France's Election is Today

[NewTeaBag]

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In the US you are in the beginning of the same process, unsustainable fiscal and foreign policy out of touch with current reality and unwillingness to take impulses from abroad, heading into the same trap. Your mentality is more similar than it is different. So I advice not to mock them as you will end up with a foot in your own mouth.

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I really with the English language did not use the same pronoun for the second person singular and second person plural. This sentence makes no sense.

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Sorry, see that now. Just meant that speaking to French people isn't that different to speaking to Americans. You have different "golden cows" that can't be slaughtered that probably needs to be, but the public awareness isn't there. You aren't living in a progressive country politically, so you aren't in a position to mock the France for not being neither.

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I'm a little confused. Are you German or Swedish or what?

Either way, Im sure your own country has some "issues" as well.
WHy is that you are allowed to mock/crap on The USA constantly over seemingly every issue yet someone from The USA can't mock France? Perhaps I'm dumb, or perhaps your assertion is illogical. (Perhaps a bit of both)

[jman220]

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It is quite democratic, but to make it really democratic I think they would need to add a 3rd round somehow. Reaching the 2nd round is a bit too dependant upon not having similar candidates contesting you.

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I'm a big fan of being able to cast votes for more than one candidate.

[Arnfinn Madsen]

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I'm a little confused. Are you German or Swedish or what?

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I am Norwegian.

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Either way, Im sure your own country has some "issues" as well.

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We certainly have "issues", but people are much more open to new ideas/foreign impulses than i.e. in France or the US, if somebody critizises something/suggest a change people don't become defensive, but listen to what the person has to say. Relatively unique though, haven't seen that in many other cultures.


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WHy is that you are allowed to mock/crap on The USA constantly over seemingly every issue yet someone from The USA can't mock France? Perhaps I'm dumb, or perhaps your assertion is illogical. (Perhaps a bit of both)

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Mock as much as you want [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. I don't retort to using Somalia as example to claim that capitalism is a failed model, so don't use France to prove that a left-wing society is a failure. Both countries' main problems would continue in both models.

[Arnfinn Madsen]

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It is quite democratic, but to make it really democratic I think they would need to add a 3rd round somehow. Reaching the 2nd round is a bit too dependant upon not having similar candidates contesting you.

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I'm a big fan of being able to cast votes for more than one candidate.

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I guess theoretically you could put i.e. 1,2 & 3 and just computerize the whole elimination process and end up with a president after 1st round.

[NewTeaBag]

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I'm a little confused. Are you German or Swedish or what?

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I am Norwegian.

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AHA! A Scandi!

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Either way, Im sure your own country has some "issues" as well.

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We certainly have "issues", but people are much more open to new ideas/foreign impulses than i.e. in France or the US, if somebody critizises something/suggest a change people don't become defensive, but listen to what the person has to say. Relatively unique though, haven't seen that in many other cultures.

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I haven't in this thread, but,in general, I bet you might if the criticism was cranked up to 11 and often was boring, repetitive, and often hypocritical (NOTE This is not referring to you specificily. This addresses a large group of Yank haters, both on this forum and whom I met whilst living in Europe for 5 years)


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WHy is that you are allowed to mock/crap on The USA constantly over seemingly every issue yet someone from The USA can't mock France? Perhaps I'm dumb, or perhaps your assertion is illogical. (Perhaps a bit of both)

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Mock as much as you want [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. I don't retort to using Somalia as example to claim that capitalism is a failed model, so don't use France to prove that a left-wing society is a failure. Both countries' main problems would continue in both models.

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I certainly haven't even discussed France or their failings or The US. I was just trying to get an answer from the anti-Yank euro crowd about this standardish mindset of "OK to poop all over US and policies but dare not question the insanity in our homelands" (Once again not specifically you but many Euros in general).

[Felix_Nietzsche]

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I am with you -- hope Royal wins. The "conservative" candidate won't be able to make any real changes -- he'll merely slow the inevitable. France needs to become a serious object lesson for the world's economies -- the sooner and the more dramatic the better. Get the pain over with ASAP and get a new generation of people who have a different take on government and socialism.

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I agree. I call this the "Jimmy Carter Effect".
Elect a moron that throws your country into the toilet so that the people get pissed enough to elect a 'radical' conservative. A typical French 'conservative' makes John Kerry look like Milton Friedman. Better to let the French socialist tank France so that the French people will wake up... Then perhaps the French can elect a French version of Ronald Reagan.

France needs to hit bottom before they cure themselves...

[Arnfinn Madsen]

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I was just trying to get an answer from the anti-Yank euro crowd about this standardish mindset of "OK to poop all over US and policies but dare not question the insanity in our homelands" (Once again not specifically you but many Euros in general).

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Well, I have already critizised that kind of mentality in France, so I guess we agree.

[rubberloon]

I am rooting for Le Pen, the obnoxious pest may scare some sense into the liberal elite's empty heads, if he gains votes. If the French liberal elite and government bureaucracy are like the Canadian liberal elite and their worse than useless bureaucracy (also French speaking) it is treason, blasphemy, sacrilege, and sedition to discuss any view other than theirs. I expect Le Pen voters will go with Sarkozy in the second round. I'd like none-of-the-above on the ballot.

[Felix_Nietzsche]

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The prez of the US is not a people elected official, he is elected by the "Electoral College" whose electors are not bound by the position they took to be popularly elected.

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It is only in VERY rare situations where a person in the electorial college disregards their duties. Those that do disregard their obligation, lose their positions and NEVER get a chance to serve again.

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My understanding, is that this was designed to ensure that a popular vote would not really upset the real political powers agenda!

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This is just not the case.
If you have an election where the popular vote is 50.5% versus 49.5%, then it is POSSIBLE for the 49.5% candidate to win the presidency. This occurred in the elections of 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000. So 4 out of 55 elections. The illuminati must be very upset at their dismal performance. The conspiracy theory you cite is silly. The result of the electorial college is smaller states and rural areas have a more significant voice on who gets to be president. Otherwise candidates would ignore small population centers and smaller states would lose their clout. Most US states have a winner take all policy, with regard to electorial votes. This amplifies their influence in the role of the federal govt.

[pvn]

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It is quite democratic, but to make it really democratic I think they would need to add a 3rd round somehow. Reaching the 2nd round is a bit too dependant upon not having similar candidates contesting you.

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I'm a big fan of being able to cast votes for more than one candidate.

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How about casting more than vote for a single candidate?