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Camaro
Question everything
Premium Member
join:2008-04-05
Westfield, MA

Camaro

Premium Member

Here we go

"developing systems that would not only hand over data on the initial target, but entire "communities of interest" that is very scary, so instead of plain old racial profiling now we are going to be profiling every US citizen based on where we surf,who we talk to,looks like orwell's book's are coming true.On a side note it seems are government is bent on pissing us off but they seem to forget what happened in the 1700's,we kicked the British out and if this keeps up i think it's time for a reboot of our great govt.
amigo_boy
join:2005-07-22

amigo_boy

Member

said by Camaro:

it seems are government is bent on pissing us off but they seem to forget what happened in the 1700's,we kicked the British out
I need to point out (again) that the story of our founding isn't quite that simple. After the libertarian revolutionary rhetoric died down, the founding generation wanted a *larger*, more powerful government.

They ditched the relatively libertarian Articles of Confederation after just 12 years in favor of the relatively gargantuan and superior federal government of 1789-1791.

When faced with the question of more or less government (more or less security and predictability) they chose more government.

Obviously, it's a matter of balance. Not absolutes.

Our current system isn't perfect (with co-equal powers). But, it's a lot better than the alternative which some people seem to believe we should have (concentrating all power in the legislative branch).

The Founding generation knew that there are times that decisions are best made by one person, not by committee. That's what I hear people advocating when they say the President should have been totally constrained by FISA, waiting for the Legislative to enhance it to meet unforeseen challenges. That took 4-5 years!

IMO, the system worked pretty much like it was expected to. Could it have been better, sure? But, I don't think a lot of people understand how much worse it could have been if all power were vested in the Legislative branch (the way they seem to think it is).
said by Camaro:

and if this keeps up i think it's time for a reboot of our great govt.


On the one hand, I agree that, by the Founding generations' standards (changing constitutions after just 12 years), we're a bit overdue for a Constitutional Convention.

On the other hand.... it's hard to take people seriously about how we're going to have a revolution if politicians don't be careful. Especially when those same people won't pursue other options such as forming a movement to call for a Con Con.

Saying "they better watch it" is like Shay's and his men launching a rebellion just a decade after the Revolution, using all the same revolutionary rhetoric, and pushing the revolutionary generation to embrace *even bigger government!*

Mark
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