On 07/01/2014 02:19 PM, Steve Smith wrote:
It is a little ironic to suggest that one can fund elections and
legislation to end the funding of elections and legislation...
Like the "war to end all wars" at the beginning of the 20th century,
followed by yet another war roughly designed to do the same thing,
followed by 50 years of cold war, ending in a series of "hot little wars".
That is not to say that i don't like the idea of removing money from
politics (if it is possible)... just the form of this is filled with
irony. $2.5M seems like a healthy chunk of change, but I doubt it goes
very far in this domain?
I don't mind the irony. In fact, the old saying "fight fire with fire"
wouldn't exist if it _never_ worked.
What I'm interested in, since this is a list presumably about
_complexity_, is the (piecewise) linearity of the proposal. No comments
are made about the unintended consequences of getting any of these
people elected. Sure, I want to vote for candidates who support
campaign finance reform... but would I want my donation to fund Sarah
Palin's campaign if she promised to support it? ... No. I have the
same problem with the claims that the libertarians can team up with the
progressives on some issues. You can tell a lot about a person by
looking at their friends.
It seems to me the inherent problem is not the particular issues, nor
the funding. The problem is the myopic focus... the "single issue"-ness
of most current politics. And that involves everything from "if it
bleeds it leads" to line item vetos to minimum standard sentences. It
goes way way beyond campaign finance or even lobbying in general.
It doesn't seem to me like "out linear the linear" works the same way
"fight fire with fire" works.
p.s. However I approve of almost everything Lessig supports... so,
donating your money here is probably a good thing. But not because of
this particular issue. Rather because the people behind it have a
decent _cloud_ of vectors. Change the people and you change the nature
of the organization.
https://mayday.us/
--
⇒⇐ glen e. p. ropella
?? burn my eyes
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