[extropy-chat] Politics: US talks of suspending elections

J. Andrew Rogers andrew at ceruleansystems.com
Tue Jul 13 18:26:00 UTC 2004


Amara Graps wrote:
> This particular news was on the Italian radio this morning. The
> reaction from my immediate environment is that of sadness, words of
> 'looks like a dictatorship' and so on. The people around me also asked
> questions about what is the true lifetime of a democracy, because it
> looks like an incredibly fragile thing now, with the US has having had
> demonstrated the longest democratic life.
 

Its not that bad, and people are over-reacting.  The entire range of
contingencies is being investigated -- a legitimate exercise for the
government -- and the media is using it whip up some FUD.

As you probably know, you might take European media with a grain of
salt.  The extreme spin and propaganda-ish feel of the European media
when it comes to covering anything in the US is a travesty and quite
honestly the worst of anywhere in the modern world in my experience. 
Asian coverage, for example, is far more balanced even in countries that
aren't particularly friendly with the US.  It wouldn't annoy me nearly
as much if there was a broad diversity of competing viewpoints in
European media (rather than the pervasive and heavy slant) keeping each
other honest, but that doesn't seem to be the case in any practical
sense, at least not like it is elsewhere.


> Since I am still hoping to vote in the US elections from here, I have
> a political question for you US citizens, who have more information
> regarding Kerry. Does Kerry's policies look like he will continue the
> Bush 'War on Terrorism fear-amplification machine'? (I think you know
> what I mean).


Kerry is an empty suit who spends most of his time fighting his own
doppelganger.  He is an absolutely lousy candidate and won't attract
votes from much more than the party-bots.  If that's the best they can
come up with, the Democratic Party is dead and doesn't even know it yet.
 Doubtful he'll make things better even under the most optimistic
circumstances.

There really isn't much to vote for in this election.


j. andrew rogers





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