No news in autism, except rambling to my mom after my first workout of the year :D. Oh and there was also a news report on the television stating that people with autism have their own unique genetic footprint, completely different from the unique footprints non-autistic people have which is quite interesting. I didn't catch the whole story sadly, but it's an interesting thing to hear about.
As for my rant, well it's quite simple...it's about us, the people and our government. Or should I say, what's happening in the United States, which while it doesn't really effect me, it still unnerves me. So basically, from the start either each year or every 2 or 4 years, etc, we go to the polls and vote on the people we want to represent us in our governments right? However, as things progress in said governments, sometimes our representatives, senators, governors, Presidents/Prime Ministers, etc vote for things we don't want and as a result, we get all upset and start putting petitions together to allow us to get an amendment to vote on these things ourselves. What I don't really understand though is this: If we voted for these people to represent us in our government so that we don't have to go to these proceedings weekly, then why are we complaining? We voted for these people to make decisions for ALL of us, and now just because some people are all pissed off with how OUR representatives voted, we decide "Oh let's now go and vote ourselves". So from this I have to ask you a question, if we want to vote on things ourselves....then WHY IN THE HELL DID WE EVEN VOTE FOR OUR REPS, OUR SENATORS, OUR GOVERNORS, OR OUR PRESIDENTS/PRIME MINISTERS?! It just makes no sense to me why we elected them and then when one little issue comes up that we don't like; gay marriage, abortion, marijuana legalization, etc, let's just go "we vote!" Well I'm sorry, YOU voted for these people to represent us in every decision, just because you don't like how that person voted, don't start getting in a pissed off mood. He or she's representing more than just you alone, he or she is representing EVERYONE in their county, district, their state/province, their country. So before you complain about one thing out of a thousand things they voted on, think about it, if you didn't have them voting for you, you'd all be the ones making all these decisions. (And I'm talking the frivolous decisions too like what road changes to make, you know, the really really boring stuff).
Just thought you should think about it.
Sean :)
Political representatives work against popular interests all the time, typically because they are beholden to corporate and other interests who are better organized and have more money to affect the political process. This is unfair.
ReplyDeleteIn a country such as Canada that is both formally democratic and relatively free/open, people have a right and responsibility to do almost anything they want to pressure their government to act in ways they consider to be appropriate. This includes petitions (although petitions are a very ineffectual form of political protest), and other forms of direct action. You should be celebrating the fact that some people are moral and courageous enough to take democracy into their own hands.
I don't see anything wrong with direct democracy--direct public control over government/social institutions--over representative democracy. What's wrong with it? Making sure the world is a better place might distract people from more important things, like watching television?