Thought of the day
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We do! We can choose to be governed by **this** bunch of incompetent embezzlers serving **these** special interests, or by **that** bunch of incompetent embezzlers serving **those** special interests. And all of them will stick their snouts into the public trough as deeply as physically possible, elected or not.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
Our last hope is a COS (Convention of States), where 3/4 of the state legislatures can pass amendments to our constitution without congress/president required to approve them. The Book: The Liberty Amendments by Mark Levin has some good starting points. And Yes, we should be able to vote for what happens to the OUTGOING politician!! So, we vote for Obama to get him in the office, and when he is on his way out, we add some questions, and you can vote for all of them: The Ex-President Should: - Lose Secret Service Protection - Lose Any future payments from the government - Be Prevented from Speaking Publicly - Be Stripped of the POTUS/Mr. President title - Be investigated for lying during his campaign - Be Jailed for his performance (for the same time as his presidential term) - Be forced to pay for the Deficits he ran up :-)))) Furthermore, No member of Congress or the Senate should be allowed to collect ANY payments or reimbursements if they fail to pass a balanced annual budget! Once the deadline comes, they stop getting paid, and changing this law requires a constitutional amendment! Finally, it should be a Felony that prevents serving in public office to knowingly deceive the American People. Even while running for office, and especially once in it. All forms of government misconduct should be tried as Treason. Other than that... I am an easy-going, nature lover who enjoys long walks on the beach :-)))
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Our last hope is a COS (Convention of States), where 3/4 of the state legislatures can pass amendments to our constitution without congress/president required to approve them. The Book: The Liberty Amendments by Mark Levin has some good starting points. And Yes, we should be able to vote for what happens to the OUTGOING politician!! So, we vote for Obama to get him in the office, and when he is on his way out, we add some questions, and you can vote for all of them: The Ex-President Should: - Lose Secret Service Protection - Lose Any future payments from the government - Be Prevented from Speaking Publicly - Be Stripped of the POTUS/Mr. President title - Be investigated for lying during his campaign - Be Jailed for his performance (for the same time as his presidential term) - Be forced to pay for the Deficits he ran up :-)))) Furthermore, No member of Congress or the Senate should be allowed to collect ANY payments or reimbursements if they fail to pass a balanced annual budget! Once the deadline comes, they stop getting paid, and changing this law requires a constitutional amendment! Finally, it should be a Felony that prevents serving in public office to knowingly deceive the American People. Even while running for office, and especially once in it. All forms of government misconduct should be tried as Treason. Other than that... I am an easy-going, nature lover who enjoys long walks on the beach :-)))
It would be a good start just to make Congress live under the laws they pass. That is, no exempting themselves.
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Additionally, if the elected does not do what he said, he should be thrown off a cliff :-\
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}That just leads to them making patriotic-sounding noise but not promising anything at all (to the extent they don't do that already). Political commercials sound more and more like commercials for vitamins and food suppliments, full of phrases like "supports a healthy immune system" that mean nothing at all. This thought just crystalized in my head. I am so depressed.
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Do elections only serve to make the future moron-certain?
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
What bothers me is not the morons, but the active criminals which public service seems to attract. The best person for any elected post is someone who is competent who really does not want the job. If you really want the job, you are either looking for a free financial ride (read graft/misappropriation of funds), or you are unsuitable because of your lust for power. ;P It's a really rare person who is both competent and altruistic and wants the job to do active good. Even when such a person is elected, they find that everyone around will actively work against them for wanting to change the status quo. Machiavelli probably said it best: (paraphrasing, this is not an exact quote) "Beware my prince, for if you wish to enact change, you will get indifferent support from those with something to gain, and active resistance from those with something to lose."
Fletcher Glenn
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What bothers me is not the morons, but the active criminals which public service seems to attract. The best person for any elected post is someone who is competent who really does not want the job. If you really want the job, you are either looking for a free financial ride (read graft/misappropriation of funds), or you are unsuitable because of your lust for power. ;P It's a really rare person who is both competent and altruistic and wants the job to do active good. Even when such a person is elected, they find that everyone around will actively work against them for wanting to change the status quo. Machiavelli probably said it best: (paraphrasing, this is not an exact quote) "Beware my prince, for if you wish to enact change, you will get indifferent support from those with something to gain, and active resistance from those with something to lose."
Fletcher Glenn
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Just think what the US would be like if ALL the politicians were being paid minimum wage and retired on Social Security.
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Would that stop the graft and misappropriation? More likely, it would in increase it. :( Sorry for being so cynical, but I have been around for a long time.
Fletcher Glenn
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It really matters, if you don't vote then parliament will not know what people believe. It is not just a case of choosing an MP, it is also about showing you care. Next time around, the parties won't bother targeting policies to help non-voters - just look at policies for the young vs policies for the old. They're all in it for themselves, but atleast encourage the ones who may give you hand up as well.
veni bibi saltavi
"Parties won't bother..." There's lots of talk of voter apathy, but less about politician apathy. Where I live, there were council elections but NOT ONE election communication even MENTIONED them, let alone naming their candidate or explaining their local policies. There was so much hype over the general election that it hadn't even dawned on me there were local elections until I looked at my polling card on the day. Without any info about the candidates I was deprived of ANY choice. Had a rant at the exit poll people as far as a I dared without getting "security" called... Seriously, if the candidates can't even be bothered to put "vote for me" in print, there's something (else) broken with this system.
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What bothers me is not the morons, but the active criminals which public service seems to attract. The best person for any elected post is someone who is competent who really does not want the job. If you really want the job, you are either looking for a free financial ride (read graft/misappropriation of funds), or you are unsuitable because of your lust for power. ;P It's a really rare person who is both competent and altruistic and wants the job to do active good. Even when such a person is elected, they find that everyone around will actively work against them for wanting to change the status quo. Machiavelli probably said it best: (paraphrasing, this is not an exact quote) "Beware my prince, for if you wish to enact change, you will get indifferent support from those with something to gain, and active resistance from those with something to lose."
Fletcher Glenn
Another thing about political motivation is that there should be no sense of frustration or upset in defeat. Instead, rejoice that democracy has allowed a majority decision to be reached and quietly put your policies away, since they're not wanted. Of course, you can roll them out next time around as circumstances may well have changed, alternative policies demonstrated not to have had desired outcomes, etc. This is something that really concerns me about the SNP. Having had the majority of Scots people living in Scotland say they don't want devolution, for a moment there (until reality kicked in) I expected Alex Salmond to not only resign, but immediately disband the SNP; now all of a sudden they have 1/12 of the nation's seats, founded primarily on a premise that most of their own country rejected... bizarre.
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I think we should be able to vote *against* someone without voting *for* someone. Then the one with the most negative votes should be thrown off a cliff.
You should read Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Essentially the American Revolution replayed in space, the moon specifically. The lunar colony, which is a penal colony, fights for independence from the Earth with the aid of a self-sentient computer. As they try to form a new government, they haggle over all sorts of ideas, and yours was one of them, the negative vote. It's one of my favorite books and I think Heinlein's greatest, sorry Stranger in a Strange Land fans.
Psychosis at 10 Film at 11 Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it. Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.
