[Captain Tom Coughlin]

And that is why limited government is the answer. Power in any form needs to be clearly defined and restrained.

[horatio]

That's what Bradley Maning thinks everyday while he is imprisoned without due process (there are laws for treason), that's what the Ecuadorians thought when the Brits were about to violate international law and storm their embassy, that's what the Russian business men and punk singers who had to endure show trials thought, that's what every Syrian fighting against the Assad regime thinks. That's also what somebody who lost his job because the company manager cheated or somebody who lost his house because of a giant financial scam thinks: Limit power, subject everybody to the law.
So democracy is not so much the rule of the people, this is indeed merely mob rule, but the subjugation of everybody under the law. Obviously our liberal democracies match this idealistic notion less and less. In Europe a technocratic elite rules which isn't democratically legitimized by the people and in America a president can kill citizens without the involvement of courts. It is not really melodramatic to talk about the emergence of a new Dark Age. And voting won't change a bloody thing.

[martok2112]

And the only thing I've seen about voting (one of the few remaining rights we have here) is that we are not voting for the best person for the job anymore. Of recent years (perhaps decades) we've been voting simply for the lesser of two evils.

[horatio]

He is not an American citizen but if you grant him citizenship he could run for the job. The TV debate might be a bit dry though but then again he could run against Doctor McCoy.

[Captain Tom Coughlin]

A Spock/McCoy Presidential debate would be awesome. That's actually a good idea for a parody.

[horatio]

McCoy's frankness would definitely beat the PR-like character of TV debates. You'd get get the real man instead of the mask.

[Captain Tom Coughlin]

Vote McCoy in 2012!

[omegaman]

Originally Posted by martok2112

And the only thing I've seen about voting (one of the few remaining rights we have here) is that we are not voting for the best person for the job anymore. Of recent years (perhaps decades) we've been voting simply for the lesser of two evils.

Exactly. The lesser of two evils. The one that is going to screw you the least! Pretty standard principal these days.

[Captain Tom Coughlin]

We have our Presidential election here in the States coming up in the Fall, and I'm not happy with either of our choices at all.

[horatio]

From my limited foreign perspective it seems like Obama had no balls during his presidency and now plays the cool guy while the Republicans have settled on the most bland and flexible candidate.
This is not an idiosyncrasy of the US, over here the very same "decaffeination" of politicians has occurred which is, if you take into account phenomena like political correctness as decaffeinated language, a general social trend. Life might very well become a bit like in Fight Club, utterly shallow, bland and boring.