. wrote:
Bruce wrote:
This combination leads to the widespread folk wisdom that "an
honest man cannot be elected". It does still happen, however, and
they are remembered largely for being ineffective, for their
standards do not permit them to engage in the mutual
back-scratching (or backstabbing) and graft that is the
conventional way of business in government.
If folks really wanted to usher in change they have the power of the
ballot but on average the turnout is around +/- 50% here. Is it that
we elect people who are but a reflection of ourselves?*
* It sounds simplistic but given the apathy voters have...
I am reminded of the Blonde's Lament: "Thinking is *hard*!"
The complexity of government exceeds the understanding of most voters.
<Insert standard screed about the failure of the educational system
here.> To learn just what offices one may vote for and what those
officers do is a challenge that I suspect the majority of voters aren't
up to.
There are, in all honesty, times when apathy is the wise response to a
situation. One does try to tilt only at those windmills one is capable
of besting, or at least those where your defeat may rouse public
sentiment. Some apathy among voters is the result of such deliberate
choices.
It's also a fact that the government that affects people the most is the
most local government. Thus it's much easier to raise a rabble of 1% of
the electorate for a city council meeting than for a national issue,
notwithstanding that the national issue is a greater threat in the long
run. Thus a good deal of the available political energy is directed to
local elections and local officials, leaving less energy available for
state and national issues.
In support of this, it's been my observation that the level of
corruption goes up with the square of the average distance from the
electors to the elected, and directly with the number of voters
represented. <Better multipliers are invited.>
Sadly, I've come to believe that representative democracy is not a
particularly effective tool for dealing with complex, technical, or
long-term problems. Sadder yet, I have not been able to imagine a system
that would do better.
Bruce
