How To Fix American Democracy

<Thanks for fixing it Wildkow.>

 

Plagiarizing?

It is considered to be poor netiquette to copy something from another website without attribution. Not to mention that it probably is a copyright violation.

P.S. Just as I suspected. I found your source:

Don Lindsay Archive

P.P.S. Dragonfly beat me to the punch.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ Aug 14 2006, 04:42 PM) [snapback]303202[/snapback]</div>

It all makes sense now.... Wildkow is really Ann Coulter!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ Aug 14 2006, 04:42 PM) [snapback]303202[/snapback]</div>

Wildkow knows better....he's done this before....

I read the article. Not sure if it would work here in America.

What would work is a big campaign fund that ALL corporate lobbyists put their money in. Then, the money is divided up among all registered candidates and that is all the money they can spend. All fair. They all get the same amount of money to start with.

Problem solved.

 

As much as I hate to agree with the Kow on anything, proportional representation is a lot more democratic than our winner-take-all electoral farce. And while corporate lobbyists would not voluntarily contribute to a general campaign fund for all candidates (after all, the whole point is they are buying the candidates) it would make sense to ban all private campaign spending, in favor of a system that provided limited, free media time for all candidates.

In some parliamentary democracies each party puts forth a slate of candidates and voters vote for the parties. Each party then get a number of seats proportional to its popular vote, counting down from the top of its published slate of candidates. The result is that most voters have some representation. By contrast, in our two-party system, most voters have no representation, because most voters are disgusted with both of the big parties.

 

I think proportional representation makes sense and is among the best of the 'alternatives.' But, there's much that could be done to improve the current system. If everyone voted, and everyone's vote were counted, we'd be a little closer to something resembling democracy.

In Canada we have several political parties, not just two polar opposites, though I will admit some of them exist only for the entertainment value. (Some of them intentionally.)

 

Ah, the old "everybody does it defense".

Good for getting you kicked out of any higher education school in the nation and an automatic "F" in K-12.

How far would "I was in a hurry". "I forgot." get before a judge as justification?

You also put Priuschat in danger of sanctions or a cease and desist by violating copyright. I've seen it happen twice on boards I frequent by repeat offenders. You say you know better. Prove it by following the law and the rules of Priuschat.

You've certainly destroyed your credibility now.

************
BTW here's my fix.

The candidate that raises the most money wins. No advertising or election stuff at all. All of the money is paid into the budget of the government level the candidate is running for I.E. city, county, state, Federal.

You can only run once and you only get one term.

A list of contributors will be provided along with the money and you must abstain from any issue that any contributor is a part of or can gain from. (This will need some strict reform of current law.)

No one gets a pension and their healthcare stops when they leave office.

All officials makes the average salary of the population they represent for the period they are in office.

:lol: Makes as much sense as the uncited editorial.

While I like a common money pot to provide a leveled playing field that won't work. Freedom of speech will allow groups to campaign for their choice without donating money by paying directly for whatever. And you'll also have every nutcase applying for funding to run along with serious candidates. While I love the fact that you don't have to be rich or a member of the "club" to run for office, it still won't work.

And I won't vote for a party, I want to vote for a candidate. And I want regional elections as I don't want someone across the state or even across the nation deciding who represents me. They don't know where I live or what our local problems or needs are.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Aug 14 2006, 08:04 PM) [snapback]303330[/snapback]</div>

????????? Two polar opposites?????? Our two political parties are like peas in a pod. They fight like cats and dogs over extremely minor differences. They agree on throwing half the budget down the military rat hole. They agree on killing civilians in foreign countries as a way of trying to make the governments of those countries kowtow to us. They agree on dragging their heels on alternative energy. They agree on letting big corporations run roughshod over the people and the environment. They agree on the philosophy that "What's good for GM is good for the nation." They agree on the philosophy that it's capital rather than labor that creates wealth and therefore deserves to make all controlling decisions regarding production. They agree on allowing the nuclear-power industry to continue to create nuclear waste without having a plan for disposing of that waster, and they agree that the government, rather than the industry, should bear the cost of the eventual storage of that waste. They agree that pot should be illegal while tobacco is illegal, a double standard that teaches kids it's just fine to use drugs. They agree that junk-food companies have a "free speech" right to direct advertisements for candy disguised as breakfast cereal at kids, and in fact that corporations have a right to run intentionally misleading ads... In short, they agree on screwing the public in favor of the corporations who fill their pockets with campaign donations and outright bribes.

