would otherwise run as Republicans) to run as Democrats - we've seen that before. Look at their voting patterns, their speeches, and how much they try to distance themselves from the current administration.

I'm sorry, but we'll have to agree to disagree. Just because a candidate has a "D" after their name does not necessarily guarantee them my vote. They'll have to earn my vote.

[Odin2005]

66. What about Joe Lieberman vs. Lincoln Chaffee?

I'd vote for Chaffee.

[LeftishBrit]

84. I remember observing Lieberman's election in 1988 from 3000 miles away...

(There was a lot of British media coverage of the Dukakis-Bush presidential election, and it extended to some of the other races.)

At any rate, I remember coming to the conclusion that I would have voted for Republican incumbent Lowell Weicker against Lieberman who appeared to be to his Right. Events proved that I was probably right about Lieberman.

But I doubt that there was one single Republican candidate in the current mid-terms, who was better than their Democratic opponent, however unsatisfactory the latter might be.

I doubt that there was one single current Republican candidate who was better than our very own Tony Blair, and I couldn't say stronger than that!

[tomp]

82. that kind of thinking IS the problem...

...because even though in some ways it may be true, the difference is meaningless.

The only way to look at this is that the two party system itself, AS A WHOLE, engenders the fucked up situation we see. The two party system plays against the interests of the vast majority of citizens.

The democrats' sole job, WHICH THEY DO VERY VERY WELL, is to convince people there is a difference.

[calimary]

91. Welcome to DU, Riverman100!

Glad you're here! I usually feel that way myself. The point is to rack up the "D's" so their numbers are greater than the "R's". But yeah, there was Blanche Lincoln. There was Ben Nelson. There was Max Baucus. When he, a so-called "D," was replaced by an "R," it was just a shrug. Oh, okay, we went from a closet "R" to a real "R" that actually calls himself an "R". Okay fine. Whatever.

As for people like Mary Landrieu, I've never liked her because, as with people like Blanche Lincoln, she can't be counted on to stand with us. I find myself wondering - why should I send any money to her? She can usually be counted on to side with the bad guys, so why should I help her. And after Tuesday, I just don't know anymore. Are we better off without her?

One BIG mistake I think OUR party has made is going back to the DEBBIE mentality. Beltway Only and Always-and-Ever-More the Beltway. Well, what we're seeing is a shrewd strategy playing out by the bad guys - starting in the grassroots and growing their brand locally and THEN taking over nationally. Our side ignored the locals, the state elections, the little "nothing" races like lands commissioner - hey, that's where ted cruz came from. And mark my words, that kind of little "nothing" position is where the bush machine is beginning again, to rise from the ashes with george P. bush. WATCH OUT! We have to watch him closely, because they're slowly but surely grooming him and positioning him and helping him and nurturing him and bringing him up from the minor leagues with an eye toward the White House. I'd bet on it.

We're not playing smart. THEY are. We need the Howard Dean mentality back in the saddle at the DNC. His "50-State Strategy" focused OUTSIDE the Beltway, and look at the results we had! D's swarming into Washington, taking the House back from the GOP (anybody remember when Nancy Pelosi took the gavel from Sore Loserman dennis hastert, who took his ball and went home in a giant pout - she sure didn't do that when she had to hand the gavel over to boner! SHE stayed and kept fighting!), strengthening the Senate where we already dominated, AND grabbed the White House back. Then Howard Dean left, replaced by another Beltway BONEHEAD who thought that was all wrong, and her idea was to bring it all back inside the Beltway. (Where it "belonged". )

[cprise]

43. I think the idea is that people are mainly fed up with Republicans

But so few Dem-leaning people voted that the problem got worse. So don't take it personally.

However, the biggest thing the stay-at-homes did with their decision not to vote is to legitimize the brutal supression of people who do speak out and try to change things. A protest vote for some write-in candidate would have been more productive by far.

[Ampersand Unicode]

103. I'd vote for Wakko Warner ahead of any Repug.

[kairos12]

4. They are the Melvins we continually rehire to do home repairs after they wreck everything.

[NutmegYankee]

5. To quote Tip O'Neill, "All politics is local".

As true then as it is now.

[elzenmahn]

33. Absolutely...

...and this is where the Left needs to rebuild its power base - at the state and local levels. Even at the school board and "dog-catcher"-type levels.

