Ever been simultaneously filled with horror and optimism?
That was the exact reaction I had when I read the headline Britney Spears Weds Jason Alexander.
Anyway, I’ve just been thinking about what an interesting little federal election system you Yanks seem to have. So, the big knobs in each respective party nominate themselves to run for President. They all tour the country (or rather, just the states with the largest swinging populations to save on time and money), drumming up support by appealing to the lowest common denominator, shaking hands and baby kissing and spouting off what the majority of the population want to hear (or rather, since voting is non-compulsory, a sizeable minority of the population, without offending any significantly powerful socio-economic lobby groups), back-stabbing and bitching about the weaknesses and/or questionable personal histories of their fellow party member running-mates at every possible opportunity.
Then, when the primary results come out, they all rush to pat the winner on the back and declare their unanimous support in hopes of not only being on the winning team come election time, but that a vice-Presidental running-mate bone might be thrown their way. That candidate is then said to stand for said party, even though they can conceivably only have a minority of party support. And you need millions and millions of dollars in “donations” to even be in with a chance to do all this. Is it much wonder your current president is a clueless, gibbering, glorified puppet?
Not only that, it seems to me the primary system favours the guy already in office (unless he’s doing an awful job), is highly decentralised, and is predicated primarily upon the voting habits of fickle, selfish, and, let’s face it, ignorant and short-sighted, swinging voters. Is that analysis reasonably accurate? My high-school modern-history country of expertise was Germany, not the US, so I’ve had to piece this together largely from secondary sources, and filling in the gaps myself as I went along. And I’m still recovering from the draining effects of stifling midsummer dry heat, sunburn and bad sleeping habits, so it’s highly conceivable that you have no idea what I’m going on about.
