In a message dated 4/30/2004 3:22:39 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
Guy.Weller@kencomp.net writes:What I find alarming is that if it is a true
democracy, one can only conclude that a majority of Americans (or
Californians at least) repeatedly support legislation that is gradually
whittling away at their own independence and freedom."
Spridgeteers,
It's not so simple...
1. Big bucks talk. Even unqualified and unappealing candidates to public
office win or nearly win because they have the money to create "name
recognition", put forward a view of their "just cause", and trash (usually
unfairly) their opponents. In other words, you don't know what any candidate
is really like or what they stand for, all you have is their "public image".
I voted for a California Insurance State Commissioner because he was the
"little man" against "the big, bad insurance companies". Turned out he was
in their pockets. He got busted for it too, but that's little comfort.
2. Lies. Lots of lies. I voted for a local initiative on gambling- The local
Native American bands said -and wrote- that all they wanted was to keep
their gambling "status Quo". There were lying.
3. We don't even vote for our president- we vote for an electoral college
to vote for the president, which means the candidate with the most popular
votes may not win- it happened more than once. Also, many laws are passed by
our State Legislatures without popular vote.
I like the people here, I like the standard of living, and the climate in So
Cal is fantastic. I still feel I have more freedom than I had in the UK,
even in CA - I still have my guns, for a start! That being said, I despise
both the California legal system (unfair and brutal) and American politics
in general (unfair and brutal).
JLC in San Diego
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