Comments | jslove: I am so sick of U.S. national behavior

jslove

I am so sick of U.S. national behavior

May 04, 2008 21:28

Speaking as a U.S. citizen and voter, I believe the next administration and senate should sign and ratify the treaties to join the International Criminal Court. No one should be above the law, and especially not us.

( Like that will ever happen. And then... )

Comments 11

billroper May 5 2008, 03:05:03 UTC

Someone (it may have been Jerry Pournelle) recently pointed out that one of the good ways to get a well-entrenched dictatorship instead of a functioning democracy is to criminalize policy differences so that giving up power means that you go to prison or are killed. It's certainly one of the fine characteristics of third-world dictatorships and single-party states.

thnidu May 5 2008, 03:11:10 UTC

I was tending to agree with the post till I read your comment. Touché.

jslove May 5 2008, 04:57:58 UTC

You know, that's true as far as it goes, but I reject its relevance. You [Bill] always were good at the soft answer that turneth away wrath, but maybe you shouldn't be doing so in this case ( ... )

jslove May 5 2008, 06:00:38 UTC

Damn comment limit.

I recall that similar arguments to the ones above about Iraq were made in my youth about Viet Nam. I still reject those. It is true that the U.S. perpetrated great evil, along with other actors, but in that case, we got into it via a treaty, and the whole government went along with it, so it was just one of those policy things.

In this case, it seems more like our legislators are too embarrassed about having been taken in by administration lies to react with proper outrage. As politicians, they are probably doing the right thing. In other ways, not so much. Of course, we don't know what really happened, who knew what, when, or whether coercion was involved; I'm sure there is more than enough embarrassment to go around ( ... )

Thread 8

madfilkentist May 5 2008, 10:08:24 UTC

Given the way that various blocs have pressured the UN to adopt anti-liberty policies, I would be very wary of treaties to allow any international organization authority over the US. Broken as our system is, I trust it more than any international system I can currently think of.

smoooom May 5 2008, 18:21:13 UTC

As always I try and fail to comprehend the US political system. I'm just glad that I live in a country where the political system is messed up, but not as badly messed up as in the US.

It would be so refreshing to see some real change in politics, where ever you live.

Tired of the lesser of two evils? Vote Cthulhu! urban_terrorist May 11 2008, 03:34:38 UTC

The problem of course is that things are bad enough in the American political system that voting for Cthulhu is beginning to look like a good idea, and that is truly scary ( ... )