The Repubs knew that - and look where they are now.

[mountain grammy]

59. Yes, exactly.

[Beartracks]

64. +1000 Repubs hate "top-down" goverment, so they built from the bottom up.

Dems really need(ed) to do the same thing: instead of trying to construct elegant Federal solutions from scratch, they need(ed) to build the desire for public service and progressive causes at the local/state level and allow the grassroots to reach a critical mass where national issues get properly addressed naturally.

===================

[Odin2005]

68. We have to rebuild our grassroots political army.

We let it decay for 30 years because it scared potential corporate donors.

[Major Hogwash]

42. However, Tip never used the internet as a means to communicate.

The internet is our advantage now, if we use it the right way!!

[Ampersand Unicode]

102. Teh intarwebz? I lol'd.

First of all, Cumcast is never going to let progressives get in the way of corporate profits and successfully push to have the internet be a public utility. They're going to block progressives every step of the way if it means rethugs protect the big business profit machine. Net neutrality is officially dead, so better get used to having your internet get throttled if you post too many disses about Scumcast.

Second... you're trying to get a rational, complex, comprehensive message out there in a medium that celebrates cat videos and tweenage morons making Tumbler pages about periods and One Direction.

Don't count on the Internet to get out the vote. Unless you're trying to get Stacey from the cheerleading squad elected to student council ahead of that spastic dweeboid nerdface Melvin from the A/V club. Liek ZOMG he is sooooo weird lol.

More people vote for The Voice than do in political elections. Sad but true. Unless your runoff candidates are Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, well... NBC. NoBody Cares.

[Major Hogwash]

108. Thanks, you just proved my point.

[Hortensis]

98. Not any more. The GOP victories were largely staged at the national level. Mitch McConnell

has used considerable skill and appalling ruthlessness to delay and block every executive branch effort since Inauguration Day 2008 for a long as possible, knowing that the electorate gets upset with delay and can be counted on to eventually turn off, after which they blame whatever party happens to hold the White House.

Thus, for coming on 7 years now, he has directed the delay, blockage, and hopefully defeat of every executive effort he can, even those initially sponsored by the GOP that came to be supported by the White House, knowing that failure to enact would be blamed on the Democrats. The reason is to empower the GOP by denying even one victory to the Democrats, no matter how critical to our nation's wellbeing.

During this campaign season, all across the country the overwhelming GOP strategy was to link their opponents for any office at all to incompetent, ineffectual Obama and Democrats, and it worked.

As for my own politics-is-local, that no doubt still goes for our road repairs, but in our extremely conservative neighborhood people who couldn't name even one of our state legislators all KNOW that the Democrats have been blocking hundreds of earnest GOP attempts to solve the problems of our nation. That conversation will turn to "Obama's" incompetence and how important it is to save the nation from the Democrats comes up sooner or later at almost every social gathering, especially those including men.

[LibDemAlways]

6. My moderate Dem representative is

certainly better than the knuckle dragger she was running against. But I get the point. Many complete wastes of DNA will be returning to Congress.

[Rex]

7. But but but...

Excuses are sad things.

[Martin Eden]

8. Low approval of Congress benefits Republicans

Mike Lofgren (Republican staffer who quit after 28 years) wrote after the Debt ceiling debacle in 2011:

A couple of years ago, a Republican committee staff director told me candidly (and proudly) what the method was to all this obstruction and disruption. Should Republicans succeed in obstructing the Senate from doing its job, it would further lower Congress's generic favorability rating among the American people. By sabotaging the reputation of an institution of government, the party that is programmatically against government would come out the relative winner.

A deeply cynical tactic, to be sure, but a psychologically insightful one that plays on the weaknesses both of the voting public and the news media. There are tens of millions of low-information voters who hardly know which party controls which branch of government, let alone which party is pursuing a particular legislative tactic. These voters' confusion over who did what allows them to form the conclusion that "they are all crooks," and that "government is no good," further leading them to think, "a plague on both your houses" and "the parties are like two kids in a school yard." This ill-informed public cynicism, in its turn, further intensifies the long-term decline in public trust in government that has been taking place since the early 1960s - a distrust that has been stoked by Republican rhetoric at every turn ("Government is the problem," declared Ronald Reagan in 1980).

