England less democratic

Strange...England is not so much of a democracy. Not only can people not vote for their Prime Minister, but also they cannot vote for over half of their "representatives," i.e., the House of Lords. Also, people and representatives pretty much must vote via party lines.

"The monarch appoints a Prime Minister as the head of Her Majesty's Government, guided by the strict convention that the Prime Minister should be the member of the House of Commons most likely to be able to form a Government with the support of the House. In practice, this means that the leader of the political party with an absolute majority of seats in the House of Commons is chosen to be the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister then selects the other Ministers which make up the Government and act as political heads of the various Government Departments. About twenty of the most senior government ministers make up the Cabinet. In total, there are approximately 100 ministers that comprise the government. In accordance with constitutional convention, all ministers within the government are either Members of Parliament or peers in the House of Lords."

Like America, England is dominated by a 2-party system where one party dominates.

It is odd to us Americans that the leader is abstracted away from the direct votes of the people and can serve as long as he "feels supported:" "There is no term of office for a prime minister. The prime minister holds office "at Her Majesty's pleasure". As however to gain supply (control of exchequer funds) that requires that the government be answerable to, and acceptable to, the House of Commons, in reality the convention "at her Majesty's pleasure" means "at the pleasure of the House of Commons". Whenever the office of Prime Minister falls vacant, the Sovereign is responsible for appointing the new incumbent; the appointment is formalised at a ceremony known as Kissing Hands. In accordance with unwritten constitutional conventions, the Sovereign must appoint the individual most likely to maintain the support of the House of Commons: usually, the leader of the party which has a majority in that House."

"As well as losing the confidence of the House of Commons, prime ministers may also in effect be forced to resign if they lose the confidence of their party. This was what led Margaret Thatcher to resign in 1990."

Not only do people not have a direct say on their leader or half of their "representation" (lords), they also only get to vote on a national scale about every five years sort of and the general elections do not actually link the number of seats won to the share of the national vote.

So voter turnout is only at 60%: "The main reasons identified for low turnout are: Decline in partisanship (many voters are no longer permanently loyal to one party) Reduction in the popularity of various Party leaderships." England is theoretically less of a democracy than America.

-A

What America Means to Me

America means the common person has freedom and rights, simply because he or she is American. America means democracy -- that our government is of the people, by the people, and for the people. America is a grand experiment in democracy, the first national democracy since ancient times. People said it couldn't be done, that the common man is not worthy of such inalienable rights, such power to self-govern. Yet our “experiment” has prevailed for over 200 years.

America means that where you came from and what status your ancestors attained in no way dictates what you can accomplish. America means you are free to criticize your government and that the best press is the free and competitive press. America assumes the population is well-informed, educated, and motivated – that the more vigorous the peoples’ voice, the more robust the democracy. America means debate is healthy.

America means you have the right to struggle with religion, to practice your faith, or to deny religion. America means our government and science is not influenced by religion. This plurality of viewpoints and religions means America is not only tolerant of diversity, but indeed thrives on it. America, therefore, has a broader inkling of the commonality of all cultures and their expressions of God.

America means justice: If government does not represent the will of the people or if corruption is present, a counter balance of justice is built into our system. America is a living expression of our founding fathers' enlightenment ideals and a new understanding that power corrupts absolutely. Checks and balances to every power structure were intentionally built in to our government as the only way to oust corruption.

Our first government actually failed due to the government being too decentralized. This failure perfectly represents the extent to which our founding fathers believed in distributing power out to all the common people. George Washington talked about throwing off the chains of tradition, centralized power, and endless tribal-type warfare between nations declaring that they as God’s chosen people had the only sovereign rights to this or that parcel of land. The founding fathers instead gave power to the individual – rights to defend oneself, of free speech, privacy, enterprise, voting, and petitioning the government.

Above all, being American means the right and ability to freely live and effect change in our own lives; to pursue our productive happiness, wherever that leads us. The question today is, “Where is this America?” To what extent do we recognize this America today? To what extent does America exist?

Today, lobbyists from multi-billion dollar conglomerates have the ear of congress, where riders on bills funnel our tax-payer dollars to indirectly fund excessive CEO compensation. America is the place where no-bid government contracts are awarded to friends of the same political officials responsible for cranking the war machine.

America is where CEO’s work for one year and retire with a $20 million bonus, while their workers’ families struggle by on minimum wage with no health insurance. America is where middle-class families are squeezed to the breaking point, while hedge fund managers and sub-prime lenders get government tax breaks and incentives. America is where poor children are recruited into the army to die in a middle-eastern civil war, yet opportunists can make six-figures as unregulated mercenaries for Blackwater to comprise the unspoken other half of government involvement, all on the tax-payer’s dole.

America is where, in the last century, great science, math, innovation, entrepreneurship, and critical thinking drove our economic engine and propelled us to world leadership. Today, we are more beholden to corporations that claim they cannot adapt – car companies, oil companies, financial corporations, media conglomerates – than we are to the individual’s American dream.

Today, we have given up many of our rights to free expression, privacy, and ability to self-govern. We have allowed the executive branch to usurp power away from the people. We have given up on the right of only our Congress to declare war. We have rolled back habeas corpus, the right to a fair trial and due process. We have dampened the free press by allowing oligopolies, laid down to surveillance of the citizenry, and allowed the justice department to hand over our constitutional rights to the executive branch.

