democracy?

i caught chomsky on charlie rose the other night and as usual, he said some things that got me thinking. first off, he mocked our democracy, saying in this country we were given a choice between two guys who went to the same higher learning institution, were members of the same elite, secret society, which grooms its caste for these positions of leadership, and who avoided talking about the issues that mattered most to the people, (and that this is consistently the choice americans get to make every four years.)

when asked of where there was a better democracy in the world, (as if rose's fill-in host could stump chomsky,) chomsky implied virtually all of them by saying we should look to the country who had the most recent elections in our hemisphere; bolivia. he said bolivians recently elected a leader who represented them, (as opposed to being from an elite class,) and that they voted on issues, which they had been fighting about for years and which affect the people, and that their voter turnout and participation dwarfs ours.

chomsky cited several polls and studies which have pointed out the fact that americans consider health care among the most pressing issues politicians should be involved in, and yet, none of ours talk about it. they don't talk about it because they are able to run for the office because of corporate donations and the corporations, (especially the health care ones,) do not want any sort of health care reform. and so, they dictate the agenda.

i listened and sheepishly thought to myself, 'duhhhhh.'

Bush Go Home

well there i am, in front of the casa rosada, buenos aires, argentina, by a makeshift fence on which someone spray-painted the message: BUSH GO HOME.

i saw similar graffitied messages several times while in buenos aires and always i was reminded of that view of the u.s. as the large dog in the small room whose every movement is felt by virtually everyone else in the room.