The media are also complicit in this phenomenon. Ever since the bifurcation of electronic media into a more or less respectable "hard news" segment and a rabidly ideological talk radio and cable TV political propaganda arm, the "respectable" media have been terrified of any criticism for perceived bias. Hence, they hew to the practice of false evenhandedness. Paul Krugman has skewered this tactic as being the "centrist cop-out." "I joked long ago," he says, "that if one party declared that the earth was flat, the headlines would read 'Views Differ on Shape of Planet.'"

Inside-the-Beltway wise guy Chris Cillizza merely proves Krugman right in his Washington Post analysis of "winners and losers" in the debt ceiling impasse. He wrote that the institution of Congress was a big loser in the fracas, which is, of course, correct, but then he opined: "Lawmakers - bless their hearts - seem entirely unaware of just how bad they looked during this fight and will almost certainly spend the next few weeks (or months) congratulating themselves on their tremendous magnanimity." Note how the pundit's ironic deprecation falls like the rain on the just and unjust alike, on those who precipitated the needless crisis and those who despaired of it. He seems oblivious that one side - or a sizable faction of one side - has deliberately attempted to damage the reputation of Congress to achieve its political objectives.

I highly recommend reading the entire article for Lofgren's insightful analysis of the Republican Party he served for nearly 3 decades.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

18. saving to read later. n/t

[elzenmahn]

34. This nails it right on the head...

...what else can you expect when you are governed by people who don't believe in government?

[mountain grammy]

60. I remember reading this on Truthout a couple of years ago

It's still true and still relevant. Thanks for posting.

[chowder66]

10. Rec Infinity! nt

[geretogo]

11. I wonder if this is how the decline of the Roman Empire began ,factionalism and break up .

Last edited Sun Nov 9, 2014, 07:00 PM - Edit history (1)

[PeoViejo]

12. Conjugating Verbs

They couldn't find enough people to write coherent field reports.

[Jackpine Radical]

22. Amo amas amat amamus...

I get your point.

[DFW]

45. Unfortunately, the parallels are scary

When most had a common goal, they achieved great things, were the envy of the western world. When they got too powerful, some wanted to rule without competence or the consent of the governed, so they conceived intrigue to keep them on top--to the point where running the empire with skill and sanity. At that point, it was every man for himself, and the empire was easy pickins for the hoards from outside. We don't have the huns, but we have Russian and Chinese money, and if we are so divided and trying to cling to power by crooked means, we will waste our energy and resources on that while we get our country bought out from under us. A few Republicans in on the deal will get mega-rich and serve as puppets for their Chinese masters, but the rest of us will wish we had emigrated to Vanuatu.

[Odin2005]

71. That is actually pretty close to the truth.

In the early 200s all free subjects were made imperial citizens by decree of the Emperor Caracalla. This sounds like a good thing but it was actually a deeply cynical move. The reason was that citizens paid certain taxes that non-citizens did not, and he needed this tax money to keep his increasingly greedy soldiers happy. It didn't work. A generation after Caracalla the Empire collapsed into 50 years (AD 235-285) of civil wars, coups, invasion, and hyperinflation caused by the soldiers crowning emperors, demanding raises, and them murdering them in quick succession. This only ended with Diocletian, who saved the empire only by making it increasingly totalitarian, and also getting rid of the pretense of Rome being a republic, he was the first emperor to wear a crown and made people kow-tow to him.

What does this have to do with Factionalism? Before Caracalla's mass-expansion of citizenship, most Roman citizens lived in a tightly-knit zone of the western Mediterreanean, namely Italy, North Africa, Provence, and eastern Spain. Afterwards the cultural diversity of the Roman citizenry was greatly expanded, and thus less unified culturally.

Also, the 3rd Century Crisis caused grave economic damage to the Roman economy, it became more localized and the great landowners and their tenants became more self-sufficient on their own lands. This amplified the divergence between different parts of the empire.

Finally, by the late 300s the city of Rome itself stopped being the center of power, supplanted by Constantinople, Trier, and Milan.

[former9thward]

13. Who exactly in the world thinks we are "batshit crazy" or laughs at us?

I have been fortunate enough to travel to 41 countries and so far and I have never ran into that.

