Electro, gothic, noise, darkwave from the Side-Line
Psychopomp
offlinethe crack head psycho
We're not allowed to vote on specific issues, we're only allowed to 'vote' for political parties during election times that we hope will represent our views.
Sadly, it seems like half the time they flagrantly break their election promises once in office.
Veillance
offlineMember
> Sadly, it seems like half the time they flagrantly break their election promises once in office.
Isn't this usual? One a new government has been established, they quickly realize, that it is not that easy to do what they have promised.
The government in Germany has not been doing anything useful since 2005 for example. 5 years of... uhm... nothing.
Psychopomp
offlinethe crack head psycho
Here in North America it's been a tumultuous last week where in two specific instances the will of the American people, the majority was either halted or overturned altogether.
I'm looking to Arizona and the immigration law which was stopped, despite the fact the overwhelming majority of Americans support it.
Same-sex marriage ban in California which was again supported by the voters was overturned.
Politicians and judges would not have been able to get away with this even 30 years ago, why are they getting away with it now?
Seems like the Titanic if you ask me.
crispy
offlineMember
The United States is actually a republic, not a direct democracy. And politicians and judges have been doing exactly what you described for 200 years. See also: slavery, suffrage, abortion, etc, etc, etc.
And really, you wanna go there with same-sex marriage?
Psychopomp
offlinethe crack head psycho
I don't know really enough about marriage to begin with to make any comment worth the digital print to read.
I was making a point that the majority does not rule, and the elite class who does, to whose agenda are they really serving?
But back to marriage though, is marriage a religious or government institution, neither or both, just curious?
crispy
offlineMember
I guess I don't get your point. No one has ever pretended that the majority rules. Our president, for instance, is chosen by an Electoral College, not by popular vote.
Psychopomp
offlinethe crack head psycho
Thank you crispy for taking the time to answer my questions.
There is a lot I don't know about how the political and legal systems work in our respective countries and I feel that I am most definitely not alone. A lot of people think they might have an 'idea' of how these systems work, but they don't know definitively.
And I guess how all this pertains to my point is that freedom is an illusion. There is no real 'will of the people'.
djtekslave
offlineMember
The way elections are held in Canada is also essentially unfair.
I live in an area that will NEVER vote for any other party than the one they vote for now, and my MP is always from a party I don't support. The system where you elect MPs is unfair, because then if my party doesn't get elected, my vote is lost. As opposed to direct voting systems, where at least, if my party loses, my vote counted for the other party.
Also when you travel outside of North America you realize how many barriers, bans and obligations we have in our everyday lives that don't exist in other countries.
But on the flipside, having lived both in and out of North America, it's still vastly better to live there than any other location. However it won't stay that way if people don't start fighting for it, as it may very well be sliding in a much more authoritarian form of government.
The political situation is so locked Canada. In any case, your vote will always send about 2$ of public founding to the party. Is it helping? Yes and no...
The conservative party ended up uniting most of the right wing crowd. Not enough to ever form a full government, but certainly enough that no party will ever win without getting their act together. To get closer to a majority they would need to make more compromise for the center voters, but these idiots keep bringing stupid closed mind decisions. There's no point in getting rid of the mandatory survey beside pleasing a few right wing nuts who read too much american anti-government propaganda.
The liberal party is lost. They went too far with the sponsorships corruption scandals. They hardly have anyone left with a minimum of charisma that would touch any voters younger than 70 years old. They were finally pushing a few worthy measures at the end of the last mandate of Jean Chretien like legalizing same sex marriage and drugs. They just didn't have time to finish the job with the drugs which they could have addressed a few years earlier.
The other parties pretty much contribute directly in getting the conservative re-elected. They can finance their offices and staff by using the 2$ per vote, contributions and other type of financing. They just keep making news stories for newspaper and TV, get a few votes at elections and then rely on having the liberal party leaving enough candidates outside the chamber before any significant vote in order to make sure the Conservatives win to not put back the country into elections.
What do you get out of all that? An elected right wing conservative party that goes after cutting tiny events/measures to be able to please their hard line supporters like the Opus Dei!
djtekslave
offlineMember
@Mathieu
We share the same conclusions I see. The liberals had one redeeming man, Stephane Dion, and they killed him politically. The guy surely didn't have a lot of charisma, his English accent was horrible, but he was the only one post Jean Chretien who was actually getting anything done. I didn't like him much, but he was the only hope. Now our country is the hands of the likes of Rona Ambrose, a light version of Sarah Palin, except the Americans had the sense to limit the power of such a person as Palin.
digitalgeist
offlineMember
North America isn't a country.
djtekslave
offlineMember
Neither are Europe, Asia and Oceania... it should be noted.
