Well, it *is* the most direct route

[mandragora]

Sometimes you just have to love Google. I suspect that they may have become a leetle bit tired of the stupid.

Go to Google Maps, type in something like 'New York to London'. Check out Step Number 23...

Comments

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

If only... My taxes would almost certainly be a helluva lot lower than now, if we had access to all of the US' wealth. And just think, universal health care for all. *eg*

OTOH, democracy worldwide might be a bit thin on the ground, seeing that the US mostly pioneered the way for the rest of us.

[filenotch.livejournal.com]

OTOH, democracy worldwide might be a bit thin on the ground, seeing that the US mostly pioneered the way for the rest of us.

I think the Magna Carta set the stage for that...

And we forget that our democracy started out small. Only men of property could vote for their representatives. OTOH, early on, income was taxed, but not wages, which meant the rich guys passing a tax on themselves rather than the average candlemaker's assistant. It took about a hundred years and a civil war for us to get where we are now with universal franchise.

Of course we're going to be able to create insta-governments with recognized legitimacy over night.

An elderly friend was once posted to the diplomatic core in Afganistan, pre Russian invasion. They were a fledgeling democracy, but out in the hinterlands, the people asked the tribal leaders to tell them who to vote for.

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

I think the Magna Carta set the stage for that...

Possibly. But don't forget that we got rid of our king, by chopping his head off, with the idea of sort-of implementing Parliamentarian rule under Cromwell. But we still ended up giving Cromwell a title and when he died, promptly invited the deceased's king's son back as monarch again...

On the plus side, we chopped our king's head off well before the French! *smug*

[filenotch.livejournal.com]

Well, we've only deposed one monarch president. A friend living in Africa at the time said that the locals were quite surprised there was no blood shed in the fall of Nixon.