Category: Politics

Trickle-Up Economics

If the problem with the economic system is too much bad consumer debt, let’s try addressing it at the source. If all of us could make our mortgage payments, car payments, and credit card payments, there wouldn’t be a problem.ﾃつﾃつ If the government must intervene, let’s have it intervene by giving those people the money to meet their obligations. And let the invisible hand take care of the business world.

And any bailout plan must most certainly contain large dollops of oversight.ﾃつ Which is not just a euphemism for things being “overlooked”.

Parliamentary vs. Presidential Systems

Apparently our system with the head of the executive branch directly elected is called the “presidential” system.

No clear conclusions, of course. But some fairly clear tradeoffs. How it works in particular countries includes a lot of local tradition and cultural influences.

Elections

Pro Con
Parliamentary Short cycle. Come somewhat by surprise. Politicians can’t afford to have the populace pissed off.
Presidential Long cycle. Schedule known years in advance.

Recall

Pro Con
Parliamentary Whole government can be brought down if needed. Whole government can fall at an inconvenient time.
Presidential Government can accomplish things that are unpopular. No way to throw the rascals out short of impeachment or sufficient threat of it to force a resignation (Nixon).

Parties

Pro Con
Parliamentary Party owns the seats, not candidates, so there’s party discipline. Party can’t stand for different things in different regions.
Presidential Compromise happens within the party. Parties can’t become idealogical purists and ever win. Parties can’t really mean anything.

Ability to Act

Separation of Powers

Pro Con
Parliamentary One party controls the government. They can get something done. One party controls the government. Damage can be essentially unlimited.
Presidential Control of the legislative and executive branches can be split. Damage can be limited. Control of the legislative and executive branches can be split. This can prevent anything from getting done.
Pro Con
Parliamentary Less, since executive is headed by someone of party controlling the legislature. A very non-politicized civil service can help some.
Presidential More, since head of executive is chosen by the voters independently of the legislature.

Action on Outrage

The 3420 17th Ave. South raid seems crazy, and very threatening. I think everybody I know has the stuff they were looking for in their house and garageﾃ｢竄ｬ窶捏pray paint? check. Gas mask? check (organic-vapors rated, to protect me from the spray paint). Gasoline? check. Glass bottles? check. Rags? check. Computers? check. Cameras? check. Tires? check. If everybody I know, including sincere pacifists and people who aren’t at all politically active, has these things, I don’t think that having these things can be evidence of anything except being an American. (Indymedia has the warrants and inventory up online.)

Neither the judge’s signature on the warrant, nor the police transcription of the name on the inventory, is clearly legible, but both pretty clearly start with a “W”, and the police transcription could quite easily be “Wernick”.

I’ve left voice mail for Judge Mark S. Wernick; he seems to be the only judge in Hennepin County whose name starts with “W” in the judicial directory. I asked him if he was in fact the judge who issued the warrant for the 3420 17th Ave. South raid. I explained I was not a journalist, but was calling as a citizen and a voter, trying to figure out what was going on. I haven’t heard back yet.

The Heller Decision

I’m not going to go into this in any depth, but I wanted to post something acknowledging that the Supreme Court handed down the right decision on something (not that rare even for this court).

No reasonable interpretation of the Second Amendment, based on its history, its language, the debate surrounding its adoption, or the other related measures debated and sometimes adopted for state constitutions, can possibly justify understanding it as anything other than an individual right to “keep and bear arms” for self-defense and any other lawful purpose.

One can sanely think this is a mistake, and thus favor fixing it; but to fix it requires a new constitutional amendment.ﾃつ It’s been done before; slavery was thrown out, and prohibition was brought in and then thrown out, for example.

Justice Scalia’s decision goes into the historical and linguistic scholarship in some detail, and is also remarkably nasty to the dissenting opinions.ﾃつ I haven’t yet read them; the two of them are bigger than the main opinion, and I just haven’t had time.

The decision (in PDF format) can be downloaded here.

There’ll be years of litigation, of course, trying to expand from this beachhead into a real, solid, acceptance of the most basic human right, the right to defend yourself.