Comments by "Tony Wilson" (@tonywilson4713) on "We Found The Real Leader of the Conservative Movement" video.

Another Australian here: I went to college in America in the late 80s. I was there all through the 87 election season and there were aspects to the whole circus that baffled me. It actually took a great deal of time to even start to understand it. On hand I am not surprised at where America is and on the other incredibly disappointed to see where it is AND incredibly scared Australia could just as easily go the same way. The main difference between places like Australia, Canada, New Zealand is that we didn't have to fight a damn nasty war to get our independence. That war of independence has left America with a sort of cultural scar. We have ours too but nothing like America's. America was also granted (what in my opinion) was one of the greatest achievements in human history - The US Constitution with the Bill of Rights embedded in it. You wont here many non-Americans say that. I studied aerospace engineering but a bunch of my friends were pre-law. They used to drive me crazy with their damn hypothetical questions and discussions. It also left me with a sense I didn't know my own country that well and they understood their country and HOW IT WAS MEANT TO WORK, but then they were also part of a generation that still studied civics, which for the uninitiated is a high school class where they get taught this is how the Constitution came to be and how the whole system is meant to work. If there was only one thing (and there are several) that I would bring into our high schools now it would be an Australian version of that civics curriculum. Because then every person in Australia would have an understanding of how the country (its governments, courts and services work). And this is where America has gone off the rails. America let Bush and Cheney cut the funding for civics. In the past NOBODY would have been able to get away with what Trump and his Trumpistani hoards have done, BECAUSE too many people would have called BULLSHlT to his LIES because they would have been educated to spot it. Here's why I think Civics is so important. The US Constitution and the Bill of Rights are brilliant BUT NOT PERFECT. Nobody's is - Australia inherited much of ours from the British with a 1,000 years of British fluff. As an engineer I explain it this way. Consider the best machines we have made (of any type) they all NEED MAINTENANCE. Formula 1 cars and Fighter jets are among the most advanced machines we've ever made and they all need dedicated highly trained crews to maintain them. Our nations are no different and they are more complex than any machine, which is why we have governments to maintain them. The brilliance of modern social democracy is "we the people" can get rid of a government that fails to do that job. BUT it breaks down when the population isn't educated about how the nation is supposed to work. That's why civics is so important. Without it its easy for populist bad faith actors to come in and convince people of things that are NOT true.
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@BatMan-oe2gh 100% correct plus we have a ranked voting system NOT a first past the post and that really does force people to appeal to more than their base.
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@Newrepublic-g7j Everybody is TOO QUIET about America's issues. I have heard so many Australian politicians say the new buzz phrase of "the rules based order" BUT NOT ONE of them say what the rules are or why they are only enforced when it suits certain countries. I really don't mind it when people want to scream at people like Vladimir Putin, but they have got to apply the same rules across the board. For sure Putin is a monster that needs dealing with but when America (and it was the Americans) go and blow up a $20 Billion of pipeline just so American companies can sell gas to Europe IS WRONG. If the Chinese invade Taiwan it would be just as bad as the Chinese committing genocide against the Uyghurs which is deplorable. Its just as deplorable for American companies to have manufacturing bases in China and for Australia to allow China to take out a 99 year lease on one of its major ports. If there is this "rules based order" then what are the rules and what treaty did any of our countries sign?
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