more on "Filibuster vs The Tyranny of the Faux Majority" & 1984

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

X-Sieve: CMU Sieve 2.2 Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2005 08:28:25 -0400 From: Jock 
Gill <jg45 () mac com> Subject: Re: [IP] "Filibuster vs The Tyranny of the 
Faux Majority" & 1984 To: dave () farber net

Bob & Dave,

It may be instructive to watch Apple's 1984 ad once again, but this time 
from the context of our current political environment.

One high quality source:

<http://www.uriah.com/apple-qt/1984.html>

Share at will.

Jock





Jock Gill Meme Intelligence jock.gill () memeintel com "Cooperative gain from 
collective behaviors at the edges."

On Apr 6, 2005, at 9:07 AM, Dave Farber wrote:



------- Original message ------- From: Bob 
Frankston  <Bob19-0501 () bobf frankston com> Sent: 6/4/'05,  1:29

As an aside perhaps it's telling but Tom Friedman seems to have started his 
new book tour on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show.

http://www.frankston.com/?Name=Filibuster

For those who like zero clicks ...

The Filibuster vs the Tyranny of the Faux Majority

This week we are facing an attempt to do away the filibuster. The 
dictionary describes the "filibuster" as an obstructionist ploy but given 
that the checks and balances of the US government are being subverted by an 
alignment of people selected for a philosophical system of moral simplicity 
we must have a way to raise at least some issues to a level of high 
importance and require something more than a simple majority. We must 
rethink the filibuster as a mechanism for demandin g extra caution on vital 
decisions by requiring a super-majority such as a two thirds vote. This 
isn't a perfect solution but it does provide some protection fo r 
minorities in a society that is acting as if it were a theocracy and that 
the majority's beliefs must be imposed on the rest of us. I don't believe 
such a view accurately reflects our diverse society as a whole. Those who 
seek simple and unambiguous answers to a small set of issues to the ex 
clusion of other considerations gain leverage as the other voices balance 
each other out. By focusing on primary elections where political parties 
choose who wi ll run in the full election, the politicians must court the 
single issue voters if they are to be elected at all. That's a political 
reality in the current syst em and leadership is for naught if you don't 
get elected. The recent Schiavo circus once again demonstrated a huge 
disconnect between the demands of these voters and the rest of us. ABC 
showed 63 to 28 against the gove rnment's action, CBS found 85 opposed to 
the government's action. Jeff Jarvis his shown that the campaign for 
"decency" is even more out of alignment with peopl e's tolerance. How could 
protecting us from the sound of "fuck" trump the US Constitution? The 
mystery to me is why the press amplifies the distortion -- are th e 
guardians of our rights incapable of seeing past the political framing of 
these moralistic crusades? It has made me rethink the filibuster. 
Obstruction is a way to demand extra caution before enacting laws. It's a 
way of saying that an issue is important enough to require a 
"super-majority" of two-thirds of the senators. By its nature it is not 
used casually. Though it was used to thwart tolerance when civil rights 
legislation was introduced, the larger societal goals did prevail. Today's 
attempt to impose morality o n all of us is not symmetric. It's not just 
about intolerance but a fearful retreat from science. After all, science 
questions the accepted wisdom and raises th e possibility that we are 
merely inhabitants of this world, not simply the masters. At very least, 
you should read Jared Diamond's Collapse! to understand the d angers of 
willful ignorance. Today the filibuster is about the only tool left that 
protects us from the tyranny of this false majority. If we lose this 
protection, we will be left with no p rotection against a judiciary vetted 
for ideological purity.




Bob Frankston http://www.frankston.com



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