The Privileged Class
Radley Balko | August 23, 2007, 9:37pm
So I guess once you're elected to Congress, you're immune from drunk driving laws; you can stash the evidence that you've committed a crime in your office, because investigators aren't allowed to search it; if you kill someone because you've got a lead foot and blew a stop sign, the taxpayers will cover your financial liability; and, we learn today, you can commit whatever Internet-related crimes you please, because the police aren't allowed to search your computer.
Meanwhile, the same Congress that has immunized itself from much of the law is also responsible for the ever-expanding federal criminal code, which we can thank for our shamefully enormous and still-soaring prison population, which is by far and away the largest in the world.
You have lawmakers who feel they're above the law. And who at the same time are criminalizing anything and everything they find tacky, repugnant, or immoral.
Forgive the lofty language, but you know what? This isn't healthy for our republic.
Becky | August 24, 2007, 12:39pm | #
"What we need to do is tear it down, go back to the drawing board and start over."
I agree with your overall point and feel the same way. Without making any implications as to what methods you intended - I wish to make my own point that we should not make "tearing it down and starting over" the banner under which we stand to make that happen. Tearing down ones house means that you have to have another one ready to move into - unless you want to spend time in the snow and rain.
What I would love to see is to see a group of very wise people get together and do a state by state, for the Senate, and a district by district vetting of the candidates for the house for the primaries. Then come up with real contenders for the incumbents who could get the attention and backing necessary to win.
Let's say that I no longer want my very secure Senator to be my represtative due to his refusal to represent his constituents on the immigration issue. The problem will be that he WILL be reelected in the GOP primary. So then, in the general election, I will have two choices, my current Senator or a Democrat who, by the very fact of declaring himself a democrat can not be trusted to stand firm for me on this issue (or any other issue for that matter, they all promise and never deliver) - no matter what promises s/he makes. So, I'll be forced to reelect my Senator who will continue to please those who have the power to put him in office - instead of the people of this State.
And that is where the problem lies. We need one more layer to the primary. A layer where good, involved, informed and organized people help to select viable candidates in the primary that have a chance of winning. People selected by the people, not special interests.
Problem is, I'm not an organizer, and I'm fairly new to my state and county - so I don't know whom those people would be. But what we need are real challengers, put forth by the people in the primaries rather than in the general election.
I think this is one place where bloggers could get involved in helping to organize a pre-primary to make the primaries more meaningful.
I do it if I could - but I have no idea how. I wish all of you super bloggers would take up that charge!
Becky | August 24, 2007, 4:58pm | #
Give me a break. You are worried about the Fed? Do you not think that Barnes and Noble and Amazon haven't kept track of every purchase you ever made. Every time you swipe your card at the grocery store, your credit score, your loans, all for sale to anyone willing to pay a price. Every key stroke you ever entered is tracked by people wanting to sell you something or get your vote. About the only one who can't easily access it is the Feds.
And as for 80% of the laws being to protect wealth and assets - I think we can assume since you are still green enough behind the ears to still believe what your professors say, that you have not yet acquired any wealth or assets that you would like protected. Isn't that GOOD that 80% is to protect your assets? The other 20% are to protect your person, rape, slander, gun control, driver's licenses, and other laws which limit what YOU can say, think and do. Do you really want that percentage reversed?
If you want to worry about Princes turning you into peasants - worry about taxes. That is how they take what you work for and give it to people who sit on their asses and exchange their votes for bread and circuses. What happens when property taxes get so high that you have no land, no prospects of owning land and the price of living goes up? You become a peasant, dependant on the state for a place to stand.
It's always amusing how the young think that the government will be their nanny - yet they think everyone who runs the government is not to be trusted with even knowing what library books they have rented. Like any of us have any privacy any more anyway. Personally, I could care less if the government knows what I read. Anyone with a terminal and a check book ANYONE can find out anything and everything they want to know about me in a matter of minutes.
Grow up. If you are lucky, someday you will have wealth and assets of your own that you want protected. If not, the best you can hope for is to be a ward of the state, whoring your vote to which ever politician promises to throw you the best trinkets from the taxes that they took from those who actually worked hard for it.
