5 ms·

And we can't vote these regulators out nor boycott them. Stories like this erode my faith in...everything.

cde-v 7y ago
Don't despair citizen, our corporate benefactors still allow us to Peacefully Protest™. Peaceful Protest™ solves everything!
- selimthegrim 7y ago
  I would link to that Safely Endangered Pooh meme where fighting fascism with violent means makes you a fascist but the difference between HN and reddit is Google and a brain.
- caconym_ 7y ago
  You can peacefully protest all you like, in the designated chain-link cage set aside for you 5 blocks away from the thing you're protesting. Oh, and you do have a permit, right?
ceejayoz 7y ago
We vote for the people who appoint the regulators, and we can boycott the industry responsible for the regulatory capture.
loudmax 7y ago
You can absolutely vote out the politicians responsible for for giving authority to these regulators. In fact, it's your duty to vote out crooked politicians. Even when both candidates for an office are crooked, they won't be equally crooked. Figure out which will do the least damage and support that candidate despite their flaws. And don't give up hope. Crooked interests are absolutely counting on voters' cynicism to allow them to operate.
- Invictus0 7y ago
  It's not so simple as good and crooked. How can you even traceback which politician gave which authority to what regulator, and how can you possibly know that the opposing candidate would do a better job? Fringe issues like this are completely out of scope for voters and will not even show up on the politician's platform. If you care deeply about a fringe issue, you need to either hire a lobbyist or become a politician.
  - vkou 7y ago
    > It's not so simple as good and crooked. How can you even traceback which politician gave which authority to what regulator, It doesn't matter who gave authority to the regulator, what matters is whether or not they are currently responsible for that regulator, and are doing a good job of it. There's a congressional committee on pretty much every department under the sun. Follow the chain of command. > and how can you possibly know that the opposing candidate would do a better job? "Billy really sucks at doing his job, but we can't fire him because we don't know if we hire someone worse" isn't a good reason to keep Billy employed. Keep sacking the ones that are doing a terrible job, until you find one that does a good one.
    - Invictus0 7y ago
      "Steve is our best salesman but he keeps burning popcorn in the microwave. Joe Janitor just put in his resume: I don't know if he's better with the popcorn but let's fire Steve anyway."
      - AchieveLife 7y ago
        that's a straw man argument.
      - ctrl-j 7y ago
        "Steve is our best salesman, but he keeps sexually harassing the interns and crashing the company car. Joe janitor just put in his resume..."
  - JamisonM 7y ago
vkou 7y ago
You can vote them out, by voting in politicians that care about good governance, as opposed to politicians that actively campaign for no governance (At this point, pretty much the entire Republican party), or politicians that do not actually perform good governance (At this point, this is much, but not all of the Democratic party). Hint: One of those two parties is fixable, and it can be done through their primaries.
loceng 7y ago
It seems there will be constant battles until enough of society is educated enough where they know what they will take a stand for, accept, and what they won't - in part so they are able to elect politicians who are the gatekeepers, on "both sides" - who will eliminate and watch, protect against these efforts or mechanisms of bad actors. The first step is "getting money out of politics" - which is likely an impossible task, why I like Presidential candidate Andrew Yang's Democracy Dollars proposal, giving $100/year for eligible voters to contribute to political candidate of their choice - which will wash out lobbyist money 8:1 - meaning $5 billion from lobbyists will be countered by $30 billion of resources from voters; at minimum it will facilitate not just the narrative that mainstream media and the two-party system has been able to control with establishment politicians.
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  Won't the lobbyists just spend their $5B on ads encouraging people to spend their $30B on their chosen candidates? Sounds like a lobbying force-multiplier.
  - loceng 7y ago
    There certainly could be some of that - however I imagine that behaviour will still be washed out with the overall quantity. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds.

Don't despair citizen, our corporate benefactors still allow us to Peacefully Protest™. Peaceful Protest™ solves everything!

selimthegrim 7y ago
I would link to that Safely Endangered Pooh meme where fighting fascism with violent means makes you a fascist but the difference between HN and reddit is Google and a brain.
caconym_ 7y ago
You can peacefully protest all you like, in the designated chain-link cage set aside for you 5 blocks away from the thing you're protesting. Oh, and you do have a permit, right?

ceejayoz 7y ago

We vote for the people who appoint the regulators, and we can boycott the industry responsible for the regulatory capture.

loudmax 7y ago

You can absolutely vote out the politicians responsible for for giving authority to these regulators. In fact, it's your duty to vote out crooked politicians. Even when both candidates for an office are crooked, they won't be equally crooked. Figure out which will do the least damage and support that candidate despite their flaws. And don't give up hope. Crooked interests are absolutely counting on voters' cynicism to allow them to operate.

Invictus0 7y ago
It's not so simple as good and crooked. How can you even traceback which politician gave which authority to what regulator, and how can you possibly know that the opposing candidate would do a better job? Fringe issues like this are completely out of scope for voters and will not even show up on the politician's platform. If you care deeply about a fringe issue, you need to either hire a lobbyist or become a politician.
- vkou 7y ago
  > It's not so simple as good and crooked. How can you even traceback which politician gave which authority to what regulator, It doesn't matter who gave authority to the regulator, what matters is whether or not they are currently responsible for that regulator, and are doing a good job of it. There's a congressional committee on pretty much every department under the sun. Follow the chain of command. > and how can you possibly know that the opposing candidate would do a better job? "Billy really sucks at doing his job, but we can't fire him because we don't know if we hire someone worse" isn't a good reason to keep Billy employed. Keep sacking the ones that are doing a terrible job, until you find one that does a good one.
  - Invictus0 7y ago
    "Steve is our best salesman but he keeps burning popcorn in the microwave. Joe Janitor just put in his resume: I don't know if he's better with the popcorn but let's fire Steve anyway."
    - AchieveLife 7y ago
      that's a straw man argument.
    - ctrl-j 7y ago
      "Steve is our best salesman, but he keeps sexually harassing the interns and crashing the company car. Joe janitor just put in his resume..."
- JamisonM 7y ago

vkou 7y ago

You can vote them out, by voting in politicians that care about good governance, as opposed to politicians that actively campaign for no governance (At this point, pretty much the entire Republican party), or politicians that do not actually perform good governance (At this point, this is much, but not all of the Democratic party). Hint: One of those two parties is fixable, and it can be done through their primaries.

loceng 7y ago

It seems there will be constant battles until enough of society is educated enough where they know what they will take a stand for, accept, and what they won't - in part so they are able to elect politicians who are the gatekeepers, on "both sides" - who will eliminate and watch, protect against these efforts or mechanisms of bad actors. The first step is "getting money out of politics" - which is likely an impossible task, why I like Presidential candidate Andrew Yang's Democracy Dollars proposal, giving $100/year for eligible voters to contribute to political candidate of their choice - which will wash out lobbyist money 8:1 - meaning $5 billion from lobbyists will be countered by $30 billion of resources from voters; at minimum it will facilitate not just the narrative that mainstream media and the two-party system has been able to control with establishment politicians.

ceejayoz 7y ago
Won't the lobbyists just spend their $5B on ads encouraging people to spend their $30B on their chosen candidates? Sounds like a lobbying force-multiplier.
- loceng 7y ago
  There certainly could be some of that - however I imagine that behaviour will still be washed out with the overall quantity. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds.