Another point of view UK vs. US, from a very wise friend.

A while ago +Mike Raven and I had one of our "showdowns." This time it was about government, and as always we had had a very good time, and made a couple of videos, and did not take it very seriously. But, +Richard G. Stevens posted a great piece, and it made me feel a little foolish.

Next, a man I have a great deal of respect for, +Rahul Singh weighed in, and sent me the following post. Rahul is a keenly intelligent man with a wonderful blog. But, he agreed to let me post this piece on my blog. It is an amazingly insightful look into a serious subject. It offers the insights that only someone from the outside can provide. Read this wonderful work, it is amazing, and please feel free to write your own post. I would love to hear what you have to say. And thank you, Rahul, your work is marvelous.

Hi, I am Rahul Singh. I am a blogger with a top-secret blog. I say this because if you would follow me in the near future, you will find me writing everywhere else other than my own blog. It's simple. I enjoy learning from my seniors (both in experience and age). To that end here I am at "Life, explained."

Well, we all know that the genius behind this blog is in a friendly war with Mike Raven. Who has the better system of governance? United Kingdom or United States. Honestly, I would want to go with the US, had the British not been the inventors of Cricket. I personally feel that Cricket is indeed the greatest invention since PAPER. I love these two things more than anything besides my family, friends and __ (fill the blank for yourself).

Let's compare both the countries' administration, as being a member of another nation far apart. (Disclaimer: Just the basics, I look at here).

1. Clean Politics: Both countries stand up well here. Both have their share of conspiracy theories, but nothing too alarming. At least, what we in India read. So, it's a tie here.

2. The inhouse politics: As a child, growing up in a developing nation I imagined the US as the country with no problems. That view has certainly changed. Honestly, the whole black-white thing is real mess to an outsider. Equality is one of the main principle of democracy. From outside, in the world filled with problems, the UK seems to be handling their house better.

3. President vs. PM: The US wins here. The American President is considered the most powerful man on earth. The PM of UK, I feel does not get enough of the powers. In the battle of democracies being partially a monarchy is a certain drawback. People should have the right to choose someone, who runs the place and is not a mere caretaker.

4. Round the globe: Well, as much as I hate to say, the UK have actually been better ambassadors of world peace than the US. No offence, but the people here are far critical of the US because of some of its startling measures. Anyway, if someone could share some more light on it, for now, as much as I hate the UK for all its past sins (personal opinion), I appreciate it's simple stand towards complex issues in the recent past. Also, it has amazingly built a reputation in modern times as a messenger of peace. Completely contrasting is its past image. At one time they seemed the greatest villains on earth. I quite like David Cameron as a PM.. So, with complete respct to US' efforts against terrorism, I still think US makes blunders with its foreign policies. So, give this to UK.*

5. Global-effect: The US might make blunders with things. People might not like their stance on most topics. However, there is no other nation that has more impact on this planet than the US. For a fact, if it's terrorism or any other topic. The US has certainly been one of the world's more proactive nations. The UK seems more reactive, which is not particularly helpful. So, it is again the US.

It is pretty even really, as far as I am concerned. I maybe am in slight favour of the US. Although, I may very well go with UK, if I am promised the Kohinoor to be returned to India.

Democracy, It Belongs to the World, but Who Does it Better?

Democracy was born in ancient Greece, those people loved to vote, and debate. They would vote on things for days. But, that proved difficult and unwieldy, not nearly efficient enough for Americans. We like things streamlined, trimmed and neat. When we tossed all the foreigners out in 1700s (and it was not easy, we still sounded remarkably similar, thank goodness for the uniforms) we decided to make a good American Democracy.

George Washington said "I won't be king, but I will be the leader, we just need a good name, maybe Prime Minister. No that sounds too European, and it will look lousy on the Presidential Seal. Hey, how about Presidential, or better yet, President?"

"Great idea, what about us, though, we were there too?" the other founding fathers cried in dismay.

"You can be the Houses of Congress," Washington replied. 

They cheered, danced, drank, voted to shutdown the Federal Government and went on recess. Modern American Democracy was born.

And what a fine institution it is. Not a real democracy, it is what we like to call a representative democracy. We vote for people who tell us how bad other people are. They go to Washington and act like children, and ignore the needs of the people. If they can do this long enough they will be appointed to key committee positions, where they can ignore the needs of a much larger group of people. 

