[Election-Methods] Partisan Politics

[Juho]

On Apr 13, 2008, at 19:16 , Fred Gohlke wrote:

> The point is that neither of us sought to prove the other
> "wrong".  Instead, we looked at the merit in each other's point of  
> view
> and found a way to meld the strengths of both to sketch a better  
> solution.

I agree that discussions tend to get better when people concentrate  
on positive/constructive things. Unfortunately humans do have  
tendencies e.g. to "win" a discussion (and thereby make the others  
"lose"), to prove one's own viewpoints to be right, to believe that  
only one theory can be "the truth", to believe that here is nothing  
to learn from points of view that are different than one's own. I  
prefer to view different viewpoints on some single topic as richness  
(that gives all the involved people a better basis for moving forward  
in he path of understanding the topic).

> Contradictory as it may seem, I'm not a fan of change ...
> we live in an era when the economic benefit of fads and fashion  
> inundate
> us with waste ... but that doesn't stop me from suggesting change when
> it seems necessary.

Maybe there is also a difference between maximizing the consumption  
of goods, and organizing the current system in some new better way  
(maybe sometimes making it more stable and/or less waste producing).

> re: "... I think the new president, whoever he/she will be, has an
> opportunity to do something meaningful if he/she so wants and has the
> idea and strength."
>
> I agree the opportunity will be there but I've been through far too  
> many
> of these changes in the power structure to believe they will work  
> to the
> benefit of the humans among us.  During my lifetime, I've watched the
> growing dominance of our government by vested interests and seen
> humanity squeezed out of our society.  I see nothing in the present
> farce that will counter the trend.

Unfortunately you may be right. The probability that this change  
would make some clear change to better may not be much bigger than  
usual. One might try to make some steps e.g. on the war related  
aspects (wider than just concerning one of the wars) now when that  
topic is hot.

Juho







		
___________________________________________________________ 
Now you can scan emails quickly with a reading pane. Get the new Yahoo! Mail. http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html