Its safe to say Americans CAN NOT be pleased

[KingCrr]

I've been coming to TWC for about 5 years now. I also regularly read and post on other forum from various websites as well. The conclusion I've come to about politics is this. We Americans are nearly impossible to please politically. I doubt we will ever have a leader who is considered a great leader ever again, even if he/she is a great leader.

When Bush the younger was in office, he recieved all the blame for everything from 9/11 to minorities being put down. Granted some of the blame he shoulderedwere of his own doing but not all. Katrina was a horrible disaster and yes he was slow to respond but 1 man can only do so much president or no president. People wanted change and Obama stepped to the plate to give us that.

Obama has delivered for the most part what he said he will. Can anybody honestly tell me how he has impacted your life negatively? People are blaming him for not having a job, for the economic crisis, because their alarm didn't go off so they got a write-up at work. Now that the gulf coast disaster has struck everything is Obama's fault. I don't understand what people want him to do? Swim down and cap the thing his self?

Now these are just two recent examples. Maybe they are just victims of circumstance. Does our politicle system need to change? Do we need to get rid of the parties? What will make us happy? Why are we so spoiled? Why do we feel like somebody owes us something?

[jankren]

The two US political parties are way too polarized.

As a non-American I honestly feel sorry for the state of American politics.

Things will only go from bad to worse until a third political party is created.

[hellheaven1987]

I miss the good old day, when Teddy was the president...

Wait, I am not even an American so why I care about that??

[Pious Agnost]

Wait, I am not even an American so why I care about that??

Well it's not really our choice anymore

[Salem1]

The two US political parties are way too polarized.

As a non-American I honestly feel sorry for the state of American politics.

Things will only go from bad to worse until a third political party is created.

Honestly, just a few political parties aren't enough. You need many for different opinions to truly arise and debate to be created.

Now this American overexpectation of their government, just like the OP described, fuels a certain self-fulfilling prophecy; namely the American belief that governments suck.

[Hartleton]

The two US political parties are way too polarized.

As a non-American I honestly feel sorry for the state of American politics.

Things will only go from bad to worse until a third political party is created.

This pretty much sums it up from what I can see. You got the Republicans or the Democrats. Right or left. There is no centre! Half the electorate get what they want, the other half scream and kick.

[Lord Mandelson]

The two US political parties are way too polarized.

Not as far as I can see. IMO, the problem is that they are both what the rest of the world would see as centre-right parties. Thus, supporters tend to be more tribal in their choice of "side", due to a comparitively trifling catalogue of real difference in political ideology.

Fact of the matter is, any party not of a centre-right persuasion would be annihilated in America. Much better for Democrats to try and con the poor that they are left wing when they can.

[Thorn777]

Not as far as I can see. IMO, the problem is that they are both what the rest of the world would see as centre-right parties. Thus, supporters tend to be more tribal in their choice of "side", due to a comparitively trifling catalogue of real difference in political ideology.

Fact of the matter is, any party not of a centre-right persuasion would be annihilated in America. Much better for Democrats to try and con the poor that they are left wing when they can.

I think he's referring to the polarization for the sake of polarizing, not because of actual political disagreement. The republican party of today seems to have embraced a sort of opposition strategy of saying No first and ask questions later, and also actively fueling outright ignorance among a certain active rightwing part of the population(tea-parties, townhalls), even if it damages the country quite substantially.

Bush senior knew when it was time to break his tax promise and loose his reelection to do what was best for the USA at that time. Today its extremely difficult to get similar deals done for the democrats seeing how they are ethically so dependent on compromises in this "polarized for the sake of it" political situation.

btw. That healthcare-bill they got trough was completely watered down, lost about every incentive(mainly the spiraling costs), and it took all kinds of political charades to get past that hill within the own party. Now imagine Carbon-Taxes...lol

In Europe these things go with allot more ease.

[Lord Mandelson]

I think he's referring to the polarization for the sake of polarizing, not because of actual political disagreement. The republican party of today seems to have embraced a sort of opposition strategy of saying No first and ask questions later, and also actively fueling outright ignorance among a certain active rightwing part of the population(tea-parties, townhalls), even if it damages the country quite substantially.

Bush senior knew when it was time to break his tax promise and loose his reelection to do what was best for the USA at that time. Today its extremely difficult to get similar deals done for the democrats seeing how they are ethically so dependent on compromises in this "polarized for the sake of it" political situation.

btw. That healthcare-bill they got trough was completely watered down, lost about every incentive(mainly the spiraling costs), and it took all kinds of political charades to get past that hill within the own party. Now imagine Carbon-Taxes...lol

In Europe these things go with allot more ease.

I get you.

If you ask me, the number 1 thing America needs is an impotent second house. It does wonders for getting things done.

