Ack! The FDA just approved implantable ID chips for humans! Can we say privacy?
Frankly, it’s just a very weird world. I cannot honestly follow the logic that underlies these (and many other) government decisions. The decisions that seem to evolve in our society follow corporate and power monger’s temporary needs, without contemplating the long term effects on society. And of course, as we’re allowing for scary chips to be implanted into people, we’re taking away the right for people to put what they want into their systems (the latest: Salvia Divinorum).
Certainly, i have a thing about the War on Drugs and how problematic it is economically, socially and culturally. Rather than letting people live & let live, we create arbitrary rules about what we determine to be drugs and what we determine to be economic powerhouses and therefore get separate classifications (tobacco, alcohol, caffeine). But even beyond the War on Drugs, what’s up with our housing policies where we spend far more money to put people in shelters than to provide low income housing because we don’t want to put that in the budget? Or the death penalty which costs 10x more than life in prison and doesn’t provide any other useful social service?
As a youth, i was confused… As an adult, i’m truly lost.
you don’t follow the logic? makes sense to me.
the way i figure it, a lot of political decisions get made for fairly short-term and temporary needs. America has a democracy where there’s a fairly rapid turnover of elected officials, so if you want to get reelected, you have to keep your constituents happy. (and you keep your sponsors happy, so you can fund your reelection campaign.) if the outcome of your legislation is long-term, you can’t point at results. some voters have the foresight to be in favor of the long-term stuff, but i reckon the politicians hedge their bets, and figure there won’t be enough of those voters.
and all politicians want to get reelected. whether they just like the power, or they genuinely want to help and make a difference, you can’t do much unless you stay in office. (unless you’re a Ralph Nadar style troublemaker.)
regarding drugs, i figure it’s just that weird puritan sentiment that still runs through America. the goverment would probably be happy getting rid of tobacco & alcohol too (prohibition?), if they weren’t so ingrained in the culture, with large economies surrounding them. caffeine is just too useful for people working. 🙂
not sure about the housing thing, but the death penalty satisifies some base, biblical desire for revenge, eye-for-an-eye, etc. i think it’s outmoded and barbaric, and hope it can go the way of the dodo some time in the next decade or two.
i generally don’t think politicians are evil or morons (with a few exceptions), just that they have different values, and are a bit self-centered. honestly, they’re probably not much more self-centered than most people, they’re just put under much more pressure, and their decisions are just put under the microscope much more than Joe Schmoe.
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