A “Two-Option” Democracy

The Article: US elections: Why does the world’s greatest democracy offer just two choices? by Mark Mckinnon in The Telegraph.

The Text: The gauntlet was thrown down in duelling online videos last week. President Barack Obama’s campaign compared presumptive Republican challenger Mitt Romney to a blood-sucking, job-destroying vampire while he headed Bain Capital, a private equity firm. Romney quickly parried with a brutally effective video telling the heart-wrenching stories of just three of the 23 million unemployed Americans in the Obama economy.

The 2012 election campaign season is still young; the battle will grow only more bruising. And voters will become increasingly turned off. But, in America, we get only two choices, and often are left voting for what we believe to be the lesser of two evils.

Friends in Europe and elsewhere often lament their own forms of government which foster countless parties and voices, and create much noise and chaos. Ironically, in America, which we like to argue is the greatest democracy in the world, we are limited to just two choices: a Republican or a Democrat.

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Jean Rostand On Killing

So I guess if you kill no one you’re even worse?

2012: The Most Boring Election Ever

The Article: Is This the Most Boring Election Ever? by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone.

The Text: I was channel-surfing the other day, looking for something genuinely interesting on television, like maybe a repeat of the Big Ten Network’s Diamond Report or video of a wrecked Nazi tugboat, when my fingers got stuck on a news channel. There, lighting up an NBC broadcast with her smile, was New Hampshire’s Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte, talking about her Vice Presidential qualifications …

Who? That was my first question, but then my second obstacle was the sudden recollection that we were in an election year. I’d actually forgotten this was the case. Four years ago at this time, that would never have happened – we were in the middle of one of the most witheringly nasty primary fights ever, with people very nearly coming to blows depending on where you stood in the Hillary-Barack battle.

Back then there was great nervousness in the country even beyond the Democratic Party’s intramural mess, as the specter of the first black presidency was hanging over everything: People as diverse as Geraldine Ferraro and Jeremiah Wright were dragged into racial controversies, while whispers about Obama’s birthplace and “Muslim” heritage spread across the country like wildfire.

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R-Money 2012

Mitt Romney, making greed sexy.

A Tale Of Two Healthcare Systems

The Article: A Tale Of Two Healthcare Systems by Rosie Spinks in The Speckled Axe.

The Text: I’ve always hated going to the doctor. Something about sitting in those paper-thin gowns with the cold linoleum tile under my feet and harsh fluorescent lighting above my head gives me anxiety. Then there’s the fact that I’m usually at the doctor because something feels or appears wrong with me, which is never comforting.

The worst part by far though is the dreaded transaction that awaits Americans at the end of a visit: the co-pays, the deductibles, and the breath-withholding moments before you find out how much of your prescription is covered by insurance. If I wasn’t already feeling sick before I entered the office, I almost always am after I’ve paid.

My experience with health care changed radically for me recently when, upon moving to London thanks to my dual citizenship, I first received socialized medical care.

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