Pure Politics
bush speaks for once in his political career as an expert on the subject:
“I say it’s pure politics,” he said. “And that’s just the nature of democracy. Sometimes pure politics enters into the rhetoric.”
Democracy
Felons Voting
Once their debt has been paid, once they have spent their time in jail x-felons must be allowed to vote. Talkleft suggests this and an issue that democrats should take up and Raise Your Hands asks:
where are the African American and Hispanic leaders on this issue, considering the skewed disenfranchisment of the poor and minorities.
And I propose going one step more and support no denial of voting rights for any citizen under any circumstances.
How Many Pages does it Take to Choke a Country?
I’m afraid we will find out before it gets better. From the Washington Post 2002 Federal Register Is Longest Ever:
The Bush administration, philosophically wedded to the idea of smaller government, issued a record-high number of pages of new federal regulations last year, according to a study to be released today by the Cato Institute.
…Federal Register boasted 75,606 pages of federal regulations in 2002, up from a high of 74,528 pages in 2000, when President Bill Clinton was still in office.
On the other hand:
A total of 4,187 rules were in the federal pipeline in 2002, down from 4,509 rules the previous year and from a 10-year peak of 5,119 in 1994,…..
For a full analysis see the 2003 Cato Institute report: Ten Thousand Commandments, An Annual Report of the Federal Regulatory State.
Via Bespacific.
Corporate Rights
Emma at Late Night Thoughts joins Dave Pollard and Thom Hartman, author of Unequal Protection, in taking on corporate personhood. A thorough fisking of these folks arguments would find some individual points to argue but I think the essence of what they are saying holds true:
our elected and appointed legislative, executive and judicial ‘public servants’ have enacted, approved and upheld laws that imbue corporations with rights that should belong only to natural persons*
Read Emma’s post and then the Pollard/Hartman material and give it some thought.
Emma observes that:
The screams you hear from the corner are coming from those conservatives that want to protect “capitalism” and “free markets”.
I can’t think of reasons why folks who truly support capitalism and free markets would disagree with the essence (see above) of this discussion. Capitalism does not thrive in an environment wrapped in special protections, subsidies, etc. Most likely those screaming are more of the statist variety and come from both the right and the left.
Thanks to Jeanne at Body and Soul for the pointer.
*orginal text read
our elected representatives have approved laws that imbue corporations with rights that should belong only to natural persons
Buying the Office
Do you believe that the national elections are important, that the US President is elected by the voters? I do, but after some recent reading I am having some second thoughts and I am not happy about it. First, Craig Cheslog discusses an article in the Miami Herald. As Craig says
Our electoral system is ill-served by a process that allows fundraising to so limit the field before a single vote is cast. It wrongly leaves the determination of the party’s presidential nominees to a small number of fundraisers.
Rick Dement at The Rant picks up the thread
is there anyone out there who truly believes that democracy is not being negatively impacted by the influence of big money and the constant pressure to rise funds?
Read both posts, read the article.