[thechat] protests?

[deacon b.]

> deacon b. wrote:
> > The electoral college serves a very valid purpose - it 
> > makes it a lot more *certain* who lives at 1600 
> > Pennsylvania Avenue. Better the guy who's second-
> > best than nobody at all!

> That's not why the electoral college was created at all.  It was
> created as a compromise between individual/states rights folks and
> federalists. 

Should "why it was created" really matter at this 
point? It exists - and it has a *very* good reason to 
continue to exist. 

Compare it to the internet, designed to make war 
research more effective and efficient, but eBay, 
Amazon, e-Trade and Travelocity are very good 
reasons to want to keep it going.

> I voted for Bush. It was a close call, but 
> Republicans are against running a deficit, are 
> against expanding > the government, and 
> there's never been a war started in a Republican 
> administration. Who was I to know that Bush really 
> was a Democrat?

> To note:
> The Japanese started the Second World War (as far as US involvement
> goes).

I was unaware that the Japanese ran the US 
government in December 1941.
 
> Reagan and his supply side economics were also responsible for the
> largest ballooning of the federal deficit in history up until this
> administration.

Yeah? The Reagan tax cuts *increased* federal 
revenues. Yes, federal spending increased even 
faster than revenues, but this was primarily because 
of programs passed *before* Reagan went into 
office. 

> The Reagan and Bush I administrations were also
> directly responsible for the greatest expansion of government
> intrusion into private behavior, known as the War On Drugs.

Lyndon Johnson started the War on Drugs in 
December 1964 with the Single Convention on 
Narcotic Drugs. 

> Democrats have done plenty of stupid shit while in office.  But nobody
> gets off claiming that Republicans are all about smaller government
> and fiscal responsibility.  That's just laughable.

The modern democratic party has been built 
primarily on the social welfare accomplishments of 
Franklin Roosevelt and to a lesser degree, Lyndon 
Johnson. Lyndon Johnson was especially 
impressive. Who would have thought that a 
southerner would have fought so effectively and so 
hard for racial equality? 

The modern republican party has been built on the 
philosophy of Barry Goldwater, and to a lesser 
degree, Ronald Reagan. TEFRA was a mess, but it 
cut the tax burden and increased tax revenue at the 
same time, which is somewhat of a miracle. In 
recent years, Republicans have tried to dismantle 
large portions of the government, such as the 
Department of Education, and to privatize other 
parts of the federal government, such as the post 
office, prisons, and social security.

Neither party has been particularly successful in 
reducing the size of government nor in making it 
more responsive to the citizenry, largely because of 
the Civil Service constraints.  If we want to do 
something to improve the federal government, Civil 
Service is the first thing that needs to go. As it is, 
our government is not run by Republicans or 
Democrats, but by bureaucrats who are free to tell 
their elected "superiors" to go fish. The people who 
staff the congressional and senatorial offices, on the 
other hand, are very good about responding to 
problems presented by the electorate.

deke





--

RIP Adam Osborne, 1939-2003
And 23 pounds of thanks!