Baraka_Guru

This is why I find American politics maddening to watch. I couldn't imagine being a voter down there.

Canada's House of Commons currently consists of 4 parties and 2 independents. One of the parties---The New Democratic Party---is a social democratic party. They are actual card-carrying socialists, and they hold more than 10% of the seats.

In Canada, we actually have an option to vote for socialists. So every time I hear about the fear-mongering south of the border about Obama and the socialist threat and the "Marxists" in power putting the republic at risk....I take turns between rolling my eyes and laughing.

It's because Obama is clearly more right than the federal party I have actually voted for. He's a liberal, not a social democrat. From what I've read, most Americans are rather ignorant of social democracy.

In Canada, you get shades of gray. You get Third Way, Blue Tory, Red Tory, liberal, social liberal, social democrat, neoliberal, separatists, nationalists, etc., all pulling in different directions. You know, one of those governments that form coalitions and stuff, rather than just having two warring families tearing Verona apart.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot