4 ms·

When numerous examples can be found of abuse by government at the township, county, state, and federal levels what else can you say besides the parent comment?

When numerous examples can be found of abuse by government at the township, county, state, and federal levels what else can you say besides the parent comment? Is your defense the usual 'few bad apples' argument because at this point the orchard is rotten and crawling with worms. It would be humorous except non-government, non-corporate individuals have no way to redress grievances.

Loughla 12y ago
You have several ways to address grievances. You can speak to your local representatives. Write to the local press. Contact your State and National Representatives, and then contact them again when a staffer takes your call the first time. Write letters, e-mails, radio ads, television interviews, poems, songs, plant trees in the shape of your own face, you can use the power of hate on 4chan or the hug of death from Reddit. You can protest, is what I'm saying. I'm not saying that a few bad apples spoil the bunch. What I said was that it isn't true that all parts of every government office are abusive. I implied that issues in Idaho's state government aren't the same as those in Miami's Precinct Alderman's offices, and those are different than those in Washington, D.C.
- shit_parade 12y ago
  Do you have a designated freespeech zone for me to use? Where shall I gather the money to run radio ads? You actually believe planting trees is a way to address grievances? My state and national representative will not care one iota for my opinion if it isn't attached to either A: a large check or B: a large constituency. I wrote there are numerous examples of government abuse on all levels, how is it then not true that every government office is abusive? Yes, perhaps this particular ranger in this particular state park is clean as a whistle -- in our orchard of rotten apples there are still a few good ones if you pick through the garbage.
  - Loughla 12y ago
    Freespeech zone: nope, not sure how that's relevant. Radio: any type of fundraising that you believe would work, or try to get free air time on local broadcasts or regional programs. It helps if you have an interesting topic to talk about. Trees: If it gets your message across, yes. It would be a good news story. "My state and national representative will not care one iota for my opinion if it isn't attached to either A: a large check or B: a large constituency." Have you ever tried? This is the kind of statement made by someone who has nothing but second- and third-hand knowledge of the process, usually garnered through biased news organizations (they all are). My experience has been that very few citizens are involved in politics as lobbying goes. I'm convinced that if every private citizen got as involved in the actual process as they are in complaining, actual, paid lobbyists would be driven out of business. They only speak for us because we do not speak for ourselves. I have successfully lobbied my state representative. I wrote to the local paper, I arranged an interview with compelling stories for local television. I made a nuisance out of myself until I got airtime on local radio stations. I made such a stink that my federal representatives even called me to discuss the issue and ask for my thoughts (albeit not too much in depth). I spoke for myself, because the people who were doing it full time didn't have my best interests at heart. But, I felt passionately about the topic. You're right, it's easier with money, but you can also spend time and energy for nearly as good of a return. Not everyone has these things to spare, and I appreciate that (I was lobbying against cuts to low-income early childhood in my area; the exact kind of people who have neither time, money, nor energy to fight the fight). But, if it's something you truly feel is right, just, and good, you'll figure out how to make it happen. Finally, to bring it back around to the original argument; it may be that several government entities are abusive. It is probably true that a majority are corrupt. But to say that ---all-- government is abusive or corrupt is just ridiculous. Those type of arguments add nothing to the conversation other than noise.

Loughla 12y ago

You have several ways to address grievances. You can speak to your local representatives. Write to the local press. Contact your State and National Representatives, and then contact them again when a staffer takes your call the first time. Write letters, e-mails, radio ads, television interviews, poems, songs, plant trees in the shape of your own face, you can use the power of hate on 4chan or the hug of death from Reddit. You can protest, is what I'm saying. I'm not saying that a few bad apples spoil the bunch. What I said was that it isn't true that all parts of every government office are abusive. I implied that issues in Idaho's state government aren't the same as those in Miami's Precinct Alderman's offices, and those are different than those in Washington, D.C.

shit_parade 12y ago
Do you have a designated freespeech zone for me to use? Where shall I gather the money to run radio ads? You actually believe planting trees is a way to address grievances? My state and national representative will not care one iota for my opinion if it isn't attached to either A: a large check or B: a large constituency. I wrote there are numerous examples of government abuse on all levels, how is it then not true that every government office is abusive? Yes, perhaps this particular ranger in this particular state park is clean as a whistle -- in our orchard of rotten apples there are still a few good ones if you pick through the garbage.
- Loughla 12y ago
  Freespeech zone: nope, not sure how that's relevant. Radio: any type of fundraising that you believe would work, or try to get free air time on local broadcasts or regional programs. It helps if you have an interesting topic to talk about. Trees: If it gets your message across, yes. It would be a good news story. "My state and national representative will not care one iota for my opinion if it isn't attached to either A: a large check or B: a large constituency." Have you ever tried? This is the kind of statement made by someone who has nothing but second- and third-hand knowledge of the process, usually garnered through biased news organizations (they all are). My experience has been that very few citizens are involved in politics as lobbying goes. I'm convinced that if every private citizen got as involved in the actual process as they are in complaining, actual, paid lobbyists would be driven out of business. They only speak for us because we do not speak for ourselves. I have successfully lobbied my state representative. I wrote to the local paper, I arranged an interview with compelling stories for local television. I made a nuisance out of myself until I got airtime on local radio stations. I made such a stink that my federal representatives even called me to discuss the issue and ask for my thoughts (albeit not too much in depth). I spoke for myself, because the people who were doing it full time didn't have my best interests at heart. But, I felt passionately about the topic. You're right, it's easier with money, but you can also spend time and energy for nearly as good of a return. Not everyone has these things to spare, and I appreciate that (I was lobbying against cuts to low-income early childhood in my area; the exact kind of people who have neither time, money, nor energy to fight the fight). But, if it's something you truly feel is right, just, and good, you'll figure out how to make it happen. Finally, to bring it back around to the original argument; it may be that several government entities are abusive. It is probably true that a majority are corrupt. But to say that ---all-- government is abusive or corrupt is just ridiculous. Those type of arguments add nothing to the conversation other than noise.