Anyone who knows me knows that I'm convinced most of the misery in the developed world is cultural in origin, not political. But since 2008 is an election year in the US, I'm not letting the politicians off the hook either.

The problems with American politics are constantly discussed, usually by people who write whole books -- often multiple books -- outlining complex political and economic theories on how to solve these problems. Politicians endeavor to solve them with long and complex new laws, or by adding changes to a tax code so complicated it even confuses tax professionals. They're wasting their time. The biggest problem with government in America is that the people who govern America almost always compromise by passing more legislation, and never by passing less.

Really, it's that ****ing simple.