While the feds cannot mandate metrication, they can make it very difficult to do business otherwise. For instance, if Congress made metric the only official system (as permitted under the constitution) the government could refuse to do business in non-metric measures....
Absolutely! And if the federal government simply said "we do business only in metric," then America would metricate much, much faster. And without passing any mandates on the private sector.
The keyword here is backbone. Congress has none and thus, a long-term good idea gets squashed for short-term ignorance.
I cannot agree with this. Congress is 455 elected representatives. They each have issues that are important and others that are not. To some degree these issues represent what their constituencies think are important.
That all Congresscritters do not see metrication as we do does NOT mean they have no backbone. A far more accurate explanation is that most of them do not see it as a very critical issue, because they rarely hear about it from those they represent.
I am the last person in the world to defend politicians, but if we are going to influence them, we had better have a good idea of what the true roadblocks are, rather than simply say they have no backbone.
Jim
Electrical Engineer
Industrial manufacturing manager
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
www.qsicorp.com
