Why must we allow our ruling party politicians to talk like they
are the best and refuse to let people decide who are indeed the
best?
What's wrong with allowing our media to report on news and
criticisms of government policies as they are? Will free press lead
to disorders and chaos?
Why must we allow ruling party politicians to exploit any loopholes
or grey areas in the constitution by interpreting them according to
their own wishes or tweak the election process into GRC with
superficial excuses like providing for racial representation when
there are so many other ways such as allocation of minority seats
for contest among the minority candidates as posted by many to
provide for racial balance.
The reason often cited for gerrymandering of election process or
tweaking of laws and regulations is rule of law or prevention of
lawlessness or chaos but let us take a look at how they pass their
own laws to reward themselves or suit their own convenience calling
all that rule of law.
Switzerland, Sweden, Finland are small countries too adopting
democracy making real progress but their ordinary citizens do not
have to be made to suffer all the suppressions or oppressions and
years of dropping wages and even forfeiture of their own retirement
savings.
What is wrong with allowing democracy to evolve from true voting
based on open debates among contending PMs and contending
MPs.
Public debates between contending MPs and PMs should be allowed
without all the civil libel being used after election to eliminate
or "fix" political foes to serve the hidden agendas of whover is
has the power to do so or the ruling party.
Let us look at the current debates between Hilary Clinton
(Democrat) and her contenders like Giuliani or Obama. The nation
can be spared of any hidden agendas of libel lawsuits after
elections for remarks made deemed defamatory by sheer political
power. Such openness which PM Lee said he will introduce many times
to build an inclusive society is not yet taking place and the
reverse seems to be true. So words do not match deeds in the first
place with our current leaders.
Such open debates and openness will offer many other advantages
beside choosing the really passionate and capable leaders as they
will definitely offer the truly fair and above-board rule for all
to obey in conducting election which will purge all the bad bloods
and hidden agendas haboured by self-centred or vindictive
politicians purely based on power and hypocrisy.
Have we reached such a maturity in our efforts to open up and
liberalize our own political process?
It is time again to ponder on what is the best political system for
our own good and our future.
......................................
(Report on election debates currently taking place in US upcoming
presidential election)
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- With Sin City as a backdrop, seven
Democratic presidential hopefuls went head-to-head on the issues
Thursday night, with the biggest pressure likely on front-runner
Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Seven Democratic presidential hopefuls gather for a debate in Las
Vegas, Nevada.
She faced the first question about stumbling in the last debate and
responded first by joking that her pant suit was "made out of
asbestos."
Clinton then sparred right away with Sen. Barack Obama -- her
closest rival -- on the issue of health care.
The candidates are debating at the Thomas and Mack Center on the
campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The debate, hosted by CNN and the Nevada Democratic Party, is the
first showdown between Democrats since Clinton's stumble at a
debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
That's where the senator from New York was accused of inconsistency
on her answer to a question about driver's licenses for illegal
immigrants. Criticism of Clinton's response was discussed in the
media for days afterward.
Clinton has to do better this time, CNN senior political analyst
Bill Schneider said Thursday.
"She has to reassure Democrats that she speaks from conviction,
that she's being honest with the people, that she doesn't talk like
a typical politician -- which is what she sounded like at the last
Democratic debate and took a lot of heat for that," Schneider
said.
Gloria Borger, CNN's other senior political analyst, agreed:
"Clinton's on the hot seat. She has to get rid of the notion that
she can't answer a question directly or that as a front-runner she
is just playing out the clock and wants to be cautious above all
else."
Democrats do Vegas
The Democrats lay their cards on the table in Las Vegas, Nevada,
with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
Tonight, 8 ET
see full schedule »
Clinton admitted to CNN senior political correspondent Candy
Crowley in an exclusive interview that the Philadelphia debate was
not her best performance. "I wasn't at my best," she said.
Schneider described Clinton's performance as "evasive, waffling,
trying to have it both ways."
Since then, Clinton's campaign has admitted to planting a question
with a student attending a Clinton campaign event in Iowa. Rival
campaigns from both political parties criticized Clinton for that
incident as well.
On Saturday, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, while
campaigning in Iowa, blasted the Clinton camp for the incident,
saying the practice is "what George Bush does."
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iReport: Share your analysis with CNN
Clinton's campaign shot back Monday, accusing Edwards of acting
like President Bush and dividing Democrats.
"Anyone paying attention in the days since the last debate would
hear the sounds of a calendar closing in. The rhetoric in both the
Edwards and [Barack] Obama campaigns has hit new decibels, aimed at
driving down Hillary Clinton's poll numbers," Crowley said.
Tonight's Nevada debate may be crucial for many reasons. Watch how
CNN's Wolf Blitzer prepared for the debate »
The Silver State has been a swing state in past U.S. presidential
elections, and it looks as if history could repeat itself in
2008.
Bush won Nevada in 2000 and 2004, but the Democrats came close and
hope to close the deal next November. Moving up Nevada's Democratic
caucus and holding a party-sanctioned debate here could pay off
come Election Day 2008.
"They have guaranteed that our Democratic nominee will be versed
with key issues facing Nevada and very familiar with voters of the
state," said Democratic consultant Jennifer Backus.
Among the issues of concern to Nevada voters: energy independence,
nuclear waste storage, water resources, economic growth, homeland
defense and illegal immigration. Expect some of those to come up in
the debate.
Clinton has a large lead over her rivals among Nevada Democratic
caucus-goers, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll
released Wednesday.
Another poll has Clinton and Rudy Giuliani -- the Republican
presidential front-runner -- neck-and-neck in Nevada.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll showed Giuliani receiving 47
percent of votes in the hypothetical general-election matchup with
Clinton, who scored 46 points -- a statistical dead heat given the
poll's 2.5 percent margin of error.