It started with a post on Aardvarchaeology which was then linked by Pharyngula and responded to with a post on Uncertain Principles. Martin Rundkvist, of Aardvarchaeology, declares that US Politics Have No Left Wing which was quickly responded to by Chad Orzel, of Uncertain Prinicples, who retorted that it could just as easily said that European Politics Have No Right Wing. I agree with their base statements: Europe is left of America which is right of Europe, Europeans and Americans both got where they are through trial and error, and that many American politicians are very right-wing, but…To argue that higher taxes are fundamentally better than lower ones, and that certain political positions are better than others, and that religious politicians — regardless of how they publicly use their religion — are inherently inferior to their counterparts is a little too broad for my tastes.
The two party system: just because you don’t lose doesn’t mean you win.
Yet again I break my own rules and get into current American politics.
America is often considered the pinnacle of democracy, or at least that is how Americans see themselves, but as with almost all other representative governments power just flows from one party to another. The 2006 elections were seen by many as the return of the Democratic party to power after the supposed failure of the Republicans to lead and protect the country. While many view this triumph as a feather in the hats of the Democrats and a victory for their way of thinking, it seems too obvious that it was not a vote for the Democrats, but instead it was just a vote against the Republicans.
This is not the first time that the United States voted not for someone but against “that” guy.
