and only one man. he isn't gonna fix anything, because he's just one man. worse than that, he's a politician, a class of people who lie, cheat and steal for a living.

as everyone knows, it's in the news regularly, politicians commonly seduce underage girls, boys and unattended sheep, daily divert public money to their 'friends', and publicly laud democracy while making damn sure it doesn't happen in their neighborhood.

the reason the usa has squandered national wealth and world leadership while under the unfettered direction of politicians is... because it's been under the unfettered direction of politicians.

so go on to vote for your 'one man', whichever he is, and imagine your duty is done. but whether your guy is an elitist or a war hero, he's not going to change you, because ignorant and lazy clucks are the reason he's king for four years.

change? pollies like things just the way they are.

maybe hereditary monarchy isn't so bad, after all. resulting leaders are equally stupid, but there's no campaign expense.

king george the third was less expensive that king george the w, and king g the 4th took over without spending hundreds of millions of dollars. choosing a family would be easy: lottery would be fair, and likely to get a better result than king g the w.

seriously, government by lottery would populate the beltway with human beings just like us. pay'em the median wage, and watch 'em to prevent theft or pissing on the carpets.

have to get a better result than the current circus.

about the activities of the rich and well-connected-to-government-officers for some time now. but they never actually do anything about it. that's because they can't. the federal government of the usa is not a democracy, it is an oligarchy.

imagine for a moment that the people of the usa had citizen initiative, as california does. concerned citizens could take action to put referenda before the electorate to fix and prevent problems arising from the current marriage of wealth and power.

once you get democracy, the government starts working for the people or starts looking for new employment. and there's no "we're all buds together in the politicians guild" get-out-of-jail cards issued either.

get democracy, and instead of just complaining, you can start doing.

the constitution was written that way. the rich white men who wrote it were sure they didn't want the lower classes entering public affairs, so they arranged for all the decisions to be made in washington, and the really important ones in secret.

since ordinary people have no input to public affairs, since the business of government is totally in the hands of people they can not control, the american public pays little attention to and has little knowledge of what is going on. ignorant people are fearful of what they don't understand, and have been easily led by the wealthy and their political agents.

the cure is democracy, as they have in california and a few other states. but it's not going to happen- too many fearful bunnies, too many cynical wolves. the politicians have inherited the position created by british aristocrats in parliament, and are even better at holding on to power.

nothing that flourishes in nature is un-natural. the 'command' societies were better warriors, and better producers, and hence more procreative than egalitarian societies. so we have capitalism and presidents and professional armies to extend and maintain the will of those at the top.

i'm not one of those, so i argue for egalitarian democracy.

others come to a different conclusion: they play a role in society that maximizes their personal wealth and freedom by assisting in the dominance of others, and profiting from it. women have been using emotional judo on men for a long time, on the principle that sharing a pillow with a powerful man may require an outward display of 'girly' behavior, but is vastly more comfortable than being the free companion of a drudge. this policy may have had genetic consequences by now, it is certainly part of the common cultural heritage of modern society.

women can support themselves in modern society, and prosper, without displaying overt 'feminine' behavior. even so, there are usually men whose favor is valuable and who respond to 'seductive' behavior. a woman would have to be crazy not to use it. where human society is diverse and stratified, behavior will be diverse and appropriate to the tactics of survival.

men use muscles, women use wiles, it's the natural consequence of our differing body types. some women would like to turn public life into a market place of ideas, sexless and fair. don't think it's gonna happen any time soon, because other women want to use sexuality to get what they want, and men generally prefer to deal with a 'feminine' woman. they know how, just as they know how to deal with other men.

if a woman doesn't have wiles, probably not going to procreate successfully- that's how evolution works. naturally, there's always a wide variety of outcomes in any biology experiment, so no reason not to try to play by unisex rules if you want, but it's truly foolish to fault palin for using her character and personality and looks to get what she wants. she's doing what people usually do- use the tools you got.