Columns

We all need a holiday, exams are approaching, and the cold is permeating our unheated flats. Maybe we should take heed of Bill English’s advice (he recommended we take a leaf out of the Greek protesters’ book) and occupy the library until our flats get warm. Just saying.
Onto the real issue: the US. It’s called the land of the free, but this is a misnomer. Occupiers have been through a tough time, and the country is run by a defective electoral system that only allows for two sides of the same coin. This electoral system is worse at procrastinating than your average BA student, and more boring than a legal case study. Think about it – it takes months to get through a popularity contest that costs millions, and that’s only the beginning. We’re now kicking off the real election campaign, with Barack “Not-A-Muslim” Obama and Mitt “Compulsive Liar” Romney showing the American public who is best. To understand American politics, think of the horrors we have been through with National. Now, the Nats are tamer than the Democrats. This shows just how screwed-up the American system is. Obama’s main difficulty has been trying to keep at least some of his electoral promises. To be fair, he’s made a good stand on gay rights, he’s slowly getting out of Iraq, he’s on track to save the American public from a terrible health bill, and he almost personally killed Bin Laden.

Obama is a great speaker, and I’m sure he will re-light the beacon of hope in the next couple of months, but his opposition makes it too easy for him. Mitt Romney is the biggest liar Red has ever come across – watch some vids of him on Youtube. Even Obama is turning Romney’s own words against him. Romney used to be CEO of a company that stripped Americans of their labour rights, his contradictions are a joke to everyone except (some of) the American public, and he may not even have enough support within the Republican caucus to succeed.

We should all hope that Obama makes it back into the White House. He is not a great president, but he is definitely the best option the American public has. Keep an eye out for Occupy though. A democratic change could take place that would make Americans truly free again.

– Red and Starry Eyed