The Pundits KeepTalking…
But I think it’s over now.
Kerry made an awesome speech. It was the most powerful and moving thing I’ve seen from the man since the first time I heard his name mentioned linked with this election. Today, I saw John Kerry for the first time. I saw a gracious man, and a man who very much loves his family. I saw a man I might have voted for if he’d been able to get past all the rhetoric and get down to who he is and what he believes.
G.W.’s speech was markedly unimpressive, but then when are his speeches anything else? I haven’t cried during a Bush speech since 9/11. He’s not a strong public speaker, you could tell he was nervous, but his message was clear and strong and mirrored Kerry’s message in his speech. Americans need to stand united under one flag.
I think we can do that. I think America has spoken in this election, and while it may not have been the sort of speaking everyone wanted to hear, it’s what we’ve got. Rudy Guliani put it best, “Who has a better system than we do?”
No one.
Congratulations America! Yesterday you made a choice, and you made it loud and proud. We all deserve to pat ourselves on the back today. Even if we didn’t back a winner, we got out there and voted and spoke our minds. Apathy had no place in this country yesterday. I’m proud to be an American today because of that.
November 3, 2004 1:40 pm 
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By Anonymous, November 6, 2004 @ 11:16 pm
> Rudy Guliani put it best, “Who has a better system than we do?”
Austria, Canada, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Belgium, Netherlands, and many more.
And I’ve named only a few countries that I’ve actually been to (I’m from Austria myself BTW).
The American two-party winner-take-all system just doesn’t meet my standards of democracy.
Now it is my subjective opinion that all of the above-named countries have better systems than the US. It’s not necessarily true. But the chance of the US having the best democracy in the world, as you are so fond of claiming, is very very very slim.
Be careful, claiming that the US system is obviously the best possible system, when there are many obvious flaws, might be misinterpreted as a sign of arrogance.
Say that you have a good system. That’s probably true. Stop claiming that you’re the best and greatest.
By Random Gemini, November 9, 2004 @ 6:45 pm
If you’ve got a better system prove it.
I’d like to know how it is that France has a better system, when just two years ago 15,000 people DIED due to a heat wave.
Quoted from an article in USA today:
“The new estimate comes a day after the French Parliament released a harshly worded report blaming the deaths on a complex health system, widespread failure among agencies and health services to coordinate efforts, and chronically insufficient care for the elderly.”
Full article here.
Deaths due to heat waves are extremely rare in the United States. So rare, that every time someone in the Southwest dies due to extreme heat, it makes the national news.
By Anonymous, November 15, 2004 @ 10:22 pm
Hi there, same anonymous poster back again.
First let me clarify that I interpreted Giuliani’s remarks to refer to the American system of democracy itself, i.e. the methods of chosing a government, not decisions of those governments or other aspects of life in a country. Your point about the unfortunate deaths in France obviously refers to the quality of the health systems and to the quality of living in general.
About the quality of the democratic system… this is about how much the people are really part of the government.
I stated two things… first, a negative subjective opinion about the USA’s system of government; basically I object to the fact that there are only two relevant political parties in the US that seem to be very close together in many respects (viewed from abroad). If you’re not in the tiny “center” of the population, then your vote basically doesn’t count. A party with 20%-30% of voter support accross the country would get no seats in Congress or the Senate; in many other Countries, well, they’d get 20 – 30 percent.
I freely admit that I have no proof that this is anything more than a personal preference.
The other thing I said was that even if I was wrong, it would be a great coincidence if the US system was better than all the other systems on the planet. Now Americans seem to have a habit of mentioning that America has the greatest democracy in the world, without saying why they think so (I’m not even asking for hard evidence here).
It’s like it was a universally accepted fact that the American way of handling democracy was inherently superior to anything else. It’s OK to have an opinion in a discussion about the relative merits of electoral systems. I wouldn’t believe you unless you gave me arguments that I hadn’t heard before; however, the it’s-accepted-as-obvious-fact way of saying it seems arrogant.
But please don’t be insulted by my use of the word arrogant – I’m only trying to warn you about a cultural misunderstanding that’s happening very often between the US and the rest of the world.
By Anonymous, November 15, 2004 @ 10:54 pm
“Deaths due to heat waves are extremely rare in the United States. So rare, that every time someone in the Southwest dies due to extreme heat, it makes the national news.”
Interesting. Maybe the problem in France was an extraordinarily bad one, but if deaths due to heat waves are so extremely rare in the US, how do you explain all the stuff you can find by googling for “heat wave death chicago”? That’s 500 dead in Chicago within a week of 1995. And last time I checked, France was still bigger than Chicago.
But you may have a point here; as far as heat-wave deaths are concerned, some parts of Europe are as bad as some parts of America (and vice versa). Before the disaster in France, “homeless people dying in the streets” was one of our favourite criticisms of America.
But I’m sure we can find other areas where our respective home countries are superiour to the other’s. I’d guess…
access to medical treatment for the poor …. Europe wins.
best medical treatment for those who can afford it … USA wins (probably).
taxes … Europe “wins”. We’ve got four times as much.
cell phones … North America is catching up. Europe is still far ahead, though.
death rates due to firearms … Europe wins. The US is a scary place by comparison.
right to own a gun … for those people who think that should be a guaranteed right, the US definitely wins.
the draft … unless Kerry was right all along… America wins. There are too many countries in Europe which still have a peacetime draft.
alternative transportation … Europe wins.
Electoral system… very different. I’ve stated my opinion, Giuliani has stated his.
The list goes on forever.