[TriLUG] My part in the elections next week

[Ben Pitzer]

Any true student of the history of government (my degree is in Public
Policy) will know that the American democracy was actually intentionally
designed to prevent anyone from getting anything done quickly, easily, or
without a hell of a lot of debate.  Congress is supposed to be a bunch of
bickering fools (mission accomplished), which prevents them from making any
law unless the people truly and honestly demand it (whoops.  Can you say
DMCA?  I think you can).  They are also supposed to be very jealous of their
power versus the executive branch, and wary of the Judicial.  Lately,
however (as in the last 50-75 years, possibly longer), political parties
have begun to demand consensus amongst their members, which means that
members of Congress either vote with their parties, or risk having their
funding dry up at the next election when the party tells its big donors not
to donate to that candidate.  This is a much smaller threat with long-term
incumbents, however, for various reasons.  The point is that the framers of
the Constitution intended for it to be like pulling teeth to pass any law,
which is why they had to put in provisions like bicameral agreement on new
legislation, vetos, veto overrides, and practically impossible measures for
Constitutional amendment.

So basically, the fact that the this President hasn't issued a veto in the
5+ years he's been in office is a bit of an aberation.  And the fact that we
can't even decide with a real majority on how to vote for our SC is really
true democracy.

Thus endeth the lesson.  I will now be ignoring this list for the next two
weeks until the cheers, jeers, and discussion about bribery, bigotry,
Nazism, Communism, anarchy, realism, idealism, Democrats, Republicans,
republican government, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Clinton, any Kennedy (living
or dead), Ross Perot or Ralph Nader, Micheal Moore, any member of Congress
(living or dead), the Warren court, Hobbes' "Leviathan", elderly Floridian
voters, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, South Korea, kim chee, barbecue (Carolina
or otherwise), impeachments, Enron, gas prices, Hurricane Katrina, hunting
accidents, Stephen Colbert, Halliburton, and the correct pronunciation of
the word 'nuclear' die down a bit.  (Yikes, what have I done.)

-Ben Pitzer

On 05 May 2006 17:41:13 -0400, jonc <jonc at nc.rr.com> wrote:
>
> Damn! I love seeing Democracy in action!
>
> I think a nice compromise for now would be to let Kevin print out the
> ballots and simply leave three or four blank lines that can be filled in
> at the meeting - though I don't expect many surprises at the meeting -
> or any additional nominations.... Assuming no other candidates drop out.
>
> Jon
>
> On Fri, 2006-05-05 at 14:42, Matt Frye wrote:
> > On 5/5/06, Magnus <stinkfart at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > You cannot propose this now according to the articles of
> incorporation.
> > > "Proposed actions...."
> >
> > He can propose it, but it won't be acted on it until the next meeting.
> >  However, in the interest of improving processes, I second this
> > motion.
> >
> > I also nominate Tanner and Magnus to the committee that writes the
> > document.  As someone who has experience both writing and approving
> > committee documents, I also volunteer.
> >
> > Matt Frye
>
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