No - Chinese and Koreans also don’t like Japanese people as a general rule, and this holds true today.
This won’t stop a business or diplomatic deal from going down, generally, nor should it.
I think we have to abandon this aspiration of being well-liked - that is an ephemeral thing, hostage at all times to the prevailing issues of the day, and would be difficult to attain in the best of circumstances given that we are a large and prosperous country, and this is a source of resentment all by itself.
Better we should strive to use our power wisely, and help others become powerful, prosperous, and free themselves.
If you’re talking about prejudice, then you’ve simply got it wrong. Very few people are prejudiced against America. Most people in the world really like America, or did until recently.
And when you have the biggest stick ever, speaking softly is even more important.
Everyone knows how strong we are. Everyone is aware of our economic prowess. At this point, swinging our stick at every problem is decreasing our influence.
Fuck you, Blather. I’m a member of the Green Party because I don’t want to be represented by Democrats or Republicans. Is this really hard to understand? And if you’re too stupid to get it, should you really vote?
You can say that, but that does not make it true. After all, evolution-deniers do not think they are stupid, either. I do not see why people who doggedly refuse to vote strategically should be exempted. After all, voting a green ticket pretty much guarantees that you will be represented by a democrat or a republican. Well done.
So how does a third party gain momentum then if people don’t try to get it going? A nice catch-22 you and your friends have established. No matter how bad the two parties are, just keep going along with it.
The Democrats were looking pretty weak in 2000 & 2004 and the Republicans had already lost the party to an unholy alliance of the Theo & Neo-cons.
If a third party was going to get rolling, this was a good time for it.
I think a third party is a great idea, but in our form of government having a few representatives in congress doesn’t give you the power that you have in a parliamentary democracy where coalitions need to be created to form a government.
In order for a third party to be important in the US it needs to be attractive to a large number of people. The nature of the bell curve means that you can’t attract large numbers of people by advocating fringe issues. A better tack would be to stake out the center:
Populist
Pro-labor
Pro-small business, but wary of large multi-national corporations that ship jobs oversees
Abortion is legal, safe, and rare but not unlimited rights for late term abortions unless mother’s life in danger
Well that is fair, I am prejudiced by the combination of the Environment being my primary issue and feeling completely betrayed as a life-long Republican. I recognize going back to Newt’s revolution that my party was abandoning me, but I kept holding out hope that we would come to our collective senses and kick these people back into the dark hole they crawled out of.
Have you ever read the Ten Key Values of the Green Party? It is possible you think they are only one issue and what Nader babbles about.
I suspect you have more in common with them, then I do. Please click the link and read the details to the ten bullets.
I think it was Japan’s historically comfortable attitude toward forging “honest alliances” on such terms that eventually led to their country being nuked and their government overthrown. Maybe it’s better to emulate Canada after all?
I only know of Cynthia, she is more of an ally to the greens than a Green Activist. **DanBlather ** would be proud of me this year, I only focused on the two parties. However, my liking and respect for Obama went very high. I think he will do more for the Environment than the other candidates.
I suspect HRC would actually do the least. I was at the Board meeting of the environmental group I am active in and before the meeting we were talking about how it was nice that even the Republican had a good Green record. One of the Liberal Democratic Greens actually mentioned the she though McCain was greener than Hillary. I was surprised to hear this. Though it confirmed my own belief. Obama has some sound and detailed proposal to deal with Global Warming. This is huge to me. He wants to do it in a way that creates new jobs and industries, that appeals to the Rockefeller Republican in me.
How does it work in Israel where various small parties form alliances against others? Perhaps having a small population makes it possible. Third parties in the United States might do well beginning at the local level and moving to state, then national elections.
I think this is a great approach; stress how being green helps the economy rather than hurts it. You can see big business starting to embrace things like health care reform because of the effect of health insurance to their bottom line. Also, the anti-evolution wing of the Republican party scares away the fact-based Rockefeller Republicans.
I’d like to see a “Radical Center” party that is free of both oil and insurance company lobbyists as well as Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton demagoguery. In addition to my list above add no-earmarks, reducing size of military, increasing spending on education, and reducing red-tape for business.
Don’t most democracies have multi-party systems, rather than two parties systems? I cannot think of another working democracy with just two entrenched parties. There must be some, but they escape me.
I would think a heavy push in a Western State, especially California would be the place to get the Green Party some people in office, the problem is that our campaign laws are designed to keep the small parties, very small.
The main idea of Nader in 2000 was to grab 5% of the vote and thus be automatically on ballots in most states and be fully eligible for public financing.*
This would in turn help in getting a few congressman elected and some state officials.
Jim
I don’t know how much of this is fact vs. the buzz I heard at the time.
Israel elects people to the Knesset based on a system of proportional representation and party lists. That, along with a parliamentary system of government, means that it’s easier for minority views and parties to do well.
Right. I’m not sure that Americans are or ever will be ready for such a system, though. If the Green Party gets 1% of the vote for Congress nationwide, but doesn’t win any elections, I don’t think they should get 4 seats in the House of Representatives. I think Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t be too pleased with the idea, either.
