Perspective

The CIA's World Factbook has a page on each country's account balance. Search for the United States on the page. It's there. After you find it, try to give it a few moments to sink in. Absorb the information and take it in context. See it in perspective and imagine.

And this is just their trade balance.

Thoughts on the U.S. presidential campaign

Up here in my comfortable vantage point, I can see how much the United States is suffering, morphing daily into a more dysfunctional society. It's a country dominated for years by partisan politics that at times, such as now, seem to come to peaceable terms only to serve interest groups above the will or benefit of the people. Though Canada is not without their own issues, they pale in comparison with what has been happening in the U.S. That is perhaps why this upcoming election is so important, and yet falls so short of having any hope of reversing the country's downward trend.

At a glance, the campaign so far seems balanced and perhaps even hopeful. A relatively young senator riding on a campaign for change is challenging an experienced powerhouse in the Democratic primaries, and over on the Republican side, a seemingly moderate John McCain is poised to take the nomination, with conservative Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul stubbornly trailing behind, each with his own strong base.

But it really is dreadful. Whilst it is refreshing to see that the shameful tradition of white male dominance in the White House may be about to end, many issues are yet to be addressed, and the candidates are not diverse, all of them to various extents tangled in the status quo. A recession and a weak dollar slowly wreak damage, the War in Iraq is still a fiasco and humanitarian crisis, and a weak legislative branch populated by corporate shills are all problems that will not go away immediately at the passing of the torch.

George W. Bush may well have been the worst president in American history, but the fight to remove him and his cronies has been tired and lacking momentum, and though people rally around choosing a better successor, the lack of willingness to face Bush head-on is very discouraging and speaks volumes of a populace that enables such governance. Even today, George W. Bush is destroying his country, and people seem content to ignore him and hope everything will be fine until the election.

And meanwhile, third-party candidates and 'fringe' runners from the two-party system are thoroughly ignored and marginalized by the US media. Journalism that focuses on appearances and entertainment dominates, and alternative views are laughed out of the newsroom. Dennis Kucinich, the candidate I thought had great potential and was willing to support, was cast out by a broken system, his message unheard and his political career in jeopardy. Mike Gravel, another candidate similar to Kucinich with a strong message, is portrayed, if at all, as a loony radical, a national laughingstock. He has yet to quit, but with ailing health and little support, there is zero chance of him getting any farther.

Back to the running candidates, Hillary Clinton is determined to resort to underhand tactics in order to win the nomination. John McCain is a crass and juvenile man, bigoted and racist, having reversed his positions only in order to suit political needs. Mike Huckabee is a disgraceful shill, a false prophet running on the premise and to the great shame of Christianity a hypocrite, a fool, and a dangerous psychopath. As for Ron Paul, I believe he is a good conservative (not libertarian) and would make a competent president in different circumstances, but the U.S. does not need a conservative; it needs a progressive. Ron Paul's hope of giving more power to the state, while it is the states that empowered Bush and the consequences of a reactionary backlash would therefore be dire, is untenable in my opinion.

Anyhow, I have my own reservations about Obama, and for now, I'm going to continue supporting Susie Flynn and kat swift. Someone has got to support the third-party runners.