[ale] [OT] Groklaw shuts down due to potential "forced exposure" issues

[JD]

Until we cut off the money from non-human, non-voting entities, we are doomed.
The politicians will always follow what the money tells them to do after they've
been in office 6 months. Staying in office appears to be their primary goal, not
representing the voters best interests.

I'd run for office, but I am unelectable for a number of reasons, fewer now that
President Obama is in office. ;)

Campaign finance should only be provided by individuals legally able to vote in
a specific election. There needs to be a limit on allowed donations ($50K?/yr)
and public tracking of all donations is needed.  I hate the last part, but if
individuals cannot be pinned to each contribution, traceability cannot occur.

End all "soft contributions" and non-trivial gifts too. This will make the
elected people actually pay attention to the voters. I can't think of any other
way to bring their attention back to the voters.

Tricking the current representatives into changing the laws will be difficult -
probably impossible. Harder than term limits, I fear.

As I travel around the world, I see many things that are better and many things
that are worse than the USA. We most definitely DO NOT have the greatest country
on Earth for everyone. I like to think we are in the upper 10%, but that is
completely subjective.  I still get a chill whenever the immigration guy says
"welcome home" at the airport. They don't always say that, but when they do, I
appreciate it.

There are things to love about almost every country, but every country is not
ideal for every individual.  As the USA drops more and more into a police state,
it is clear we need to take political action. Some sort of migration from the
current finance methods to another is needed. A constitutional amendment will
definitely be needed.

I'm certain there are flaws with this plan and I don't know how to make it happen.


On 08/21/2013 10:06 AM, Edward Holcroft wrote:
> It is sad. Like you Sergio, I too am an immigrant for whom the US is now home. 
> 
> As a starry-eyed new immigrant, I was bitterly disappointed to experience the
> election process first hand, to hear the things that came out of the mouths of
> the candidates and to examine their lifestyles and business practices etc. And I
> mean all the candidates, on all sides. It was such a thoroughly, depressingly
> poor cast that all you could really do was vote for the lesser of two evils, or
> perhaps spoil your paper in protest. Much of the thinking, as expressed in their
> utterances and actions, was as pitiful as the worst I've heard out of the mouths
> of the tin-pot, banana republic, third world politicians from whence I hail. In
> our case though, they're worse, because they should know better.
> 
> However, the USA is still, to me, the greatest place on earth to live and work.
> So the question is, what do we do to fix this mess? We cannot just "vote the
> government out" because almost all the candidates are equally bad - I even see
> it down to local level, when you look at the corruption going on here in GA from
> the Governor's Office down to the local sheriff. I have no idea what to do as a
> citizen to fix this.
> 
> I watched this great video talk by Lawrence Lessig, but it's shy on practical
> advice: http://www.ted.com/talks/lawrence_lessig_we_the_people_and_the_republic_we_must_reclaim.html
> He articulates the position that by the time it gets to the election, it's too
> late for you and me ... the funders have had their say.
> 
> Short of burning down the Reichstag, how to we show civil dissent in meaningful
> way - a way that brings about the hope and change that we are being denied? I
> just do not know ...
> 
> cheers
> ed
> 
> 
> On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 7:27 PM, Sergio Chaves <sergio.chaves at gmail.com
> <mailto:sergio.chaves at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
>     This is a perfect sample of "La Democracia" that all Latin America
>     experience for years. I came to the US nearly 30 years ago, trying to
>     experience true freedom, true justice, and the true respect for the
>     country's constitution.
>     I no longer feel like that. In fact, I have experienced quite a bit of
>     flashbacks.
>     Sad, very sad!
> 
>     If any of you have the time to read this article/study
>     http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/full_text_search/AllCRCDocs/95-1.htm
>     you may notice a few coincidences with what happened to Brazil then
>     and what is happening here now.
> 
>     Sad...
> 
>     On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 5:39 PM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com
>     <mailto:jim.kinney at gmail.com>> wrote:
>     > I stand corrected. Too bad the correct tense has the word "perfect" in it as
>     > the past wasn't perfect either.
>     >
>     >
>     > On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 5:11 PM, Sean Kilpatrick <kilpatms at gmail.com
>     <mailto:kilpatms at gmail.com>> wrote:
>     >>
>     >> Jim,
>     >>
>     >> It's a good question; only the verb tense is wrong. You need PastPerfect:
>     >>
>     >> ". . . country have we turned into."
>     >>
>     >> Sean
>     >>
>     >> ------------------------------------------------------
>     >>
>     >> On Tuesday, August 20, 2013 08:07:44 am Jim Kinney wrote:
>     >>
>     >> > http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20130818120421175
>