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It isn't reasonable to think that an online petition site created by a presidential administration will directly result in passed legislation without the involv
by pekk 14y ago
It isn't reasonable to think that an online petition site created by a presidential administration will directly result in passed legislation without the involvement of Congress.
Publicizing the issue and getting an official favorable response from the President is not actually nothing.
I'm curious what you propose as an alternative, which will allow one individual among several hundred million to feel as if they are politically empowered even when the majority of the country completely disagrees with them, meaning that in reality they have no influence.
Or is the point that special people (you?) should be empowered more than others?
- moxie 14y agoJust the opposite. What I'm suggesting is that it's better to recognize the lack of agency we have than to reproduce processes which give us a false sense of agency.
- mc32 14y agoI think for a given case that may be true. That is, for case 'A' where the WH agrees but the other branches disagree, then it will seem as if it's a false sense of power (a placebo mechanism). However, just because this is true in some cases does not preclude there being case 'B' where the WH agrees and the other branches agree, in which case one would have exerted influence. I think people do understand that not all their wishes can come true and that there are others whose wishes are the exact opposite (with respect to rules and. So long as the process is predictable and somewhat transparent, then I think people's expectations will be reasonable.