UK on cspan
Cspan has been running the UK Parliament debate on Syria intervention all morning. Cameron has called the MPs back from vacation early to vote on UK involvement in military strikes against Syria. The political infighting is evident and well worth reading about, but the format of the debate seems so much more democratic, broad, and thoughtful than our congressional debates it makes them seem childish and uninformed. Not just the civility but all the speakers (90 of them will speak before the vote tonight) appear to have done their homework, have reasoned arguments, and include many questions about the vote beyond narrow opinions.
For example: questions about the legality of such a military incursion under international treaties; is there "compelling evidence", what will be the result for our country, for the Middle East, for international law; what would we think if Russia invaded a country because they don't like what they are doing to their own people, what have we learned from Iraq, are we making this decision because we want to look strong, can we count on intelligence after Iraq?
Do you think Americans can be expected to look beyond the propaganda constantly thrown at us and we can ever expect our legislators and our president to make decisions and craft legislation in a way that gives us honest information?