Guy_montag | August 24, 2007, 6:21pm | #
Becky,
As I know nothing about you, you also know nothing about me. Your orginal post was an immediant attack on me because I wrote some things you did'nt like..so in essence you made the first assumptions about me because you disagreed with me. I see this alot in op eds in various publications and through pundits on television who cannot handle a dissenting view point. Once again your own arguments come back to bit you in the behind, its becoming predictable.
It appears we can both agree our public funds are misappropriated by our elected officials, yet you only want to speak of the welfare nation. I agree with you on this..welfare is a safety net, not a life style. Yet I go further in stating that not only are we wasting funds on lazy, non-productive peoples. We are also losing funds to mismanaged and illegal wars, corporate kickbacks, non-bid contracts, religious tax breaks and private hedge funds. If your gonna knock down straw men make sure you include them all.
I may be younger than you, but I refuse to become another cog in the machine that has proven to be malfunctioning. I will continue to question authority..thats not youth, thats patrotism. Do not conflate your govenrment with your nation, A patriot adores, protects and keeps vigil over thier nation...not thier government. A patriot displayes tough love and tosses up the mirror in the face of corruption.
I love capatalism, because I am a fan of technology, only in America can we continue to innovate and produce more and more wonders for the benefit of mankind...capatalism breads innovation. Yet unfettered deregulation of corporations and lobbyists pervert that delicate union between democracy and capatalism.
Its not a crime to be rich, not at all. But once long ago those who became rich were those who worked hard and had new ideas. The ruling elite got rich in the modern age by lying, cheating, stealing, and in some cases outright murder. They take those same philosophys to the offices they win and continue to use those as a means of stabalizing thier careers and accumulate more wealth. Of course that means they open the doors to others who think like them....soon enough, bang you have corruption so rampent that anyone young or with a brain in thier head should have a healthy amount of distrust for anyone in the status of authority.
Becky | August 24, 2007, 6:57pm | #
We can both agree on unfettered deregulation of corporations and lobbyists pervert that delicate union between democracy and capitalism.
I always find it amusing when people who support commmunism or capitalism say utopia would result if only it capitalism/communism were able to be pure. No, history has already proven that pure capitalism results in child labor, etc. and pure communism requires a tyrant to enforce it and results in slave labor. In the end, there is no utopia on this earth - we can only try to achieve a balance by passing laws that help to protect the weak while allowing the engine of self-interest to generate wealth.
But I have to disagree when you say, "But once long ago those who became rich were those who worked hard and had new ideas. The ruling elite got rich in the modern age by lying, cheating, stealing, and in some cases outright murder". It has always been that way and unless genetic engineering modifies the human race to something we are not now, it will always be that way.
Rather, long ago there were Kings and subjects. Kings didn't get to be kings by hard work, they got there by power, treachery and murder and politics, just like the tyrants of today.
I understand your desire to be suspicious of authority, and well you should be. I know that I am. But it is more complex than just ranting against the government as being out to get you.
What keeps you safe in this country is the BALANCE of power. Our forefathers set up a system where the most ruthless and the most powerful are balanced by others equally ruthless and powerful who have achieved heights in the other branches of government. It was a brilliant plan and the only thing that keeps us, the people, in the loop is the bill of rights - freedom of speech, freedom to bear arms, etc. and of course, your vote. A vote is just a notice to those vying for power what you would be willing to pick up arms and fight for should they attempt to suject you to their whims.
It is popular to say that dissent is the highest form of patriotism - but that is jingoistic and simplistic. It is much more complex than that. It is a willingness to work collectively towards maintaining a civilized society.
And that gets me to my point. What we are faced with now are forces who wish to destroy the delicate balance of civilzation that your forefathers - Greek, Roman, onto today have gifted to you in form of a represtative government. The terrorists seek to destroy this by blowing up bombs in discos to achieve political and power grabs through the use of terror. You allow them continue to do so at the peril of your freedom. As such, you will need to work with your countrymen, through the form of your government to stop them -if you wish to continue to live in a civilized society. No one of us can do it alone. And as such, you will have to give up some freedoms to prevent them from coming to your town and taking it over through force. Because that's the way it was, long ago. And these terrorists want to return it to that way. It is up to you to decide how best to balance the need between freedom and civilization. There is no right or wrong - only balance.
