You say "both our countries" as if I don't reside in the United States. What other country were you referring to?
I'll give you a little Carlin, he's stated my thoughts on the political process better than I ever could.

"I have solved this political dilemma in a very direct way: I don't vote. On Election Day, I stay home. I firmly believe that if you vote, you have no right to complain. Now, some people like to twist that around. They say, 'If you don't vote, you have no right to complain,' but where's the logic in that? If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent politicians, and they get into office and screw everything up, you are responsible for what they have done. You voted them in. You caused the problem. You have no right to complain. I, on the other hand, who did not vote -- who did not even leave the house on Election Day -- am in no way responsible for what these politicians have done and have every right to complain about the mess that you created."

I have begun to view the act of voting with consent. Equating "voting" with "doing your part" I believe is much more detrimental, abrogating responsibility by pretending that elections and polls, if they were even effective, are all the country needs, like giving a homeless guy some money and thinking that solves poverty; it doesn't. It satisfies some sad need for you.
Politicians and bums - both begging for change, but secretly addicted to the lifestyle.

And you heed advice from a comedien? If Carlin lived by his stance by not bothering to vote then he had no right whatsoever to say anything about the system he ranted about on about. Voting is the key to changing the political system. How do you expect the system to change without voting?

If Carlin was fed up with the political system then he should have done something about it such as being politically active instead having an apathetic voting attitude.

If you don't bother to vote then you get the kind of people in power you deserve.

I happened to be from Canada btw and we face the same kind of voter apathy as well.

I don't care who one votes for but go to the polls and vote. Most of the world do not even have that basic right to vote.

Apathy is the first step toward giving up your freedom and liberty.

Is this is what your grandfather and so many many others who fought and sacrificed thier lives for?

He wasn't a comedian, he was a Stand-Up Philosopher.
And did you even read the quote? I posted it because although it was funny commentary, it stands to reason; I don't discount a man's opinion just because he also made a career out of dick and fart jokes, and if you've ever seen him on any number of talk shows, or met him in person as I have, you'd know that was his true, no-shit position - that almost every modern nation is not a democracy (or a constitutional republic if you want to get technical); they are plutocracies.
The United States is just the best example. Approximately, and I'm going from memory here, 134,000,000 suckers - I mean people - voted in the last presidential election. If you believe the numbers - and despite the process being absolutely as rife with fraud as in 2000 and 2004, I believe essentially, Obama won - people voted for Obama because they despised George W. Bush and his policies, the fraud, the wars, the torture, the spying, the lies, the intimidation - and what did they end up with?
More and worse.
Tell me again how your political systems are making it better, or better yet, a difference at all?

Your attempt at an appeal to ancestral emotion is unwarranted.
Not that it matters, but my family didn't arrive here from Ireland until after the Civil War. Like most recent civilizations, they spent most of their battles with the English.
Not to say that none of them, or I, haven't served - my grandfather was an MP at Nuremberg - but he had no illusions about that or any conflict. He agreed with USMC MajGen Butler; War Is A Racket.
And it also isn't to say that I don't agree with the fundamental assumptions of this country, I just do not assume that what it was intended to be, or what people think it is, is what it is now.

Obama probably got in largely because people were so fed up with the previous government and while it is largely true that things haven't changed for the better under the current administration..but at least people exercised thier right to vote a basic right most of the world doesn't have and something you callously disregard.

Carlin was a comedian that's all..nothing more nothing less just like Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, Rosie O'Donell etc. He made his living and did quite well by his caustic often controversial worldly views.If you think he's a great comedien then good for you but that is all he really was.

But forfeiting the right to vote as he apparently did he got the government he deserved.

Feral if you are going to bitch about the system then get off your butt and make the change to the system by getting politically involved.

We are better off now than 4 years ago. The national debt has gotten worse, gas prices still suck, but everything else is much better. People aren't afraid to spend money. They are buying houses again. They are buying a ton of unnecessary crap. Jobs are coming back. The stock market is at its highest levels. Troops are coming home. Iraqi occupation is over. People are buying cars, especially big gas guzzlers. Top terrorists have been taken down. Affordable and easier health care is here or on its way. Minimum wage going up. Etc etc.

This message is not for dbl or texasred. I'm not dealing with them anymore.

The only callous disregard I see here is you with Carlin, you with my statements, and apparently, you with social responsibility.
Me? I don't use banks. I avoid corporate business wherever possible, and stick with local business and local issues. I barter where and when I can and avoid using the fiat currency. I assert my rights when necessary.
Wherever possible, I ignore or avoid the problem - the plutarchs and their control tool,The State.
What do you do?
You vote. Fantastic.
It is getting more and more difficult precisely because of this nonsense, arguing over what new figureheads are gonna make it all better. It's like watching people making serious, heartfelt and even zealous arguments about who's the best in the WWE.
Both the political system and wrestling are entertaining, but my argument applies.
It's fixed.

I warned you, Feral. There is little intelligent debate in here, just a bunch of name-calling.

Ironic, too, since I myself had you pegged for a conservative. (Or possibly a rather congenial anarchist, which might be interesting.)

Can you source any of this info? I want to knock them down, one by one, but I'll just throw some things out there as well.
1. The national debt is much, much worse than they say. I won't dare go into future obligations or derivatives, it goes over far too many people's heads, but suffice it to say, it's bad.
2. Gas prices will continue to suck, as will food, dry goods, etc. Inflation tends to do such things. Not good either.
3. They are buying unnecessary crap, instead of saving, but I understand that; why save if your money is worth less and less?
4. It's been stated many times before, but unemployment statistics being pushed by government and media do not take into account those that have lost benefits and still haven't found legit payroll jobs, what type of jobs (parttime, service)those that find them are getting, etc. Not to mention number-fudgery. The State's numbers cannot and should not be trusted.
5. It is a huge mistake to equate stock market performance with economic health.
6. Troops are coming home broken. The VA is a disgrace. And with DOS propping up dictatorship or fomenting rebellion all over the world, it is only a matter of time before they or the next batch are doped up with antidepressants and antipsychotics and sent into the next debacle.
7. We are still in almost every country ever involved in a direct conflict with the United States. I could show you video from today of firefights in Iraq. And those guys that are coming back for good? Being replaced with contractors, or troops "moved" to intelligence agencies or the DOS.
8. I won't comment on state involvement in terrorism, except to say what you call "Al Qaeda" is currently in control of Libya, and is being funded by your government to overthrow the Syrian government.
9. Affordable and easier healthcare legislation, written BY insurance companies, delivered to you with the end of a gun. State involvement in what is currently a market issue can only end in disaster. If you thought the IRS was lousy before, wait til they have access to your medical records. I am unsure about socialization of medicine; I don't think the for-profit system is cutting it, but I don't like the idea of a state apparatus having access to my information. I've seen the U.K. system, and the system we have in the U.S. Neither is good, but what they propose is worse.
10. The minimum wage issue is a non-starter - price increases get passed to those consumers. You know...the ones with the new minimum wage service jobs.
Etc. Etc.
And none of that trumps the fact that our rights are being absolutely eviscerated while an electronic and literal gulag goes up around us. I would not go so far as to say that everything is better.

I understand completely. I understand passion. I do not understand hostility. Good to know some can still be civil.

Funny you should say that. My PS professor lady-friend likes to say I'm a flexible Agorist and an inflexible humanist. lol.
P.S. She's very flexy.