In America, where the long process of democracy can be frustrating, politicians in power may be tempted to subvert the process in exchange for an end product, as a trade for getting things done. However, democracy means the process is the product, the journey is more important than the destination and, in a way, the journey is our destination. Our democratic process is who we are.

Where is America? If I learned what America is in public school civics class, why didn’t our leaders learn what American means and what a democracy is? Why does the current administration think they know better than Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams? How did we let America slip away? And how in the world will we ever get it back?

Impeach Bush and Cheney NOW!

Oh my God! I just finished watching Frontline on PBS; it was recorded so I am guessing it was from last night. The program went into serious detail about how the Bush administration, lead by Cheney and their lawyers, have been secretly and overtly amassing presidential power in unprecedented ways. Of course, we all know this now and have known it for some time. However, hearing the interviews from administration insiders that have been part of and witness to this sacking of the U.S. Constitution and the integrity of our country in general really puts into perspective.

I am now completely amazed that we, as the good people of this country, are not actively seeking the impeachment of both President Bush and Vice President Cheney. I cannot believe we have let these atrocities go on for so long. They duped us all so hard. We must hold our elected officials responsible for letting this happen. Someone needs to take responsibility for what is becoming the beginning of the fall of America and I feel we need to oust the P. and the V.P. now. It is absurd that we have let them get away with everything that they have.

Something I did not know was that one, if not the key player in all of the administration's screwing around is Cheney's lawyer, David Addington. He's been with Cheney for years. He's the man behind Cheney and the legal counsel selling the big grabs for presidential power. He has recently been promoted to Cheney's chief of staff, replacing Scooter Libby.

It's all truly unbelievable. I never thought this could happen to the America where I grew up. I am convinced... Impeach Bush and Cheney now! It is our only hope.

• Introduction to PBS' Frontline story, Cheney's Law
• Watch the whole program online.

Friedman++

I was excited to learn the other day that the New York Times has finally let us read Thomas Friedman's foreign affairs columns freely. The St. Pete Times regularly has most of his articles, but it is real nice to have archival access to them.

He had a good one the other day the Times entitled, "Don't Fret: Just charge the Iraq war to our kids" where Friedman argues the necessity for paying for the wars you are fighting. He goes on about how much damage we are really doing to ourselves and future generations by avoiding new taxes and considering tax breaks during war time. It worth a read (as are most of his articles) when you can. I can post a link to it now:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/opinion/07friedman.html?n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Op-Ed/Columnists/Thomas%20L%20Friedman

There happened to be another good editorial piece in the St. Pete Times just above Friedman's the other day by Paul Krugman, another NY Times journalist. This one was interesting in that Krugman argues that despite many conservatives recently shunning President Bush, stating he is not what conservatism is all about, that Bush is in fact the epitome of traditional conservatism, much like Reagan. In addition to Reagan, Krugman also compares Bush's true conservatism to Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon. Again, it's worth the read if you have a moment:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/opinion/08krugman.html?n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Op-Ed/Columnists/Paul%20Krugman
(yea NY Times!)


"We want the world and we want it NOW." - Jim Morrison (playing in my head right now)

Duped By War and Profit

As the reasons for the Iraq War crumble one after another upon closer inspection, the real reason for why and how we fight reveals it's true, revolting nature: profit. Many pillaging capitalists have made a whole lot of money off the blood spilled by young, naive, underprivileged recruits.

Since the war, Blackwater has made $1 trillion. Halliburton's profits have gone up 284%. ExxonMobil's profits rise almost 50% a year. Defense contractor CEO pay has gone up 200 to 688%. The CEO's at General Dynamics, Halliburton, and Lockheed Martin, the top three profiteers, have made between $65 million and $98 million in four years.

The truly sick twist in this bloody game is that we, the taxpayers, are the ones paying these goons. The Executive Director of Oil Change International states, "While ExxonMobil is posting $10 billion profits in just the last three months, it is gouging each of us at the pump and taking billions more in taxpayer handouts."

How can this racket on the backs of the working poor continue? Who sold our young people out to die in a desert? Why are we suckers? There are many questions and still more answers.

It's not that we didn't need any strikes against Islamist extremists, it may just be that we didn't need to overthrow a country. However, science has shown that people are very susceptible to fear appeals. People are very emotional creatures. We can be swayed by plays to our emotions. If all that is needed are air strikes on military targets and the government instead has a secret agenda to build a democracy, the president will stand on an aircraft carrier in full flight gear or at ground-zero as the largest flag obtainable ripples in the background. These staged photo-ops are designed to manipulate our emotions. As the flag waves and the music swells and the call to action is plainly voiced, very basic feelings make us want to stand up to be who we are: brave, loyal, and free, bound to something higher than ourselves.

Sadly, the puppetmasters know exactly how to make us feel and act. The profiteers do not share the basic moral values of the populace. To them, "the greater good" was sold long ago to the highest bidder: Their souls are black: To them, there is nothing higher than the dollar. These super-capitalists know that Keynesian economics predicts that war is good for the economy, just as our president knew he always wanted to be a "war president" to use the power of consensus generated by war to get things done.

Will we stay duped? Will we allow world leaders to rationalize the death they have wrought because it is good for the economy? When will we take back our country?

Science and Religion

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson talks about on intelligent design, religion and their effect on progress.