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Posted

yes and in the process he forgot to mention that winning a political contest with significantly less than 50% participation cannot confer any legitimacy to perform rollbacks and take decisions in spite of public opinion. These are truly the policies wanted by a minority.

 

So are you saying that anytime less than 50% of the registered voters actually decide to do so, that the government is illegitimate?

Posted

"The cost of the sale are generalized to the public through the USFS and the cost of to public land, yours and mine, is distributed to all of us, not the generator of the problem.""

 

In this we agree, logging costs should not be subsidized, roads and infrastructure built on public lands should be fully funded by those removing the timber.

 

This issue still does not indicate only timber companies benefit, however, only that the benefit is not accurately costed to customers, due to market distortion by subsidy. We both agree the subsidies should be ended.

 

Posted

So are you saying that anytime less than 50% of the registered voters actually decide to do so, that the government is illegitimate?

 

I did not go that far, although it seems like a debatable point.

 

Yet it seems clear the very low turnout does not confer legitimacy to concentrate power in the executive branch to orchestrate systematic policy rollbacks or make major policy decision that still divide the nation (in spite of a media campaign attempting to ensure a concensus).

Posted

It has been said that if you are not a socialist by twenty, you have no heart; and if you are still a socialist at thirty, you have no head. Guru say: If you are not a curmudgeon by eighty, you have not been paying attention. hahaha.gif

 

Posted

yes and in the process he forgot to mention that winning a political contest with significantly less than 50% participation cannot confer any legitimacy to perform rollbacks and take decisions in spite of public opinion. These are truly the policies wanted by a minority.

 

Well, fuckstick, can you name the last election that DID have greater than 50% voter turnout? Just because people chose not to participate in our electoral system does not legitimize the results. You seem to be under the mistaken idea that our federal government is based on popular majorities - we are REPUBLIC OF DEMOCRATIC STATES whose federal governing body is based on REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY. Get with it, ya twit.

Posted (edited)

Using j_b's logic, I can't see that any presidents, or congressional, stances in the last several decades at least, have *ever* been supportable on that basis. If we decide that in order to legitimize elections an actual majority of all possible voters must agree, we can certainly rule out anything Clinton did, anything reagan did, or carter, or ford.

 

I actually like the idea of this though, because sticking to that line of reasoning it means very little, if any, federal action would ever be valid. This is the problem with demanding majority rule in actuality.

 

that "significantly less" than a 50% majority "cannot" confer legitimacy is entirely dependent on your view of the philosophy of govt anyway. I didn't see what can or cannot confer legitimacy in an election written down as a universal constant anywhere. I don't find that a majority confers legitimacy anyway in a great many things.

Edited by MtnGoat
Posted

That is a bullshit question. "Public opinion" (i.e., on-th-street opinion polls) has no bearing in REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY. Only constituent voices to representatives. The President (no matter whom) operates on public opinion; that is not how the job is set up.

Posted

That's not the point. By becoming president, he has a mandate, and, technically, the authority to enact that mandate, as long as it conforms with the strictures imposed by our laws and constitution.

But, if the president has any concern for our country, he wouldn't embark on a unilateral (domestically speaking) path. It is the role (I hope!) to be a representative for the interests of individual Americans, Americans as a whole, and, for the interests of the world at large (Kyoto agreement, International Criminal court, NATO, etc.), because that is where we live, in the world. There is no isolation anymore.

Posted

SC - I would agree with your assessment of how the President should operate; his priorities should be just as you listed them: Americans first, America second, everyone else THIRD or lower.

Posted

We are speaking past each other. You seem to think that the Federal Government is a democracy; you're wrong right here. Go back and review your Constitution, Federalist Papers, et cetera.

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