i agree with chip about communism in china. they dont have problems implementing long term policys there! I think in an ideal world you would have a democratic system that allows a party long enough in office to actually make longterm decisions.

sadly what a lot of people dont understand is that sorting a country out means unpopular decisions which are in the interests of the greater good. but the majority of voters would never vote for that because they are too shortsighted to see that far ahead and understand that society as a whole is greater than them as an individual. people generally vote either out of anger or for policies that will benefit them in thier small little part of suberbia in the near future.

A good example of the concept is pensions, tell people they need to save each month now for when they retire and some will do it but a very signigicant proportion will not because they cant see that far ahead or they are stupid and just think theyd have money now. obviously some cant afford to save. Thats the situation this country is facing pension wise for most of us, and wether we like it or not, government coffers can only afford to pension those on the breadline who cant afford pensions. the rest of us will have to save. like it or lump it. Its that simple. but too many silly idiots look at the past at everyone whose got state pension and get upset saying "why shouldnt i have one too." not reallising the fact there is no choice because government funds are limited in a massively growing OAP population.

Thats just one example where the average joe would be pissed off and feel hard dumbyed yet the reality is the policy is necessary for the greater good.

Sadly our political system is just not set up to incentivfy politicians to do long term policys like that on a whole range of issues!