[DFW]

16. I have only been to 31 countries, but have heard it for decades

I only speak 9 languages, so maybe there is more that people would have liked to tell me, but I hear CONSTANTLY that we are batshit crazy and they laugh at us a lot. They laugh at themselves, too, something our Republicans would apparently like to punish Americans who do it with the death penalty. There is no bigger critic of France than the French themselves, but go to parts of the American South, where I'm from, and say Republicans are batshit crazy, and the chief of police will put a bullet in your forehead personally (or, if you're lucky, just get you beaten up by his cousins in the nearby diner).

The only time when they DIDN'T take that attitude is when Clinton way leaving office. They kept telling me "can WE have him when you're done?"

[former9thward]

19. Well both of our experiences are anecdotal.

Too bad no one who makes this claim ever links to proof of this claim. Maybe we should close our borders because obviously anybody trying to immigrate into this country, knowing what the "world thinks",must be "batshit crazy" themselves.

[malletgirl02]

28. Good Point

When I see things like the op I always think, If Americans are so crazy and stupid, why do people keep on trying to immigrate here? Won't they just say in their own country and no have to deal with the so called stupid Americans.

[DFW]

46. Am I supposed to list the names, phone numbers and languages of people for you to check?

I now live in the Düsseldorf area of Germany. You can start with my German wife and daughters, who also hold US citizenship. Our friends and neighbors as well. Then our local employees in Holland, France and Switzerland. Then all my work contacts in Belgium, Spain, Scandinavia, Italy and Austria. Speaking German, French, Sweden, Catalan, Italian, Dutch and Spanish would be helpful. I speak from talking with real-life people who I know from work or are long-term friends of ours.

[former9thward]

51. Those are all anecdotal.

You do know the meaning of the word, don't you? Just as people I have spoken to do not speak for "the world" neither do your contacts.

[truedelphi]

56. Anecdotal is a word that used to mean

"A recounting of a happy and pleasant experience."

then the activists in Calif. were able to stymie the Big Pesticide Interests by making sure that Prop 65 was put on the ballot. When the voters passed that measure, the citizens were able to have some people friendly to their cause draw up a list of some of the more toxic chemicals (I am forgetting how many chems are now in the registry) and it force d the various places where people worked or bought things to have up signs announcing that "MTBE (Or benzene, or formaldehyde) is in use at this facility and is a Prop 65 chemical."

Since The Big Pesticide Industry knew it had to start undermining activists, it created a new meaning for "anecdotal." And they have succeeded. The word has been so destroyed by the involvement of Big Industry that no one anywhere can report on any of their personal observations without then being taken to task for not having a newspaper citation or science lab to back up their statement.

All of which is bass ackwards, as you cannot even have scientific findings without first having observation as your starting point.

[treestar]

87. Yes, why do we have so many would be immigrants then

If we are really so bad?

[Triana]

44. "can WE have him when you're done?" - I had a Canadian ask me that today re: Obama

They think (or that one does) that America is batshit crazy. He said he didn't understand all the hatred of Obama and why the mantra that he's doing such a bad job, given that he got binLaden and saved the economy, passed healthcare, etc.

He told me that when we're done with Obama, send him to Canada.

[aggiesal]

67. Tell your friend that Canada has to ...

take Cruz back first.

[Triana]

72. +1

Good deal!

[calimary]

95. It just breaks my heart to see the drubbing President Obama is getting. Breaks my heart!

He doesn't deserve it!!! YES he's done all those great things and is getting NO credit for it. And what's even more disgraceful is those of us supposedly on his side who have abandoned him and deserted him and focused on all the nitpicky little so-called "bad" things. Or they call him some "goddam used-car salesman" as I have been personally horrified to hear here (and have never forgotten, thankyouverymuch). I find myself alone when I run into people who claim they voted for him and how he's disappointed them. I try to point out that he had enemies all around him who tried their best to destroy what he was trying to build, tried their best to chip away at what he'd proposed and turn it into something awful.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph - I know someone who will JUST NOT LET GO of "Obamacare is gonna cost everybody more! Premiums gonna go up! And blah-blah-blah!" And I have to tell her - SHIT, IT'S A START forcryingoutloud! What would you like better? To take it away from everybody? NO affordable health care for ANYBODY BUT THE RICH? And then I put it to HER: they want YOU to die and get out of the way because you're on disability and they think you cost too much and they don't want to pay for you and they don't want to help you and they don't want their taxes raised to help you and cover what you need. AND those same people still LOUDLY call themselves "Christians"!!!!! Last time I did that, all I heard was silence on the phone. I'll call her Juliette - "Juliette, they think you're a drain on the system. You cost too much and they don't want to have to pay. They actually want you dead. They think you're a lazy moocher. They'd rather just let you die." Silence.

