Milliken on the Power of Party Leaders

[Bonam]

IMHO, ordinary Americans understand that if they get it wrong, that`s it. Their society fails.

We Canadians have the feeling that someone superior will protect us from our mistakes.

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In simple terms, we Canadians have a colonized mentality.

Ok, so it's just a humble opinion, got it.

[bloodyminded]

I am really surprised that Obama did Osama now. I would have thought he would wait till about a month before the next presidential election to do it. Way more bang for his buck that way. Now, by then the average voter will be way more interested in handicapping American idol entrants.

This is exactly why he has received so many bipartisan accolades (deserved or not). And in fact, I would argue that there is a goodwill impression that will last quite some time, even if voters aren't specifically considering the event itself.

[bloodyminded]

It's the first and most obvious measure of the degree to which a population is involved in making the democratic choices that are made available to them. Of course, there are many other factors, but they are harder to measure and quantify.

I agree. It has been argued that Central and South Americans love democracy more than we do--this goes for Lefty Venezuelans and Righty Colombians alike--as their voter turnout has been so consistently high over the past couple decades. And perhaps they do love it more.

And this has what to do with the extent to which Americans are involved in their democracy and how this compares with Canadian democracy?

And why is there always such a comparison? If a poster isn't informing us of the inferiority of the American system, they're extolling its vast superiority.

I don't object to comparisons; hell, I just made one with the southern countries. I don't object to the very idea of US/Canadian comparisons, either. I'm just curious about their ubiquity.