From: James Rogers (jamesr@best.com)
Date: Sun Jun 11 2000 - 08:49:05 MDT
On Sun, 11 Jun 2000, Zero Powers wrote:
>
> There is one thing that legislatures do better than almost any other
> institution: compromise. If legislation were left up to purely democratic
> vote (i.e., tyranny of the majority), legislative compromise would be thrown
> out the window and the desires and concerns of the minority would be go with
> it. This is precisely the sort of situation which led to the only civil war
> in the US.
Legislatures can do the same thing by proxy. Look at issues such as
nuclear waste dumping and the Sagebrush Rebellion if you want to see
history repeating itself.
The problem is that legislative "compromise" rarely is. Compromise
*should* be a situation where both sides gain something. In practice,
"compromise" often means limiting damage to the minority interest.
The U.S. has had more than one civil war, but most people only remember
the Big One. We haven't had a civil war in this country in a long time,
but there are regional issues in this country that are serious enough that
they could go critical given the right conditions, IMO.
-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com
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