From: Zero Powers (zero_powers@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Nov 14 2000 - 12:55:00 MST
Congress does more than just vote on bills. They actually *write* the
bills. This, I believe, would not be feasible for the nation as a whole to
do online, or offline for that matter. I'm sure you've heard that two
things you don't want to see are (a) sausage being made and (b) laws being
written. The laws that Congress writes are not simple things like "it shall
be illegal to run a red light." They are usually long, drawn-out, very
detailed pieces of legislation that would take hours to even read, much less
write. The important pieces of legislation are most often the result of
excruciatingly negotiated compromises between many competing special
interests.
Also, in order to create a statutory scheme is not self-contradictory, the
people writing the new laws need at least a workable understanding of the
existing laws. I'm not saying Congress is efficient, or even the best way
to get legislation enacted. But *I* can't imagine a way to do it in a truly
democratic manner where all 200 million of us each get to have our say.
-Zero
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----- Original Message -----
From: "zeb haradon" <zebharadon@hotmail.com>
To: <extropians@extropy.org>
Sent: November 13, 2000 10:12 p.m.
Subject: electronic elections
> I just realized, if it gets to the point where we can vote online, then
what
> is to prevent the elimination of congress altogether, and simply have
people
> vote directly for each bill (besides the time it would take)? Or at least
> replace one of the arms of the legislature with them. Or this, or that..
> etc.. there's a lot of ways to do it. At minimum, a public vote of 66%
> should be able to veto or override the president's veto of any bill.
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