# Non-U.S. Dopers: Are your politicians THIS bad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 21, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144 "2006-12-21T23:36:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/21 "2006-12-22T17:15:26Z")
Well, I’m not a non-US doper, though I was born in Mexico. I’ll just say that of course no other country in the world has bad politicians, corruption, politicians who say or do stupid, illegal or otherwise unwise things…only it America do we have that situation! Why, in my former country of Mexico, there aren’t any corrupt or stupid politicians to be found anywhere… 😛 I’m sorry, but its kind of a silly question. Does the OP feel that American’s are some how a different species…or that the rest of the world outside our borders don’t contain humans? 😉 -XT ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/22 "2006-12-22T18:55:32Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] I gotta say, when the Brits have a political sex scandal (pretty much weekly, it seems) they know how to do it right, and the British press knows what to do with one. [/QUOTE] Oh, and how could I have forgotten to mention the latest “scandal”. More of a bizarreness, really. Weirdly-named Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik dumps ropy middle-aged weathergirl ficancée Siân Lloyd in favor of slightly less ropy, potentially anorexic, and very much younger “singing” _Cheeky Girl_ pop twin (only hit: “Touch My Bum”) Gabriela Irimia, then tries to get her a visa on the sly. [You really couldn’t make it up](http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006590201,00.html). We don’t have TV or the Internet in the UK, you see, so this is what passes for entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/23 "2006-12-22T19:02:47Z")
So far, we haven’t had too much in the way of extreme ideals in our parliament. Those who spout them are either playing it up for votes, and therefore got mocked by the public, or don’t stay long in their positions. But – we know it will happen. Debates over abortion law reform, “community standards”, immigration and homosexual law reform have been bitterly partisan in the past, and as the world leans more and more into paranoia, we’ll be affected more and more as well. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/24 "2006-12-22T19:52:19Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] You don’t consider Tony Blair to be “overtly” religious? He certainly doesn’t keep his beliefs to himself. [/QUOTE] Doesn’t mention God in the course of his duties much though. I’m not sure that a mainland British politico would prosper if they did. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/25 "2006-12-22T19:55:54Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Oh, and how could I have forgotten to mention the latest “scandal”. More of a bizarreness, really. Weirdly-named Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik dumps ropy middle-aged weathergirl ficancée Siân Lloyd in favor of slightly less ropy, potentially anorexic, and very much younger “singing” _Cheeky Girl_ pop twin (only hit: “Touch My Bum”) Gabriela Irimia, then tries to get her a visa on the sly. [You really couldn’t make it up](http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006590201,00.html). We don’t have TV or the Internet in the UK, you see, so this is what passes for entertainment. [/QUOTE] I like Lembit, he’s the only MP who takes the possibility of asteroid impacts seriously. Very seriously. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/26 "2006-12-22T20:14:35Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] [Stephen Milligan MP](http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/8/newsid_2538000/2538165.stm). [/QUOTE] It’s a truly rare thing to see “death by misadventure” and "no traces of drugs or alcohol were found in (the deceased)'s body. They go so well together. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/27 "2006-12-22T20:55:24Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] It’s a truly rare thing to see “death by misadventure” and "no traces of drugs or alcohol were found in (the deceased)'s body. They go so well together. [/QUOTE] I’m sure that was the coroner being discreet or just plain nice. Mind you amyl nitrite doesn’t linger. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/28 "2006-12-22T20:57:39Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] You don’t consider Tony Blair to be “overtly” religious? He certainly doesn’t keep his beliefs to himself. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Struan] Doesn’t mention God in the course of his duties much though. I’m not sure that a mainland British politico would prosper if they did. [/QUOTE] I agree with **Struan**. I suspect Blair’s ability to play to his audience might be involved, and that he’s more likely to raise the subject when being interviewed by American media. [Relevant article](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/05/04/nblair04.xml), and googling the phrase “we don’t do god” turns up plenty others. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/29 "2006-12-23T10:31:27Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Then there was Ron Davies MP who was caught in the woods ‘looking for badgers’ [/QUOTE] It’s a snake! Ooh, it’s a snake! It’s a… oh. Oh my. ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/30 "2006-12-23T16:37:40Z")
