Hmm,
I think a few things are or will be changing. Now as an amateur democracy activist I think more things would change if U.S. citizens had more political power. Or at least were aware of how little political power they have compared to most other democracies.

By the way - Missing the former certainty of the filibuster "comrade." The fact that the filibuster could be eliminated with a majority vote was leaked!

Jack (I_Voter)

Some relatively unknown and hopefully interesting things about the U.S. political system.
http://www.dancarlin.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=31156:

Jury Nullification In New Hampshire Becomes Reality
http://www.policymic.com/articles/10603/jury-nullification-in-new-hampshire-becomes-reality:

From TFA
QUOTE... for a business that requires "enormously high" fixed costs -- digging up the streets, put the wires in -- and operational expense, "it is a completely rational and acceptable process to figure out how to fairly allocate those costs among your consumers who are choosing the service and will pay you to recover those costs.UNQUOTE

To me -- "digging up the streets, put the wires in" - are start-up costs. And I would be willing to agree that they are "enormously high" However; operational expenses plus depreciation, insurance, etc. are recurring or "fixed" costs. My understanding is that operational "fixed" costs are very much, lower.

I have no problem with conspicuous consumers of bandwidth paying more. My problem is with costs not dropping for all consumers!

If this article was designed as click-bait - perhaps that explains quality of the articles we see on Slashdot.

Re:capitalism

If you input the word capitalism into Google's Ngram viewer
http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=5&smoothing=3
the word becomes popular around 1880, and about 10 or 15 years earlier in Britain. This agrees with what I have read. I have read, many years ago, that the origin of the word was undetermined, but that it was almost certainly popularized by Karl Marx.

The only reason I mention this is that Marx defined Capitalism, as control of the state by capital/Capitalists. I would prefer the term competition over capitalism. Capitalism is a poorly defined word, while competition is familiar to anyone that understands a market.

More on the value of copyrights and copies
TED Talk Video
Comic author Rob Reid unveils Copyright Math (TM), a remarkable new field of study based on actual numbers from entertainment industry lawyers and lobbyists.

Web Page
http://www.ted.com/talks/rob_reid_the_8_billion_ipod.html

Download 18MB mp4
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TEDTalks_video/~5/S3_r1Bi3kc4/RobReid_2012.mp4

They were also distributing the msg's using HAM equipment. I was temporarily living in a situation with my Tandy Color Computer, but no telephone! I didn't have a HAM license, but I discovered that you could receive the messages with a shortwave receiver and a radio modem. So I spent $300 - $400 so I could STARE at the msg's for the few weeks until I got back home.

Our National Committees: Ever wonder what they do?

Re: Jury nullification.

I am not from England. but I seem to remember someone named Tony Blair who modified the right of jury nullification.

U.S. background article
The Constitutional Relationship of the People to the Law

Ron Paul supporters take note - I can not find any mention of Jury nullification on "Mr. Constitution's" campaign website.

Anthony Mouse wrote:
The primaries are what matter.

Yes & No You have a point, but the incumbents that control the hill committees have a lot of power behind the scenes. This is the kind of stuff that the newspapers rarely mention.
see reference:
Our Glorious National Committees: Ever wonder what they do?

This is the only positive political development that I am aware of.
Modern U.S. Party Platforms: From the Voters Perspective

DNS-and-BIND wrote: If they do that (support multiple issues) then they're no longer the Pirate Party,

Actually that is a good tactic. Most nations, other than the U.S., allow private member-based political party organizations to have control of the politicians that want to run under the parties ballot label. This allows enforceable party platforms.

Copyright issues may not be the primary issue for a large number of voters, although they may be friendly or a least neutral. These voters can be encouraged to vote for the Pirate party by including other issues in the Party platform, and promising to enforce this platform on the parties elected politicians.

Background for U.S. citizens What is a Political Party?

RE: If just 5% of the American public wanted to overthrow the government, an armed revolution would be possible.

Hey it doesn't even take 5% since you didn't predict victory. If you did, you might need a little more than 5% You also seem to be labeling the vast majority of the population stupid because they have different priorities than you. Some probably want to raise their children, or some other thing, before running out in the street shooting guns in the air. Maybe they are saving that type of activity for retirement.

Personally my primary interest is the U.S. political system.

Citizen's Political Power in the U.S.

I wonder why more people don't use "market" or "market economy" It was the earlier term.

Prior to "Capitalism," the word "market" was used. In 1776, Adam Smith's book "Wealth of Nations," explained economics in terms of a country market so that everyone could understand. However, He then also described wages as being subject to the same forces.(ie labor market) Finally Smith wrote something to the effect that the whole world could be viewed as a market. This is what changed the word market to include a system as opposed just to a location.

ref. "Wealth of Nations"

I have heard that the word "capitalism" became popular about the same time as Karl Marx was writing about it, although I don't think he invented the term. Marx used the term historically for the political control of the state by the wealthy, as opposed to the feudal nobility. The earliest use of the word Capitalism or capitalism (in books) that I could find is 1880!

ref. Google Books Ngram Viewer
books.google.com/ngrams/graph
Graph these case-sensitive comma-separated phrases: Capitalism

Perhaps he believes it is a crime to sue someone.

I just didn't have any points to mod you up. :>)
I am also using this post to see what checking (No Karma Bonus) actually does.
Does anyone know any reason for checking No Karma Bonus?

My volunteer work is to educate people about our political system. I have spent a decade or two at it. You have to be aware of how our system works before you can operate within it. (Without being used) Politicians love it if you operate within it without understanding it!

I often vote for independent candidates, but have you ever wondered how many people are aware of the modified and fairly unique aspects of our modern U.S. political parties? Did you know about this?

You might be interested in this new positive wrinkle created by the Internet. Politicians can now distribute political platforms directly to their target audience using modern communication methods such as the Internet, and by-passing our mass gate-keeper media.
ref: The Modern U.S. Political Platforms: Do they work?
http://i-voter.tripod.com/Platforms.html

I agree with your judgement about political choice being more important than becoming a bought and paid for, single party-label voter. However, you may have noticed that I substituted the phrase "party-label" for "political party." Our U.S. political parties have been "reformed" if you wish to use that word. A am afraid that the political trickery is over a mile deep and half a continent wide. U.S. political parties are now quite unique - by law!.

SEE:.
ref :What is a Political Party?
Warning: Polemic Article!
http://i-voter.tripod.com/US_PoliticalParties.html

RE: get involved during the primaries and select a different party candidate.

There are some non-obvious limits to such a tactic.

ref: Our National Committees: Ever wonder what they do?
http://i-voter.tripod.com/NationalCommittees.html/

As you could probably guess - I like your sig!
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison