I don't know if you picked that up, near the end there's a comment :
" 42% of the kids in high school in America don't know who the U.S. were fighting during world war II "
I don't know if you want those 42% to have someone they can relate to, running for president...
What strikes me (as an European) is that most Americans expect a candidate for presidency to relate to middle America. First of all to be running for President means you are wealthy, I'm talking about millions. If they inherited or earned it doesn't change the fact that they're not a part of the middle class. The second thing is they're a part of a system, candidates emerge from a group, which middle America will never be part of. It's called a political party, and even if on television democrats or republicans don't look alike, they're playing the same game. The rules a bigger than the candidates and neither sides will change them. In the end, if you look from a distance the fact is you vote for the same ideology. There's only 5% of the whole political spectrum that is represented.
The simple example is universal health care, it's called communism on television in America. On the other hand, giving billions to banks or farmers (well over the years in the case of farmers) is neither socialism or communism. The essence is the same, you're giving the public sector's money (country, state, ...) to the private sector (individuals, private compagnies, ...).
I'm not here to say this one or that guy is better, but to say that Americans believe in a system that never changed and with the evolution of society is now set up to fail on many levels. Yet most people tend to believe there's going to be a great outcome where most of the time it's a choice between worse and terrible.
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uncleosbert
14 years ago
it may not have occurred to you, but 75% of the kids in high school can't vote. anyone pandering to them trying to get elected is an idiot.
there could still be a great outcome if people stopped allowing themselves to be divided by shallow imagery. who cares who is waving a tiny little american flag or wearing a tea bag on their head? though it pains me to quote charlie daniels, he was right when he said we needed to recognize that we are americans first. george washington said as much in his farewell speech. party ideology and loyalty are dangerous because they reduce the people's ability to lean on our institutions to enable and promote change. it really shouldn't matter that the elite dominant elected offices if we managed to hold our government accountable. it's not enough just to vote and hope the guy will do the right thing in the four years between elections.
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