I disagree with you on this one. I think this is the meat of the problem
though. We no longer do have a representative government. These people
aren't like us. Most of them are career politicians. They've never had a
real job in their life. In fact some are second or third ore more
generation politicians. People who believe that the 'game' of politics is
reality. They've never driven a tractor, or served a burger, or had their
home taken by eminent domain, or had any of the kinds of real, day to day
decisions and problems that normal people have. Of course there are
'everyday people' in government, but they are becoming or have become the
minority. If you don't believe this, look at the rampant scandals in
government these days. How many senators have been caught taking bribes
for votes lately? How many will ultimately be tied to Abramoff? How many
don't care if your job goes overseas, as long as the CEO's of the
companies that profit from your job being sold to a foreign contractor
share those profits with a campaign contribution? In the last
Presidential campaign the Democrat and Republican parties raised half a
BILLION dollars in campaign funds. Cheney has earned 9 million just on
his Haliburton shares and deferred salary. The total net worth of
Congress is in the trillions!

 Honestly I think any smart country should have lifetime term limitations
equivalent to the US presidential term limitations (2, 4 year terms
lifetime) for all public servants. Certainly congress and the supreme
court should have such limits. Otherwise by the people, for the people is
a fallacy.

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: "Gerhard Fiedler"
  To: piclist@mit.edu
  Subject: Re: [OT] Physics denies official 9/11 report.
  Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 08:45:59 -0200


  Rolf wrote:

  > The correct conclusion (the one I intended to convey) is that the
  > naive should not vote, and the enlightened should vote to do the
  > least damage .... ;-)

  How about this: instead of complaining that all politicians are
  corrupt,
  start by joining a party, do some base line work and make what you
  consider
  decent people show up on ballots?

  IME in the long run, no representation (in no form of government)
  strays
  too far away from what the people are and want. If or when they do,
  their
  days (as a figure of speech -- may be many years) are counted --
  whether by
  election or by revolution.

  In this context, I don't hold in high regard the frequent complaints
  about
  "the politicians". I don't think they are a different breed. They
  usually
  are pretty much average people with average behavior -- with just
  about the
  same percentage of enlightened among them as other people, and just
  about
  the same percentage of who consider themselves enlightened as other
  people
  :)

  Gerhard

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