From: Ryan Anderson <randerso@ece.eng.wayne.edu>
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 1997 00:51:45 +0800
To: Steven L Baur <steve@miranova.com>
Subject: Re: New Laws in Oregon - "Land of the Legal betatest"
In-Reply-To: <m2en9uncbo.fsf@altair.xemacs.org>
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.3.95.970622123321.23284B-100000@ece>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



On 22 Jun 1997, Steven L Baur wrote:

> > You've completely missed my point.  This would be an on-going problem.
> > Congress can only function with some idea of compromise in it.
> 
> Then Congress should be eliminated.  There is no excuse for the CDA
> rider and my (now ex-)representative who voted for that bill was
> voted into office on a campaign of ending politics-as-usual sorts of
> things like that.

Look at it this way:  If you want some bill passed (some spending bill or
such) it has to get out of the Senate.  the senate can easily pull a
filibuster with a minority of the Senate, and shutdown the government
entirely.  If you really eliminate a sense of compromise on issues, you're
hamstringing the government.  It's really one of the fundamental things
that is required to make a constitutional republic such as we have work.  

Remember, the founding fathers went way way way out of their way to make
sure that this was not simply a majority rules country.  Rather, the best
description I've heard of it is a "majority rules with minority rights"
(filibuster, etc..)

> Right now I have two senators: Dianne "No problem giving government
> contract money illegally to my husband" Swinestein and Barbara "No
> money in my checking account? I guess I'll just have to write another
> one" Boxer and congressional representative Walter "I cannot think of
> any government program which should be eliminated" Capps.
> The American government is broken.

You have a better method?  Let's hear it.

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Ryan Anderson - <Pug Majere>     "Who knows, even the horse might sing" 
Wayne State University - CULMA   "May you live in interesting times.."
randerso@ece.eng.wayne.edu                        Ohio = VYI of the USA 
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