h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

they have to, to stimulate their own war industry

for the most democratic country in the world,America is sure looking more like democratic dictatorship every day.

it is hard to know where democracy ends the trouble with democracy is that the people have too much power, you know

yes,yes I can see how that would be a problem with democracy

we have to admit that more opinions on some problem doesn`t guarantee the right solution

For an extensive list of examples of what is wrong with Americans, check out this site of complaints by right wing students about their professors
http://www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org/comp/listComplaint.asp?by=date
It is an example of just how incredibly dumb some of these so called scholars are. And I don't mean the professors.

That's one thing that really surprised me - young college students are tending to be Republican, not Democrat. I have to wonder if they're paying attention to what's going on.

Something went wonky with this country about ten years ago, and we've become more and more polarized between the people who believe in evolution and free speech, and the people who believe in creationism and enforced patriotism. It would be cool if we could just run a fence down the middle of the country and put everybody in their own little pigeonhole, but it's not that easy. We're all evenly distributed throughout the country, with a stronger concentration of Republicans in the south and Democrats in the north.

I thought this election would be a chance for us to oust this crazy man and put somebody who actually knew and cared what was going on, but people are too concerned with anti-abortion laws and anti-gay-marriage laws. They voted for the party that supposedly supports their views... but in the White House right now, abortion and gay marriage is the last thing on their minds. What they're worrying about is the ridiculous budget they've proposed, or the Social Security reforms that we don't need.

I'm all about impeachment. I don't think we can survive another four years of George W. Bush.

i always wondered what`s the difference between democrats and republicans, i mean ideological diffrences. i am familiar with the points of view of the most european parties. they are more or less quite similar in every european country. but there is nothing like republicans or democrats. and why is there only two parties in the states. i thought that a democratic system is supposed to have a variety of political parties ...

The scary thing is that the creationists believe we are in the run up to the Apocolypse and they will have a chance of being within the percentage that will be reborn. This nihilism is leading to a denial of responsiblity. How else can you explain that the largest polluting nation on this planet is unconcerned about the consequences. They just go right on pumping out the noxious gasses from their ridiculous SUV's. Make hay while the sun shines.

I like those student complaints! I presume the complaint of "required readings" is being forced to read the course books? And the "introduced controversial material" - well, duh!

RF

This isn't the first time I've heard things like this. I actually got a bit of a chill reading some of those complaints. The shadow of Joe McCarthy hangs over it a bit...

There's actually a site that monitors McCarthy type things that happen, I'll find a URL (or should that be *an* URL?)

Here it is...


http://www.progressive.org/mcwatch03/mcwatch03.html

There's really supposed to be more than two strong parties, but because of the all or nothing nature of the system, nobody's really willing to risk their vote on a party that doesn't have a large percentage of the majority. We'd be a lot better off without the electoral college.

Democrats (as I understand it) are more about social prograrms funded by the government. Social Security, welfare, and Medicaid are all Democrat-inspired programs. Republicans believe that these programs is one step closer to Socialism, and that the government shouldn't be providing these services - they should be provided by private institutions.

Republicans have an aggressive foreign policy that includes diplomatic (and military) solutions so that the U.S. economy isn't affected by changes in the economy of other nations. Democrats are less concerned about foreign policy, and most of the Democratic presidents have ignored foreign economies in favor of keeping the American economy strong. Which is a disservice to other nations, because now other countries believe that the Republican foreign policy is the American foreign policy.

An actual majority of the American people voted in GW.
It is not a democracy.
Capitalism rules there.
The education system promotes a blinkered view of the world.
Education, political and commercial propaganda promote nationalism.
Narrowmindedness and prejudice are encouraged at the expense of free thinking expansion of knowledge.
The politics of fear is rampant. This is aided by the encouragement of ignorance.
You have to be rich or exceptionally gifted to receive a decent level of higher education.
If you don't have health insurance, you can be left to die on the street.
A vast majority actually believe that Americans and the American Way of Life are better than anybody else and any other way of life.
The overall emphasis is on quantity rather than quality.

I'm sure more issues will come to mind, but for now these are my top reasons for not ever wanting to return to the States to live in spite of having many very close friends still over there who do not subscribe to any of the above.

BB

I don't think you are far wrong.

Wish I was, though.

Such a waste of power, people and resources ...

We Live in an American Empire.

As to the fear thing,Its spreading to other countries,in portugal I was made eat a packet of penny sweets and lick the bag and my car keys were taken off me...my car keys!

51% is a majority, that's true. It grates on me to know how close the election was. But by all definitions, that is a democratic vote. Just because I don't like it doesn't make it not democratic.

And I'm neither rich nor exceptionally gifted, and I received an excellent education. But there's something important there - in America, good education is available - you just have to look for it. If you allow the education system to spoon-feed you, you're going to be taught what the current accepted history is.

My biggest problem with the US right now is the health insurance crisis. Prescription drugs are ridiculously inflated, and rates for insurance keep going up.

What I mean by it not being a democracy relates back to my first experiences of living in France. I was astounded to see both extreme right-wing (Le Pen's National Front) and left-wing (the Communist Party - can't recall offhand the leader's name at the time) representatives entitled to express their views in the media whether in news items, debates or political broadcasts. The entire political spectrum was publicly available and, although there rightly were and remain strong feelings about both extremes, there was no public outcry over their open participation in the political process. Surely that can be considered a better representation of a democracy than the U.S. example?

As a side issue, what about the huge amounts of money spent on campaigning? Is it not true that a candidate for U.S. president must be a millionnaire? At least in Britain campaign budgets are capped.

And one thing that has always bothered me was the discovery when I went to vote in the primaries, several years ago, that I could not do so because I was registered as an Independent. OK, so each party wants to select its own candidate, but why should those who do not wish to affiliate themselves with any particular political party be unable to put their votes toward their preferred candidate?

My point about education is that a country as powerful and great as the U.S. should offer its people excellent, subsidised education (as well as health care). I came out of college hugely in debt. I do, however, take your point that you can always refuse to swallow the pap on offer in so many areas of education and educational institutions. Fortunately. Guess that's where the other 49% were coming from.

what's wrong with americans? not much. i've just returned for a long spell, the first time i've really gotten in touch with the old country for a long, long time. i was surprised, relieved, touched even to see just how wonderful my countrypersons are.

what's wrong with america? almost everything. the electoral system, foreign policy, health care, infrastructure, education, housing, social welfare, culture, economic policy, the media... the weather is ok for the moment, but the ecology agenda could change that too.

when the soviet union went out like the lights, no bang, not even a whimper, i felt the US was not far behind; nothing i saw this summer convinced me otherwise. what americans need is the guillotine, but they're too sweet natured to use it... the pax americana is on its last legs, at least i hope so for the american people... they deserve a rest from being one nation under god, be all and end all, world capital of rutabagas and wire recorders, messenger of the new world disorder, land of the want to be free, home of the try to be brave.