Oh damn, still in this dream.

Oh well. As long as we're led by imbeciles who fight when & where the opposition want us to, they're going to walk all over us.
Why do democracies continually elect people representative of lowest common denominator mentalities?
What is it about subtlety or intelligence or talent that intimidates a voter?
If folk don't want government to be any cleverer than themsleves they deserve what's coming to them.
The one qualification to be a politician is to be,  according to cummings, an arse upon whom everyone has sat except a man.
Let's all vote for stupid and 'regular' guys, after all what harm can come of it?

I now think that democracy is flawed beyond redemption, which is probably why we want to export it to places that are governed differently: after all we don't want them to have an unfair advantage, (like smarts and subtlety) do we?

Or perhaps it's a good thing that we elect as our leaders persons who are perfectly happy to put the family silver (budget surplus to budget deficit, and servicemen's lives) on a three card trick operated by some dodgy middle-eastern terrorist manque, and thereby turn him into the most wanted man in the world, and amongst the opposition, the most feted.

I'm almost beginning to wish for another Nixon - for all his criminality, at least he was smart.

Fuck democracy, let's have competitive examinations; the Chinese had such for almost two thousand years, even their nightsoil attendendents needed to be able to pass exams, and their hierarchy was determined by such. None of the twats we've got at the moment are fit to govern. And if that's an elitist opinion, I would suggest we look at the way things are going under the present 'best of all systems': if we can't look at ourselves and see the faults, we're delusional, and also deserve everything we get.