I know we are a democracy and all, and I believe that everyone should have some kind of voice in the process, but this kind of thing gets me wondering...
These folks are beyond uniformed. They are clueless to an extraordinary degree. I honestly don't believe that, in their current state of understanding, they have anything substantive to offer to the national debate about where our country is going.
This is why I keep coming back to the economic impact argument, that the areas of this country with the greatest impact on our nations economy should have the largest say about the direction our country will take. I'm certainly favoring that equation in this case.
Posted by jherr at February 18, 2008 02:00 PMAlthough, I feel that the people in the clip are as ignorant as can be, I must say that I disagree with your representation by economic power theory.
For one, who is to say that the almighty dollar is the main gauge of worth for a section of society. What about teachers, or those in higher education, or even those that choose to stay home with children, those that have a relatively small direct economic impact.
Moreover, at what representation should we count those that have lesser economic impact? 2/3 of a person was tried by the South over a century and a half ago to represent those that took up space but were not supposedly worthy of being counted as equals.
Posted by: eigga49 at February 18, 2008 06:35 PMYour point is well taken. Though to a certain degree because of the electoral system the way it is now your vote may be worth more or less than one vote. While a popular vote system would be the only way to ensure "1 person 1 vote".
The question I have for you is; Is the government a business? And if it is a business then just like a business you would expect that the units within the company that are performing their best would have more say in the direction of the company than those performing poorly.
Texas, I'm happy to say, would be doing well. As would California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Washington. The other states would need to raise their games. That seems like a good thing to me.
How are the roads around you? Are they good? Mine are crap. And that pisses me off. It especially pisses me off when I go to South Carolina and drive on four lane highways in the middle of nowhere that are as smooth as glass. You want to know why those highways are nice? Because your and my tax dollars paid, through pork, for those roads, that nobody uses. There is no industry in SC. So to have an economy they have bargain for pork with federal government with the one thing they have, votes they really shouldn't have.
Does it make any sense at all that California. The eighth largest economy in the world should have just two votes in the Senate? The same two votes that Montana has? Or South Dakota? How does that make any sense at all. South Dakota has one Senator for every 350,000 people. California has one for every 18 million. Texas, one for every 12 million. And yet every Senate vote counts the same.
Posted by: jherr at February 19, 2008 03:02 PMBTW, to your point about teachers and parents. The better the teachers and homes, the better than worker and the entrepreneur. And thus the more vibrant the economy and the better for the state.
We need to start looking at this country as a business or else we are going to lose our status as the number one economy in the world very soon. We need to educate our kids properly. We need to give our scientists access to all the tools they need. We need to stop playing partisan politics and start working on solutions for the country as a whole.
Posted by: jherr at February 19, 2008 03:06 PMThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
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