What's on my mind...

Csteeves — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:27:14 +0000

After two years of freelancing and underemployment, I finally got a job. I write for a daily newspaper in the Charlotte-Metro area now. It’s pretty awesome. I’ve been neglecting this blog because I’ve been writing 10+ stories a week plus my positive things blog. It’s just exhausting : ).

Today is the superbowl, so GO PATRIOTS!

I don’t really have a topic. Just dropping in.

My Veterans Day post from four years ago…

Csteeves — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:09:02 +0000

“It’s Armistice Day, Veterans Day, on Sunday the 11th of November, honoring our veterans going back over history, and when the fifth graders memorize the poem, ‘In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row, that mark our place; and in the sky, the larks, still bravely singing, fly scarce heard amid the guns below.’ A poem that has that terrible idea in it that the living are obliged to carry on the wars of the dead. Which simply is not true. Robert E. Lee, when he decided that enough people had died for his cause and he rode off to Appomattox Courthouse to meet General Grant, that was a noble moment, when he decided to spare the lives of the rest of his men. World War One, of which they’ve only got four veterans remaining in this country, one of the worst wars ever fought in the history of man’s cruelty to other men. Millions died in that war, commanded by generals who were far to the rear who were looking at maps without any idea of the terrain that men were attacking across, men rose up out of trenches and charged machine guns, they were fighting using 19th century tactics against 20th century weaponry. It was a war that nobody should have died in and it never did end. It then led to World War 2, they were continuing the war they had fought before, they were picking up the torch from those who had fallen. And perhaps World War Two continues on today in these countries that were created by World War 2. One could on Veterans Day, I think, wish for peace and pray for peace and hope that this all soon comes to an end.”

–Garrison Keillor, The News from Lake Wobegon, 11/11/07

——————–

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

Wiki the vote?

Csteeves — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 16:43:28 +0000

I was reading an interesting article in The Economist yesterday about a site called Wikivote. Wikivote is an online forum where citizens can debate referenda, rewrite bills and perhaps even vote. It’s very much in its infancy, but according to the article it has found some early success in Russia. It was used in Russia to re-write a fisheries bill. It is currently being used for an education bill.

There have been other attempts at communal law-making. They have either been ignored by law makers or have run into other issues (lack of interest, lack of transparency, etc).

Could something like this work in America? Citizens can read bills online and you could, theoretically, contact your Congressmember and tell them if you have an issue. Have you ever read a bill? My goodness they are tedious to get through. Would an online forum work in Congress? Or do you think Congress would just ignore it? Could they claim to represent the people if this were the case?

People who take to the internet for social change tend to be on the fringe of whatever society they inhabit. Either hyper-right or hyper-left. If you doubt me, look at the comments section of any article online. Or even something like Digg. You’ll get someone calling for the end of the tax code and someone calling for some form of communism. You know it’s true.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Wikivote is something brought up in the article: an end to government stupidity. Vasiliy Burov, one of the project’s creators is quoted saying:

“The goal of the state is to get higher-quality laws,” Mr Burov says. “It’s not about being more democratic. So much of what’s idiotic in Russia happens not because somebody wants it that way, but because there’s nobody to prevent idiocy from happening.”

So perhaps it’s not really a way to enact change, more just a way to keep an eye on the people we elect and make sure they aren’t using our money on silly things. Like the vote to re-affirm that our motto is “In God we trust.” A vote they said existed because the president said the motto is “E. pluribus unum” and they wanted to remind him that it isn’t. Oy. It’s clear that we should be keeping a closer eye on these people. Is this how?