Almost all of us are unrepresented Americans. You're just economic cannon fodder for the machine of consumerism. It's how our country sustains its survival.
Our government doesn't care whether we are for or against abortion, the death penalty, public education, the environment, universal health care, gun control, gay rights, or whatever else -- except in the sense that the chosen policy maintains social stability and doesn't detract from economic prosperity.
Unless you have an enormous financial stake, you're being pacified by government policy so that you don't revolt.
Nations run on money, and strong nations are the ones with the most economic power. Government policy is almost exclusively dictated by economic concerns.
Is it any wonder that public education, health care, and social security are the programs that are under the most political attack? They consume an enormous amount of the budget. National defense takes an enormous amount of the budget as well, but the biggest bully on the block can always take everyone's lunch money until a bigger bully comes along or until the bully has a change of heart about knocking other people around.
So, it's nice to be thrown the bone of civil rights, child labor laws, women's suffrage, safer food, and other things (all of which I will maintain were a threat to economics); but unless you're in the top 1% of people that controls 33% of the wealth in this country, your opinions don't really matter.
95% of Congressional elections aren't competitive. With gerrymandering, your legislators are chosen for you. Your vote barely matters. National policy wouldn't be that much different whether a D or an R were president. Yeah I know, some of you will disagree about the different bones we will be thrown.
In Texas state politics, only three people matter -- the Speaker of the House, the Lieutenant Governor, and the Governor. The other 149 House members and 31 Senators have virtually no say except on their local issues that the three demigods throw bones to them for.
Countries are amoral and only concerned with power. The goal is to survive and prosper.
Given all of that in my early Saturday afternoon rant, I will say that I am represented because the powers that be allow me to vote on which bones I am thrown. However, I always vote third party, or maybe I should say second party since the goals of the R's and D's are virtually the same; otherwise they wouldn't simply hand each other congressional districts through redistricting. They're in cahoots.
It's just a dog and pony show, and what's funny is that so much of the nation is so passionate about it and thinks it makes such a huge difference.
Kang: It makes no difference which one of us you vote for. Either way, your planet is doomed. DOOMED!
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Special Session April 17th
Gov. Perry has called another special session to start April 17 to address school finance. http://www.governor.state.tx.us/divisions/press/pressreleases/PressRelease.2006-03-17.4405
How many times can we do this? Unfortunately, we have a surplus and we'll use it to make a two-year or three-year fix and address this again in 2009. More than likely, we'll increase the sales tax by 1/2 or 3/4 cents, add a dollar to the cigarette tax, and increase the sales tax on motor vehicles.
We'll also do some ticky tack things like eliminating the timely filer discount and implementing the liar's affidavit for used care sales, among other accounting tricks.
If they expand the franchise tax to include certain partnerships, I'd be moderately surprised; though I suspect there will be some attempt at closing loopholes in Delaware and Geoffrey.
How many times can we do this? Unfortunately, we have a surplus and we'll use it to make a two-year or three-year fix and address this again in 2009. More than likely, we'll increase the sales tax by 1/2 or 3/4 cents, add a dollar to the cigarette tax, and increase the sales tax on motor vehicles.
We'll also do some ticky tack things like eliminating the timely filer discount and implementing the liar's affidavit for used care sales, among other accounting tricks.
If they expand the franchise tax to include certain partnerships, I'd be moderately surprised; though I suspect there will be some attempt at closing loopholes in Delaware and Geoffrey.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Meaning of my username
Utopia
Summary: Concerning the Best State of a Commonwealth and the New Island of Utopia
More Meets Hythloday
The narrator, Thomas More, arrives in Bruges, in present-day Belgium, and meets his friend Peter Giles. Giles introduces More to Raphael Hythloday, an explorer who has seen much of the world. More, Giles, and Hythloday go to More’s house, and Hythloday describes his travels. Giles asks him why he hasn’t offered his services to rulers, who could use his knowledge of diverse customs and practices to improve society. More and Giles explain that a person of learning and experience has an obligation to use his talents to better humanity. Hythloday, unconvinced, attempts to demonstrate why offering one’s wisdom to government is not desirable.
