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A numbers proof for an argument I have observed repeatedly: The American Congress, on the balance, seems to be more about staying in Congress (or affiliates i.e

A numbers proof for an argument I have observed repeatedly: The American Congress, on the balance, seems to be more about staying in Congress (or affiliates i.e. Lobbying) than about jobs for Americans. When will we develop a digital representation system that allows us to dismantle the American Congress? We have the tools... Edit: Another HN post that could be part of the solution: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3495623 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3495623

saryant 15y ago
There's an excellent interview with John Perry Barlow on This Week in Tech from a few years ago where he discusses this: > They're working in this way that just vastly consumes resources but doesn't actually get much done. I guess I could've seen that coming, if you say the existing institutions of the industrial period are going to collapse, well it's not like they collapse one afternoon and the next day you've got the new Jerusalem in place. It takes a while for them to collapse. Right now you've got this ugly situation in which they're all still occupying the receptor sites of power but not in a position to exercise it in any useful or judicious fashion. And we on the other hand, who saw this coming, have not been able to take the self-organizing systems that we can probably start developing and turn it in to much of anything. http://twit.tv/specials43 http://twit.tv/specials43 Start at around 17:00. For those who don't know, John Perry Barlow is one of the founders of the EFF. The interview is a few years old but still incredibly relevant and worth watching.
anamax 15y ago
> The American Congress, on the balance, seems to be more about staying in Congress (or affiliates i.e. Lobbying) than about jobs for Americans. Of course it is. A congress critter who isn't in office is no longer (or never was) a congress critter. And no, different voting schemes won't change that.

saryant 15y ago

There's an excellent interview with John Perry Barlow on This Week in Tech from a few years ago where he discusses this: > They're working in this way that just vastly consumes resources but doesn't actually get much done. I guess I could've seen that coming, if you say the existing institutions of the industrial period are going to collapse, well it's not like they collapse one afternoon and the next day you've got the new Jerusalem in place. It takes a while for them to collapse. Right now you've got this ugly situation in which they're all still occupying the receptor sites of power but not in a position to exercise it in any useful or judicious fashion. And we on the other hand, who saw this coming, have not been able to take the self-organizing systems that we can probably start developing and turn it in to much of anything. http://twit.tv/specials43 http://twit.tv/specials43 Start at around 17:00. For those who don't know, John Perry Barlow is one of the founders of the EFF. The interview is a few years old but still incredibly relevant and worth watching.

anamax 15y ago

> The American Congress, on the balance, seems to be more about staying in Congress (or affiliates i.e. Lobbying) than about jobs for Americans. Of course it is. A congress critter who isn't in office is no longer (or never was) a congress critter. And no, different voting schemes won't change that.