I'd like to see the film

Imhappy - I think the same thing myself.

I'd love to be 30 or 40 years younger. Or maybe just 20 because I wouldn't want to change anything about my immediate family (wife and kids, the youngest is still a 20-something).

The film is a good warning, but I doubt it will be heeded and history will probably repeat itself.

nickel, I really love what you wrote. It inspires me. Make my corner better. I like that.

Think of our huge debts in the west, (partly accumulated by borrowing from China, then using the money to buy a lot of largely unnecessary products from them).

A lot like individuals running up big debt on the "credit" (i.e. "debt") card, without being sure how they can pay it off.

Our responsible newspapers, who used to hold the politicians' feet to the fire, are dying ... so who's to fulfill that responsibility?

Freedom and democracy are being eroded in a number of countries, e.g. Turkey and Venezuela ... and (though they didn't have much of it earlier) ... Russia. Autocrats are in place in Egypt, Syria, Iran and a number of African countries.

It gets very difficult to run creditable candidates against the emperor when they hold elections.

And they muzzle the responsible news organizations, or close them down, or force them to tell nothing but the party line.

And ensure that trustworthy friends ... and family ... are in the central organizations of government.

When the automatic machines put a much larger percentage of current workers out of work, which they are proposing that will happen in the next few years ...

... what will result from that?

And many current voters take their democratic system so much for granted (or figure that their vote doesn't count for much, anyway) ... that they don't bother to vote.

Freedom ... and democracy ... get eroded ... step by step.

ole joyful

"And ensure that trustworthy friends ... and family ... are in the central organizations of government."

In any democracy, the elected leader has the opportunity to appoint many people to important governmental roles. Would you expect them to appoint enemies and rivals?

At least in the US, many of such appointments and for sure the most important ones must be approved by Congress. When it and the President are of the same party, these approvals shouldn't be expected to necessarily be a display of the independence of different branches of government. But they can be and at least the party in opposition can weigh in and speak publicly.

In most countries with parliamentary systems, the leader's cabinet and other appointments stand without any review or approval process. I wouldn't want that here.

From among the entire population ... how about the most capable people?

There's been something of a revolving door, in Washington, recently.

And in the parliamentary system, the leader of the government isn't voted on by the entire populace, but by the voters of one constituency, which is less than pleasing to many of us.

o j

Canada had two prominent politicians resign in scandal in January, 2018, including one cabinet member. Something of a revolving door there too. Does it happen so frequently in Canada as two every calendar quarter, the rate that it is at so far this year?

Our current administration is on a tear to get rid of ineffective members, I can see where that looks like a a revolving door. It's called by our POTUS 'Draining the swamp' and is needed at this point in our government to get rid of the status quo that we have currently.

PKponder TX Z7B -

Amen to that!