Comments: Vince Prygoski - 2004-10-21 16:03:25 It is shocking how bad "we the people" have allowed our political system to become. Many so-called "third world" countries have fairer, less corrupt election systems than the United States. Yet the United States government/military/corporate elite has the gall to think they can fix everyone else's problems when the U.S. system is so sorely in need of fixing. The more mediocre, corporate puppet "presidents" I am forced to endure, the more I appreciate Jimmy Carter. He may not have been perfect, but at least he was willing to be honest and his heart was and is in the right place. He has done more good since he has left office (the Carter Center, his work with Habitat for Humanity, various diplomatic efforts) than most presidents do in their entire careers. If only he had been re-elected in 1980, the world would be a much better place. At least he has done his best to help counter the harm done by those who succeeded him. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-21 18:47:38 I agree with you completely about J.C. My hat is off to him for his tireless work to improve the world. He's 70-something now, I believe, and still going strong--giving that interview on Terry Gross today, for example, and speaking truth to power. I respect him. * * * * * * * * * * * * Larry Kestenbaum - 2004-10-21 21:06:40 Our political system is complicated due to decentralization and heavy reliance on elections to choose leadership at the city, township, county, state, and federal level. The United States has an estimated 500,000 elected offices. Here in Ann Arbor, my personal vote bears on more than a hundred individual positions, including judges, university trustees, school board, library board, and so on. I'm a longtime and (in all modesty) very knowledgeable activist, but I couldn't tell you the names of every one of the officials who is theoretically answerable to me. Contrast this to, say, Britain, where a typical voter elects a member of parliament and a member of county council. Period. But decentralization is surely not a bad thing, and few Americans really want to trade our untidy political structure for a European-style highly centralized one. That's fine, as long as you're willing to pay some attention to library trustees and state senators, rather than focusing completely on the presidency, or complaining bitterly about the overload of political messages in an election year. * * * * * * * * * * * * add your comment: your name: your email: your url: back to the entry - Diaryland