Would you say the United States is a reactionary or progressive country?

[opebo]

Much more reactionary than average, though less reactionary than a few third world or middle income nations.  Certainly the most reactionary full 'developed' country.

But angus, I think it might be a little too optimistic to call the Empire 'burgeoning'.  The high point was probably 1945-1965.  It is hanging on, no doubt, but it has not exactly got the wind at its back.  Think Edwardian England.

[opebo]

angus, I won't dispute your long post, but I will clarify that I never mentioned anything about land-grabs as obviously I don't consider those particularly important in either Edwardian or current imperialism. 

[opebo]

any country that voted for Bush twice struggles with me to be considered "Progressive".

Once, man. Once.

Okay fair enough, but you had a chance to rectify your error (or rather the Supreme Court's error) and... you blew it.

Actually, you were correct in your initial assesment.  The only votes in question in 2000 were in NM, where gore eventually won by 360 votes; IA, where gore eventually won by 4000; and FL.  And only Florida had enough votes (25 I think) to make a difference, and in Florida Bush won by 185 if you counted them the way the Bushies wanted, or Bush won by 1500 if you count them the way gore wanted, or he won by 587 if you count them the way Katherine Harris wanted.  (No doubt, the Supreme court was inconsistent, and made a bad ruling, and that certainly deserves its own thread, but Bush won legitimately both in 2000 and in 2004 with or without the Supreme court's poor showing during that episode.)  So you should stand by your initial assertion.  One with which I disagree, I might add, because as I pointed out, Bush has been one of the most reactionary, by some measures, and one of the most progressive, by others, of all our presidents.  He may have finished Reagan's hatchet job of FDR's New Deal by reducing taxes even more than Reagan, but he also appointed more women and black people and hispanics than any of his predecessors.  He has also tried to reach for Mars.  In terms of US imperialism, unfortunately his reach has exceded his grasp.  Still, there's plenty of evidence our blue-blood, ivy-league, Connecticut Yankee president (and self-styled Texas Cowboy President) has taken some of the most progressive and most reactionary steps of all presidents.  In fact, I submit that his very transformation from aristocratic Easterner to egalitarian Westerner is about as progressive and as reactionary a transformation as you can find in the annals of world leaders of any epoch.

First, I would like to ask where you got the nonsense about the vote count in 2000, and secondly to remind you that taxes were quite a bit lower under Reagan.