NationStates Jolt Archive

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

Americans. At least, those of you prepared to spend 10 minutes or so. Click on the BBC link above. At the top/right of the page, you'll see 'Watch/Listen to BBC news,
then click 'entertainment'. Please then watch 1) US foreign poilicy 'uncovered'.
2) Deat & politics in Colorado.

Americans. The rest of the world has been trying to tell you something for years now. Possibly the bulk of the media and Hollywood is doing the same. I respect the political views of all people............thank God we live in countries that have political freedoms. And that's the rub.......as ludicrous and impossible and sci-fi as it sounds, America is slowly losing its cherished freedoms. We all feel we're going to live forever. Then along comes a day when someone close to us dies and you 'feel' your own mortality. Then of course, some day comes ours. I accept Republican ideals, though they're not ideals I support. But this current Republican regime is drip by drip stealing yours. Sounds ridiculouse? Impossible? Trust lifes experiences to tell you that what can now seem impossible, can not only be possible but through naivety and smugness, but become the norm.


"I go all over the world and I must say that the news we get in America has nothing to do with
the news that you get outside of this country. People don't understand why so many of our usual
allies did not join us because if you get outside the United States you hear a different kind of news.
My favorite source outside the US is BBC. They're independent so they're not owned by any of the
major corporations that have vested interest in this war."
--Cher, calling in Cspan saw it on Atrios's blog

The videos you mentioned aren't on the list.

Cher? You are quoting Cher?

BBC Bias -->

http://www.instapundit.com/archives/016085.php


I just try to look at several sources: BBC, Economist, CNN...

for a good overview of US foreign policy, I recommend:

Rise to Globalism, by Ambrose

It is by no means flattering, but not as horrific as some like to think.

The videos you mentioned aren't on the list.

You couldn't have clicked 'Entertainment'

Actually, I agree, to a point.

Yes, the freedoms we Americans enjoy are slowly eroding, but this isn't limited to Dubya's administration.

If you look back into US history, you can see that many porgrams in the past supported equality under the law by equalizing the liberties of women and minorities with the male majority. But if you look into the recent past, you may notice a trend of creating equality (note the lack of "under the law") by eroding freedoms.

In everything from welfare programs to school and corporate work quotas, this is becoming the case. Now we are adding security there as well.

This has been true of every administration in recent history, but I don't think it is all tied to these administrations. I think its main source lies in the concentration of power.

When the federal US government was founded, the founders took particular care to partition the government into three branches. I believe everyone here is familiar with the concept of balance of powers? Well, I think what the founding fathers did not foresee is the bureaucracy.

One way bureaucrats increase their power is by getting more public money and increasing the size of their office. One way corporations get bigger is by accepting government money...from buraucracies. One way politicians gain power is by funds from corporations...who want certain porkbarrel laws to support their supporting bureaucracy. This is called an iron triangle, and is very hard to break. Instead, it just keeps growing and growing.

Eventually, buraucracy clogs the system, wastes taxpayer money, supports sloth through handouts (leaching the system), and imposes restrictions on society.

And at least in the US (and I suspect elsewhere), there is nothing to balance the buraucracy's power, and little to trim it back down.

Classic example, social security. When it was created, there were very very few people living past the age it was designed to support. Now, the average American lifespan goes well beyond its current, higher level. The bureaucracy grew because of support from voters getting money, corporations getting buisness, politicians getting votes, and buraucrats getting more power (and more pay). But what does it do to support the economy?

Nothing.

Of course, we could go into a lot more detail about social security alone, but thats not the idea here. The idea is to illistrate the concept that it is bureaucratic growth that slows a nation down.

It doesn't matter if Bush Jr OR Kerry gets elected. Either way, American civil liberties and civil rights will continue to decline, taxes and inflation will continue to increase faster then wages, and the bureaucracy will grow.

Which is why I guess I lean towards Libertarianism...and why I do NOT expect that party will ever become a major party in the US.

Too many leaches need their free lunch.

You couldn't have clicked 'Entertainment'
I did and I don't see them.