Fed Up Citizens Confront Their Leaders … In Iceland
Now this is what we call an engaged citizenry. From the AP:
A nationally televised meeting between Iceland’s prime minister and other political leaders was forced off the air Wednesday night when angry protesters disrupted the broadcast … [the show] was cut short 45 minutes into the program when a torch-wielding crowd stormed Reykjavik’s Hotel Borg in an attempt to get to the studio.
Why did Icelanders put down their bubbly and pick up their torches and protest signs?
The disruption was the latest in a series of demonstrations that have rocked Iceland since the country’s economy imploded this fall under a mammoth load of bad debt. Unemployment has increased and inflation has soared.
So shortsighted, bought-off politicians wrecked their country’s economy by allowing a “mammoth load of bad debt” to build up until it collapsed like … well, like some two-bit flimflam artist’s Ponzi scheme. Gee, that sounds kinda familiar.
And what were American citizens and political leaders doing last night while Icelanders were braving tear gas and police batons to vent their righteous rage at their negligent officials?
Let’s see, our president-elect was still working on his suntan and his golf game eight time zones west of Washington. Our current president … well, who cares where he was … Ah ha! Here’s video footage of a few prominent politicos from last night–including the ex-president whose deregulatory policies laid the groundwork for our financial catastrophe and his wife, who served in the Senate for years and did nothing to head it off. They must have been barricaded in their homes, afraid and ashamed to show their faces, right?
Right? …
Um, not so much:
For a little contrast, check out footage from Reykjavik:
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