What Do You Think of your Government?

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Purely out of interest, what do you think of your government? Have they done a good job? Helped your country?

Please state the name of your country along with your opinion.

[doc_bean]

Belgium: they're more concerned with their own reputation than with decent governing. They're bad, but I consider this a transition period anyway, hopefully it will get better after the next election.

[Lemur]

United States: It's a testament to the strength and power of our nation that even a bunch of incompetent idealogues like the Bush 43 Administration can't cripple us. I'm reminded of a line about the papacy that I read some years ago, that stated that the papacy must be ordained by God, since any mortal institution would have crumbled under the weight of so much corruption and sin.

[Ice]

USA: I'm fair contempt. They could improve a bit.

(this should get good)

[Reenk Roink]

USA: Don't like the government, then again, didn't like it any better under Clinton.

I just want power ...

[lars573]

Canada, Harper and his minority conservative haven't had a chance to fug things up yet (to me it's a matter of when they ge the chance not if). But I don't trust the shifty bastard, never will. Long as he's in office I'll never be content.

[Beirut]

The Canadian government?

[Marcellus]

UK: I don't trust the Government. They have lied, are sleazy, try to spin everything, and are generally untrustworthy. The much needed investment in public services is the best thing Blair and friends have done. Their foreign policy has been too divisive. Post-9/11 they have tried to erode our rights and liberties. And then there's Iraq...

Overall: better than the Conservatives, but still disappointing.

[master of the puppets]

USA: a proud and noble country of brave men and shining ideals...then we hit the 60's , now i fear i cannot trust my government or the polititions who have decided they rule us and not us them. the world hates us for our foolish leaders and frivolous wars (started by the foolish leaders), and it is becoming a world where nice guys finish last and once you are last you stop being nice yet stay down in that crappy hole. i fear that in order to succeed i must have money i will never have then lie and cheat and tax until i'm at the top, then if the corrupt senate allows me, i will reform us and makes us what we once were.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I'm finding myself agreeing more and more with Lemur.

The Founding Fathers would be shocked and appalled. The Republicans have gone back on the Contract With America and are trying to bankrupt the nation, it seems. At least the Democrats are as helpless as usual.

[Tribesman]

Purely out of interest, what do you think of your government?
I try not to think of my government too much , as they are a bunch of lying thieving scumbags .
Then again I have thought that of all the governments in all the countries I have lived in .

[Divinus Arma]

I'm indifferent to my government. It is impossible to have a system where the powerful can forever be benign. So I think it would be best if we continued to limit the power at every stage of government, so the idiots can have their day at the podium without causing real trouble.

Here. Here.


USA: I love my government. I hate that liberals have interpreted the constitution to mean "any and every possible" meaning. The Republicans are just as guilty and are becoming "social conservatives" which is crap. Constitutional conservatism and limited government are dead. I hate our political parties. I hate the judiciary who has stolen our property rights and expanded the influence of the federal government outside of its enumerated rights under the guise of the commerce clause coupled with the supremacy clause. The destruction of federalism before our very eyes and yet we citizens can do nothing.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

*Sigh*

As the thread starter, I suppose I have to post mine.

Germany: OK. I quite like Angie. She's doing very well in my opinion. Hopefully she increases the military budget (Germany is below average for NATO members) and creates more jobs. (A cousin of mine had to move to Africa to find work. He couldn't get any in Germany. He has a good education though, so he did get a good job.)

[Papewaio]

Australia: Virtually the same as all democracies, I feel though our voting system and insistence that people turn up at the voting booths (they can then choose not to vote) makes the democracy a bit more light on its toes with regards to being responsive to the voters... a good thing in my mind.

Unfortunately it is getting more and more clear that special interest groups are getting powerful. And that politicians are joining the very companies that had tenders for government jobs after the pollies quit politics. I think politicians should not be allowed to work for companies that they approved tenders for at least a period of time equal to the length they would be in term in office in one hit and double for tenders that are not open to all comers... so say a politican's term is 4 years, they should not be allowed to join a company that tendered to the government for 4 years, and 8 years if it was not an open tender.

