TOWN MEETING (Selecting Our Leaders)

[Koikaze]

Ahhhhh, Low.

Of all the things I don't want, the "last word" leads the pack.

Sheeesh! I'm just trying to utter the first word and let brighter folks pick it up from there. I have ideas, but they're the stuff dreams are made of. Changing entrenched systems is going to take more talent and persuasiveness than I have. All I can contribute is 76 years of watching my country go from personal freedom to financial slavery.

(Just a sec. I've got to look up "bete noire". I think "noir" is night or black, but I'm not sure how "bete" fits or if the extra "e" is significant. One moment, please ...)

Hmmmm. Black beast. A person or thing to be disliked or feared.

OK. You don't think they are. I do. That's not the first disagreement I've ever had with another person. One more's unlikely to hurt much.

I infer that you'd like to end our exchange, but your note leaves me an opportunity to respond and has three items I'd like to comment on. By doing so, I mean no disrespect to your wishes.

First, with regard to my mother's voting. She didn't. (I guess you were speaking metaphorically, but I wouldn't want to mislead anyone.) Mother came here from Ireland in 1921. When she went for her naturalization papers she was rejected because she refused to bear arms ... as much, I think, because her brother was killed in France as because of her religious belief. (As it turned out, I didn't inherit that particular gene ... I spent five years in Uncle Sammy's Air Force.)

The second is your comment about "... den of rogues known as the state legislature". If you see them as a "den of rogues", do you feel no need or desire to replace them with decent people, in whom you could take pride? That is EXACTLY the point of this board. You and I may disagree as to cause and method of improvement, but your comment suggests you agree that there should be an improvement.

Finally, with regard to your observation, "If (political parties) have in effect hijacked democracy, it is because an electorate composed largely of the fearful, the stupid, the lazy minded and the apathetic has allowed them to.", I'd like to point out that, whatever its faults (which could stand to be enumerated), the method I threw out for discussion (#msg-6045087) gets beyond the kind of people you describe ... without excluding any among them who might be bright, talented and principled candidates for our governments. It is a method which allows for the possibility that there are such folk without presuming to categorize anyone in that way.

I trust it's clear that this has not been a combat between us. It is part of an earnest search for a way to improve our political systems. You may lack the time or the inclination to continue this discussion. I shall be sorry if that's the case, but I certainly respect it and I particularly appreciate what you've done so far.

Fred