That Declaration, and the two articles of government that followed it within a quarter century were written by and for a people that no longer exist. If were a younger man or had children and grandchildren I would be far more angry today than I am, and more animated to change it now. The future of this country is grim in my opinion- things are already starting to unravel at the most basic levels. We are ruled by incompetent people, and we are increasingly an incompetent people outside of government. We are devolving.
While we are not without problems, despite Biden and Trump our politicians have rarely if ever been more competent, people in general have never been more competent, and our democracy has never been more secure.
That anyone could look at today and call it the most competent leadership ever tells me that someone is probably less than 30 years old, or deeply, deeply confused.
If I assume you mean Ryan is one of the incompetent of today, you've not really even addressed half of what I wrote. Here, I'll halp you get started on the other half: Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Warren Harding and Franklin Pierce
That government exists to provide law and order does not mean it must or should exist forever. On the contrary, it means that we created government in general, and our government in particular, to do one job (or a small set of jobs), and if they decide not to do it or prove incompetent we should fire them and set up another.
And one of the biggest impediments to that happening is Pournelle's Iron Law: bureaucrats deciding that government should exist to employ themselves, rather than to protect everybody. That's what we have now, and the only reason most people believe it's still working is that Big Media are all in bed with the deep state.
What has your Covid experience been like? How many times did you take the vaccine, if any? How long ago did you take it? Some people claim that the vaccines don't work, others disagree.
Providone iodine nasal spray. Dilute store bought providone iodine 1:10 and put in a nasal spray bottle. Twice a day. Inhale when squirting - I squirt twice. Or not, I found it works great - even use it with colds. COVID was mild cold for me (53).
I object to the "rulers" and "ruled" conception. Public officials are my (together with my fellow citizen's) employees. They have an obligation to make laws and we as they in their public capacities have an obligation to obey.
You're fooling yourself. Unelected Government officials, unlike most private employees, are almost impossible to fire. And even elected politicians seldom lose re-election. Ruled by rulers is how many, maybe most, Americans feel most of the time.
All democratic governments would improve with more govt turnover - there should be 10 year term limits on govt employees / officials / bureaucrats.
Hunter Biden's actions show clearly he feels no obligation to obey many laws - tho like most law breakers and everybody else, he obeys most laws most of the time.
"The democracies that have performed the best have largely been parliamentary systems with proportional representation and substantive integrity in their electoral processes."
Really? Is that true in countries with multiple 10% or more minorities?
Perhaps small, culturally homogenous democracies "have performed the best", like Swiss cantons, but not so much like Italy. When I lived in the US, I favored proportional representation; now in Slovakia, with another early election due to a coalition disagreement, and looking at very intelligent Israel with 5 elections in 4 years, the not quite Constitutional two-party system in the US has made the USA more stable than most other democracies, especially big ones.
Good link: "how the US bucks this trend. It is the world’s largest economy, but has a presidential system. Our results suggest that the reason why the US still experiences relatively good economic outcomes with a presidential regime is due to the checks and balances its constitution puts in place that ensure a separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial arms of government."
The US "Presidential" system does NOT have a near-dictator President, as so many other Pres. systems do, in practice. It has real checks & balances AND stability.
Are you taking your D, C, Zinc, Quercetin, NAC?
Arnold, Take care of yourself! I hope you get better soon.
Rest up and feel better!
That Declaration, and the two articles of government that followed it within a quarter century were written by and for a people that no longer exist. If were a younger man or had children and grandchildren I would be far more angry today than I am, and more animated to change it now. The future of this country is grim in my opinion- things are already starting to unravel at the most basic levels. We are ruled by incompetent people, and we are increasingly an incompetent people outside of government. We are devolving.
While we are not without problems, despite Biden and Trump our politicians have rarely if ever been more competent, people in general have never been more competent, and our democracy has never been more secure.
LOL.
Glad you have something constructive to add. :-(
I suspect our issue isn't so much how we see today, though surely there's some of that, as that we see the past very differently.
That anyone could look at today and call it the most competent leadership ever tells me that someone is probably less than 30 years old, or deeply, deeply confused.
I think his response reflects exactly the amount of consideration your comment should elicit. Mine is probably overkill.
Ever heard of Mitch McConnell? Nancy Pelosi? Chuck Schumer? Paul Ryan?
How about Pete Buttegig or Mitt Romney? Maxine Waters? George Santos? MTG? AOC?
If I assume you mean Ryan is one of the incompetent of today, you've not really even addressed half of what I wrote. Here, I'll halp you get started on the other half: Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Warren Harding and Franklin Pierce
That government exists to provide law and order does not mean it must or should exist forever. On the contrary, it means that we created government in general, and our government in particular, to do one job (or a small set of jobs), and if they decide not to do it or prove incompetent we should fire them and set up another.
And one of the biggest impediments to that happening is Pournelle's Iron Law: bureaucrats deciding that government should exist to employ themselves, rather than to protect everybody. That's what we have now, and the only reason most people believe it's still working is that Big Media are all in bed with the deep state.
What has your Covid experience been like? How many times did you take the vaccine, if any? How long ago did you take it? Some people claim that the vaccines don't work, others disagree.
Please get better - write more of your own thoughts & links to the best thinking folks you've been reading, as you've been doing.
Enjoy each day with reasonable care.
We want you back healthy!
Providone iodine nasal spray. Dilute store bought providone iodine 1:10 and put in a nasal spray bottle. Twice a day. Inhale when squirting - I squirt twice. Or not, I found it works great - even use it with colds. COVID was mild cold for me (53).
I object to the "rulers" and "ruled" conception. Public officials are my (together with my fellow citizen's) employees. They have an obligation to make laws and we as they in their public capacities have an obligation to obey.
You're fooling yourself. Unelected Government officials, unlike most private employees, are almost impossible to fire. And even elected politicians seldom lose re-election. Ruled by rulers is how many, maybe most, Americans feel most of the time.
All democratic governments would improve with more govt turnover - there should be 10 year term limits on govt employees / officials / bureaucrats.
Hunter Biden's actions show clearly he feels no obligation to obey many laws - tho like most law breakers and everybody else, he obeys most laws most of the time.
I did not mean this as a description of how states actually work and how we should try to make them work.
I think term limits for elected officials would in practice just increase the power of the executive and "permanent" staffs of rotating legislators.
Hunter Biden?
"The democracies that have performed the best have largely been parliamentary systems with proportional representation and substantive integrity in their electoral processes."
Really? Is that true in countries with multiple 10% or more minorities?
Perhaps small, culturally homogenous democracies "have performed the best", like Swiss cantons, but not so much like Italy. When I lived in the US, I favored proportional representation; now in Slovakia, with another early election due to a coalition disagreement, and looking at very intelligent Israel with 5 elections in 4 years, the not quite Constitutional two-party system in the US has made the USA more stable than most other democracies, especially big ones.
More than 100 million(?), 50 million(?).
Good link: "how the US bucks this trend. It is the world’s largest economy, but has a presidential system. Our results suggest that the reason why the US still experiences relatively good economic outcomes with a presidential regime is due to the checks and balances its constitution puts in place that ensure a separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial arms of government."
The US "Presidential" system does NOT have a near-dictator President, as so many other Pres. systems do, in practice. It has real checks & balances AND stability.
I suppose hereditary succession does work pretty smoothly most of the time, but there were also quite a few wars fought over it.