[InsaneApache]

We have the most open, honest and unrepressive government ever in the UK. It is a joy to stroll in this idyllic utopia called Blairs Britain. The man is a genius.

I can't praise him highly enough for keeping strictly to his parties manifesto and his all inclusive brand of government where everyones views are considered relevant and given due attention.

OK so taxes have risen a teeny-weeny bit, but so what? I can sleep soundly in my bed at night knowing that 'Uncle' Tony is busy beavering away working hard for himsel....errr the electorate.

His democratic reforms are a work of sheer genius. After all to abolish the role of the Lord Chancellor (a post pre-dating his by 1100 years) was a brilliant masterstroke, only matched by his ham-fisted and bungled attempts at taming the upper house.

Just to close I love this quote; it reminds me of my beloved leader.

But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Uncle Tony.

[Justiciar]

Am I the only republican in this country?

I'm not a fan of the major parties.. I would usually be voting Lib Dem, but I'm sort of sick of the way they LET people take them as one big joke.. hell, they ARE a joke. And they elected Menzies Campbell! WTF? In all honesty, I'll only be pleased if one of three things happens. 1) The Royal Family and those pointless sods that are the aristocracy are knocked out of the picture. 2) England gets it's own parliament (placed in York for full marks). 3) A Military Dictator assumes power.. Okay the third one's a joke, but I wouldn't be all that pissed if it happened.

[Banquo's Ghost]

Republic of Ireland: Our current government is boring and unimaginative, which in the modern world is quite reassuring. The economy is not what it was, but we weren't going to be at the top of the curve for ever. The last ten to fifteen years has transformed the country, for the better.

Bertie Ahern is a competent, if unexciting Taoiseach. I've always been a Fine Gael voter (more through historical affiliation and general coincidence of viewpoint than for specific policy) but this Fianna Fail government is not causing me to froth at the mouth. (Anyone remember Charlie Haughey? )

[Sjakihata]

Our government suck, it has lowered the living standards of many danes, normally the ones having a difficult time already. Reduced huge social standards (health, education, environment, controls of food, chemicals etc etc etc) just to fund a tax stop, which havent really helped anyone.

The government dont know how to act internationally (Muhammed Crisis) and is dividing the nation by making 'block politic' only, leaving more than 50% of danish voters and their parties out of the table.

Finally the support the Bush admin like there's no tomorrow, in Iraq and Im sitting wondering what we are doing there, the public opinion was something like 70% not wanting to go it, instead of holding a poll to see if we should invade or not, the government just took the decision very much contrary to public belief.

In short, Im looking forward to the next election.

[Husar]

Germany: Typical democracy, just have to wait until they screw me......

OK. I quite like Angie. She's doing very well in my opinion. Hopefully she increases the military budget (Germany is below average for NATO members) and creates more jobs.

I´m not sure whether I like Angie. I liked Schröder, too, when he started...
And about raising the military budget, that´s very funny, because it will never happen I fear, it will rather be lowered.
And open jobs will be created by time, because we don´t have enough children. Then again, those few children will have to work hard to pay all those pensions...
And don´t forget we will have to pay more, work more, get less money to support our economy so that those bosses can raise their own payment.
I´m repeating myself, but it´s fun.
It´s even more fun considering the state currently pays for my studies.
Ok, there are things I like and things I really hate, like bureaucracy and most of their decisions...

[Franconicus]

*Sigh*

As the thread starter, I suppose I have to post mine.

Germany: OK. I quite like Angie. She's doing very well in my opinion. Hopefully she increases the military budget (Germany is below average for NATO members) and creates more jobs. (A cousin of mine had to move to Africa to find work. He couldn't get any in Germany. He has a good education though, so he did get a good job.)

I do not like the new government. Well, in fact I believe that we did not have a good one since the 70ies. Oh Helmut, were are you

The new one is just a joke. She made a good performance on the international stage. That's it. She raised the tax (as promised) but the payment for retirements will not decrease (not as promised). There will be no big tax reform. The badget will not be balanced. Instead she gives money to increase economy; foolish, every cancler tried it and it never worked. She has no clue how to fight unemployment or solve the problems with the health system.

Why increasing budget for defense? I see no threat (besides the US).

