perhaps, mr shapiro, you will allow me to classify the usa as an elective monarchy?

whether or no, the quality of the debate was at least as good as the quality of the american electorate. they have, after all, elected king george the w twice.

three years ago, more than half the electorate thought king g the w was 'our great war-leader, el maximo decider.' there were no mass rallies, calling for impeachment. still aren't, in fact. which means not only are the washington politocracy corrupt to their teeny toes, but the electorate are debased beyond participation in civic life.

the course of the (new) roman empire will parallel the old, fools succeeding monsters succeeding fools, with occasional generals bringing sanity to the management of the nation at whatever cost to personal freedoms.

can america return to the path of virtue? of course not. you were never on it.

why is it ok for pakistan to have an atom bomb, but not iran? and india and france, but not iran? and the usa and israel, but not iran?

are you living in looking glass land?

there will be no peace while the zionists defend a religious state of israel. peace will happen when the u n watches the transformation of israel and the occupied territories into the secular state of palestine.

i would claim this is obvious to anyone, if justice was the goal. but apparently it is not.

don't you think it's time the people of the usa wrested control of their nation away from pollies? leaving people like this in charge of foreign policy is russian roulette.

what is the argument against gravel's initiative for democracy? too hard? gotta feed the dog? the baby's crying?

if you are frightened of people like podhoretz whispering in the ear of whatever amoral jerk is currently decidering which war to start, then either get busy, or pull the covers over your head and shut up.

the only security for any country is power, particularly the power to deliver nuclear bombs to an attacking country. since the usa has been demonstrating an intention to control middle east oil for more than 50 years, more recently by invasion and occupation of iraq, little wonder that iran wants a few atom bombs. you would too, if in their position.

the grand plan of cheney-rumsfeld has met with some unexpected resistance but has not failed. the democrats are going to stay in iraq too.

iranians are not fools, nor cowards. they will have the bomb, plan on it.

and do the rejects show up in the presidential debates?

depends on what your aims are. seems to me that the usa is trying to establish an iraqi client state, cow saudi arabia and syria, shore up israel, control middle eastern oil and deny it to china. there have been major setbacks, and democrat administration will likely benefit from the achievement of these goals.

but the goals will be achieved, progress continues even as democrat pollies proclaim how unwillingly they continue the conquest.

once you brush the star-dust off your eyes, you may realize that the goals of this administration are not 'peace and justice throughout the world'. worse yet, nor is any american government any different.

do try and distinguish what they do from what they say, you look less foolish.

most of the responses reveal contempt for the character of elected officials and bureaucrats in washington. but i wonder how many have thought to support the democratization of national government through gravel's "initiative for democracy?"

or are all of you content to believe that dubya invented evil and spread it widely through washington by sprinkling a powder on visitors to the whitehouse?

he didn't, you know. the imperial whitehouse has been evil for much longer. it won't improve until ordinary americans set the limits on it's activities.

that's who that 'sumbody' is, it has to be you.

if the candidates and incumbents of the federal government are largely amoral and/or corrupt self-serving careerists, perhaps it's time to democratize the federal government?

or do you enjoy being the grease on the chariot wheels of the mighty?

the significant difference between the usa and nazi germany is, you can write, email, phone as many elected officials as you like, and demand that blackwater and similar organizations be put out of business, after being gutted by civil suits. it wouldn't hurt to send prince to the icc, either.

one of the similarities between usa and nazi germany is, your elected officials support blackwater, take corrupt money from it, and are not about to rattle this sewer pipe.

maybe the first thing you should do is back gravel's democracy thing. after the people are in charge of america, you can deal with blackwater, and everything else that stinks in public affairs.

g g, and all of you, have the means to save yourselves from drifting into totalitarian government. it's not even very hard: just back mike gravel's 'initiative for democracy', and put the citizens of america in charge of the nation.

this will require a little effort, a little persistence, but not much. you can do it, if you're genuinely concerned about your future. or are you just here out of curiosity, or boredom, or furthering some career?

get off your ass while you can, or you'll be on your knees.

as long as you must vote for people instead of policies, you only get a stay of execution. instead of exporting 'democracy', think about installing it in the federal government.

in view of the long-term policies of the cia and nsa, and the character of professional politicians, this is a matter of urgency.