Re-imagining Democracy

Afterword

quixote — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 00:28:27 +0000

This exploration of what equal rights means in our world shows mainly how far we’ve drifted away from that goal. Many people set course for it during and after the Enlightenment in the 1700s, but in recent generations there’s been the assumption that all the hard work has been done. Not so. Autopilot isn’t [...]

Creativity

quixote — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:43:23 +0000

December 20, 2010, last update If we’d had the same rules millions of years ago as we do now, we’d still be living in trees. Some bright wit would have locked down the concept of spending the night on the ground and set up a toll booth. Ideas as property are based on a [...]

Re-imagining Democracy

Education

quixote — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 04:33:43 +0000

Social Implications Social Implications On Teaching and Learning Formal Schooling Advanced Education and Research Diffuse Learning I don’t remember the actual details of a question Ray Bradbury was once asked. It was something like what would be the most significant aspect of the future. Faster than light travel? Immortality? Brain-computer interfaces? Limitless power from quantum [...]

Re-imagining Democracy

Care

quixote — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 20:42:11 +0000

There are many questions about the extent of people’s duty to care for each other, but the existence of the duty is a foregone conclusion. Almost nobody, now or in the past, abandons ill or disabled members of their group. If they do, they’re viewed as despicable subhumans. Medical Care Retirement Disability Child [...]

Re-imagining Democracy

Money and Work

quixote — Fri, 07 May 2010 19:51:36 +0000

The Nature of Money The Nature of Money Capital Finance Scale of business Corporations as bodies Advertising Prices and Incomes Pricing of basics Labor Commerce is not a function of government, and if money had nothing to do with power, there’d be no need for much government involvement in commercial affairs. But money and [...]

Re-imagining Democracy

Government 2: Oversight

quixote — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 05:27:00 +0000

The need to guard the guardians has been a slow concept to develop in human history. Rulers had God on their side, or were gods, and it's only in the last few centuries that there's been even a concept of checks and balances. But, as usual, the powerful find workarounds and we're back to the point where "you can't fight City Hall" is considered a cliché.

Re-imagining Democracy

Government 1: War and Politics

quixote — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:42:16 +0000

There's irony to the fact that in a work on government, the topic itself waits to appear till somewhere in the middle. But government is a dependent variable without any chance of being functional, to say nothing of fair, if the physical and biological preconditions aren't met. Those preconditions can be satisfied with less effort when people are savvy enough to understand where they fit in the scheme of things, but they can't be ignored. It's customary, or it is now at any rate, to think of government in terms of its three branches, executive, legislative and judicial. But those are really branchlets all in one part of the tree and don't include important aspects of the whole thing. They are all concerned with the machinery, with how to get things done, and they don't address the why, what, or who of government.

Re-imagining Democracy

Sex and Children

quixote — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:07:18 +0000

This may be the chapter people turn to first because of the title, but the only thing to say about sex is that there is nothing to say. The role of government is to enforce rights, to stop people from stepping on each other. There is nothing about consensual sex that is the business of government. On the other hand, marriage has to do with sex, or is supposed to, and the powers-that-be have always had much to say about it. That relates partly to the joy of messing about in other people's business, but partly it also has to do with something real. Families are the irreducible unit in the social mix, and all societies recognize that by giving them legal rights. Hence the role of government in what could be construed as a private matter. The few societies that have tried to ignore those bonds, such as the early Communists, have failed. Families aren't called "nuclear" for nothing.

Re-imagining Democracy

Presenting information: an energy example

quixote — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 01:34:33 +0000

(return to Environment chapter) The purpose of this piece is to show how presenting information can help decision-making, for instance before voting. Most of this piece provides background, the sort of thing a voter could look up by following links in voter education material. Ideally, information could be pursued to any depth desired. I’ve tried [...]

Re-imagining Democracy

Environment

quixote — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:29:11 +0000

Environmental issues are not generally considered to be at the heart of government. Government is supposed to regulate the interactions of people, and the environment is just where we live. But with technology comes increased power. People can change the environment, and suddenly the environment is one massive way people affect people. Environmental regulation has gone from being an afterthought about egregious cases of fouling to being a core function of government. If rights are the essential limits that enable free societies, and if they apply equally to everyone, preserving the environment is the first, not the last, function of government.

Re-imagining Democracy