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View Full Version : Critical Thinking: How to think about politics




tangent4ronpaul
09-08-2010, 10:47 AM
Quote of the Day: "Change your thoughts and you change your world." -- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121 AD -180 AD) Roman Emperor, 161-180 AD

The following brief essay is provided as an educational service by the Downsize DC Foundation.

In this message . . . a visual image to use when comparing the free market with politics and government.

Let's say you're fed up with Walmart, and you want to shop at K-mart instead. If the free market worked the same way as political governance does, then you would have to . . .

* Get out the phone book and start calling the people who live in your area,
* Ask their permission to stop shopping at Walmart, and to start shopping at K-mart,
* Get these permissions from 50-plus-percent of the people, and . . .
* If you couldn't get these permissions then you would have to continue shopping at Walmart -- you would not be permitted to switch to K-mart.

This is exactly what you are faced with if you want to fire and replace your elected representative. But it gets worse, because . . .

Changing government policies is even harder than changing your representation. If the free market worked the same way as political governance does, then . . .

* The decision to switch from Walmart to K-Mart would NOT involve ONLY the permission of 50-plus-percent of the people in your area, but also . . .
* The permission of 50-plus-percent of the voters in more than half of the Congressional districts in the entire country, because . . .
* You would also have to elect a majority to Congress to pass the legislation needed to allow you to switch from Walmart to K-Mart

Yes, this is absurd, but it's also exactly . . .

* How political governance works,
* Why the free market is so superior to politics and government
* Why government should be severely limited, so that you can be free to choose

We think you will be vastly smarter than most people if you never allow yourself to forget that . . .

You have vast power as a consumer, but almost no power as a voter.

The best way to remember the inherent inferiority of political governance is to ALWAYS respond to every proposal for new government action in the following way . . .

Visualize yourself making calls to millions of Americans to gain permission to switch from Walmart to K-Mart, because that's the equivalent of what you would need to do to free yourself again once the proposal for new government action is enacted.

Likewise, you will also be a SMARTER PERSON if . . .

* Whenever some person tells you we need some new government program or regulation, or that . . .
* Businesses are more powerful and dangerous than governments,
* You remind yourself that you do not need anyone's permission to stop doing business with any company, but . . .
* You do need the permission of 50-plus-percent of voters to stop doing business with The State.

Not only are you more powerful as a consumer than you are as a voter, but you are also more powerful when you fill your mind with high-quality mental furniture. The visual image of having to call people to get permission to switch from Walmart to K-mart is a great example of a piece of high-quality mental furniture. But, you can increase your personal power even further if . . .

You share this mental furniture with other minds.

Imagine how society would change if, every time someone proposed some new government action, every person hearing the proposal immediately visualized having to make phone calls to get permission to switch from Walmart to K-mart. You can plant this piece of mental furniture in other minds by . . .

* Sharing this educational message with others
* Describing the idea to others in conversation

Go forth and furnish the minds of others.

tangent4ronpaul
09-08-2010, 10:55 AM
Serendipity works in weird ways... This is from a different e-mail I got today:

==
Now, to be fair, other candidates get developer contributions; and, as individuals, developers should be able to support their candidates just like the rest of us. But, what gets interesting is the degree of 'support' reported. For instance:

Kevin Kamenetz received at least $13,000 from Whalen -- in 2010 alone.
Joe Bartenfelder has not received donations from Whalen in 2010, and what he received in the past was ~ $750 total.
(This is based on that Maryland board of elections website, http://www.mdelections.org/campaign-finance/advanced-search/).


And, from 2001 to 2009, Jim Smith's received over $80,000 in support from Catonsville's Whalen family. that is not a typo.

As the Sun paper reports, "... it’s hard to see how (developers who make very large contributions) wouldn’t have an easier time bending (the) ears (of the former candidates they supported) than ordinary constituents would.

=======

It would seem that some voters are more equal than others and while there may be masses of us with the same position, we don't get a lot of ear time with our reps. Even less if it's a committee matter - especially if your rep isn't on that committee.

It just got me thinking that maybe we could start doing politics different - individually tying donations to issues or via PAC's that push specific issues. Bigger "bribe" more ear time.

Even Dr. Paul is biased this way with events having private receptions or VIP dinners in exchange for large contributions.

Should we be doing something different? Sending donations in with a brief letter to support ONE particular issue? Something like that. Also, US SNAIL is harder to process, so a coordinated issue money bomb is going to get some notice.

Maybe call this free market voting. Right now we are doing it mostly on a grab bag basis (the candidates platform), but if we made it very clear that the money is tied to issues - maybe it would be considered differently.

Idea's?, thoughts? discussion?

-t

TheBlackPeterSchiff
09-08-2010, 11:09 AM
Question everything.

tangent4ronpaul
09-08-2010, 11:22 AM
Another thought: Strings! We've all seen checks that said this check null and void if not cashed within 90 days. There are others that will send you money, but by cashing it you agree to sign up for a credit card or something.

how about:

This check null and void if the candidate does not agree to, if elected, vote in favor of legislation to audit the fed, or end the war, or...

Er might have legal recourse via a class action lawsuit for our contributions if they don't - though it does kind of paint them into a corner.

How would they deal with that? - if they support an issue already, then no problem.
If they are undecided - then problem.
If someone slips something into a bill that would kill it's viability in for something they would otherwise vote for - things would get weird.

Still, issue oriented vs candidate oriented money bombs look like they have promise. It also changes the press focus from candidates to issues, so would be like polling with your wallet. On an issue based money bomb, it doesn't have to be about one candidate either. Donations could be kept track of - better if via PayPal only so verified and sent to peoples local reps.

Imagine a moneybomb to end the war or repeal the health care bill or end the war with a press release sent out to the media with the results. That completely cuts across political parties. Send then a total for the issue and a breakdown by rep.

Any merit?

-t