rhetorical

[henry quirk]

Am I a wacko extremist cuz I believe elected folk should viewed as, treated as, employees instead of nobility?

Am I a wacko extremist cuz I'm dissatisfied with the glorified popularity contests we call elections?

Am I a wacko extremist cuz I wanna hire the best proxies, employees, and public servants instead of electing the least crappy of a crappy bunch of mercenary parasites?

Am I a wacko extremist for wanting the formal option to say 'no' to appear on every ballot, of every election, from the federal down to the municipal?

Am I a wacko extremist for living as though I'm responsible for me?

Am I a wacko extremist for resisting being used by folks who think I should I be responsible for, or to, them?

Am I a wacko extremist for wanting the taxes I pay to be spent responsibly, minimally, and productively?

I could go on and on and on...

[thedoc]

Those who are qualified and should hold public office, don't want to, would you want to subject yourself and your family to that cauldron.

Those who want to hold public office are often dishonest, greedy and power hungry, and they don't care who they hurt, and how they get there.

What there needs to be in place for public office, is a set of qualifications, based on those qualities that are desirable for the office, and then you must insulate those people from the public so that they can do their job in peace.

[thedoc]

It is unfortunate that there are people in this world that believe they have the right to live with their hand out, and everyone else is supposed to fill it for them. I'm not talking about people who are in genuine need, but those who try to take advantage of everyone else for some imagined wrong, or just because they are too lazy to do for themselves.

I never owned a slave. I never killed a Native American. I didn't incarcerate Japanese Americans.
I'm sorry that other Black Africans sold some of their own into slavery.
I'm sorry that Native Americans welcomed European invaders, and then turned their backs on them to get stabbed.
I'm sorry that Japanese American's homeland started a war they couldn't win, and then their leaders refused to give up when they had lost.
I'm not responsible for any of that, and I refuse to take the blame, deal with it.

[Terrapin Station]

I'd rather see something like a large committee of randomly chosen adults. At least 50 people, say. They're not allowed to receive donations of favors from anyone. It's just a random cross-section of adults, like picking a jury.

They serve for one year only.

They're rewarded based on their ability to: (1) leave the county in better health than it was when they entered office, re the country's finances, employment, education, health care, reduced numbers of homeless, etc., (2) avoid any sort of major disaster, especially financial and environmental disasters, and (3) reduce the number of laws on the books.

If they have the best marks re all of that stuff, they each receive, say $5 million tax-free. The payment goes down from there depending on just how good of a job they did. If they seriously screw any of that up, they're penalized longer-term somehow rather than rewarded at all.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

I'd rather see something like a large committee of randomly chosen adults. At least 50 people, say. They're not allowed to receive donations of favors from anyone. It's just a random cross-section of adults, like picking a jury.

They serve for one year only.

They're rewarded based on their ability to: (1) leave the county in better health than it was when they entered office, re the country's finances, employment, education, health care, reduced numbers of homeless, etc., (2) avoid any sort of major disaster, especially financial and environmental disasters, and (3) reduce the number of laws on the books.

If they have the best marks re all of that stuff, they each receive, say $5 million tax-free. The payment goes down from there depending on just how good of a job they did. If they seriously screw any of that up, they're penalized longer-term somehow rather than rewarded at all.

That sounds good. With no actual leader. Of course, it's all 'relative' Many people think that reducing the numbers of homeless would be a bad thing. As for health care and education for all... oh dear, that would encroach on their FREEDOM.

[thedoc]

A friend of mine was charged with sending pornography through the mail. He was making pencil drawings that other people had requested, including the subject, which was nude people. He was using photos of nudist camps that were legal at the time of purchase and at the time he was making the drawings. The DA's office had made an offer of minimal jail time for a guilty plea, as opposed to a longer time in jail for a conviction. His Lawyer asked him if he really thought that he could convince a jury of people from the area that he was in, that the drawings were art and not porn. It didn't take him long to decide that he would take the shorter time in jail, rather than go to trial. Like him, I don't have much faith in the common sense of randomly selected people from the general population, most of them are really ignorant, as well as being not too bright. Just about Half the people in this world are of below average intelligence

[thedoc]

I'd rather see something like a large committee of randomly chosen adults. At least 50 people, say. They're not allowed to receive donations of favors from anyone. It's just a random cross-section of adults, like picking a jury.

They serve for one year only.

They're rewarded based on their ability to: (1) leave the county in better health than it was when they entered office, re the country's finances, employment, education, health care, reduced numbers of homeless, etc., (2) avoid any sort of major disaster, especially financial and environmental disasters, and (3) reduce the number of laws on the books.

If they have the best marks re all of that stuff, they each receive, say $5 million tax-free. The payment goes down from there depending on just how good of a job they did. If they seriously screw any of that up, they're penalized longer-term somehow rather than rewarded at all.

That sounds good. With no actual leader. Of course, it's all 'relative' Many people think that reducing the numbers of homeless would be a bad thing. As for health care and education for all... oh dear, that would encroach on their FREEDOM.

Every group needs a leader, Juries have a foreman, a committee has a chairman, and clubs and councils elect a president to keep the meetings running in an orderly fashion. "Robert's Rules of Order" work and allow things to get done, any group that does not follow some order of business will soon get bogged down in it's own chaos.

[Terrapin Station]

thedoc, are you of the opinion that the people who have run for office and been elected have generally been more reasonable, intelligent, etc.?

