From: gary@isis.cgd.ucar.edu (Gary Strand)
Subject: Re: Perot and "electronic democracy" (was Re: Can we contact...)
Reply-To: strandwg@ncar.ucar.edu (Gary Strand)
Organization: Rarely 
Distribution: co
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 21:25:49 GMT

so> Sonja Orlavski
gs> Gary Strand
bd> Barbara Dyker

gs> I take a deeply cynical view towards very rich people who want to be 
gs> politicians. They have something up their sleeve far too many times to be 
gs> trustworthy.

so> At least you're not going to find anyone who's going to influence him with
so> money.  I like that prospect, a president who has the freedom to think for
so> himself (even if I don't agree with everything he says, at least he'd have
so> the freedom from puppet strings).

  ...as if money were the only way to influence politicians. Did vast family
  wealth keep the Kennedys to the straight-and-narrow? Not by a long shot. I
  don't see Perot as being any less corruptible than any other (potential)
  politician. 

gs> Given Perot's record as head of EDS, he's a person who likes to control
gs> the lives of others, and the pinnacle of that is the US Presidency.

so> Oh, come on.  "The pinnacle of controlling the lives of others is the US
so> Presidency."  Obviously you know very little about our government, or you
so> have some idealistic view of it. Only an idiot would take the Presidency
so> because they wanted to control people.  Corporate power (which Perot has)
so> is much more powerful.

  I wasn't aware that Perot could launch nuclear weapons, send troops to war,
  negotiate treaties with other heads of state, or order citizens to be in-
  terred in "relocation camps." All of these actions are given to the Presi-
  dent, and no corporate CEO has powers that even come close. Remember from
  civics class? The President is the head of the government, and, the govern-
  ment, by definition, has to have a monopoly on coercion?

  No other person in the world has the potential to affect more lives in more
  bad (and good) ways than the US President, especially now, considering that
  the US is the sole superpower.

gs> I'm sorry, but even if 10 million people want him to be Prez, that leaves
gs> more than 200 million others who disagree.

so> If there's enough voters to get him elected, then the majority of the
so> people who bother to vote must want him more than any of the other (sad,
so> IMNSHO) candidates, no?  (And again IMNSHO people who don't bother to vote
so> don't deserve to have their opinions heard.)

  Only one presidential candidate doesn't make me spew bile, and that's Andre
  Marrou. If he wasn't going to be on the Colorado ballot, I could not (with
  anything resembling a clear conscience) vote for any other candidate. But,
  in your view, if I don't vote, my opinion doesn't count. Could you have 
  voted for Edwin Edwards or David Duke? I couldn't have, as neither man even
  came close to getting my respect. I'm sorry, but "The lesser of two evils"
  still leaves one with an evil.

gs> Unfortunately, short of leaving the US (and to where?) one can't "quit" 
gs> a President Perot.

so> President and Employer have two extremely different connotations, and are
so> two completely different situations.  The President-Citizen relationship is
so> very little like the Employer-Employee relationship.

  Exactly. One doesn't have the option of "quitting" a country like one has
  the option of quitting a company. The government holds all the cards.

bd> I too would be interested in hearing less biased views on this campaign
bd> year than those of Gary NRA Strand.  

gs> A bit Bushian here, aren't we? "Card carrying member of the ACLU" and all
gs> that horsepuckey? Sorry for using my freedom of association with people
gs> you Don't Like.

so> Um, Gary, your views are extremely biased, whether you like it or not.  

  I know they're extremely biased. Anyone who claims that their own personal
  views *aren't* is a hypocrite.

so> And that has nothing to do with who you associate with.  I have an NRA
so> rating, and I have friends with guns, and I still think you're biased.

  Bush is an NRA member too, so does that mean that his opinions necessarily
  carry more weight with fellow NRA members? Put simply, so what?

gs> Lastly, is this country in such lousy shape that we have to go with some-
gs> one like Perot? Are we really that desperate?

so> Look at the other candidates.  I think so.

  Have you looked at Marrou?

--
Gary Strand                      Opinions stated herein are mine alone and are
strandwg@ncar.ucar.edu            not representative of NCAR, UCAR, or the NSF
Newsgroups: co.general