Now, if this was like Canada, where most of those positions were appointed by the city government or provincial government, then I’d just have to research the candidates running for the legislature from my district and the city councillors for my district and the person running for governor. I know who those people are. I’ve researched them diligently. These people have staffs, and can easily vet candidates to run things like a water district. But me, I have not the foggiest clue what it takes to run a water district, nor what qualifications I should be looking for in someone to run it. The end result is the political equivalent of crapflooding — so many candidates and issues on the ballot that it’s simply impossible for me to give all of them the due dilligence they need. The end result is exactly the opposite of what the pro-democracy intent was in making all of these positions elective… voting for the candidate that stands out the most due to his connections to the local political machine is all too common, because it simply isn’t feasible for me to investigate each and every one of the hundreds of people on the ballot.
Bryan: I encountered that during the health care debate. I pointed out that the Constitution uses the phrase “promote the general welfare” as a responsibility of both the U.S. government as a whole, and of Congress, and that a healthier America was certainly the “general welfare”. They were reduced to sputtering that this wasn’t what the Constitution said because, well, just because — regardless that this is what the Constitution actually says. When I pointed out that the HCR proposal basically consisted of a healthcare tax and the Constitution certainly gave Congress the power to tax, they once again insisted that this was not Constitutional, despite the actual words of the Constitution giving Congress the power to tax. My conclusion is that these folks believe the Constitution is some vague cloudy thing that is whatever Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh says it is today, and is just far too complex for mere mortals like them to understand. In the end, we could have the best Constitution on the planet and these idiots would still insist that the Constitution didn’t say what it bloody well *does* say, simply because they believe it says whatever they want it to say, regardless of its actual, well, words.
– Badtux the Democratic Penguin
]]>PJ, the majority of the people in this country have never read the Constitution and have no idea what is in it. They stopped teaching government and civics in schools years ago, so most think the Bill of Rights is a Communist conspiracy.
]]>a. Even with upgrades, is essentially a 200 year old prototype.
b. Was consciously designed to ensure that said masses would have a limited say.
c. Was also designed to be very resistant to democratization — largely to ensure the prerogatives of slaveholder and rentier classes.
d. In theory dilutes authority, but in practice dilutes accountability.
For an interesting read, I recommend Daniel Lazare’s “The Frozen Republic: How the Constitution Is Paralyzing Democracy ” (1996). Of course quite a few people in this country believe that God wrote the constituion of the U.S., so it is by definition the best thing going… just like our health care system.
]]>PJ, you read them, which is more than I would have risked. Greenpeace and North Korea? For some reason, like sanity, I can’t make that connection.
Maybe, Badtux, Hugo airlifted the sub to Venezuela with the stealth dirigible that Saddam sent to Iran before the invasion.
Sadly, Badtux, it is the angry people who can be counted on to vote.
]]>Just goes to show how friggin’ crazy these people really are — and how geographically ignorant. I doubt any of them could even find North Korea on the map, or notice that it’s, like, almost exactly on the opposite side of the globe from the Gulf of Mexico. They aren’t the majority, but the majority is too busy watching the latest episode of NCIS to bother voting or writing letters to the editor or otherwise giving a shit, so the loony minority ends up with far more power than its numbers state it should have. But that’s the majority’s fault. We get the government we deserve, in the end — alas.
– Badtux the Democracy Penguin
]]>I’ve seen conflicting stories on whether BP asked to borrow these Mir subs and was turned down due to scheduling or whether BP refused them when offered.
Then there’s a story that says the Mirs were actually used already (back in May?) with BP imposing a condition that the Russians not report results to American press or government agencies (supposedly they found multiple sea bed fissures leaking oil).
Personally, I don’t have a clue what the facts are in all this.
Oh, and in spite of the html address, that “Environmental Terrorists” link (#1 above) is just an elaboration on the North Korea scenario (#2 above). However, here’s a quote from that #2 post:
“While some say environmental extremists, who have committed acts of terror in the past are responsible, the dominant theory that has emerged is that a North Korean sub torpedoed the rig.”
So I guess GreenPeace is still in the running, eh?
]]>