

In Rural New York, Windmills Bring Whiff of Corruption - ksvs
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/18/nyregion/18windmills.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin

======
biohacker42
Where there is money and people with power corruption is _very_ likely.

What fascinates me, about America specifically, is how ingrained the
representative democracy concept is. Direct democracy is this wild and crazy
thing that absolutely and directly = Hitler.

There could be an interesting argument why Swiss style direct democracy would
not work for a huge country like the US. But what about local government? What
about little towns?

It's fascinating that Americans from a very young age learn that the head of
local government is the mayor. What would happen if a little town in nowhere
decided to mimic Switzerland in governance and eliminates the middle men?
Doom?

~~~
nuclear_eclipse
As an American, I think the biggest reason that the majority of Americans
embrace (worship) representative democracy is because it frees them from
feelings of responsibility in the outcome of the government, and means that
much less effort they must contribute back to society. Why learn about all the
issues and directly vote for what I want, when I could more easily just elect
someone else to do all that hard stuff for me so I can spend more time on the
sofa watching the drama of Hollywood retards unfold on high definition TV?

As an added benefit, when my elected representatives then vote the "wrong"
way, I certainly can't blame myself, because A) I'm only one of thousands, or
millions, of votes, B) I voted for the other guy, or C) I didn't vote at all /
that's why I don't ever vote. It's the exact same reason that companies pay
barrels of money for IT support contracts; it's less work, and when something
goes wrong, the blame always shifts to someone else.

Solution: Nuke it from orbit; it's the only way to be sure...

