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If I may propose something at this point, I think it would be helpful to create a mechanism to alert everyone on the list, that a new entry has been made.
This is my opinion...just start the vote on the various priorities. Let's get started.
If I may propose something at this point, I think it would be helpful to create a mechanism to alert everyone on the list, that a new entry has been made.
I had an idea about that. I was thinking we can have a thread where the only people who post are officers. Whenever an official thread that all members should be made aware of is created (such as a poll thread, etc) an officer will post the notification list in a post that includes a link to that thread and a brief description. As a result all members will receive a notification that they've been quoted. When they click on the link to their quote in the "Who quoted me" portion of their User Control Panel, it will bring them to this thread where they will see the link and description and then they can click on that
If any member does not want to receive these notifications, they can inform the Sec'y and he will remove their name from the notification list.
What do you think?
Tomorrow I will start a poll on prioritizing our next step. Like you, I'd like to get to work quickly. I only held off this long because I wanted to give others the chance to post suggestions to be included in the poll, but I can't wait forever.
I say we cover marriage first; it's arguably the most controversial issue facing this convention, so we should try to get it out of the way first. Besides, if we start out with something easy, we run the risk of losing inertia, and by extent, interest. No matter what, we have to keep this convention from crawling to a standstill.
I say we cover marriage first; it's arguably the most controversial issue facing this convention, so we should try to get it out of the way first. Besides, if we start out with something easy, we run the risk of losing inertia, and by extent, interest. No matter what, we have to keep this convention from crawling to a standstill.
Interesting. There are so many issues that will be controversial that I would not have thought marriage would jump to the top
> representation - do we want to keep the same thing we have now, where in the Senate the smaller states have an unusual amount of power? Heck, do we even want states? (probably, but worth discussing)
> guns
> abortion/privacy laws
> do we want more of a parliamentary setup so it's not just a two-party system?
> what things fall into the purview of the federal govt vs. belong to the states?
> freedom of speech vs. hate speech
> habeus corpus; protection of civil liberties; all the issues around the Patriot Act
I'm sure others can list more....
Sangha, very nice message from you; thanks for starting us off on the right "tone".
Should any government level be allowed to do anything other than public goods (economic definition says those are the only ones government does better than private sector players) and regulate externalities. After all, anything else will make the community less well off.
Should any government level be allowed to do anything other than public goods (economic definition says those are the only ones government does better than private sector players) and regulate externalities. After all, anything else will make the community less well off.
If I may propose something at this point, I think it would be helpful to create a mechanism to alert everyone on the list, that a new entry has been made.
Your post raises the issue of "What is the proper role of govt?". Some people believe that its' role is to merely protect rights and that things like "public goods" and "the regulation of externalities" are not legitimate interests. This makes me wonder if maybe setting some "First Principles" might be the first thing we should think of doing (though I voted differently in the poll I created to set priorities)
By determining what exactly are the legitimate interests of govt, we can then decide on the powers such a govt would need to pursue those interests
Just thinking out loud.
PS: I noticed you haven't voted in the poll (*hint*) yet
http://www.debatepolitics.com/dp-constitutional-convention/210546-poll-setting-priorities.html
Aside from being alerted to new entries via quote option, you have the option to subscribe to this very sub-forum for daily....notifications.
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I'm a federalist, mostly, as it turns out. I think one should be able to move to a different state and still have one's marriage recognized. I think if gun laws were uniform across the country we would have fewer problems with guns from a "loose" state being shipped to a "tight" state. I think voting rules should be set at the federal level because a lot of states are really doing a bad job at voting.
On the other hand, I'm cool with states being able to use the federal laws as a floor or a ceiling. So, for example - California wants tougher car emission standards than federal? cool. Ditto with gun laws.
So I'm a little hypocritical, I admit.
But there have been so many bad results from states having different laws - schools, voting, liquor - that I tend toward federal regulation.
In terms of what govt does better than public sector - many govt. agencies have to "bid" on their work, and they only get it if they do it better/cheaper. I think the outsourcing of our fighting to private contractors - at a much higher expense - is disastrous.
The USPS is actually a very good organization although it has had problems; Fed Ex won't deliver mail for just under 50 cents an item, and its CEO is paid a lot more than the postmaster general.
I think certain things - good electricity, clean water, decent internet, good phone service - should be uniform across the country, not just in urban areas. Rural areas subsidize urban highway systems; urban areas can subsidize things for the rural areas (and guess which is more expensive? not the rural stuff)
So sorry, I'm ranting here - but yes, this is one of those issues that needs to be decided, and I think it's a LOT more controversial than marriage!
(and yes, I've voted in the poll!)
No question that you are right that centralization makes many things smoother. It tends to have two problems we might want to think about.
- A center has more reach than a federal system does in that more people startdoing the same thing. That is fine, if they are doing the right thing. As centralized organization tend to have more resources and thus staying power the people continue doing the wrong things longer and the disequilibria will grow larger than in federal systems. The damage can be much larger, therefore. In federal systems on State can experimentally try something and others can watch. This contains the danger from change.
- In democratic systems we must delegate power over ourselves so that the persons we delegate it to are able to do the jobs required of governments. This has a major drawback in that the power can be used against the citizens that a have lent the power to those governing. The danger of this happening is real and always present. In this respect it makes very good sense for the citizens to install institutional control mechanisms of which federalization is one of the more effective.
It seems to me, that the constitution is, among other things, about getting the right balance in this structure and allowing enough flexibility to adapt, while limiting the flexibility so dictators are prevented.
The Founders used committees, didn't they?
Yeppers! pretty interesting reading if you search on them. I love the idea of a "leftovers" committee - except they are the ones that came up with the electoral college!
Very snide, the Committee of Unfinished Parts:
With this, the Convention has concluded its discussion of the Committee of Detail Report. To deal with those questions still outstanding, a new committee was formed will consisting of one delegate from each state. This group entitled “The Committee on Unfinished Parts,” would become known as the Brearly Committee after its New Jersey representative, and would deal with those issues that had been postponed. These would include Congress’s power to spend for the general welfare, creation of the Electoral College method of electing the President, and the President’s role in treaty-making and in appointment of officers.
It appears they had a more important role than you expressed.
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