Enough of the US election
I am truly fed up with the US election.
We have no say in who is elected, its frankly insulting to Americans when we shove our oar in and say who they should be voting for.
The two candidates are almost equally disturbing. John McCain is an aggressive war mongerer who frankly seems to be bonkers whilst Obama is fostering a very disturbing level of fanaticism about him, including several very disturbing videos of children singing his praises looking like something from North Korea (at least Obama is definitely alive though).
Both are fully paid up members of the political classes. Both support the bail out (unsurprising when you look at the list of their major donors). There’s not much to choose between them on the majority of issues.
Neither offers any hope for change, just more of the same with a slightly different tinge.
I mildly favour Obama, because he’s less likely to go totally crazy and nuke Iran (or something equally stupid), but frankly neither inspires confidence or hope for the future.
The US parties are like NewToryLabour- both essentially the same. Neither willing to give people responsibility over their own lives, both seeking to dictate how people live their lives.
Both parties sanctioned the repression of protestors at their conventions by militarised police and the National Guard. Both parties happily endorse the US government spying upon the people of the United States without warrent, without any protection for the individual. Both parties happily take money from the banks they are so keen to bail out. Both treat individuals as a means to an end.
The only interesting thing is the potential rise of the third parties. Ron Paul has managed to gain quite a bit of attention simply by being something different. His alliance with Nader and McKinnon is interesting (whilst his endorsement of Baldwin is disappointing). They will probably be crushed under the Republicrat duopoly and the financial mess though.
The presidential elections are a grand charade. It doesn’t change anything. The same groups are still in charge, they just have different names.
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October 7th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
I don’t get Ron Paul. If you’re going to be an outside candidate who can’t win, at least be bluntly honest about why your views are markedly different. Take risks. Court controversy. His supplication to the pro-life brigade, for example, is bizarre - unless he really believes it, that is.
October 7th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
So let’s have four years of McCain then. Great.
October 7th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Julian,
The scary thing is, I think he does really believe it. He’s anti-immigration too. It seems that in America, even the self-styled “libertarians” are not truly liberal.
October 13th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Paul: But its none of our business.
The point is the people of the United States (or at least those allowed to vote) have a Hobson’s choice between two candidates who are essentially the same.
Things will not change because a messiah-like figure is at the helm. Obama is marginally better than McCain in my view, but certainly not worth getting all misty-eyed over.
Being the lesser of two evils does not make one good.
October 13th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Julian:
Paul does believe it. I have certain sympathy with his horror over partial birth abortions and at least he’s against a federal ban on abortion, but its far from ideal.
On immigration, I suspect he’s been hanging around the LvMI people a bit too much, they have developed a large streak of anti-immigration rhetoric (Rothbard switched positions completely later in life and Hans Herman-Hoppe is just scary sometimes).
I suspect Paul is a radical member of the Old Right.