Everytime I see elections on the news, they never talk about real issues, they talk about personalties and other stuff.
do you think so?
Yes.
Why is it that what passes for political discourse in the USA is so different than what it is in every other country on earth?
It's so tempting to take the easy way out and dismiss it as mass stupidity.
"It's so tempting to take the easy way out and dismiss it as mass stupidity."
What do you mean by that?
The problem is that your politicians DON'T WANT to talk about -real- issues, and instead campaign on slogans and euphemisms to appeal to the lowest common denominator of the people. All the while they're plotting and making back-roon deals to sell the USA out from under your feet.
Also, this electoral cycle is taking to damn long; the campaigns are in their -SECOND YEAR- of stumping.
I think all the campaigning and voting should all be done within 6 or 8 weeks, so that people can move on with our lives, instead of hearing more sycophantic speeches.
yeah, agreed
Watching American elections is actually quite funny to me, because it's really nothing but a circus. Sure, it's a circus where the person who decides which new poor country will be invaded is elected (I'm hoping to be proven wrong on this one).
Nonetheless, it's a circus. Campaigning with huge banners and all. Lots and lots of money being spent on short speeched all over the country. Isn't it enough to just go on TV a couple of times and meet up at TV studios for debates? Why does it all have to be so damn grand?
drool drool asdfsjd MEGAMAN HUZZAH <snip>
I don't know why the American election cycle and political pandering is so different from those around the world and I'd rather not be a judgemental asshole about it. I would like to know why they are that way so I can understand people rather than allow myself to perpetuate stereotypes.
It's hardly something idiosyncratic of the United States. Any state which has certain qualities (i.e. a single strong office like the Presidency in the US, or political parties based on individuals or political families, like the PPP in Pakistan) would degrade to this level.
For this systematic flaw, the United States is politically fucked. Happily, future nations can learn from its mistakes.
> a single strong office like the Presidency in the US,
In Canada, the Prime Minister is a comparably much more powerful position on the national level than the President in the USA.
Newscasters almost never figure his fashion tastes or personal life into their reporting.
Would a man with facial nerve paralysis win the highest office in America?
>>10
You're right, I should probably qualify that. I was trying to avoid parliamentarian governments.*
A single strong directly elected office like the Presidency in the US.
*incidentally canada is rather interesting in having a stronger prime minister than most.
p.s. the US had a cripple for president once.
So is there another nation that holds elections in the same spirit as the US? Maybe France?
(Interesting about FDR, i thought he contracted polio after he took office. But apparently it manifested in 1921 while vacationing in New Brunswick, and might have actually been Guillain-Barré syndrome. He did take care not to be seen in a wheelchair though)
>>13
Okay yeah my attempt to model this is dqn as fuck and my head is full of cottage cheese.
I would really like to see some sort of explanation for why american political discourse is so terrible, though.
The president of the United States, contrary to your statement, is NOT directly elected by the people. Rather, the people vote for electors, who in turn convene as the Electoral College to actually elect the president. As a result, unlike in other countries with presidential systems where a single nationwide campaign is effective, in the US, presidential candidates must campaign state-by-state. Combined with the fact that inspection of a calendar allows determination (barring constitutional changes) of the date of every presidential election through at least the year 3000, this results in the absurdly long campaigns that have become the calling card of US presidential politics.
It is a horse race. 80% of the coverage is either strategy for taking the lead or telling the public who's in the lead. At least in a circus, it's about the performers. We have a fucking NASCAR race to the White House.
If the elections were American Idol, America would give a fuck.
We just don't care so long as we get our bread and circuses.
Obama wins, US goes down the hill.
McCain wins, (likely) world war III or long series of smaller wars (Iran, North Korea, Russia + Belarus).
Choose the people! Problem solved!
>>18
I wish I knew how you were getting those future newspapers from alternate universes, because to me that looks like pure speculation.
They're delivered by an orange cat outside my apartment door every morning.
>>13
You mean, all circus, with morons as candidates, and people repeatng tupid propaganda during lunch?
Yeah, Chile. We've even got some fucker called Piñera!
Agreed. We've turned the elections into more celebrity gossip. You'd think we'd care more about the economy than Monica Lewinsky or Bristol Palin. Most of the voters are so weak-willed that apparently it's worth it to spend millions of dollars to broadcast a 30 second political ad.