This cartoon is from the New Yorker magazine. I think it perfectly reflects the sad state of affairs of representative democracy. You often hear the advice, "write your Congressman". If you've ever done it, the result is very much like this cartoon: you get a reply in the form of a hodgepodge of boilerplate text, thanking you for your "advice", and generally telling you why your Congressman (ever so respectfully) disagrees with you. And why you should support his reelection. Transaction done. Is this what representation should look like? Absolutely not! And it only looks like this because the Congressman really represents special interests far more than any citizen voter in his district could ever hope to be.
The purpose of government is to allow people to cooperate in accomplishing deeds that the majority find necessary.
Federations are a manifestation of the natural law principle of subsidiarity. The Dolphin canton takes this principle very seriously. What that means practically is that, whenever any national government program is being reviewed, the first question asked will be: can this be better handled at a lower level of government (such as the state, county, municipality, or perhaps outside of government altogether)? If the question is answered in the affirmative, the canton will not be supporting the program at the national level, though it may support whatever assistance may be needed to transfer the program to whatever level may be judged more appropriate. Isn't this making things worse for the taxpayer? Probably not. National programs such as Medicare are so rife with corruption that pushing the program down to a lower level will probably result in better oversight. In addition, this provides the possibility of innovation, which a single top-heavy national program will squelch. Economies of ...
One of the top stories in the news today is about the US Supreme Court hearing arguments of an abortion case that may result in a reversal of Roe v Wade. As the interim champion of the Dolphin canton [1], I would not support government giving money to Planned Parenthood. It should be clear that opposition to abortion will never go away, which means that Roe v Wade, like Plessy v Ferguson (1886), went beyond where the people really stand on the issues. Plessy v Ferguson allowed segregated schools in some instances. This was reversed by Brown v Board of Education (1954).
There are two things in my mind that make it impossible to accept the right of abortion. First, it is clear from biology that the very first cell produced by the joining of the sperm and egg cells (the zygote) has a genetic signature different from both parents. This continues to be true throughout the period where it is called an embryo until the birth of a new human being. Therefore, the fetus is not part of the woman, but ...
