One of the biggest problems with both the US and UK political system is timescales. The time required to make changes in policy work are beyond the scope of a single term in office.
So as the party in charge, you have to try and make changes, or do things, that have an immediate effect - you're looking at re-election over what's good for the country. If you balls it up, who cares? The next party in will take the blame and have to clean up your mess. Get it right and make a big impact and you get in again.
The biggest issue though is that people in power never actually have any idea what life is like in the daily life of most people. They're so detached it's unreal. How much of the campaign funds for the US election could have been used to fund schools? Give grants to local businesses to help them compete and stay afloat?
It's all down to the rich supporting people who will help to make them richer, it's how politics works. The end result is always the same. The rich ensure they keep their money, the poor are left scrabbling for food and the middle earners take the brunt of it by paying the most to keep the economy running.
I always look at what a party/leader is offering and make an informed choice. While my own ideals tend to lean certain ways politically, I'm not averse to voting for somebody I normally wouldn't vote for if I think they will do some good.
The question has always got to be - are you voting one way because you truly believe they can make a difference, or because "it's always the way I vote, and always the way my family has voted"?
Romney came across as a small minded bigot. He'd have done very well as president, and it's likely he would have been very popular for the way the outspoken Americans seem to think. However, Americas quieter voice is much too liberal for somebody like Romney to get in, and they're the people voting.
Could he have made the country richer and stronger with his policies? Possibly, we'll never know. However, his attitudes towards other human beings was appalling, and you just can't get away with that. The world has moved on and away from that attitude and America has too (that quiet majority) and it's that which has lost him the election. People just can't risk having somebody with such strong "anti" ideals running the country.
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