The Strangeness of Libraries
July 17, 2010 1:07 pmMood: Thinking
Tagged with: human behavior, library, respect
Have you ever noticed the untouchable silence of a library? I get the feeling that a disaster could happen inside one and people would tip toe their way out in order to maintain the expected level of quiet. Few places on earth can boast treatment like that. So why can't we treat other people and objects with the same care? Have they not important information, recorded experiences and cards upon their person, same as a library?
Respect (noun) - The condition of being esteemed or honored. Treating people as if they were a library.
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Fixing Politics pt. 6 - Conclusion
July 16, 2010 7:44 pmMood: Annoyed
Tagged with: politics, government, democracy, change
Part 1 - Case for Change
Part 2 - C.R.E.A.M. Concept
Part 3 - American Elections meets American Idol
Part 4 - Politicians Party of 1
Part 5 - Interactive Cable Saves the World
Thomas Jefferson had said, and I paraphrase, "All tyranny needs to gain a foot hold is for good people to do nothing." It is by design that, in theory, the constitution grants the most power to the people. We need but exercise it. It was my intent in writing this series of blogs to spark conversation, debate, discord and disagreement. Propose your own ideas, or, (and probably most likely) say I'm stone cold f*%# nuts. In either case making a decision is the first step.
When I first started thinking about ways to reform how we govern ourselves, and I do mean ourselves, remember it's a republic where the people really do have the most power, I had many ridiculous notions to the likes of which would make a conspiracy theorist appear tame by comparison. I had forgotten that, technically, we as voters claim responsibility for everything that happens on capitol hill. It was daunting to think of how to change a system as infinitely complex as the people and personalities in charge of its keeping. But does the system itself really need change? In searching for an answer I realized that we don't need a complete reworking of our system, the idea itself is still very good, we just need to manage the practice behind the theory better. The few ideas proposed in this series may be perceived as a stretch but while these notions are a little radical they do not change the original purpose behind having political representatives. Take a look at your computer, do you have a floppy disk drive? If you do then you are in the minority. It wasn't longer than 10 years ago that people would think you mad for saying floppy drives won't exist in the near future. Yet here we are years later, no floppy drives, and the purpose of having and using a computer remains relatively the same.
Changing one small part of a large complicated system yields little result to system as a whole. Some times changing a couple of small things can make it worse. Those of you geeks out there still remember Windows ME don't you? This is why if political reform were to happen the change concepts would have to be radically different and invasive to several key areas of the system while retaining the original purpose. Some people say term limits are a good start and up until recently I thought this was the solution but while it is a decent idea, it is however, not a viable solution simply because it isn't enough.
Limit the money (or wellness benefits), dissolve the parties, equalize elections and promote involvement. Change is neither good nor is it bad, only how we perception it. Some people like the ebb and flow of a shifting environment while others prefer the peace of mind they receive from maintaining the status quo. Sufficing to say when we fear change we are fearing little more than our own perceptions. More importantly if you don't like what is happening remember that we have the power to change it. Never has a person or group of people changed the world simply by wanting change. Strength of conviction in an ideal, a method, or an idea, that's a different scenario entirely. Can we do better? You know my answer, what's yours?
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