S80
offlineShots for all !
I'd rather have Palin then any of those 3 Liberal douches you mentioned. All 3 were borderline retarded.
The Black Oil
offlineMember
If 51% vote to give you a giant wedgie, is that freedom? It sure is democracy, though.
americans have been being raped by their government for centuries
but they keep stuffing double cheeseburgers down their stupid throats, so they're kinda indifferent to the raping due to the natural lube created from fast food caused anal leakage
it doesn't make sense to me either. i really do believe that the majority of people are good... or at least they want to be and think they're good. but this shit is a mess and it is only getting worse
i blame ignorance and everything that propagates it... yes, i'm looking at you religion
praise science
Eric Christian
offlineMember
....ah yeah. lets run it down quickly. amerika is completely broke and has been for quite sometime and were running our country on some big imaginary credit card. we reward the failure of big business and banks with bailouts and punish those who want to start small businesses. were running two illegal wars in which we are basically doing all the heavy lifting for globalist corporate interests whilst carrying water for the fake nation that the UK and US fabricated called israel.
meanwhile, we sold a large majority of our manufacturing jobs overseas and everything in our stores is made in china and falls apart as soon as you get it home and use it. our country is being ran by a person that we don't even know if hes an actual real amerikan or not. however, doesn't matter anyway cause he was installed by the illuminati and the other real people who pull the strings behind the scenes.
now these shitheads are talking about starting another war with iran. iran never started any wars with anyone. after our puppet the shah was overthrown our other puppet saddam hussien attacked iran. then after our boy got out of hand we had to take him out and destroy his country. my country is a joke and the amerikan dream is dead. i'm currently looking for another country to move my wife and kids to. frank zappa predicted all this shit in his music you know...
the vast majority of amerikan people are stupid plastic people because in my opinion breeding. we breed lots of stupid people and then they breed and create even more stupid people. its really the law of natural selection here. my opinion isnt based on race or skin color either. men naturally gravitate to the dumb girls because theyre easy to get into bed and then you get more dumb kids hah hah...
Veillance
offlineMember
the vast majority of amerikan people are stupid plastic people because in my opinion breeding. we breed lots of stupid people and then they breed and create even more stupid people. its really the law of natural selection here. my opinion isnt based on race or skin color either. men naturally gravitate to the dumb girls because theyre easy to get into bed and then you get more dumb kids hah hah...
Sounds like Idiocracy has been initialized.
When the US president is doing a rap song while holding a speech, it will be too late.
Chri0s-Cha0s
offlineMember
To sum it up I am just very disillusioned with everything here. I find my sentiments echoed by my buddies whenever I go out to the pub, or speak out loud at the gas station, or start a conversation with someone next to me in line at the supermarket...
I think that sense of disillusionment is what is perpetuating things here. The average American is fucking down and out about things here...and worst of all we know we are powerless to change it, short of forming a militia and offing the people in charge of making the decisions that put us here. After that, the only thing against us is numbers...
I seriously sympathize with the people who are picking up guns out of anger, and trying to go off on any form of this government that they manage to run into. Not saying it's right, not saying they're going after the right people or directing their energy into the right things. But it should fucking say something about the state of things here.
I'm pissed, and I think a lot of other people (and none too many on this forum) feel the same. But the spine in most of us is broken..it's not necessarily our fault that it is. Like I said, we're just so fucking powerless now to change things. Thats why some of us are looking to leave this place, Like Tsarik and Eric. I'd be lying if I didn't say the same thing has crossed my mind quite a few times as well.
/endrant
Sumez
offlineHuge member
We're not allowed to vote on specific issues, we're only allowed to 'vote' for political parties during election times that we hope will represent our views.
That's how a representative democracy works, and how democracy works in every democratic country. It's easily the best solution as the people who make the choices are (supposedly) people whose job it is to actually engage themselves in the decisions they are making, instead of basing their votes on prejudices personal preferences and cultural upbrining.
the point in a constitution (I'm not sure how it works in the US, but I think it is the same there) is to have a bunch of set rules that the government CAN'T change without the people's votes, as a sort of security measure.
However, what CLEARLY makes America LESS democratic compared to almost every other democratic country is the fact that a vote on a party that doesn't win is a wasted vote, meaning you have to vote for a party that actually has a chance of winning for your vote to have any effect, resulting in a two party system with two parties that are essentially the same. Now THAT, my friends, is incredibly stupid, and it still amazes me that USA can get away with it. You guys seriously need a revolution.
Chri0s-Cha0s
offlineMember
Pickup your guns, pussies...
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