Europe is too much of a soft touch

[walrus]

After the revolution and prior to the civil war our first form of government was a confederate. Didn't work out well. If you read our history you will see there were a few presidents before Washington, Washington was the fist under the constitution. So a confederate was tried here in the US and was not sustainable. I believe Switzerland is a confederate, don't know how many other confederate countries are out their. No American should take issue with you using the word confederate especially when discussing forms of government. None of us are advocating slavery, although I know you commies are big on that in your gulags and what not.

Yes Communism liked its gulags; the UK invented the Concentration Camp and the US advocates torture... Changing the system will not resolve that aspect of society.

Watching an episode of QI, I think it was said Washington was something like the 13th President, which was quite interesting...

We only advocate torture when we really want to know something and someone won't tell us. But seriously, I'm against torture but it must be tempting when you have a known terrorist in front of you. If you caught the guy who had your family somewhere, would you torture him to find where they are?

[Britkid]

After the revolution and prior to the civil war our first form of government was a confederate. Didn't work out well. If you read our history you will see there were a few presidents before Washington, Washington was the fist under the constitution. So a confederate was tried here in the US and was not sustainable. I believe Switzerland is a confederate, don't know how many other confederate countries are out their. No American should take issue with you using the word confederate especially when discussing forms of government. None of us are advocating slavery, although I know you commies are big on that in your gulags and what not.

Yes Communism liked its gulags; the UK invented the Concentration Camp and the US advocates torture... Changing the system will not resolve that aspect of society.

Watching an episode of QI, I think it was said Washington was something like the 13th President, which was quite interesting...

We only advocate torture when we really want to know something and someone won't tell us. But seriously, I'm against torture but it must be tempting when you have a known terrorist in front of you. If you caught the guy who had your family somewhere, would you torture him to find where they are?

Advocating torture is almost a norm in world society generally. As I said, I think no matter what the political model that is not going to change anytime soon. As for your question, I would like to think I would not, but I cannot say for certain, who could?!

[walrus]

If I was a hundred percent sure it was the right person I probably would. As far as the government using torture, if you could guarantee me they had the right person and could save lives I'd be all for torture. Unfortunately, I don't have the faith government will get it right. For the same reason I'm against the death penalty, the government does convict the innocent plus I don't think the government should have the power to take life. It just seems to me britkid, and I say this with respect as you are obviously not an idiot, but you have too much faith in government. I think communism and socialism invest more power in the government which I don't see as a good thing.

I don't know if you've read it across the pond but the past mayor of New York actually outlawed large sized soda and certain saturated fats in NYC. That to me is a travesty, what is worse is this idiot Bloomberg was 're elected. That in itself should be considered an abuse of power. Damn, that one pisses me off.

[Britkid]

If I was a hundred percent sure it was the right person I probably would. As far as the government using torture, if you could guarantee me they had the right person and could save lives I'd be all for torture. Unfortunately, I don't have the faith government will get it right. For the same reason I'm against the death penalty, the government does convict the innocent plus I don't think the government should have the power to take life. It just seems to me britkid, and I say this with respect as you are obviously not an idiot, but you have too much faith in government. I think communism and socialism invest more power in the government which I don't see as a good thing.

I don't know if you've read it across the pond but the past mayor of New York actually outlawed large sized soda and certain saturated fats in NYC. That to me is a travesty, what is worse is this idiot Bloomberg was 're elected. That in itself should be considered an abuse of power. Damn, that one pisses me off.

I struggle to have faith with the Government, hence my want for ultimately micro governance through direct democracy.

But the examples you gave are two good reasons for state control. There is an obesity problem in the Developed world, the size of drinks in the UK are ridiculously big, so banning them would make sense. Also in the use of certain saturated fats; particularly when in the UK the state pays long term for your healthcare, there does need to be a personal responsibility to look after yourself, at least to a basic level, and if you cannot do that then the state does need to get involved.

But I do recognize a lot of Americans have a different outlook on these things, and indeed I would be very naive to think my general views are anywhere near a majority in the UK, indeed, that they are are even on the mainstream political landscape.

[walrus]

If I was a hundred percent sure it was the right person I probably would. As far as the government using torture, if you could guarantee me they had the right person and could save lives I'd be all for torture. Unfortunately, I don't have the faith government will get it right. For the same reason I'm against the death penalty, the government does convict the innocent plus I don't think the government should have the power to take life. It just seems to me britkid, and I say this with respect as you are obviously not an idiot, but you have too much faith in government. I think communism and socialism invest more power in the government which I don't see as a good thing.

I don't know if you've read it across the pond but the past mayor of New York actually outlawed large sized soda and certain saturated fats in NYC. That to me is a travesty, what is worse is this idiot Bloomberg was 're elected. That in itself should be considered an abuse of power. Damn, that one pisses me off.

I struggle to have faith with the Government, hence my want for ultimately micro governance through direct democracy.

But the examples you gave are two good reasons for state control. There is an obesity problem in the Developed world, the size of drinks in the UK are ridiculously big, so banning them would make sense. Also in the use of certain saturated fats; particularly when in the UK the state pays long term for your healthcare, there does need to be a personal reasonability to look after yourself, at least to a basic level, and if you cannot do that then the state does need to get involved.

But I do recognize a lot of Americans have a different outlook on these things, and indeed I would be very naive to think my general views are anywhere near a majority in the UK, indeed, that they are are even on the mainstream political landscape.

Yes, your views are quite unique, and many have merit but on one hand you want the government to have increased power and on the other you call for direct democracy. So the people have to wait until the government seizes more power until democracy kicks in. When the government gets into what types and sizes of food we eat, we in the US call that a nanny state. Now if you have a direct democracy and the people vote for smaller drink portions, which would be ridiculous, I can deal with that. I find it interesting you are so versed in Marx and Lenin and yet mention direct democracy. If I'm not mistaken, I believe ancient Greece did have a direct democracy but I say that only having heard it in discussion. Do you know direct democracies that have existed throughout history, I'm going to Google it to see if I'm right.