Then I asked her whether she saw the last round of republi-CON debates in 2012. I asked her if she saw the debate wherein I think it was John King who was the moderator and at one point in the questioning, he asked rhetorically - "well, what should we do? Just let 'em die?" And the goons in the audience shouted "YEAH!!!!!!!" I asked her about that. No, she hadn't seen those debates. I piled on. So you didn't see the one where they cheered like Romans at the Colisseum watching the Christians get mauled by starving lions when Governor Oops proudly bragged about how many people he'd executed. So you didn't see the debate wherein there was a soldier from a LIVE THEATER OF WAR, IN IRAQ, who'd asked a question via Skype or some such, about gays in the military and also identified himself as being gay, AND HE WAS BOOED!!!!!!! That fucking nogoodnik audience BOOED him! A soldier IN IRAQ, in active wartime, his life in danger, his ass on the line in harm's way, supposedly fighting for "their" freedom back home, and they had the gall to BOO him!!!!! Nope, she hadn't seen that one either. Silence. Really noticeable silence.

Then I piled on further. THAT is what YOU are voting for when YOU vote republi-CON. THOSE people. Who hate you and want you dead because you're a lazy moocher and you're a drain on the system and on their tax bill. And you still side with them??????????????

I piled on even further. And they're the ones who'd take away YOUR right to vote, too. Because A) you're female, and B) you're on disability so you're a lazy moocher and they assume you'd be voting against them, so that's what they do now. They try to head you off at the pass and stop you from voting. THAT'S what your precious republi-CONS are doing now. DO YOU SEE DEMOCRATS BEHIND ANY EFFORT TO SUPPRESS THE VOTE? DO YOU? PLEASE TELL ME. TELL ME WHO THE DEMOCRATS ARE WHO ARE TAKING PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO VOTE AWAY. TELL ME WHO THEY ARE!!!!!!! Silence.

And eventually she got back to pissing and moaning about how Obamacare is terrible et al. Surprisingly, she doesn't have Pox Noise on her cable system anymore - she couldn't pay for an expensive cable subscription so she has minimal choices now. But it also means she can't see any truth-telling on MSNBC or anywhere else, either. Her parents were CONs. So that's what she grew up with. So my fear is, she may not be reachable. She may NOT be redeemable. When presented with facts she can't dispute, she STILL goes back to the default position.

It's amazing to me - when I try to shake them awake, some of these people. When I pile on with facts and witnessing and reality-check after reality-check, they're still so inculcated with poison that they just won't let it in. They won't have comebacks a lot of the time. I point out to my best friend who's gone over to the Dark Side that - FOR GOD'S SAKE, EMILY! (I'll call her Emily) YOU'RE A UNION MEMBER FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!! WHY DO YOU VOTE republi-CON???????? They're not gonna help YOU!

We've got a true SHITLOAD of work to do.

And frankly, some of US give up too goddamn easily.

[cherokeeprogressive]

99. Was it Richard Brunt that asked you?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025792005

[Nay]

21. Well, plenty of Canadians think we are batshit crazy. They think we're nuts

for not adopting one of the sane healthcare policies of any of the Western democracies rather than acting like anybody who can't afford to be treated should just go ahead and die.

They also think we're crazy for electing the crazy. They've made their mistake with Harper, but he's gonna be gone soon.

[ReRe]

29. Add our gun laws/NRA to your list...

... of things the Canadians think we are batshit crazy over.

[randome]

31. Rob Ford.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Aspire to inspire.[/center][/font][hr]

[ChisolmTrailDem]

41. I'll see your Rob Ford and raise you...

Kevin Vickers

[Electric Monk]

70. Rob Ford is now just yet another city councilman, no longer mayor. His brother lost, too. nt

[lpbk2713]

14. You just can't fix stupid.

Case in point...

[SoapBox]

25. I think the picture sums everything perfectly.

...a picture is worth a thousand words.

But I think one word works...idiot.

[elzenmahn]

35. Idiot, yes...

...but a useful one to those that really pull the strings.

[Lars39]

75. That is still my favorite pic of that idiot.

Shows him for the little man he is.

[RKP5637]

80. ...

