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Comments Posted By morrna

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Presidential Primary Challenges Miss the Point

Thanks, Cher! I think following your comments on Huffington Post back when I was active there was what first introduced me to this site, so your compliments are pretty meaningful to me.

I agree wholeheartedly that progressives need to take a longer view of things, and we need not to take local politics for granted. My only concern is that we not become the same as our opponents. Conservatives have built their empire in large part by convincing people to listen to certain sources and distrust all others. If liberals respond by building our own walled garden we have denied the very meaning of “liberal”. Our movement must be about setting minds free and encouraging people to think for themselves. This is messier and riskier than the conservatives’ groupthink, but if we abandon this we abandon the very heart of what we stand for.

We must also be careful not to curry much favor with powerful and wealthy interests, lest we become beholden to them. In an age of unlimited corporate spending, it is very tempting to want to court backers with deep pockets. If we do though, we may sell the movement into slavery down the line and lose all we worked for.

In short, I like that the progressive movement is different from that of the conservatives, even if we seem to be at a disadvantage right now. As we innovate and invest in the long term we should be careful to maintain that healthy distinctiveness.

» Posted By morrna On August 11, 2011 @ 4:49 pm

Thanks, funk! I completely agree that local engagement is key to real change. So much of why conservatives support people and policies that hurt the country is that they don’t get out and see the people in their own neighborhoods and towns that their policies are affecting. If progressives can build stronger communities, we’ll be able to build a stronger national movement.

» Posted By morrna On August 11, 2011 @ 2:10 pm

I agree that Obama would go along with a more liberal agenda if he had the chance, I was mostly using the irony to make a point.

And thanks for your welcome! This site seems to have a pretty positive community.

» Posted By morrna On August 11, 2011 @ 11:03 am

I did look at AmericansElect.org briefly. I can’t comment so much on whether it’s a sincere effort or not, but I can say that their focus on the presidential race alone disconcerts me. It’s already too much the case that Americans pay too much attention to the Presidential race and too little to congressional or local politics.

I’m all for innovation in elections, but I think it would be better to try things like this out at local or state levels first. Wouldn’t it be great if someone harnessed the connectivity of the internet to get people more involved in their communities and connected with the politics of their area? Something like that could have averted the 2010 disaster of so many state governments flipping to red.

As far as what impact they will have on the race, I am skeptical that they will be able to gain much traction over the well-established and -funded party machines. Still, if there are people who through their forums and activities gain a new interest in politics, that’s definitely a positive thing.

» Posted By morrna On August 11, 2011 @ 10:59 am

You’re right, that is a cause for concern.

» Posted By morrna On August 11, 2011 @ 10:49 am

Remember that in 2009-10 the President’s agenda was held up by Senate Republicans’ unprecedented abuse of the filibuster. Could a stronger President have made better headway even against such opposition? Perhaps, but it’s important to give blame where blame is due, and in that case much of it rests with Senator McConnell and his gang.

I did not know about AmericansElect.org. I’m intrigued, and will let you know what I think when I check it out. Thanks for the reference!

» Posted By morrna On August 11, 2011 @ 10:33 am

Trimming the Legislature

I agree with some aspects of the above comments. The chief weakness of your proposal that I see is the lack of education and understanding on issues, and I don’t just mean complex ones. I guarantee the majority of people opposed to gay marriage have never had a gay friend, and that radical opponents of abortion haven’t spent much time with struggling single mothers in the inner city, for example.

Your proposal to use technology to reform our government is laudable. Why not take it a step further? We can use concepts of the so-called “web 2.0” to craft a government that is more social and contextual than a simple direct democracy. Everyone could have a say in things that affect everyone, such as taxes or the federal budget, whereas other decisions would be the purview only of the people involved. Do you really want anyone other than nuclear physicists and experienced engineers making decisions on nuclear power regulations? Why should people with no children or other connection to the school system choose who the superintendent is? Naturally there would have to be oversight and accountability between and across different groups and categories, but we have the tools to be able to accomplish all this.

» Posted By morrna On June 8, 2011 @ 10:20 pm

Gaming Democracy

I like your perspective, and it was an enjoyable read overall. One small request: for the benefit of those of us who read here only occasionally and are unfamiliar with the local jargon, could you please write out acronyms in full at their first usage? It took me a few minutes to figure out what “the MSM” stood for. (I’m pretty sure it’s “the mainstream media”.)

» Posted By morrna On May 26, 2011 @ 7:03 pm

Time Travel

I myself believe that there will one day be time travel because when we find that something isn’t forbidden by the over-arching laws of physics we usually eventually find a technological way of doing it.
~David Deutsch

As a physicist I feel obligated to point out that many in my profession do view causality as one of the “over-arching laws of physics”. That means traveling back in time is out of the question.

As for relativistically travelling to the future, that’s possible, but it takes a ridiculous amount of energy. Just accelerating a spaceship near to light speed would require using up an amount of energy equivalent to the mass of the moon. That’s more energy than is imaginable for us to access, even given all the resources of the solar system.

I’m not going to dive into the multiverse ideas. There could be something to them but actually accessing them is a long long ways off. Still you never know, so if you want to dream, dream away!

» Posted By morrna On August 11, 2011 @ 2:43 pm

The Deficit of Truth About Obama’s Budget

Exactly why I stopped using Huffington Post. Stay away from their website, they’ll register less clicks, their ad revenue will go down . . . it’s really the best way to protest them.

» Posted By morrna On February 14, 2011 @ 5:52 pm

No Matter What Happens November 2nd

Sounds like a good idea to me. Hopefully the Dems don’t decide to punt these issues.

» Posted By morrna On November 4, 2010 @ 4:00 pm

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