A Nurse with a Gun

Friday, June 26, 2009

posted by Xavier at 5:08 PM

7 Comments:

Blogger Ruminator said...

Right on.

5:42 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So he wants to abolish the electoral college, and he wants to enact mandatory servitude?

I sympathize with his anger, but despite his fancy costume, he does not understand the issues.

8:24 AM  
Blogger Tirno said...

The President presides over the union of the states. Thus, he is elected by the states themselves. There is no right for any individual citizen to vote for the President, except insofar as his state has created a mechanism for him to express his opinion on how his state's electors should vote.

I'm also dead set against mandatory servitude. I wouldn't mind it terribly if successful completion of some objective standard of public service or equivalent monetary sacrifice was a precondition of getting franchise. Franchise is valued too little because people, especially natural born citizens, think they get it for free.

9:15 AM  
Anonymous Fox said...

Reply to Anonymous:

Speaking as someone who's worked for the government 11 years now... two years is not too much to ask, especially right out of high school when most kids aren't prepared to fend for themselves anyway. Hell, it might even do something about the gang issues in inner cities. Who knows.

More so, the electoral college is a broken system and with technology as wide-spread as it is today, there is no reason why the popular vote cannot replace it.

6:38 AM  
Anonymous Fox said...

Second reply to Anonymous:

Also, if those two things are the only part you disagree with, then I have some choice words for you... Welcome to the Democracy! Go Vote for it. Do something.

If all you have issue with is two minor pieces when he put forward dozens of major pieces, then you should support him, because he's got a better ratio of issues than anyone else in congress right now!

6:49 AM  
Blogger Chris said...

While I admire his passion, and agree with many of his principles, I have to second Anonymous. Abolishing the electoral college will only make things worse, as presidential candidates will set up base in metropolitan areas and start pandering even more than they do now, which should frighten everyone.

The one thing he got absolutely right is to make Congress obey the same rules the rest of us do. Ironically, my liberal (neocon) mother has been advocating the same for years.

9:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'll never understand why those who decry the powers of Leviath and outwardly preach limited government are in favor of mandatory service. The scale alone would make me balk.

If everyone must give two years when they turn 18 (if the sexes are equal, women should be subject to mandatory service), consider that in 2000, there were 8 million people age 18-19 in the United States. Even if we assume 19 year olds are half that number and they are given a pass on service, within one year, it's back at 8 million people serving. Knowing how the government works, there would be exemptions for the right sort of people but we're being idealistic here, let's say everyone.

The CBO estimated there were 2.7 million Federal employees in 2007. This is probably too narrow a thread but I don't think lumping contractors (more than 5 million) into the number is entirely accurate. So we'll call it 4 million.

Mandatory service has doubled the size of our government and we have to pay all these people. So much for small government. All these people have to do something while there. Something will be found for them to do. As someone who has worked for the government and reported on it, I find that pretty scary as well.

6:52 PM  

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