[freshwest]

100. Conservatives found that incident endearing, just like this:

[llmart]

15. Apparently you've never seen a session of Parliament.

n/t

[ReRe]

30. Question time is always fun...

... if it's the witty Brits.

[LeftishBrit]

77. I wouldn't exactly call most of our MPs 'witty'

A few are, but most of them seem to either be silent observers, or basically bark like dogs.

[ReRe]

85. I don't care what you say...

... I love your question time. But it wouldn't work here. Because there the back and forth is at least civil. Here it would turn into a knock-out drag-out brawl. There would be shedding of blood. And hell, mix in our gun culture? Wouldn't be pretty.

[Moostache]

20. Proportional voting based on an examination of issue awareness would solve this.

Public financing of elections ONLY....ZERO PRIVATE CAMPAIGN DONATIONS OR SPENDING - under pain of death. It would become a capital offense to interfere with elections or to run campaign ads with gravel-voiced actors intoning about "too dangerous", "too extreme" or "too liberal/conservative". Anyone caught spending money to influence political campaigns would be summarily sent to Gitmo because they are a bigger existential threat to the United States than the current forced residents of that place which our current president promised to close 6 years ago...once we fill up Cuba (in about 10 minutes) we will use the federal lands in Montana and North Dakota to build large rectangular prison camps to house these people.

Mandatory voting. If you do not vote, you will be subject to fines and / or mandatory community service of 4 hours at the least convenient time possible. Voting would be the same as jury duty, failure to answer a summons or cast a ballot would be seen as contempt of court and subject to fine or imprisonment.

ALL ballots to be sent out on October 1st to every registered social security number in the nation of eligible voting status (ie. of age, non-felon, legal voters) and are due no later than Election Day. IF you did not return your regular ballot by mail, or online or call-in voting...then you MUST appear in voting court on Election Day. At voting court - which will take at least 8 hours of your life as penalty for not being more in touch with your civic responsibilities - you will be required to fill out a ballot or just check the box on the top of the ballot that says "I am too fucking stupid to be a participant in governing this country, state, or municipality; please discard my vote".

THEN...after the ballots are cast, a mandatory issues awareness test will be issued annually that determines just how much your vote will count.. It will include basic questions and non-partisan facts like:
How many Senators are in the United States Senate?
How many Representatives do YOU have in the United States Congress?
How many Senators?
How many states are in the United States of America?
Who is the current president and vice-president?
Who is the current Speaker of the House?
Who is the current Senate Majority Leader?

The list would be 10 questions in all, and your vote would count only in proportion to the number of correct answers you are able to produce (or care to actually answer...failure to submit a voter evaluation would mean forfeiture of the franchise for that election and your ballot being removed from the count...if you're too goddamn dumb to know these basic facts about the government - or so disengaged that you can't be bothered to look them up, then you are too stupid to be counted as an active citizen participant in government and you need to be purged from the electorate.

The experiment of the United States, of representative republic governance was established with the INTENT of an active, informed citizenry - engaged enough to know the issues and representatives of said government. It was not set up to be a fear-based, Pavlovian response-controlled popularity contest - driven by money and advertising and apathy to only allow the most well financed and backed candidates of the corporate culture's choosing to "serve" in the government.

After all of the dipshits, mouth breathers, and functionally illiterate idiots in America fail, the final ballot count may only be 1 or 2 million full credit votes....but it would be a far better way to elect leaders who do anything other than campaign, name-call and hand back benefits to campaign donors.

[Travis_0004]

49. people have a right not to vote

We need to try to get more people to vote, but community service for not voting is dumb, and probably unconstitutional.

[Recursion]

23. The Soviet Politburo had a higher turnover rate than the US Congress

Let that sink in for a moment...

[aggiesal]

69. Can you prove that? ...

I'm not saying it's not true, but, Congressman Bob Filner told me
that statement came out of his office, and that the statistics were
completely made up.
Maybe Filner was pulling my leg.

[Recursion]

81. I heard it (somewhere) and did a count. It's true if you count the Stalin years

He had pretty... ummm... aggressive term limits policy.

[EEO]

24. Gerrymandering is not helping.

[Maineman]

93. That is an understatement of epic proportions!

[Odin2005]

26. My congresscritter is fine, it's everyone else's who sucks!

[City Lights]

36. Haha, that's just what I was gonna post!

[Odin2005]

38. You snooze, you loose!

Sorry!

