Among the issues most commonly discussed are individuality, the rights of the individual, the limits of legitimate government, morality, history, economics, government policy, science, business, education, health care, energy, and man-made global warming evaluations. My posts are aimed at intelligent and rational individuals, whose comments are very welcome.

"No matter how vast your knowledge or how modest, it is your own mind that has to acquire it." Ayn Rand

"Observe that the 'haves' are those who have freedom, and that it is freedom that the 'have-nots' have not." Ayn Rand

"The virtue involved in helping those one loves is not 'selflessness' or 'sacrifice', but integrity." Ayn Rand

For "a human being, the question 'to be or not to be,' is the question 'to think or not to think.'" Ayn Rand
Showing posts with label representative government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label representative government. Show all posts

11 February 2016

Unconstitutional Rule by Bureaucracy

There is an excellent article by John Yoo and Dean Reuter at AEI on this subject.  I think it is instructive, but not surprising given the general incompetence of our federal government, that there is no authoritative list of all the rule-producing government agencies.  This fits in very well with the fact that the federal government has no authoritative accounting of its assets.  It is not even clear that it knows who it employs.  Yet this unaccountable government expects individuals and companies to be much more accountable than it is.  It is the old "Do as I say, not as I do." rule.  This is the unaccountable, unconstitutional power that adds 80,000 pages of rules and regulations a year that everyone of us is expected to read, study, interpret, check on court interpretations, and find ways to obey in our lives.

Did you do your duty as a peon under this system of governance?  If not, wouldn't you be better off if you required the legislative body, our Congress, to be the sole source of binding rules which we must obey.  Of course, that would not be sufficient either given that our elected representatives cannot be bothered to read the laws they vote for.  We must make them pass a law that no legislative representative may vote for a law they have not read.

06 November 2012

Vote No on Maryland Question 5 to Oppose Super Gerrymandering

Question 5
Referendum Petition
Congressional Districting Plan (Ch. 1 of the 2011 Special Session)


Establishes the boundaries for the State’s eight United States Congressional Districts based on recent census figures, as required by the United States Constitution.

For the Referred Law
Against the Referred Law
Phrased this way, this seems like a reasonable Question to approve, but it is actually the approval of a Congressional districting plan which is so insanely incompatible with representative government that it is an embarrassment to the state once known as the Free State and also known as the Old Line State due to fielding the best unit of the Continental Army in the American Revolution.  Even the Washington Post recommends voting against this extreme instance of Democrat Party redistricting.  Here is the unbelievable gerrymandered map of districts set by the Democrats for Maryland:


I have the displeasure of being in Congressional District 3, which is shown in brown in this map.  Democrat John Sarbanes of the infamous Sarbanes-Oxley Act is to be the Representative elected by Democrat design in this district weaving its flimsy tendrils through Montgomery, Howard, Anne Arundel, and Baltimore Counties, as well as Baltimore City.  My long-time socialist Representative, Donna Edwards, is in the new District 4 in violet in Prince Georges and Anne Arundel Counties.

Any serious concern for good representative government would understand that such districts should be kept in a minimum number of counties and should have relatively small circumferences relative to the area to make as compact a region as is reasonable.  This means the people in the district will have more in common and that they can get to a relatively central townhall meeting with their Congressman as easily as possible.