OFF TOPIC - The IOC sucks.

[geoschmo]

The United States has problems, many of them glaring. But they are not "systemic", that is they are caused by or agravated by our form of government. If anything, our system of government has allowed us to prosper to such a degree that we have become complacent and apathetic to the problems of some of our citizens.

There are poor in the United States, but their standard of living is nowhere near as poor as those in other nations. Even in the most impoverished areas of the deep south, appalacia, or the southwest indian reservations people have food, shelter, clean water, and access to medical care and education. Reports to the contrary in the nightly news are only in the news because they are newsworthy, and so very rare. The poor of the United States complain that they have to deal with rats, the poor in other nations eat the rats.

The most recent presidential election was actually more noteworthy for the fact that BOTH major candidates were children of well-to-do, politically connected families. This is actually something of a rarity in our political system, especially at the highest levels. Most children of political families avoid it in their adult life because they have grown up seeing the less-desirable side of it.

Geoschmo