Journal Cliff's Journal: Oh Lord. It's That Time, Again... 3
It's that time, again. The time we Americans must, in 4 year cycles, deal with the endless dronings of politicians and their promises, the endless political commercials bombarding our minds, cajoling an upholding of values amidst the refrain of "for our freedom" or "for our children". In the end, it boils down to a choice that promises, at worst, to be one between the "lesser of two-evils".
Yep. It's time for the Presidential Campaign Train to roll through an American Neighborhood Near You, and this year promises to be like most recent years: dominated by talk from Democrats and Republicans. Two median parties that pretend to be extremes, but instead are becoming more, and more the same.
Now while I do feel that it would be nice to have a political candidate who did what I felt was important, in office, it has been shown that Technological issues don't matter as much as the Social, or the Economic (let's ignore the interdependency between such issues, and how they aren't really separate...for now, just hear me out).
This brings me to the actual point of this ramble of a JE. I've always wondered whether it would be right for techies to take political stands on issues, yes, even the Presidency. The DMCA, CDA, PATRIOT, and others came about because of the representation we elected as a people, and it's obvious to me that if we continue to follow the trend of electing that we have been, the internet as-we-now-know-it could be legislated out of existence by 2010.
However "techies", "geeks" and "nerds" do not a political group make, and "Slashdot" is even worse. One has to only look at the comments in the actual story to note that political leanings do not follow a particular technological bent. This is good, actually. It shows that we're a fairly diverse bunch. But it's a killer when it comes to political issues that affect us all, and if we don't have "friends" in the Presidential Administration, things like the DMCA are just the tip of the Iceburg.
Things can get a lot worse.
This question was posed to Slashdot over 3 years ago. I didn't realize it then, but I think we might do well to revisit it again, before we lose what voice we may have had, altogether.
[ Updated ]: Please, no more submissions on this topic. While I do believe it's a topic for discussion, I think Politics makes better JEs and crappy Slashdot Articles, especially when the politics come first, and the technology is relegated to an afterthought. So if you wish to talk about this topic, talk about it here, and in your own journals. It is through the interpersonal relationships that political movements are made. JEs are like that. Word of mouth compared to the mass market, tabloid like appeal of a Mainpage Slashdot article. Thusly they tend to have a higher signal-to-noise ratio.
Yep. It's time for the Presidential Campaign Train to roll through an American Neighborhood Near You, and this year promises to be like most recent years: dominated by talk from Democrats and Republicans. Two median parties that pretend to be extremes, but instead are becoming more, and more the same.
Now while I do feel that it would be nice to have a political candidate who did what I felt was important, in office, it has been shown that Technological issues don't matter as much as the Social, or the Economic (let's ignore the interdependency between such issues, and how they aren't really separate...for now, just hear me out).
This brings me to the actual point of this ramble of a JE. I've always wondered whether it would be right for techies to take political stands on issues, yes, even the Presidency. The DMCA, CDA, PATRIOT, and others came about because of the representation we elected as a people, and it's obvious to me that if we continue to follow the trend of electing that we have been, the internet as-we-now-know-it could be legislated out of existence by 2010.
However "techies", "geeks" and "nerds" do not a political group make, and "Slashdot" is even worse. One has to only look at the comments in the actual story to note that political leanings do not follow a particular technological bent. This is good, actually. It shows that we're a fairly diverse bunch. But it's a killer when it comes to political issues that affect us all, and if we don't have "friends" in the Presidential Administration, things like the DMCA are just the tip of the Iceburg.
Things can get a lot worse.
This question was posed to Slashdot over 3 years ago. I didn't realize it then, but I think we might do well to revisit it again, before we lose what voice we may have had, altogether.
[ Updated ]: Please, no more submissions on this topic. While I do believe it's a topic for discussion, I think Politics makes better JEs and crappy Slashdot Articles, especially when the politics come first, and the technology is relegated to an afterthought. So if you wish to talk about this topic, talk about it here, and in your own journals. It is through the interpersonal relationships that political movements are made. JEs are like that. Word of mouth compared to the mass market, tabloid like appeal of a Mainpage Slashdot article. Thusly they tend to have a higher signal-to-noise ratio.
Well, things are a little different . . . (Score:2)
Well, it seems from other rantings on Slashdot that the wealth business has reversed itself too. If one were doing bad research by readig the front page instead of actual surveys one would think that 50% of the nation were unemployed and the other 50% were minimum wage earners, with 100% complaining of some mythical "rich people" who somehow are the cause of all of this myse
two-evils? (Score:2)
Now while I don't usually vote straight-ticket on the evil party, there are alternatives. If Patrick Buchanan isn't for you, you can always vote for Lyndon LaRouche!
Seriously, I didn't vote for either Bush or Gore in 2000, and I feel fine about it. The important thing is to vote. It has not not always been only Democrat/Republican, and nor will it always be that way in the future.
Dems and Reps quite alike (Score:2)
In the end, I vote to my conscience. I think if people are truly in touch with how they feel about "the issues" and then pick a candidate that represents those feelings, then they've done good. Unfortunately, it's hard to find such a Republican or Democrat candidate. So, look at the so-called third parties and vot