[Sigma]

A third party wouldn't work in this country at all. The way things are right now if a 3rd party was formed, due to the heavy Republican/Democrat partisanship it would only serve to spoil the vote (Ross Perot).

A lot of people I know are hard set against third parties and rather are planning for an election day "purge" of incumbents and those that are deemed corrupt and elect in people they deem adhere to their core ideology beliefs and wish to institute major party reforms. In the political climate that is in this country right now I wouldn't be surprised if riots were to break out around election time.

Another reason our country would not take a 3rd party easily is because the Republican and Democrat parties have basically been around in one form or another since our Constitution was written. The two party system is basically integrated into the country in a sense.

[Bleda]

The two US political parties are way too polarized.

You would know right?

As a non-American I honestly feel sorry for the state of American politics.

It's safe to say you have little insight to a distantly foreign state of politics.

Things will only go from bad to worse until a third political party is created.

There are third parties and they've played vital roles in thwarting presidential elections, not to mention winning the occasional seat in congress. The point you are missing is that in our republic, we elect individual politicians to individual seats, which are apportioned in a federalist fashion. Which actually, emphasizes parties and coalition government. We do not vote for a party platform and have our legislature seats apportioned in a unitary fashion like in most social democracies. No system is perfect, but maybe you should study it more closely before you bless us with your ill-informed pity.

[persianfan247]

I would say no one can be pleased with their politicians and that is the way it should be, keep them on their toes and under scrutiny. Important job and if they can't stand it then they should never have become a politicians in the first place.

[★Bandiera Rossa☭]

The two US political parties are way too polarized.

As a non-American I honestly feel sorry for the state of American politics.

Things will only go from bad to worse until a third political party is created.

Polarized in support, but the two parties are very similar in their intent and goals.

[Enemy of the State]

It's the mentality that government can and should fix everything. There are limits to what the president can do.

[Aru]

You want the US to be lead by a Great Leader with no opposition?
What place does that remind me of?

No, what's happened and what is happening is completely normal. Leaders should not be liked. Politicians should be despised. And always criticized. Only time you are allowed to think good of a politician is when voting. But don't admit it to anyone.

[Hattushilish]

No, what's happened and what is happening is completely normal. Leaders should not be liked. Politicians should be despised.

I disagree with that. Ideally, we'd have leaders worthy of our respect.
If everyone in the UK despised Churchill during World War II for example, the country might have collapsed from internal upheaval. Churchill was disliked by many, but despised by few and respected by most.

Basically what you're saying is "government is corrupt and ineffective, and I'm not even going to allow for the possibility of government that isn't corrupt and ineffective." We should have higher standards than that.

[Aru]

I disagree with that. Ideally, we'd have leaders worthy of our respect.
If everyone in the UK despised Churchill during World War II for example, the country might have collapsed from internal upheaval. Churchill was disliked by many, but despised by few and respected by most.

Basically what you're saying is "government is corrupt and ineffective, and I'm not even going to allow for the possibility of government that isn't corrupt and ineffective." We should have higher standards than that.

Don't go into extremes. The thing is that majority of politicians desire high functions not to better their country, but to fulfill their ambitions. Therefore whatever they do, they do for themselves, and not for the country. They do it to get reelected. It doesn't necessarily have to be against the law (corruption). That's why leaders and politicians should never be idolized. To think that they are working for our sake is extremely naive. They are in politics to fulfill their childhood dreams of becoming presidents or prime ministers, and once they get there they can still be competent, but they are not worthy of sagas.

War is completely different thing. It is never good to change government during the war except if the government is the reason that war is going bad. Unity is critical during the war. Well, at least defensive wars and those big wars like World Wars. In case of American adventures on the far sides of the World, or French meddling in Africa when voters don't feel the direct effects of war and know of it only from news, this does not apply.

[Hattushilish]

Don't go into extremes. The thing is that majority of politicians desire high functions not to better their country, but to fulfill their ambitions. Therefore whatever they do, they do for themselves, and not for the country. They do it to get reelected. It doesn't necessarily have to be against the law (corruption). That's why leaders and politicians should never be idolized.

I'll concede that a majority of politicians seek office to fulfill their own ambitions, but I take it from your statement that there are politicians, however few, who are genuinely interested in doing the right thing on behalf of their constituents?
In that case, aren't you generalizing when you say "leaders and politicians should never be idolized"?

Sure, most politicians are corrupt and/or self-serving... but I think we should allow for the possibility that there might be a good leader on occasion.

[Azog 150]

What the US needs is a viable third party to shake things up a bit.

[uzi716]

What the US needs is a viable third party to shake things up a bit.

I like this idea, it could mean that there is no more far-left and far-right parties for voters.

But as an American I'd be really happy to see us pull troops out of every single country we have troops in and thats about it....