A Problem of Shrinkage

[Fisherking]

Shrinkage!???

I am fed up with the two party system.

They always say they are going to do good things but look at what we get.

I am fully in favor of selecting our government officials in the same way we select our jurors.

Just send them to Washington and tell them to do something good for the country...

Can they do much worse?

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Shrinkage!???

I am fed up with the two party system.

They always say they are going to do good things but look at what we get.

I am fully in favor of selecting our government officials in the same way we select our jurors.

Just send them to Washington and tell them to do something good for the country...

Can they do much worse?

Yes. That's like saying "these referees are terrible, let's pick random fans".

[Fisherking]

Yes. That's like saying "these referees are terrible, let's pick random fans".

And sending a bunch of rich lawyers to Washington to write laws is a better idea?

[Sasaki Kojiro]

And sending a bunch of rich lawyers to Washington to write laws is a better idea?

If they are rich then they are less likely to accept bribes, and if they are lawyers they have a certain level of intelligence. Understanding the law would help in writing new ones...

Palin/Plumber 2012!

[Fisherking]

Sorry but I tend to disagree with all but the intelligence part.

It is rather a conflict of interest for those who make money from the law to make new ones...

Being wealthy never stopped greed.

Those are the last people you want representing you, yet they seem the most likely to want the job...

Think about it.

By the way, a Quote I love;


When the white man discovered this country Indians were running it. No taxes, no debt, women did all the work. White man thought he could improve on a system like this.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Sorry but I tend to disagree with all but the intelligence part.

It is rather a conflict of interest for those who make money from the law to make new ones...

Being wealthy never stopped greed.

Those are the last people you want representing you, yet they seem the most likely to want the job...

Think about it.

The presidential salary is lower today than it was it 1789.

So did all the rich lawyers make greedy laws to benefit themselves whereas poor garbage collectors would have no conflicts of interest?

I'll go back to my original example. The refs in the NFL should be the best in the country, yet they still make mistakes. Is the solution to improve the instant replay system and change some of the more arbitrary rules, or is it to pick random people from the crowd and have them referee?

Cynicism is a cop out for the disillusioned

[Fisherking]

The presidential salary is lower today than it was it 1789.

So did all the rich lawyers make greedy laws to benefit themselves whereas poor garbage collectors would have no conflicts of interest?

I'll go back to my original example. The refs in the NFL should be the best in the country, yet they still make mistakes. Is the solution to improve the instant replay system and change some of the more arbitrary rules, or is it to pick random people from the crowd and have them referee?

Cynicism is a cop out for the disillusioned

Your analogy is a bit off.

The referees don’t make the rules of the game. They act as a police force to enforce the rules.

At its inception the Governing Bodies of the United States were not conceived as partisan camps.

We were to select Representatives to act on behalf of the people, all the people and not on behalf of a third party (the Party).

They represent the interests of the Party that got them elected and if they have higher notions of their position they are soon shown the way it really is.

Along the way they have restyled them selves not as Representatives of the People but as their Leaders.

It is no about service to the community and nations but instead about power and prestige.

They are beholden to special interests who gave them money and to the Party that sponsored their election.

The Parties have their own interests and agendas. Some times these may serve the people but first and foremost they serve the Party.

Furthermore, the laws that govern the people need not be written in such a way as to be unintelligible to those without legal training. In fact it started out in the other extreme.

Laws were not meant to be ambiguous, unintelligible, or to require someone with legal training to interpret them.

The original “final arbiter” of the law was meant to be the jury and not the courts. When the Supreme Court took upon its self the right to judge laws it did not draw it from the courts but because it was also the supreme jury of the land.


I am not being cynical. I would like to see Representative Government. At the same time I know that this thread is not going to change the world.

It is just a discussion.

The Republicans are having problems. The Democrats have recovered form the problems they were having. At worst a new Party will arise to take the place of one that fails but the system will go on giving power to an Elite who do not represent their constituents but their own interests and that of their party.

Selecting candidates from the voting base and making the final selection by vote might rid us of Parties but it is not going to happen because it does not serve the interests of those in power.