Winston Churchill said, as I recall, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” That may be so, but I think democracy has a lot of shortcomings, some of which I would like to identify here: 

The Electorate
Back in 1800 and before, the electorate here and in Great Britain consisted of an elite group of free male landowners, who could differ vociferously about  many issues, but who at least accurately understood what those issues were. As suffrage was extended to the rest of the population, and at the same time the issues became increasingly complex, the comprehension gap steadily increased. Today, as an example, the Tea Party movement demonstrates how far our citizens are from understanding what’s going on. They can be rallied to march against a supposed Democratic plan to achieve ‘Nazi Communism’ without really understanding either of those contradictory terms, or how the actions of the Obama administration in any way fit either description.

Technology
As this country extended itself across the continent, the electorate necessarily became dependent on the public media as their primary means of understanding events and issues. In Britain, it has been understood for many years that certain publications will provide the slant that you prefer – The Telegraph for Tories, The Guardian for Labourites, and so on. The BBC, on the other hand, appears to maintain a relatively unbiased view. Until recently, the American media, for the most part, also strove for objectivity. With the acquisition of Fox News by Rupert Murdoch, this position has changed. While making the preposterous claim to be ‘Fair and Balanced’, Fox presents increasingly outrageous propaganda for the moronic conservatives who consume it.

But a brand-new development last week has made me even more cynical about the democratic form of government. A right-wing radio commentator actually succeeded in forcing the resignation of an administration employee by selectively editing a recorded speech to reverse its meaning, creating the impression for listeners that the woman was biased against whites.

As the tools to edit both audio and video data improve, it seems to me that it should become possible to create entire speeches by political figures out of whole cloth. We might expect to see on Fox News, for example, a face, apparently that of Barack Obama in his popular Joker makeup, praising Nazi Communism and explaining his plans to create death camps for Republicans. How can the average citizen possibly separate fact from fiction?

The Solution
If democracy is so fragile, you will now be saying, was Churchill wrong? Is there, in fact, a better form of government?
It’s possible. I believe there is much to be said for the time-honored system of benevolent dictatorship. As you are all aware, I am the most modest of men; far be it from me to put myself forward as a candidate for any kind of election. If I should be drafted by public acclaim, however, I promise to be as benevolent a dictator as anyone could want. (Except, of course, for those benighted individuals who oppose me. For them, a few well-designed death camps might really be the thing.)

by Alex Goss

Have Britain and America fallen out ‘big time’?

The fact that one of our largest companies, BP, has covered America’s beaches and nature reserves in oil has apparently driven a rift between the two countries the size of the Atlantic Ocean.

The turmoil began on the 20^th April, when BP’s ‘Deepwater Horizon’ oil rig blew up, killing 11 crew member. The US Government are angry because the rig did not have proper measures installed, and had malfunctioning equipment that was not repaired, so  thousands of barrels per day have since leaked from the snapped pipe beneath the destroyed oil rig. What the USA are also annoyed about is the fact that the rig did not have a cut off valve on the pipe, so that when the pipe to the rig snapped, oil was free to pump out into the Gulf of Mexico, even though US law does not say that such equipment is necessary, which is the case in all European oil drilling nations. The two nations, which for the past century have been about as separable, in the immortal words of Edward Blackadder, as “a Frenchman living next to a brothel”, have fallen out hugely over the disaster. It seems that somehow, us giving America a ‘thousand barrels per day’ of black gold, is wrong! I suppose it is quite like a homeless man throwing an oil drum full of pound coins at Bill Gates!

Barack Obama, saviour of the world, has even likened the spill to 9/11. Okay America, so why don’t you invade France over their “weapons of mass destruction” , steal their oil, and then come after us when Tony Hayward, the ‘most hated man in America’ has already gone to hide in some cave in Scotland.

Having said all that, I don’t even dislike America.

Some of their ideas, such as the cheeseburger, Television dramas, and Sarah Palin are not all bad.

But still, can Obama not see that torturing BP is really not doing any good for anyone? BP, as David Cameron so valiantly praised it, is the provider of millions of British pensions. At a time when the world is only just emerging from the largest recession for 70 years, is it really a good thing to prod one of the most fragile and major economies in the world? It is very irresponsible of America. If anything, they should be to blame, for the lack of legislation in their laws that states that oil rigs must have a ‘Blowout Preventer’, as the laws of nearly every other major drilling nation says there must be. BP didn’t really do anything wrong, they did not go against US law any more than any of the US oil companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. A US public servant hired to look at the rest of the oil rigs in the bay said that every single other company was not prepared for if such a horrific event happened on any of their rigs. All of them had just the same faults as BP did, and any such accidents on any other rig would result in the same catastrophe as is currently happening.

Don’t get me wrong, I agree that the Gulf of Mexico spill is a horrific incident, and the company involved should have to pay, but it is the fault of not just BP, but of the US government, of all of the companies drilling oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and especially of human nature. So BP shouldn’t be the only one to pay. One thing is for certain, America should get out their buckets and scoop up the oil floating around in their bay, ‘cause BP certainly aren’t going to give them any more.

The Oil Slick