tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5165118504093345923.post1518213025993355555..comments2023-03-22T03:46:05.342-07:00Comments on One Finger Typing: A queasy election seasonSteve Masoverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03387484207819808962noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5165118504093345923.post-64822553503119632652012-11-06T07:57:47.223-08:002012-11-06T07:57:47.223-08:00@Bridget: Actioni contrariam semper et æqualem ess...@Bridget: <em>Actioni contrariam semper et æqualem esse reactionem</em>? Or is Drew Westen right that we're witnessing the death throes of the Reagan era?<br /><br />Or will the real change to politics, discourse, and engagement be driven by a staggering recurrence of 'natural disasters' brought on in the coming decades by climate change, superbugs, aging infrastructure and the environmental contamination it generates, mass extinctions, and human population?<br /><br />Ever the pessimist, I tend toward the long, dark view. Our problems are not a generation in the making, though. Their roots are deep.<br /><br />Hey, maybe I'll go pull the covers over my head too.........Steve Masoverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03387484207819808962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5165118504093345923.post-48287073710127593162012-11-06T05:50:45.214-08:002012-11-06T05:50:45.214-08:00Nauseous is definitely how I feel. I just voted an...Nauseous is definitely how I feel. I just voted and now want nothing more than to go pull the covers up over my head and wait until it's all over. The part of me that wants to blame the architects of the far right movement says that encouraging liberals to run and hide is exactly what they intended. But I can't escape the niggling feeling of guilt that this all happened on my generation's watch. I'm not so sure that isn't what's causing the queasiness.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13710472063191803198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5165118504093345923.post-9760867508134442392012-11-05T08:45:02.132-08:002012-11-05T08:45:02.132-08:00@Aron -- Thanks for the link, and for the work you...@Aron -- Thanks for the link, and for the work you do. You are on the mark, of course: active participation is the real key to any real democracy. Voting is only a part of it, and on it's own it's insufficient.Steve Masoverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03387484207819808962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5165118504093345923.post-28209730413259006972012-11-05T08:40:14.232-08:002012-11-05T08:40:14.232-08:00And yes, in most cases, where voting is the only o...And yes, in most cases, where voting is the only option available, it's fully as important to exercise this right as you've urged ...Aron Robertshttp://purl.org/net/aronnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5165118504093345923.post-70533090087874268782012-11-05T08:38:14.853-08:002012-11-05T08:38:14.853-08:00Steve, I'm doing a Quixotic thing this electio...Steve, I'm doing a Quixotic thing this election weekend: writing individual Ohio voters on Facebook, those who've posted opinions on Issue 2, their citizen redistricting initiative, to ask them to support the initiative.<br /><br />Issue 2 is behind 53% to 28% in a recent poll, and even if I change a vote or two, it won't make any difference on Tuesday. But maybe, years or decades down the road, my thoughts on that initiative may help shape a few viewpoints, and those, a few more ...<br /><br />The bottom line: we in California have begun, in some small, halting ways, to take back our own government. In 2008, by the narrowest of margins (50.9% versus 49.1%) we approved Prop. 11, which allows a group of ordinary citizens to draw our legislative district boundaries, rather than professional politicians. This resulted in fairer and more rational boundaries for the 2012 and upcoming elections, than the heavily gerrymandered lines drawn by our politicians in 2000. (Did you know that, following the creation of all those "safe" seats, in the 2004 election, that EVERY California incumbent - state legislator and Congressperson alike - won their races?)<br /><br />Allowing ordinary citizens to serve as jurors, to decide the fate of property, in civil and criminal trials, and of peoples' freedom and even life, in criminal trials ... and as in this case, allowing ordinary Californians to draw district boundaries for our legislative officials, are two instances of a general case called "deliberative democracy."<br /><br />An introduction to that concept:<br /><br />Joe Klein, "How Can a Democracy Solve Tough Problems?", Time, September 2, 2010<br />http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2015790,00.html<br /><br />"The public is very smart if you give it a chance," says [Stanford professor James] Fishkin, 62, who has been conducting experiments in what he calls "deliberative democracy" for nearly 20 years now. "If people think their voice actually matters, they'll do the hard work, really study their briefing books, ask the experts smart questions and then make tough decisions."<br /><br />In general, some of the functions we've long delegated to elected and appointed government officials, and to civil service bureaucrats, can instead be performed by groups of citizens who come together to make difficult decisions, and then disband afterwards. And often, ordinary citizens make better - and tougher - decisions than elected officials, as professional politicians often 'kick the can down the road' to avoid making controversial decisions that might affect their future electoral prospects, as we've seen on issues like the Federal debt and Social Security/Medicare.<br /><br />"It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness ..." (Although both can be handy at times!)Aron Robertshttp://purl.org/net/aronnoreply@blogger.com