Economics and similar, for the sleep-deprived
A subtle change has been made to the comments links, so they no longer pop up. Does this in any way help with the problem about comments not appearing on permalinked posts, readers?
Update: seemingly not
Update: Oh yeah!
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Once there was a man, and he did things
Here is an example of a point I was trying to make in the "not obliged to vote Democrat" series, which is that the unimportance of voting in midterm elections isn't just a matter of the Paradox of Voting theorem. Plenty of liberal Democrats in America are distraught at the fact that Russ Feingold has lost his seat. I am sure that Feingold was, personally, a decent man. He was against capital punishment and the Iraq War, and the simple fact that so many people I respect were fans of his convinces me that he must have been an all right one.
But seriously, click the link and look at his legislative record. Did you ever see such a list of dull-but-worthy initiatives that didn't go anywhere, minor personal hobbyhorses, and actively counterproductive procedural bullshit? And remember that this man was one of the *best* Democratic senators, if not the best, and the net effect of having had him as the incumbent for seventeen years was heartbreakingly close to zip. He was regarded as "the conscience of the Senate" on civil liberties issues, which is probably and unfortunately true.
Update: I just realised that we also covered this phenomenon in the context of the "McCain Ratio" (the ratio of personal courage to actual achievement), and that Feingold's main claim to fame was the "McCain-Feingold" campaign finance reform (capsule summary: a worthy initiative that didn't go anywhere). And so the circle of cynicism and stasis is complete.
this item posted by the management 11/03/2010 01:57:00 AM
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