Americans never have a referendum and the important decision making is left to the government.
For ex - the federal government forced the automakers to fit catalytic converters in the 1970's and today we have autombiles which are 25 times cleaner than what was sold in the 1970's. I am still puzzled as why the most modern/flexible nation on this Earth still use the weird measurement units. Madan --- Han Maenen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: "Han Maenen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [USMA:17439] Re: US Federal Law in Metric! > Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 20:50:18 +0100 > Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > One could say that the USA is the most democratric > nation on earth. This > blocks metrication and change in general (e.g. 1 > dollar bank notes v. coins) > very effectively. In most aspects Europe is > democratic enough, but we leave > the decision making to the elected parliament. > Ireland has a national > referendum, but the government did not dare to put > the euro on the line. If > Europe was as democratic as the USA is, we would > never have had the euro. An > important majority of people in the euro-zone was > opposed to it. Vociferous > opponents therefore demanded that all people in the > zone could vote in a > referendum. The euro would have been thrown out. And > now it appears that it > was not that difficult to adapt to the new currency > and people adopted it > enthousiastically in the end. In a referendum I > would have voted in favour > of the euro. > The British system of democracy worked very well in > the Commonwealth > countries when they metricated, but I think that > Britain has shifted > somewhat to the American system and coupled with > opposition in Parliament, > this caused the present chaos. > > Han > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Joseph B. Reid" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Monday, 2002-01-14 17:22 > Subject: [USMA:17424] Re: US Federal Law in Metric! > > > Baron Carter wrote in USMA 17376: > > If other countries such as New Zealand and > Australia, who also had older > terminology embedded in legislation, can convert > without a hassle then so > can the US. Suggesting that it would be too hard to > do because of existing > legislation or lazy law drafters sounds like a cop > out. We need to cleanse > this attitude from our consciousness. If we stop > progress just because some > little bureaucrat or lazy drafter finds it a mite > inconvenient then the > nation is doomed to go the way all other powers have > gone in the past, > doomed to oblivion. > > Baron Carter > > > I don't blame the bureaucracy, I blame the renowned > American "division of > powers", which leads to an excess of democracy. > There is evidence that the > bureaucrats, having studied the matter, were in > favor of metrication, but > Congress reflecting the prejudices of the general > public is against. The > British system with a bureaucracy with the assurance > of practically > lifetime appointments, but responsible to a cabinet > chosen by the winning > party, leads to the possibility of more decisive > actions than the American > system allows. So far as I know, there was > negligable parliamentary > oppostion to metrication in India, Britain, South > Africa, Australia, New > Zealand, and Canada. The Members of Parliament of > the ruling party would > not vote against the decisions of their government, > which were made after > receiving the advice of the bureaucracy. > > The televison programs "Yes, Minister" and later > "Yes, Prime Minister" > offered an amusing caricature of the British > parliamentary system. > > Joseph B.Reid > 17 Glebe Road West > Toronto M5P 1C8 TEL. 416-486-6071 > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail! http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/
