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Oh, do you think our government is truly accountable to everyone? I think just the opposite. The control we have over what happens at all levels of government (

by cpr 15y ago

Oh, do you think our government is truly accountable to everyone? I think just the opposite. The control we have over what happens at all levels of government (most specially federal and state) is so tenuous as to be essentially nil.

jacobolus 15y ago
My local, state, and federal governments (e.g. my local school board, my state senator, the federal appeals court) are dramatically more accessible and accountable to me than, say, Google, the Saudi royal family, or Bill Gates. I have the right to petition when I have grievances, I can organize voters to apply pressure, I can sue in courts when government policies don’t live up to the constitution or higher-level laws, I can run for office. When politicians are corrupt, it is (at least sometimes) a scandal. When corporate actors are corrupt, there’s only a problem if the shareholders are negatively impacted or when the bad outcomes are so overwhelming that government takes action. I agree with you that our current politics has many problems, perhaps chief among them the incredible influence of political donations, revolving corporate doors, and so on.
- cpr 15y ago
  And you think you can personally make a serious difference with one vote and some organizing? Whew. I agree that Google, Gates and Saudis are completely out of reach.
  - jacobolus 15y ago
    I think smart and dedicated activists can make an enormous difference, yes. There’s no “some” about the organizing part though. Effecting political change takes huge amounts of (smart, carefully focused) effort, because we live in a complex society where lots of different people have different ideas about how things should work, and persuasion on such a scale is damn hard.
- philwelch 15y ago
  Your local school board, for instance, is also more accessible and accountable to jingoes, creationists, abstinence activists, and teachers' unions.

by cpr 15y ago

jacobolus 15y ago

My local, state, and federal governments (e.g. my local school board, my state senator, the federal appeals court) are dramatically more accessible and accountable to me than, say, Google, the Saudi royal family, or Bill Gates. I have the right to petition when I have grievances, I can organize voters to apply pressure, I can sue in courts when government policies don’t live up to the constitution or higher-level laws, I can run for office. When politicians are corrupt, it is (at least sometimes) a scandal. When corporate actors are corrupt, there’s only a problem if the shareholders are negatively impacted or when the bad outcomes are so overwhelming that government takes action. I agree with you that our current politics has many problems, perhaps chief among them the incredible influence of political donations, revolving corporate doors, and so on.

cpr 15y ago
And you think you can personally make a serious difference with one vote and some organizing? Whew. I agree that Google, Gates and Saudis are completely out of reach.
- jacobolus 15y ago
  I think smart and dedicated activists can make an enormous difference, yes. There’s no “some” about the organizing part though. Effecting political change takes huge amounts of (smart, carefully focused) effort, because we live in a complex society where lots of different people have different ideas about how things should work, and persuasion on such a scale is damn hard.
philwelch 15y ago
Your local school board, for instance, is also more accessible and accountable to jingoes, creationists, abstinence activists, and teachers' unions.