Bush Promoting Democracy Again

[Johnny J]

FYI -- Mohammed Atta was an Egyptian

[Nachtschattenreich]

Development aid bribery is one of those sticky 20th century traditions. Some countries in the business at least have as much sense of shame to rename their stupidity into "intelligence".

[Brother Adam]

The US isn't a democracy. We wouldn't know the first thing about that because we are a constitutional republic, and they figured out long ago if you control all the "representative" positions, you control the whole country.

It doesn't matter what you call it....it has failed miserably here at home so we shouldn't expect to be able to set someone else up to do it better.
_________________
-Brother Adam (we are all one family)

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

-James Madison

Police officers acquitted for beating a 64 yr old man recently in New Orleans. In the words of their defense attorney "all he had to do was comply"....and they wouldn't have fractured his face.

[Brother Adam]

The US isn't a democracy. We wouldn't know the first thing about that because we are a constitutional republic, and they figured out long ago if you control all the "representative" positions, you control the whole country.

It doesn't matter what you call it....it has failed miserably here at home so we shouldn't expect to be able to set someone else up to do it better.
_________________
-Brother Adam (we are all one family)

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

-James Madison

Police officers acquitted for beating a 64 yr old man recently in New Orleans. In the words of their defense attorney "all he had to do was comply"....and they wouldn't have fractured his face.

[Nachtschattenreich]

One possible benchmark for such judgements can be found in the cultural gradient of political careers.

Any nation has to take its precautions for the case of leaders going lunatic. That simply may happen, first of all to these that believe it could never happen to them. We have a lot of records of the subtle character flaws of our species when it comes to dealing with large powers.

Spain had the same Prime Minister 1982-1996, Germany lived with the same Chancellor 1982-1998, this spring Britain will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its latest Coronation, and the world´s last responsible mind on issues of Weapons of Mass Destruction has recently been lifted into his third term by putting a Nobel Peace Prize on his neck.

There are not that many heads of states in our world where you can safely rely upon that in a couple of years they will be giving backroom speeches for the Austin Association of Anti-Alcoholics or something. The American phenomenon of the combination of the functions of head of the civilian state and supreme commander of the military in a single person poses a number of advantages and disadvantages as well, but where in history would we be now without that experiment? As for my definition of failure, a state of slavery as it exists in Sudan these days would be.