We live in a republican form of government where we elect representatives who
make laws rather than voting directly on the laws themselves. Not voting
directly causes people stop caring because they are not interested in what they
cannot change. The republican form of government is the antithesis of
democracy.
I think you become interested in something where there is something to learn
and a way to predict/affect outcomes. Information about candidates do not come
packaged with gum, outcomes are not definite, and not every candidate even has
states, like votes in Congress.
Democracy demands participation. It also requires you to be enfranchised. You
cannot be too interested in things about which you have no input. Laws are made
by representatives in a republican form of government. Representatives have to
be candidates first.
WE do not pick candidates. Political parties certify candidates who appear on
ballots or engage in a caucus race. A caucus race is better described by Lewis
Carroll in his Alice in Wonderland, chapter three, than any logical relation to
a consent of the governed.
SO, we vote for candidates we do not pick who make promises they do not keep as
they make laws to which we do not consent.
The only way to punish parties for the candidates they pick is to subject them
to recall with petitions. Many states have recall. The Federal government does
not. Of course, many states can recall a law with an initiative, if enough
agree to it. Many states have legislatures that can refer the people with a
referendum when they want their true consent.
The citizens are competent enough to know that regardless of what they know
about an issue, it will be done without their consent or understanding. This is
a republican form of plutocracy; not a progressive form of democracy.
Voting is more of an exercise in giving the appearance of a democracy that in
fact only stops government from being an out and out dictatorship of one.
The Founders of this government had no respect for government, in truth. They
made it as inefficient and chaotic as possible by dividing power into four
parts, represented by the Supreme Court (law interpreting), Presidency (law
enforcing), Senate (foreign law/treaties) and the House (taxing & spending).
Unlike the Romans, our income does not come from conquest and tribute. It comes
from the production of our own citizens. When we have entitlements, taxes are
stolen from our right pocket to put into our left pocket. Like the Romans, we
like to pay for bread-and-circuses from our left pocket.
Unlike conquest and tribute as a source, pulling from our right pocket has
limits. At this point, the 19% in our left pocket (government) comes from of
the output from our "right pocket," which is the means of production.
Gross Domestic Product is a number that represents the performance of our means
of production. Our national budget is the 19% of our Gross Domestic Product.
Two thirds of that 19% is entitlements to citizens, which is the
"bread-and-circuses."
Entitlements do not build bridges and highways. Entitlements do not provide a
source of energy. Entitlements to not provide for public safety. Entitlements
do not provide for national security. Entitlements do not provide for a justice
system. Entitlements do not provide for an educational system.
What entitlements do is provide for increased consumption of material goods,
but not the means of production that is the source of those material goods. It
is more dollars chasing the same output from that means of production. We call
that inflation.
Do I believe in providing a safety net for the poor. When the safety net
becomes permanent home in a hammock, it is an addiction and a way of life. At
some point, the war against poverty has become a war on the poor by the poverty
pimps.
Believe it or not, the basic desire of people is to become independent, not
dependent, on the government. They want a hand up rather than a hand out. They
want paychecks rather than welfare checks. They want retirement checks, not
social security checks.
Believe it or not, people are not just uninterested and lazy when it comes to
politics. They are alienated and disgusted because their opinion is not
considered, their vote does not count, and their consent is not required by the
representatives when they actually make our laws.
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the
inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. -- Winston
Churchill
____________________________________________________________________________________
Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page.
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
