[EM] language/framing quibble

[Fred Gohlke]

Good Evening,

re:  "Do you examine all the candidates carefully and pick one who is 
trustworthy and then pay little attention to what he does, or do you 
pick someone less carefully and monitor him closely and then kick him 
out at the next election if necessary."

We should examine all candidates carefully and pick the one most 
characteristic of our attitudes and aspirations and most likely to 
advocate issues in our interest.  If we choose well, the need for 
monitoring will be considerably lower than if we allow others to make 
the choice for us.


re: "Groups are just groups of people, they derive their value from the 
people who they represent."

That is not exactly true.  Once formed, groups take on a life of their 
own.  The group leaders exploit or dismiss divergences among the 
membership, depending on their own biases and their opinion of how best 
to serve the group.  As you say, though, their value is a derivative of 
the number of people they can claim to represent.  What this fails to 
recognize is that while many may support the headline ideology of the 
group, that ideology is a minor consideration in most legislation.


re: "I think making it reasonably easy for parties to form and having a 
system which doesn't discriminate against independents helps a lot with 
(preventing a party from attaining too much power)."

and: "A voting system that gives less of an advantage to incumbents is 
an improvement ..."

and: "Similarly, a system that weakens parties centralised power is an 
improvement."

I absolutely agree with all three points, but I also believe we must 
recognize that humans naturally pursue their own interest, so we must 
design our electoral process so that one's probity significantly affects 
their ability to achieve public office; we must change election from a 
carnival bathed in hyperbole and deceit to a sober, contemplative 
process; we must create a political infrastructure where David Geffen's 
assertion that, "Everybody in politics lies ...", is no longer a valid 
description of the politics in our country.

Fred