By Jeff Thomas, International Man

"Anybody who wants the presidency so much that he'll spend two years organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office." - David Broder

"If voting could actually change anything, it would be illegal." - Noam Chomsky

Generally, I tend not to comment on elections, as I consider them to be largely unimportant. That is, regardless of which candidate is elected, the actual outcome tends to be much the same. In most countries, the higher the office being contested, the less real difference there is between the candidates.

First, unlike, say, a beauty pageant, in which the voter may have up to fifty contestants to choose from (as in the US), the governments of the world do all that is in their power to limit the choices to two contestants. Second, the more sophisticated the electoral system, the more likely it is that the two candidates are quite similar in both their level of ability and their apparent sincerity in serving the public who elect them. Third, the more apparent an issue is in the eyes of the voters, the less likely it is that the candidates will actually offer a specific plan to solve it. Continue reading "Election Time" →