"It would do the world a lot of good if Americans gave other people a chance to work on their own institutions and arrive at what is good for themselves. " - You are deceiving yourself. Last time I checked, Capitalism is the accumulation of capital at the expense of somebody else. What makes you think, America and its cousin change the rule of the game? Western countries have been preying on many African countries ever since they set a foot on the continent. Study your recent history some more. Which country vetoed and blocked (at the UN level) the decision to send army troops of willing Africans countries that would have prevented the genocide in Rwanda only to remind us today that it was mistake?

"It would do the world a lot of good if Americans gave other people a chance to work on their own institutions and arrive at what is good for themselves. " -

- You are deceiving yourself. Last time I checked, Capitalism is the accumulation of capital at the expense of somebody else. What makes you think, America and its cousin change the rule of the game? Western countries have been preying on many African countries ever since they set a foot on the continent. Study your recent history some more. Which country vetoed and blocked (at the UN level) the decision to send army troops of willing Africans countries that would have prevented the genocide in Rwanda only to remind us today that it was mistake?

This article brings up some good points, although it overstates some in pursuit of its argument. For example, the Clinton ads in Texas and Ohio were a copy of television ads run by Walter Mondale against Gary Hart in 1984. Hart and Mondale are both White men. The ad was not an attack on race, but on experience, no matter what some analysts say. Also, readers should know that Geraldine Ferraro was forced to resign from the Clinton campaign shortly after making her racially divisive comments. So even though it is a shame that anyone would make comments like these, it is a better sign that they are not tolerated.

As an American, I agree that the American system is not ideal. I think most Americans would agree. I agree with the author of this article that each nation must find its own way to make it work. But I think Britain's Winston Churchill summed it up best when he put it this way: "Democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."