How bad is/are your country/ies?

[Incongruous]

This was brought about by HoreTore's thread on silly political discussions in his country.

So, I just wanted to know, how bad is your country?

I have two which I could consider to be my own, New Zealand and the UK, as CA has pointed out, in certain cases the choice of death is better.

Now, in terms of politics, I find that NZ has a hard time trying to keep up with the criminals at Wwestminster, the Beehive is far more provincial, racism is not nearly as pervasive and overall the country is good at settling its issues, however certain areas, such as the ressetlemnt of Waitangi settlements, has caused alot of anger.

So, overall on the scale of crapness, the UK get a big fat 7.5 while NZ gets a 5. What about you?!

[seireikhaan]

United States gov't--We aint the best. We aint the worst.

United States people-- Frankly disappoint me about 85% of the time.

[LittleGrizzly]

We giving it on a 10 point scale with 10 being the worst ?

I would probably go for something like a 6...

Edit: to put a bit of reasoning in....

Don't like much of our foriegn policy
Strong anti-muslim feeling in the country, whipped on by a popular daily mail paper
Politicians in charge (and the opposition) feel like soulless suits who in thier eagerness to take votes from the opposition have all but become thier shadow (or would that make the opposition thier shadow)
General ignorance or lack of caring about political issues prevalent throughout UK, especially in young people...
Drug policy made with worried middle class readers of the daily mail rather than scientific evidence (who needs science when you have votes...)
and lots more if you give me enough time!

On the upside were a democracy, we don't generally mercilessly slaughter people...umm did i mention democracy yet....

[CountArach]

Pretty bad:
Racism and xenophobia are pervasive throughout all facets of society.
Our country's politics are skewed to the right (And that isn't looking like it will change any time soon).
We are a tool of US foreign policy.
Public opinion is consistently ignored on several important issues.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Some likes and dislikes about Germany...

EDIT: Nevermind, I'm not going into that. Let's just say life is pretty good, but has some flaws. And I really, really despise Die Linke.

[Strike For The South]

I stand by my assumption America is infallible

[naut]

Pretty bad:
Racism and xenophobia are pervasive throughout all facets of society.
Our country's politics are skewed to the right (And that isn't looking like it will change any time soon).
We are a tool of US foreign policy.
Public opinion is consistently ignored on several important issues.

What he said.

Although, most institutions are quite good in comparison to other nations, especially when you consider the small population base they serve.

Edit: I'm tempted to not even mention the UK. An absolute mess.

[Guildenstern]

Pretty bad:
Racism and xenophobia are pervasive throughout all facets of society.
Our country's politics are skewed to the right (And that isn't looking like it will change any time soon).
We are a tool of US foreign policy.
Public opinion is consistently ignored on several important issues.

The same goes here, more or less.

[drone]

[old man]Hell in a handbasket I tells ya, hell in a handbasket![/old man]

[Kralizec]

Dutch politics: some of the stuff that goes on around in The Hague is mind boggling or even embarrassing. While I never particulary liked the two biggest parties in power right now, I've grown to despise them since they entered in a coalition government.

Dutch society: mostly okay, I guess. There are things I don't like but not enough of them for me to consider moving.

[Husar]

It's a matter of perspective, the Politicians come down to choosing the lesser evil. I've really, really come to hate the CDU and their scaremongering to make this a surveillance state, ban computer games etc. although Merkel seems relatively okay so far, it's some guys in the lower ranks who come up with all this idiocy, luckily not much of it has been realized so far.
The companies know that most _germans are very gullible and use this to rip everybody off and then complain that we're all bad customers, well that or something is fundamentally wrong because prices seem really high, service is rather bad or maybe mediocre and my own pay per hour is below the minimum wage in many countries(countries where prices are also lower...).
Well, it's a student job and you can see how that comes when you have unemployment around 11% or so in the city, I was lucky to get a job at all but that doesn't change the fact I feel a bit ripped off.
You get almost twice as much for washing dishes in cities where students are needed, supply and demand...

Otherwise life seems relatively fine, socially it's not too great for me but then I'm special.
It's hard to give an overall score, but I'd settle for somewhere around 5.0 considering there are far worse developing countries. Compared with other first world countries only, you could add 2 or 3 points.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

It's a matter of perspective, the Politicians come down to choosing the lesser evil. I've really, really come to hate the CDU and their scaremongering to make this a surveillance state, ban computer games etc. although Merkel seems relatively okay so far, it's some guys in the lower ranks who come up with all this idiocy, luckily not much of it has been realized so far.

I think I'll vote FDP. Except I'm anti-EU. Lesser evils? They're everywhere.

[Husar]

I think I'll vote FDP.

Wow, I thought the same, not like I'm really into politics and all that but from the bits I hear and read here and there they seem to be the most reasonable party nowadays.

[Kagemusha]

Finland. 8/10. We have the usual European problems and benefits. We aint broke, but the government could be more efficient and less bureucratic. The EU market has profited us, but at the same time we are being in process of becoming part of a large and ambitious federation, which usually does not create anything good to the ordinary people, other then trivial things like power and influence, in face of other countries, which doesnt mean jack to any guy on the street.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Wow, I thought the same, not like I'm really into politics and all that but from the bits I hear and read here and there they seem to be the most reasonable party nowadays.

Out of the standard CDU (CSU for me)/SPD/Die Linke/Green crowd they're looking like the best option by a long shot. When it comes to third parties, I have made a firm decision that I can never morally cast a vote for the NPD (or Die Linke, for that matter), so they're out. The two options that are really left are Die Republikaner and the FDP. I don't personally believe Die Republikaner are as far-right as they are made out to be, and I prefer their European stance to the FDP's, but I doubt they will win any seats. On the other hand, I prefer the FDP to all of the other parties currently with seats in the Bundestag (except certain factions of the CSU), so there is a good chance my vote will go to them.

[Hooahguy]

ignore

[LittleGrizzly]

I didn't realise this was the isreali palestine thread, i would like to thank the last two posters for putting the thread back on topic...