Indian politicians are quite an industrious bunch. You have the [cabinet minister](http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-11-28T201358Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-278142-1.xml&archived=False) who was recently convicted of the murder of his secretary in 1994. You have the [ex-cricketer turned MP](http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200612011401.htm) who was also recently convicted of homicide (but not murder). You have the [Chief Minister](http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/mar/18modi.htm) who was refused a US and UK visa because of his government’s policies during a religious riot in 2002, which are widely believed to have contributed substantially to the death toll. This doesn’t take into account the usual petty corruption cases, of which there are too many floating around to even begin to count, but I’ll try and find some later on. Oh, and there was a hilarious incident in the [Uttar Pradesh state Assembly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_in_India#October) in 1997 when politicians started chucking microphones (and footwear, IIRC) at each other in the house. Hooray for good old-fashioned parliamentary debate, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/31 "2006-12-23T19:42:56Z")
[QUOTE=Dervorin] Indian politicians are quite an industrious bunch. [/QUOTE] And then there is Lalu Prasad Yadav, who had to resign as chief minister of Bihar as the result of a scandal and then put his wife, Rabri Devi, in as a puppet. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/32 "2006-12-23T20:07:50Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] I’m sorry, but its kind of a silly question. Does the OP feel that American’s are some how a different species…or that the rest of the world outside our borders don’t contain humans? 😉 [/QUOTE] Of course every country in the world has bad politicians. But the OP especially mentioned the apparent strong social conservatism of many US politicians. It’s possible that in other countries of the world, these beliefs would be less popular, and thus less likely to be espoused by politicians. Different countries have different political cultures. ---
**Author:** ![Anduril](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c0e974/32.png) [@Anduril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anduril)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/33 "2006-12-23T20:25:10Z")
In the Philippines, politicians rarely have to spout these inanities (to be honest, I’m coming up blank with a comparable example). The Roman Catholic Church, the Iglesia ni Cristo, and the other Christian denominations do it for them with gusto. ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/34 "2006-12-23T20:33:52Z")
[QUOTE=severus] Of course every country in the world has bad politicians. But the OP especially mentioned the apparent strong social conservatism of many US politicians. It’s possible that in other countries of the world, these beliefs would be less popular, and thus less likely to be espoused by politicians. Different countries have different political cultures. [/QUOTE] Thanks, **severus** ; my point exactly. Of course there are bad/corrupt/stupid politicians everywhere. My question (which most of our Dopers from outside the U.S. understood) was whether they wear their narrow-minded, bigoted viewpoints on their sleeves as much as some of ours. Just about every week, there’s a link on SDMB to a story like that; I simply wanted to know whether this type of public display was as prevalent in other countries. So, **xtisme** , an emphatic :rolleyes: comin’at ya! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/35 "2006-12-23T21:47:44Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] Stockwell Day was widely mocked for his fundamentalist religious views in 2000, which for some reason people are choosing to forget. [/quote] That would be because Canadians want no part of religion mixing with state. > [@](#): > > Stephen Harper’s religious views are constantly brought up by his opponents, with the implication being that “oooh, he’s a conservative Christian, maybe he’ll ban abortion.” He has already made several statements that lean to the religious right POV - which is considered to be less tolerant than is acceptable in Canada. > [@](#): > > I think Canadian politicians can be almost amazingly incompetent, stupid and bigoted, but they can’t make as big a splash as an American politician because they don’t have the power. MPs in both the Conservative and Liberal parties have made hateful remarks about gays that would have them fit right in to the Republican Party’s southern superconservative wing; Tom Wappel is a particularly evil man, for one. For whatever reason a lot of this is ignored, and people choose to pretend Canada’s free of that sort of thing. Not really. It’s just that they’re considered anomalies - odd and rare little creatures who’ll pop to the surface, blow some funny-coloured bubbles, and then vanish beneath the surface again. They are not symptomatic of a ‘movement’ in Canadian politics which is why people don’t pay them much mind. I wonder whether many Americans know of the [22 Minutes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Hour_Has_22_Minutes) campaign to hold a referendum on changing Stockwell Day’s name to Doris. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/36 "2006-12-23T23:03:00Z")
[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster] [. . .] I wonder whether many Americans know of the [22 Minutes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Hour_Has_22_Minutes) campaign to hold a referendum on changing Stockwell Day’s name to Doris. 😃 [/QUOTE] I do! I do! But my favo(u)rite was the blurb which flashed up at the beginning of an episode shortly after G W Bush took over: > [@](#): > > Warning! Mr President! The red phone does NOT summon Batman! ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/37 "2006-12-23T23:39:03Z")
