'It could only happen in America'
Did the founding fathers have a greater sense of morality and vision when they created the US of A, or did they just pick the best parts and try and create some kind of paradise that is now fallen apart as a result of poverty , crime, unhealthiness and corruption.
I can't really fault the US overall. They do have higher overall crime rates and bigger prison populations and worse health i believe, overall, but they have created city after city of amazing engineering and technology. They are world leaders in everything, from art to science to military equipment. Maybe we should have a look and learn. I think in Britain we have a tendency to downgrade the US, probably as we see them as stealing British land, but in reality they have become the dominant force in world Science, engineering, human rights, justice etc etc...
Just throwing in this topic.
USA are not world leaders in much at all, used to be, then stopped.
They built up this us against the world spirit, then a them spirit, and now they can't see what is wrong with their own country... or I should say, most of them can't, the rest know whats wrong but profit off it so go to extreme lengths to keep it that way.
As for Skidder, some right, some wrong, I think you'll find the US isn't close to alone in the neglecting the poorer in society situation, there isn't a country I'm aware of on the planet that doesn't operate such a system.
Till we level the playing field, those with power/money will continue to use power/money to keep their power and money. Its easy, you have a billion, you spend half a billion to stay where you are which lets you make many more billions.
Democracy... lol, we the powerful pretending to let you the poor have a say, while putting on a great floorshow to distract the easily distracted from the reality.
There isn't a left/right wing really, there is two groups who take opposite stances on everything the public are currently interested in.
American public care about religion and abortion, gay marraige and taxes, so that is what the parties there fight over, though not surprisingly no matter who is in charge or what they are for, nothing changes and they just get to blame the other guy. of course, those running for election, those in elected positions spend trillions a year, make a mint, make all the people who paid for their campaigns rich, and then get cushy jobs on boards working for all these companies after they leave office.... but the daft poor people actually think things will change when they vote "the other guy" in next time.
Here the public have a different set of things they are interested in, so our parties bicker over slightly different stuff... and nothing changes, and both sides get rich, and everyone who pays them gets rich.... and we do nothing to change it.
What is Blair doing, the guy against big business, for the working man? He made defence contractors billions, he did nothing to hell the working man, he didn't raise taxes or close tax loopholes(but used them instead) and now charges people huge sums to hear nonsense, while paying smeg all tax and getting stupidly rich.
Anyway, new democracys tend to do well, older ones are corrupt and rubbish, American isn't a world leader in many things, its getting worse, we're getting worse, most places are getting worse, and "newer" powers are surging into the lead on things like education, science, economies.
America itself, is a lovely place to visit, as with the rest of the world, the nice bits are nice, the crappy bits are crap.
