Donuel - Congratulations on that post. That is true American patriotism of which to be proud.

Kat - I've heard that it is a complex and rather daunting procedure (for many) registering to vote in the USA, and that that in itself serves to discourage a great many people from doing so, specially the poor, the immigrants, and so on. Is that right?

In Canada, it's ridiculously easy. The government sends a form to every elligible voter a few weeks before an election, informing them that they ARE elligible, and advising them as to where their local polling station is, and exactly when they can go there and vote. It also provides alternate times to vote in advance of the polls, in case you are unable to get there on election day.

All you have to do is take this form with you, show up, and vote...and they keep the form and cross your name off the list...and that's it.

It works, it's simple, and it doesn't force anyone to vote if they don't want to.

We normally have a higher voting turnout in Canada than is the case in the USA...but it's been declining somewhat lately. Why? People have discovered through bitter experience that ALL the parties lie to them, ALL the parties are run from behind the scenes by the same elitist power groups (who have the money), and their vote is essentially almost meaningless. The only parties that are an exception to the above are parties so small that they have no chance of being elected in the first place, so you can vote for them merely to register a protest against the system...a protest which will be ignored.

Sound familiar? It is big money that is destroying democracy from within, not suicide bombers from impoverished countries outside it (and the people in those countries mostly long for democracy). It's big money that impoverishes those countries too, which is why the suicide bombers struck at a visible symbol of...Big Money...when they hit the WTC.

- LH