Obama care

[DeistPaladin]

So I am simply amazed by the response by some in the United States to this. It is little wonder why the United States is increasingly considered the laughing stock of the Western World. Indeed when I despair over how our political environment is like in Australia now, I can take comfort it is nowhere near as bad as that of the United States.

This is a point I'm self-conscious about as well. If during the 90s you'd told me what would be happening in America in the following decade, I wouldn't have believed you. A president who lied us into a war and rolled back our constitution should have been impeached so fast his butt should have left smoking skid marks through the rose garden. 9/11 or no, it was astounding to me that his behavior was tolerated, never mind re-elected.

Our political discourse is ever sliding to the right wing. Now W. Bush seems like a centrist in comparison to the current crop of GOP leaders. The Democrats, the ones who are supposed to be the opposing party, are always chasing after them, throwing their liberal base under the bus (except when they want us to volunteer for them and donate to their campaigns) and running to the right, chasing after that elusive "center". Obama, for all the shrill cries from the right about his being a "socialist", is to the right of Reagan on many issues.

Now, even Medicare and Social Security, once considered "untouchable, third rails" in American politics, are suddenly "on the table". Our bloated Cold-War defense budget is never even considered for cuts.

Someone once said when fascism comes to America, it will be carrying a Bible and draped in our flag. This was certainly true.

The tri-corner hat was a surprise.

To give an example of this insanity I perceve in US politics, in Australia and other Western Nations my political views put me firmly in the middle, if not on the centre-right. However in the USA these same views would put me on the extreme left.

Tell me about it. I was surprised to take two different political tests and find myself an economic moderate, social liberal. Around here, in "red state" Kentucky, I feel like I'm an extreme leftist.