Penn Jillette: I don’t know, so I’m an atheist libertarian
Democracy without respect for individual rights sucks. It’s just ganging up against the weird kid, and I’m always the weird kid.
Penn Jillette: I don’t know, so I’m an atheist libertarian
Democracy without respect for individual rights sucks. It’s just ganging up against the weird kid, and I’m always the weird kid.
but of course you all thought of that immediately
Reading some neglected mail from 2007, I happen to see a quotation from Prof Paz’s speech in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress:
“You might even consider installing the candidates who receive the least number of votes; unpopular men may be just the sort to save you from a new tyranny. Don’t reject the idea merely because it seems preposterous–think about it! In past history popularly elected governments have been no better and sometimes far worse than overt tyrannies.”
Of course, if everyone knows this is the rule, the candidate elected will not be the least popular but the least unpopular, the one who inspires the fewest voters to say “anyone else!”.
But this gives an inappropriate advantage to unknowns. There ought to be a qualifying round of positive voting before the negative vote.
Approval voting takes care of both phases at once, meseems.
I have a recurring daydream that a cop asks permission to search my car and I say: “Fine, if I get to search yours.”
Or: “Okay, provided that you do so in the nude. Nothing to hide, right?”
Or: “If you’ll sign this contract accepting personal liability for any damage to my property, and agreeing to pay me $120/hour for my inconvenience. Oh, and I’ll just check your pockets for contraband first.”
Gotta wonder what would happen.
An anarchist who uses the Internet is as hypocritical as a Protestant who uses the Latin alphabet. ( . . more . . )
one difference between a loony loner and a policeman
When some solitary nut shoots a little girl by mistake, he doesn’t have an Internal Affairs Department to certify that he followed all procedures correctly.
I designed a bumper sticker, which is not acutely relevant just now — but I wanted to get it done ahead of the rush.
It’s tempting to say that the jail sentence of Alan Shadrake confirms his allegation, but no; it doesn’t show that Singapore’s judiciary is corrupt, merely that the Republic of Singapore is a coward.