[artisticsolution]

A friend of mine was charged with sending pornography through the mail. He was making pencil drawings that other people had requested, including the subject, which was nude people. He was using photos of nudist camps that were legal at the time of purchase and at the time he was making the drawings. The DA's office had made an offer of minimal jail time for a guilty plea, as opposed to a longer time in jail for a conviction. His Lawyer asked him if he really thought that he could convince a jury of people from the area that he was in, that the drawings were art and not porn. It didn't take him long to decide that he would take the shorter time in jail, rather than go to trial. Like him, I don't have much faith in the common sense of randomly selected people from the general population, most of them are really ignorant, as well as being not too bright. Just about Half the people in this world are of below average intelligence

This isn't funny, Doc! I've done this very thing! And the pics I drew weren't just nudes...they were porn...woman bent over with octopus exploring...stuff....it was a commission from a man in Milwaukee...who just requested a woman bent over exposing all...but I could paint it anyway I wanted....

My intention was not to paint port.... it was to paint art. I don't know if I achieved that but I tried.

If you go in ebay...there is a section in erotic art. I have not posted anything in there...but people sell "porn" all the time in there. I am sure they have to ship...so wth?

If this is what we are reduced to...we have way too many useless laws. I say let's wipe the slate clean and start fresh. Most laws need to be removed...it's getting ridicules.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

Every group needs a leader, Juries have a foreman, a committee has a chairman, and clubs and councils elect a president to keep the meetings running in an orderly fashion. "Robert's Rules of Order" work and allow things to get done, any group that does not follow some order of business will soon get bogged down in it's own chaos.

Switzerland only has a nominal 'leader'. It seems to manage fine. I've found that organisations that run collectively, without a leader, work better than ones with an obnoxious loud-mouth who has more 'gab' than brains, and bullies everyone into getting his/her own way.

[thedoc]

A friend of mine was charged with sending pornography through the mail. He was making pencil drawings that other people had requested, including the subject, which was nude people. He was using photos of nudist camps that were legal at the time of purchase and at the time he was making the drawings. The DA's office had made an offer of minimal jail time for a guilty plea, as opposed to a longer time in jail for a conviction. His Lawyer asked him if he really thought that he could convince a jury of people from the area that he was in, that the drawings were art and not porn. It didn't take him long to decide that he would take the shorter time in jail, rather than go to trial. Like him, I don't have much faith in the common sense of randomly selected people from the general population, most of them are really ignorant, as well as being not too bright. Just about Half the people in this world are of below average intelligence

This isn't funny, Doc! I've done this very thing! And the pics I drew weren't just nudes...they were porn...woman bent over with octopus exploring...stuff....it was a commission from a man in Milwaukee...who just requested a woman bent over exposing all...but I could paint it anyway I wanted....

My intention was not to paint port.... it was to paint art. I don't know if I achieved that but I tried.

If you go in ebay...there is a section in erotic art. I have not posted anything in there...but people sell "porn" all the time in there. I am sure they have to ship...so wth?

If this is what we are reduced to...we have way too many useless laws. I say let's wipe the slate clean and start fresh. Most laws need to be removed...it's getting ridicules.

It wasn't meant to be funny, but a cautionary tale. the DA at the time really wanted to convict someone for something, and he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Know the people you are selling to, the person who ordered the drawing was an agent of the DA's office and the whole thing was more like a trap.

[thedoc]

Every group needs a leader, Juries have a foreman, a committee has a chairman, and clubs and councils elect a president to keep the meetings running in an orderly fashion. "Robert's Rules of Order" work and allow things to get done, any group that does not follow some order of business will soon get bogged down in it's own chaos.

Switzerland only has a nominal 'leader'. It seems to manage fine. I've found that organisations that run collectively, without a leader, work better than ones with an obnoxious loud-mouth who has more 'gab' than brains, and obnoxious loud-mouth bullies everyone into getting his/her own way.

I agree with that, but usually an organization will get a leader who takes the job seriously. I was the president of a club for awhile, and I did everything I could to make sure that the membership's will was what got done. I put my own interests on the back burner, to insure that the members interests came first. Eventually the obnoxious loud-mouth bully will get found out, and removed from the position.

[thedoc]

thedoc, are you of the opinion that the people who have run for office and been elected have generally been more reasonable, intelligent, etc.?

Read my post up-thread from this one.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

Every group needs a leader, Juries have a foreman, a committee has a chairman, and clubs and councils elect a president to keep the meetings running in an orderly fashion. "Robert's Rules of Order" work and allow things to get done, any group that does not follow some order of business will soon get bogged down in it's own chaos.

Switzerland only has a nominal 'leader'. It seems to manage fine. I've found that organisations that run collectively, without a leader, work better than ones with an obnoxious loud-mouth who has more 'gab' than brains, and obnoxious loud-mouth bullies everyone into getting his/her own way.

Eventually the obnoxious loud-mouth bully will get found out, and removed from the position.

Not necessarily. People have a habit of liking obnoxious loud-mouths. My daughter went to a school that had no principal. It was run by a teacher's collective. It ran beautifully until a bunch of meddling parents decided they need a 'leader' to go and whinge to. The result? A principal who ruined the school financially, giving enormous sums to her 'consultant' friends, and took no time at all to destroy a previously lovely school.

[Harbal]

Am I a wacko extremist cuz I believe elected folk should viewed as, treated as, employees instead of nobility?

Am I a wacko extremist cuz I'm dissatisfied with the glorified popularity contests we call elections?

Am I a wacko extremist cuz I wanna hire the best proxies, employees, and public servants instead of electing the least crappy of a crappy bunch of mercenary parasites?

Am I a wacko extremist for wanting the formal option to say 'no' to appear on every ballot, of every election, from the federal down to the municipal?

Am I a wacko extremist for living as though I'm responsible for me?

Am I a wacko extremist for resisting being used by folks who think I should I be responsible for, or to, them?

Am I a wacko extremist for wanting the taxes I pay to be spent responsibly, minimally, and productively?

Of course you're not a wacko extremist for those things. It's not as specific as that, you're just wacko in general.