Dog and Pony Show

I’m not going to get into the whole border wall debate. I’ve got my opinions and they’d probably tick off both sides. However, I’m guessing that while people are focused on that debate other major news items are being swept under the rug.

One thing that comes to mind is the on-going protests in France and the rest of Europe. I wish my grasp of the French language was a bit better as the real news is not being broadcast in English. Major news outlets have really skewed the message. We may end up with a European Spring. Remember the Arab Spring? This could be worse.

Look at Libya. It’s a worse place to live than it was under Qaddafi -for most ordinary people. Look what happened to Egypt. They overthrew the dictator, tried for a democracy, flirted with an Islamic state, then went back to a military dictatorship. By then people just wanted stability in their lives.

When looking at the rest of the world we have to get out of the Conservative/Liberal mindset. Those words mean different things in different countries. It doesn’t seem to matter what type of government people are living under. Most want to get ride of the ruling class and try something different. What that shows is that the way people are living isn’t working out very well for most of us. Unfortunately, overthrowing the old regime never seems to work out for the common person.

So which country is actually doing fairly well these days? My vote is for Iceland. Unlike the rest of the world, back in 2008 they didn’t bail out the bankers. The people of Iceland sent them to jail. I love a happy ending.

-Sixbears