It's part of why the electoral college is so nutso.
Everyone wants to look at the downsides of the electoral college. And it is a quirky system whose roots only really make sense if you look at the historic reasons for its existence. BUT consider how bad a recount situation would be in the states if the election was by popular vote. With some minor tweets it would be quite reasonable (like more electoral votes and requiring they be distributed in portion to the given state's percentages)
According to polls, the entire world is happy except Pakistan and just under half of the USA.
Yeah in France virtually everyone wanted an Obama win. I asked a number of people why and nobody could give a rational reason. (SEE: below)
Lol, you seem to assume that the end of America's economy literally means the end of the world?
Umm..a true US economic crash would cause world-wide economic upheaval. That's just the way it currently is.
The evidence is George W Bush. He started this whole mess, and his economic plans were almost exactly the same as what Romney proposed.
Look further back. Regan's reduction in oversight of banking practices are a huge contributing factor. As much as I disliked "W", alot of people were had a hand in making the mess.
In US we have this whole separation of church and state thing...kinda is a big deal.
Only in spirit. Although the "separation of church and state" notion is constitutional by supreme court ruling (don't remember the title..but it was about bussing in one of the eastern state). However that's getting trampled on all-over-the-place (sadly).
Your freedom of religion begins with your own practice of it, and it ends with my freedom from it.
I would restate that...and it is in fact my only moral code: My rights end where someone elses begin. I wish more people would buy into that notion.
Policy discussions on a game programming board are turning out about as well-researched and reasoned as I expected, sorry for having jumped in in the first place. Y'all have fun with it.
Do you really have a reasonable expectation of having that with anyone? Let's face it, politics for most people is a religion. It's not based on anything rational. And religion is like software end-user licenses. Users just scroll to the end of the text without reading and click: "I agree".
... see JFK but he did pay the price ...
Never understood the JFK myth.
Cutting the military budget is nothing the US can pursue (decide) alone.
That's smoke and mirrors. The real problem with US reduction of military expenditure is purely pragmatic and economic. The money comes from federal coffers and is used in states. If you reduce military spending, it's highly likely your state is now received a large chunk of less cash. All the services which various bases use? Bye-bye. Do we need that new fleet of "X" which cost billions and is produced in "N" states? Do you vote against it if you represent one of those "N" states? Probably not if you want to get re-elected. It's a snake which is eating it's own tail. In addition I have the impression that a fair number of people use the military to start out in life: to learn a trade or to get money for higher education. Also no sane politician ever wants to be in the position to need to vote for a reinstatement of the draft if placing people on the ground was deemed necessary. Now of course all of these are "short-term" issues and it would be pretty easy to use some of that money in much better ways which more than address these issues in the long term. Sadly people only care about the long-term in a very abstract way, and only if the long term solution doesn't have a short term impact on them. So it goes.
If we dropped all our troop and cut down the military then that would be a sign of weakness which could lead to increased tensions which could lead to war.
Err..no. Technical superiority is more than sufficient. You only need a lot of bodies to occupy foreign soil. Unless my history is getting too rusty, the last time that was successful was the Romans, unless you count post-WWII...which you really shouldn't.
never thought I would here someone say Americans were friendly
Of the people I know that have visited the states, that's one of the most common things you'll hear...same for Canada.
Concerning healthcare: it should not be a luxury. Health care is a universal right.
The trouble with healthcare is all the solutions suck. OK I haven't been paying attention on how the reforms are working-out in Canada, but most countries that have very good healthcare systems from an individual standpoint are massive economic drains if not outright disasters. Sadly too many people are abusive of things they deemed free...or worse free and their "right". You need a very civic minded populous to have any hope of success.
The pro-gay/pro-abortion things really bugs me.
What should really bug most Americans is that issues like gay-related anything, abortion related anything and region based anything is "bait-and-switch" to avoid any real issues. Not that they same thing doesn't happen elsewhere...just the topics are different.
..but keep things like plastic surgery, sex changes, and abortions out..
It's surely not your intent, but placing these together is somewhat insulting. Not asking for a response, but by "no abortions"...not in cases of rape? severe risk to the mother's health? massively deformed baby?
(This is an aside and not targeting StumpyStrust) What I find most strange about Americans ATM is the more religious they qualify themselves as, the more likely they are to be opposed to abortion (in ever increasing cases) and yet in favor of the death penalty. Aid to these children AFTER their born? That's a no. The fact that unwanted children are statically likely to have more miserable lives and there's a much higher rate of abuse? Tough....god's will and all that. So it goes.
However, in reality, social mobility in the USA is pretty much the lowest of all Western countries.
Ah..I think you need to re-think that.