[QUOTE=Dervorin] Indian politicians are quite an industrious bunch. You have the [cabinet minister](http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-11-28T201358Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-278142-1.xml&archived=False) who was recently convicted of the murder of his secretary in 1994. You have the [ex-cricketer turned MP](http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200612011401.htm) who was also recently convicted of homicide (but not murder). You have the [Chief Minister](http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/mar/18modi.htm) who was refused a US and UK visa because of his government’s policies during a religious riot in 2002, which are widely believed to have contributed substantially to the death toll. This doesn’t take into account the usual petty corruption cases, of which there are too many floating around to even begin to count, but I’ll try and find some later on. Oh, and there was a hilarious incident in the [Uttar Pradesh state Assembly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_in_India#October) in 1997 when politicians started chucking microphones (and footwear, IIRC) at each other in the house. Hooray for good old-fashioned parliamentary debate, eh? [/QUOTE] I heard a report on NPR which said that some Indian criminals run for Parliament and other government offices because it can greatly delay being prosecuted for your crimes. Explains a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/38 "2006-12-24T00:49:15Z")
[QUOTE=Anduril] In the Philippines, politicians rarely have to spout these inanities (to be honest, I’m coming up blank with a comparable example). The Roman Catholic Church, the Iglesia ni Cristo, and the other Christian denominations do it for them with gusto. [/QUOTE] Same in the Domican Rep. Not a week passes \* that our Cardinal “Armani” Rodriguez doesn’t go on a rant about gays, muslims or, well, everybody. He has a monopoly in that sense. However, our politicians envy no other country’s politician when it comes to excelling at been corrupt. \*Only a slight exageration. ---
**Author:** ![Aquila\_Be](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Aquila\_Be](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquila_Be)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/39 "2006-12-24T09:57:20Z")
[QUOTE=want2know] Inspired by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=401016) and [this one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=400793). I know we have many SDMB members from democracies outside the U.S. and that, from reading threads like the ones cited, you have at least a passing knowledge of the types of utter morons holding public office in our nation. A minority, to be sure; unfortunately, these types tend to make the most noise and therefore are the most noticed. [/quote] Whether in the US or elsewhere, a certain percentage of eccentrics get in simply under the party banner. Speaking from the Ausralian point of view where we’ve had a Liberal government 😉 in power for some years, the only people who have a “voice” in the public arena are the Prime Minister and his loyal (and disloyal) Ministers. If one of them comes out with something too nutty that gets a lot of flak, then their own party usually arranges to kick them upstairs or sideways to undertake an important special project or inquiry and eventually propel them to an alternative career outside mainstream politics. > [@](#): > > My question is, are there people this narrow-minded, self-righteous and downright bigoted holding court in your Assemblies, Parliaments, etc? Or is this type of sanctimonious claptrap an American thing? I have no doubt that people like this run for office all the time; what I want to know is, are we the only ones who actually _elect_ them? No it is not an American thing. Your question is overloaded with _ad hominem_ condemnation but a small and mostly ineffectual minority of “representatives” might sound off from time to time. That does not mean that these relatively powerless people have suddenly changed the law. Before getting alarmed about anything, first check to see how much actual POWER these people have. If it’s negligible, then, no wuckers. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144/40 "2006-12-24T14:51:45Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] During the election process does the religion of the nominees become part of the debate? [/QUOTE] One Norwegian’s answer: No, though it largely hasn’t been a viable issue until recently (considering Norway’s history of nearly no immigration from a population significantly different than it’s own), but I don’t predict it will be, either. The only issue would be if someone was an outrageous fundamentalist with a history of provocation, but there’s no base for such a thing so nobody like that would run, at any rate. We have 8 parties that are viable to vote for, only one of which emphasises religion. (And then mostly in a ‘traditional value’ sense, most of them are very ‘modern’ Christians and you could never use that party as a base for attacking gay marriage, adoption, abortion or other religions, in the way it’s been done in the US) Hell, even our Prime Minister has resigned from the state church and is quoted as being an agnostic or atheist in a biography. I actually think such a question would catch most our politicians off guard. Crazy ball out from the right, so to speak 😉 That’s not to say that our politicians are behind in corruption; there’s been quite a lot of incompetence suits and shady parachute deals lately. With a mixed economy, there’s been such situations as the state having 60-70% of the shares in the country’s largest oil company, and that’s always hazardous. (Though, of course, it’s also the enabling factor for our socialistic policies. The irony) Sexual scandals, though, those _are_ rather rare. One might think our politicians are rather envious of their British counterparts 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-u-s-dopers-are-your-politicians-this-bad/385144.md?page=1)