[EM] New election system proposed - Larger votes for poorer people.

[Alex Small]

Steve Glickman said:
> Okay group,
>
> I'm signing off. Good luck ever changing the world, or getting the
> respect of the people. I was hoping that some of you might be a little
> open minded... but it looks like you continue to use the old paradigm
> of blame, irresponsibility, and attacking the little guy. Keep on
> riding the system and your own egos - see you at the meltdown.


Perhaps we do get a little heated at times on this list.  Perhaps we tend
to regard certain things as either not worthy of dispute, or else already
so disputed that we don't see the point in talking about them (e.g. IRV
vs. Approval has been hashed out in almost every conceivable way). 
Perhaps we exercise a certain amount of healthy skepticism about different
ideas.

It's interesting that the subject motivating resignation pertained to
ideological matters.  The members of this list represent a wide variety of
ideological viewpoints.  The fact that virtually everyone reacted
negatively suggests that this was simply a REALLY BAD idea.  Call me
judgemental, but there's a difference between controversial proposals
(e.g. drug legalization, national health insurance, and invading Iraq) and
objectively bad proposals that defy common sense irrespective of ideology
(e.g. giving tax money to the Taliban, giving a posthumous visa to
Mohammed Atta, and banning assault weapons based on brand name so that the
law can be circumvented with a change of label).

Anyway, we responded in a perfectly natural way when confronted with a
really bad idea.  This is a hallmark of common sense, not a hallmark of
closed minds.  I don't see where we engaged in "blame, irresponsibility,
and attacking the little guy."  Indeed, Joe has suggested a system in
which even the littlest guy could potentially act as a citizen
policymaker.



Alex Small


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