Really, it is the ultimate evolution of Government, the pinnacle of Democracy. We vote, they vote, and things run smoothly. 

If you can draw enough attention to yourself you have the opportunity to apply for the

ultimate job in American Politics, Vice Presidency. 

You want to talk about a plum assignment, this is one getting over job. Oh sure, he has to be "President of the Senate" and if something happens to the President he better be sober, but other than that he is just along for the ride. Man, what a gig.

There is nothing comparable in the UK government with its Westminster System, and uncodified constitution, Which, by the way means:

the fundamental rules often take the form of customs, usage, precedent and a 
variety of statutes and legal instruments.

I am only speaking for myself here, but I think there is way to much left open there. Imagine going into a "pub" and asking for a "pint" and saying you would like it chilled. Would David Cameron send in his legion of jack booted thugs to whisk you away, saying "chilled beer kind of goes against our customs, and as such is a violation of our uncodified constitution, mate."


Don't forget to check out the competition at Blog of Thog. Comment, and tell him he is a wonderful blogger, but a little off base, or spot on. It is your chance to have a say

It is close, man, real close.

I would like to remind everybody of the huge showdown this weekend. +Mike Raven of the painfully good Blog of Thog and I will be deciding once and for all, in no uncertain terms, unequivocally, beyond a shadow of a doubt which brand of government is superior. UK with a Prime Minister, House of Lords, and House of Commons, or the US with a President and Houses of Congress.

This is not going to be easy, because I don't really have a lot of faith in governments of any kind. It is not the government that is troubling, it is the people that worry me. Historically, when given a little power people let it go their head, and the next thing you know all hell is breaking loose.

Plus, I like the UK, there are a lot of great things that have come from the Island Nation. Coleridge, Shakespeare, Dickens, The Clash, The Kinks, The Beatles are just a few. There is nothing bad between Great Britain and Life Explained.

I even tried to spell color with a U (colour), because it seemed all British, and cool. Siri kept correcting it, though. I said "Siri, I want to spell color with a U." She said, "we're not doing that, Tim." Dangit,  I can't have anything.

The Coveted Best of the Worst Cup

But, the debate goes on, and I am armed with twenty or so presidential candidates, and a conviction that out of all the governments in the world ours (here in the good ol' US) is probably not the worst.

That's right, Mike, we are not the worst. In fact, we might be the least bad! I am here to say, with pride and conviction, that our government might be the best kind of awful, are you ready to deal with that.

Oh, Canada, The True North strong and free!

North of Mexico, South of that Great Country, And World Leader, CANADA

In regards to:

Working together to save the world

Canada

North of the US,

South of The Arctic,

But Just Barely

Attention:

Dear Canada,

Good Morning, Bonjour, we haven’t talked in a while, and it seemed a good time to “reach out” and “touch base” with our wonderful friends in the Great North.

Are you well?  We heard about the wheel falling off of the Air Canada flight in Toronto, boy can we identify with that.  Maybe you have heard of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, more of a nightmare, really.

Good thing they got this hockey thing all worked out, eh?  We were a little worried they were going to cancel the season, bunch of hosers, anyway.

Anyhoo, let us get to the real reason for the letter, the nub of our gist, if you will.  Maybe you’ve read about our little deficit problem.  It has kind of ballooned, of late.  Kind of embarrassing, a little bit of a blot on our good reputation.  We thought, that maybe, if you were not too busy, and since you are always so nice, even the French speaking portion, (and that says something to us) we thought you might want to help a brother out.

We have had so many good times together, and share three sports leagues, and a style of football, that is unique to our continent.  Oh sure, we still play soccer, we just don’t mislabel it or take it too seriously.

Plus, in the late 1920s we tore up all of our detailed plans to invade Canada.  That is friendship, eh?  We have plans on file for every other country in the world, even Mexico (right now we really enjoy taking that one out and looking it over, with gusto, (oh what we couldn't do with all of that land) we still remember the Alamo, you know?).

We don’t expect you to pay all of it, just the difficult part, that we can’t quite afford, we have over $1348.00 dollars in the treasury that we will kick in, if you could just tackle the rest, we would be so grateful.  

As a token of our esteem we are willing to give you Montana, and North Dakota, if you want it.  In a pinch we would throw in Minnesota, we have heard it is great, they claim to have tons of lakes.

If you could help us out, just this once we promise to be much more thrifty in the future, we have learned our lesson, we promise

.

Respectfully yours,

United States