Our two political parties are not polar opposites. They are identical twins. And half the population knows it and stays home from the poles because they know it makes no difference to their lives which twin wins the election.

If everyone voted we'd still have those same two parties running the whole show; we'd still have the winner-takes-all system that gives no representation at all to the majority of people who are not served by the interests of those two parties.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Wildkow @ Aug 14 2006, 08:49 PM) [snapback]303267[/snapback]</div>

I agree with Wildkow...

B.F.D., no one is writing any sort of official documents, this is merely "talking amongs "friends"" :lol: I'm sure we've all spouted stuff off, from mere phrases, to significant amounts of text, without "citing"...

You know you're on the right track when they start grasping for straws like this... :lol:

Actually, I think I will now make a conscientious effort TO plagiarize!

Feel free to plagiarize anything I write Wildkow!!!

Better yet, as ruling God of my own world, I hereby decriminlize the concept of "plagiarism", and encourage its implementation to the highest degree for the benefit of all society!



...and remember to have your pets spayed or neutered to help control the pet population...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Aug 15 2006, 10:09 AM) [snapback]303487[/snapback]</div>

I'm usually willing to risk being wrong in return for learning. Thank you, Daniel, for the lesson in American politics. With all the vitriol between parties, I mistakenly assumed they were a little further apart.

"Not opposite" means there's no such thing as a left wing political party in America, 'corporate responsibility' should be added to the list of oxymorons, and Stephen Harper should be added to the list of morons.

 

In spite of Wildkow's insistance that this article is not his own work, I still believe it is. I believe he wrote it and no amount of denial on his part will convince me otherwise.

Deny deny deny deny, but I know the truth, you wrote it and are trying to pass it off as a quote... Trying to throw me off with the big title, the divider bar and the italics. A completly different writing style was also a good tactic, but I am on to your tricks!

IT WON'T WORK, I see through you!!

:lol:

 

The problem with American democracy is right here. Why bother to debate the issues when it's so much more fun to pick an enemy and start shooting?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Wildkow @ Aug 15 2006, 12:50 PM) [snapback]303601[/snapback]</div>

But you apparently don't regret the cut & paste as you haven't you gone back to edit your original post to comply with Forum policy. Nor have you apologized for same but only explained. So I guess you don't regret your actions either.

I don't read enough of your posts to recognize when or why you do or do not use italics. And neither would a guest reading that one post. All it takes is one particular guest.

On another forum I frequented a poster would routinely cut and paste entire articles. She actually included the author's name so no one would think she wrote them, but by copying and pasting entire articles without permission she was violating copyright. Her defense was that since she included the author's name she obviously wasn't plagiarizing and she was making it easier for people to read without having to click a link. She was told repeatedly to follow forum policy (the same policy as Priuschat) to just paste a few sentences or a summary and then provide a link to the source. She refused. Until the New York Times' lawyer sent a cease and desist letter to our webmaster demanding a post in which she had copied and pasted an entire article from the New York Times be removed and threatening to have the forum closed down if it happened again.

Your intention doesn't go far under those circumstances. That's like claiming you're not making any money for copying movies onto VHS tapes and giving them away. It still violates copyright.

I don't give credibilty to people who cheat or lie. Plagiarism is both. Who's to say the next time you do it you also forget to italicize?

I have nothing to apologize for.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Aug 15 2006, 10:37 AM) [snapback]303591[/snapback]</div>

Actually, there are left-wing political parties in America. There are several flavors of Socialist parties and at least one Communist party. Plus there are Green parties in some states. The problem is that our winner-take-all electoral system, the media's refusal to cover minor parties, and the systematic exclusion of minor parties from public debates, makes it impossible for any of them ever to get representatives elected. If you are lucky enough to live in a market where Pacifica Radio has coverage, you will get some news of left-wing parties, but those are all big cities where the quality of life is zero. And without mainstream media coverage, 99% of the voters will get to the polls never having heard of the alternative-party or independent candidates.

We brag about being a democracy, but our elections are really little more than lotteries where only the two big corporate-sponsored parties get a ticket.

 

There are also several claiming to be Centrist parties.

With the Republicans going farther to the right and the Democrats reacting and distancing themselves by moving farther to the left, I'd like to see a viable Centrist party. (BTW if the Democrats are going farther left the GOP has nothing to complain about. Call it wish fulfillment. They've been screaming about how left the Dems are. The Dems might as well *BE* what they're always being accused of.)

Wikipedia

Centrist Party

And here's a list of a lot of parties.

Guide to American Politics