Analysis
Hythloday, a fictional character, plays an ambiguous role in Utopia. On one hand, Giles describes him as wise and well traveled and therefore qualified to comment on a wide range of issues. Hythloday has traveled with the famed explorer Amerigo Vespucci, but since the author More and many others thought Vespucci was a fraud, it is unclear whether Hythloday’s association with Vespucci lends him credibility or suggests that Hythloday is prone to exaggeration. Hythloday in Greek means “speaker of nonsense,” which may suggest that Hythloday’s remarks, despite being blended with factual elements from the author More’s life, should be taken with a grain of salt.
More and Hythloday’s conversation about placing one’s talents at the service of a ruler demonstrates a conflict between two ways of thinking. Hythloday believes in the purity of the ideal of truth, whereas More believes such purity has no value and that talents must be put to public use, even if the original ideal is compromised by doing so. More is committed to the Humanist ideal of individual conscience and wrestles with the problem of whether one can remain true to one’s principles and to truth while in the employment of a ruler. As Hythloday attempts to demonstrate, reality would force a conscientious person to make many concessions to power and corruption. However, More and Giles argue that the wise cannot leave leadership to the corrupt and must attempt to better society when possible.
The author More struggled with the issue of whether to join the service of the king or remain a philosopher, and at the time he wrote Utopia, More was on the cusp of joining the king’s service. The argument between the narrator More and Hythloday suggests an internal argument between More and himself as he struggled to choose between remaining free to pursue the ideal and compromising that ideal for the sake of social utility. He eventually rose to the position of Lord Chancellor, the most powerful office in England next to the king himself, but he ultimately abandoned pragmatism for the ultimate ideal of martyrdom.
Summary: Concerning the Best State of a Commonwealth and the New Island of Utopia
More Meets Hythloday
The narrator, Thomas More, arrives in Bruges, in present-day Belgium, and meets his friend Peter Giles. Giles introduces More to Raphael Hythloday, an explorer who has seen much of the world. More, Giles, and Hythloday go to More’s house, and Hythloday describes his travels. Giles asks him why he hasn’t offered his services to rulers, who could use his knowledge of diverse customs and practices to improve society. More and Giles explain that a person of learning and experience has an obligation to use his talents to better humanity. Hythloday, unconvinced, attempts to demonstrate why offering one’s wisdom to government is not desirable.
Analysis
Hythloday, a fictional character, plays an ambiguous role in Utopia. On one hand, Giles describes him as wise and well traveled and therefore qualified to comment on a wide range of issues. Hythloday has traveled with the famed explorer Amerigo Vespucci, but since the author More and many others thought Vespucci was a fraud, it is unclear whether Hythloday’s association with Vespucci lends him credibility or suggests that Hythloday is prone to exaggeration. Hythloday in Greek means “speaker of nonsense,” which may suggest that Hythloday’s remarks, despite being blended with factual elements from the author More’s life, should be taken with a grain of salt.
More and Hythloday’s conversation about placing one’s talents at the service of a ruler demonstrates a conflict between two ways of thinking. Hythloday believes in the purity of the ideal of truth, whereas More believes such purity has no value and that talents must be put to public use, even if the original ideal is compromised by doing so. More is committed to the Humanist ideal of individual conscience and wrestles with the problem of whether one can remain true to one’s principles and to truth while in the employment of a ruler. As Hythloday attempts to demonstrate, reality would force a conscientious person to make many concessions to power and corruption. However, More and Giles argue that the wise cannot leave leadership to the corrupt and must attempt to better society when possible.
The author More struggled with the issue of whether to join the service of the king or remain a philosopher, and at the time he wrote Utopia, More was on the cusp of joining the king’s service. The argument between the narrator More and Hythloday suggests an internal argument between More and himself as he struggled to choose between remaining free to pursue the ideal and compromising that ideal for the sake of social utility. He eventually rose to the position of Lord Chancellor, the most powerful office in England next to the king himself, but he ultimately abandoned pragmatism for the ultimate ideal of martyrdom.
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