Ordering pizza the hard way

Freakshow said:
Do you REALLY think that is the main thought in the heads of most of our politicians in DC?

You have much more faith in humanity than I do.
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I'm well aware that our politicians are slime, but their slime-ball tendancies are regulated by our participation in government.
 
ImaginalDisc said:
I'm well aware that our politicians are slime, but their slime-ball tendancies are regulated by our participation in government.
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Unfortunately, the public's participation in government sometimes serves to enforce, not cutail, our politician's slimeball tendancies.

There is a quote I really like. I don't have the time right now to search for the exact quote and who originally said it. (I will later, but have to run out for a bit now.) " It has been observed that democracies -- defined geerally as any political system where a large fraction of the citizens determine what the government will do -- will collapse as soon as the people learn that they can vote themselves money out of the public coffers. Unless people exercise the discipline to restrain themselves from taking money that looks like it's "free", the money will dry up and the system will collapse."

I agree with the quote strongly. When people start voting to get themselves money out of what the government collects in taxes, it concerns me greatly.
 
Freakshow said:
Unfortunately, the public's participation in government sometimes serves to enforce, not cutail, our politician's slimeball tendancies.

There is a quote I really like. I don't have the time right now to search for the exact quote and who originally said it. (I will later, but have to run out for a bit now.) " It has been observed that democracies -- defined geerally as any political system where a large fraction of the citizens determine what the government will do -- will collapse as soon as the people learn that they can vote themselves money out of the public coffers. Unless people exercise the discipline to restrain themselves from taking money that looks like it's "free", the money will dry up and the system will collapse."

I agree with the quote strongly. When people start voting to get themselves money out of what the government collects in taxes, it concerns me greatly.
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Unfortauntely, we don't have any other options. Our current system allows for many ill people to die for lack of care, because they're poor. Many dangerous illnesses progress unchecked, because people cannot afford to pay $400 every quarter to go see the doctor. There's a finite amount of benefit a person can get from universally avialable medical care. Your scanerio of tragedy of the commons doesn't apply, because health care isn't a fungible resource people can hoard.
 
ImaginalDisc said:
Unfortauntely, we don't have any other options. Our current system allows for many ill people to die for lack of care, because they're poor.
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There are already systems in place, in government, for poor people take advantage of subsidized or even free healthcare. However, I'd be happy to see your evidence that poor people are dying because they can't afford to see a doctor.
 
Grammatron said:
What do you base this on?
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Perhaps this is familiar:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
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Funny how we liberals take the Constitution more seriously than conversatives sometimes.
 
To go back to the ACLU movie - that was showing private companies sharing information between each other:

Pizza company - private company
Phone company - private company
Health Insurance - private company
Driver Insurance - private company
The Gap - private company
Airline - private company
Library - public?
Magazine - private company
Credit cards - private company

Ah capitalism at it's best!

;)
 
Darat said:
To go back to the ACLU movie - that was showing private companies sharing information between each other:

Pizza company - private company
Phone company - private company
Health Insurance - private company
Driver Insurance - private company
The Gap - private company
Airline - private company
Library - public?
Magazine - private company
Credit cards - private company

Ah capitalism at it's best!

;)
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Indeed, no one is forcing you to provide any information to any of those companies. You can use cash to pay the bills of all of those companies and not use Credit Cards at all.
 
Grammatron said:
Promote is not provide.
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Not necessarily, no, but neither are the terms mutually exclusive. I promote my neighborhood organization by helping to provide for it, for example.

That's interesting. I've never thought of that phrase from the preamble in quite that sense before. hm.
 
Upchurch said:
Not necessarily, no, but neither are the terms mutually exclusive. I promote my neighborhood organization by helping to provide for it, for example.

That's interesting. I've never thought of that phrase from the preamble in quite that sense before. hm.
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They used the term "provide for the common defense" but only "promote the general welfare." And even then, it looks to me like they are reffering to the welfare of the Union and not the people.
 
Grammatron said:
And it's not really an ACLU thing, IMO. It's more of a case for consumer advocacy groups.
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are there currently any regulations on how private companies in the US can process, hold and share personal information which they collect? perhaps an equivalent to the UK's data protection act? Liberty have at times been quite vocal on any proposed changes to the DPA, and so i could see an analogous situation here.

Either way, I still found the video funny, if not incredibly realistic.
 
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