[City Lights]

40. LOL!

[thesquanderer]

74. True, and you don't need to say it sarcastically.

There are certainly voters who are pleased with their own representative, and base their low approval rating of congress on all the people sent there from elsewhere.

[Odin2005]

104. My DINO rep Collin Peterson will literally NEVER be voted out of office.

He is pretty much the king of Big Ag pork and so keeps all the "people who matter" in rural western MN fat and happy with BS like the corn ethanol boondoggle.

[malaise]

27. You should have included the cost

[bigwillq]

37. K and R

[ReRe]

39. And how many days were they off this year?

... Don't answer. Way too many.

[Initech]

47. There's far more sinister forces at work keeping these clowns in office.

[malletgirl02]

55. You are right

But it is much easier to blame the "stupid" American voters.

[progressoid]

48. Cute but not very clever.

Individual congress members actually have decent support. But the populace as a whole disapproves of Congress as a whole.

[Iggo]

50. The world is right.

[valerief]

52. Gerrymandering and vote flipping and voter suppression works, apparently. nt

[IronLionZion]

53. Yup, and any primary challenges tend to go for the tea party

There used to be a time when voters chose their politicians. But now many politicians choose their voters.

This country needs some sort of gerrymandering reform to make congressional districts more competitive.

[libodem]

54. It was bought

Don't kid yourself.

[TNNurse]

57. I am a white 65yo woman.

I had no trouble voting. I believe I would have fought, stood inline, traveled and paid for an ID if it was necessary...I believe I would have but it must have been hard, depressing and exhausting for some. I imagine if you had to travel or miss work (therefore money) to fill out paperwork to get a voter ID, it was too much for some.

Add to that, gerrymandering, false and misleading ads, downright direct intimidation and of course actual lies, it was a plan. A well funded plan.

Our government has been bought and sold..... with some actively participating. It breaks my heart.

I suppose many think of their senators as distant and not really anything to do with them. The fact that some of the governors were reelected with public knowledge of their bad performance..... Brownback and Scott come to mind is a mystery. That congressman who has been indicted for 20 counts of fraud was reelected...... there is no rational explanation.

[Maineman]

94. A good ad campaign can sell anything. Remember pet rocks? That is why we need to

restructure campaign rules -- and GET THE MONEY OUT OF IT !!

Money is not speech (and a corporation is not a person).

I support MoveToAmend.org

[riverbendviewgal]

62. north of your border we are shaking our heads

And hoping we don't end up like our southern neighbor. 2015 is coming up . Most of want to see Harper and his gang out.

[blkmusclmachine]

63. Definition of insanity:

doing the same sh!t over and over and over again, and expecting different results.

[golfguru]

65. ummm...no!

I had a long vacation this year visiting Hong Kong (vibrant city), Singapore (has best infrastructure I have seen on 4 continents),
Thailand (best tasting chicken fried rice ever!) and Viet-Nam. Never met anyone who thinks America meaning USA is bat shit crazy. Just the contrary. English is spoken every where except in Viet-Nam.

[Cha]

73. Like Andy Borowitz' theory about What Happened on Election night..

Thanks, Triana

[3catwoman3]

109. Succinct ...

...analysis

[LeftishBrit]

76. Most of the 'rest of the world' has its own problems...

E.g. how about the UK where in the last election, the Tories got 36% of the vote; nearly 50% of seats in parliament; and almost complete control of government.

[sendero]

79. There is a simple explanation...

.. for why this happens. No REAL opposition candidate to any of those in power ever have a chance. Billions of dollars are spent making sure the status quo remains.

[Amonester]

83. The world came to the conclusion that the American experiment in politics

is not working, and that is not funny at all.

[golfguru]

106. Then why more immigrants are waiting in line

to come to United States than any other country?
We admit only 1 million legal immigrants each year.
That is far greater than any other industrialized country in the world.

[mstinamotorcity2]

88. Yep!!

It's also why most people hate the political process in this day and time.

[L0oniX]

92. ***

[oberliner]

96. That's actually similar to many countries

Not unique to the US at all.

[johnnyreb]

97. This needs to stay up awhile.

So, KICK!

[Township75]

105. Can't say that about Democrats, we didn't send our members back!

So they can shove it!

[okieinpain]

110. isn't that the definition of crazy. n/t.