I am very proud that my country is still strong although we do not have good politicians (or industry leaders or union leaders ...)

[Lazul]

Sweden: Im happy about our current society... BUT, there are a few things that keeps pissing me of.
First of all the enourmus beurocracy and all the shady deals the politicans and other powerfull people get.... even when they are fired. They are thiefs most of them, stealing money form the people!
Second, our military, I cant care less for the size, but the recent training together with russians pisses me of, no offence russians here on the board, but I dont trust your gov.
... And the second thing about our military, military contracts with Saudi Arabia... one of the "shitholes" of the world in my eyes. What ever we, as a free and democratic country have to do with a country like that... I fail to see. *spits*

... and for the current political climate... im just sick of Political Correctnes and politicians being pansies and dare to say what they really think!

... I think I'll vote for the "pirate party". Actually we have one called that.

[IliaDN]

Well... if I exclude all rude wirds? than - nothing...

[R'as al Ghul]

Germany: not satisfied

The last elections were about the topic of reducing unemployment.
The two major parties debated for months whos concept is the best.
Now they've formed a coalition and the topic has magically disappeared.
Unemployment rates are still rising or stalling.

The way Germany dealt with the reunification was amateurish at best.
Ex-Chancellor Dr. Kohl painted us a picture of green pastures but kept quiet about the financial problems our eastern neighbours had. If we had used a bit of common sense and economical expertise instead of "utopian rhetoric" we could be in a better situation nowadays.

The integration of immigrants has completely failed. When the first Italians came in the 50's to help build the Volkswagen in Wolfsburg, a lot of Germans thought they would go back to Italy once they were 65. Surprise, Surprise, after 30 or more years they like it here. So do the Turks. There's nothing wrong with it of course, but we didn't do anything for our guests to feel at home. They don't speak our language and they don't follow the laws. "Paralell society" was the word of the year 2005, I think.

Nowadays we complain about the fact that less and less women give birth, tax income isn't as high as it should be (because of all the holes in the law), we have almost more black market laboures than legal workers and we have created a hybrid monster of a legal framework and substitutions that nobody is capable of understanding anymore.
All of these problems we could have done something against if we hadn't slept and set on our arses for the last 30-40 years.

/rant off

EDIT: We're the best nation when it comes to complaining. Beat us to it and see how we complain.

[BDC]

Well we now pay far too much in tax, but this current government has been in too long. Hopefully after the next election things will improve a bit. That's assuming Brown doesn't win. If he does things could soon start sucking lots. High taxes and a complete mystery over where all the money actually goes (look at how broke the NHS is...).

[InsaneApache]

Mystery? there's no mystery. The money is funnelled into a vast bureaucratic morass where it disappears for ever. If we should have learnt anything from the '80s it would be that just throwing 'our' money at a problem will not solve it.

Still for a political party that likes to think that taxpayers money is actually theirs who could be surprised.

[BDC]

The money is funnelled into a vast bureaucratic morass where it disappears for ever.

Ah yes, that's it. It all goes into training up northerners to do the jobs that were being done really efficiently until all the workers in London were fired. And employing pointless extra clerks in the NHS, who aren't medically trained, so end up actually making the paper work worse.

[Duke Malcolm]

Her Majesty's Government have done a handful of good things, but since my Primary Legislation Provider is the Scottish Executive, I cannot say the latter has been terribly good, with running costs of the nation increasing, vast bureacracy, silly laws which have yet to justify the parliaments existence (though the Smoking ban is helpful for that, as is the Abolition of Feudal Tenure).

The best thing the Lib-Lab co-alition has done is abolition the feudal system in Scotland...

[Marcellus]

Am I the only republican in this country?

Don't worry, you're not the only one.

[Paul Peru]

Norway: Form of government is constipational monarchy, which is utterly silly even when spelled correctly, but without discernible ill effects. I'd go republic if it was up to me, but it's just a matter of principle. (The offending bit in the constitution is the State Religion bit)

Our current elected 3 party government is lacking in courage and vision, and internally divided with one special interest party being the odd one out.

It's an improvement on the crowd from last year, but they're not going to get reelected the way they are mucking about. I give them a C+

[drone]

US -