Yes, and in theory as well, communism was a good idea :-) In practice, that's just advertisement, and Europe is no better. Governments are about power and coer

Yes, and in theory as well, communism was a good idea :-) In practice, that's just advertisement, and Europe is no better. Governments are about power and coercing the people, but it takes skill - if they do that too visibly and they get a revolution, 1789 french guillotine style. They don't want that, because it means others would get the power. EDIT: rayiner, there is no need for profanity in the reply. You can see the difference, but it doesn't mean it's not dysfunctional - only that there is more polish and you don't see it as clearly. It once shocked me too, but yes, politicians really act to maximize their self interest, in every country, and have done so for the longest time. See http://www.iep.utm.edu/polreal/ http://www.iep.utm.edu/polreal/. Voters can have an effect, I won't deny that- all I'm saying is that it is not as important in the real life as in theory. It's a quite interesting system, with politics as a market with known failures. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_choice http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_choice