Personal Democracy Forum 2008
Session: Open Data, Open Government
Note by Robin Barrett:
The framers of our constitution was obsessed with independents. Extraordinary corruption had seeped into society. They were fearful of dependent. Dependents begets subservience and venality.... government had become this way. They sought people with independents.
The 19th century was a cease pool of corruption. Today is much better than the past.
Individuals are better now, the problem with the corruption in our nation is much worse because government today is much more significant. It's more critical to core national problems. It is also more pervasive. The tools of competition become the government itself.
People in industry are willing to invest money because they see opportunities here. The respect for congress has never been lower. 88% of LL district believe money buys congress and their view is unfavorable. The people's house, is NOT the people's house.
This is exactly the dependence that our framers worried about. But it is a different kind of dependence. A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.
The problem we are facing is not the poor trying to steal from the rich. It's the inverse. The rich using the power to capture government to steal from the democracy. So long private funding captures election. Crony capitalization defines how our government works. A subtle form of corruption and is deadly for this democracy.
What is the cost of this kind of corruption?
How much extortion enabling regulation is out there? How much public funding would be available if this was changed? How much does this empower the government to give the wrong answer on issues.
Not all cases the government considers are hard cases. The government often gets it wrong for even the no browsers.
All this in order to get reelected.
Global warming: 0% questioned the consensus among experts. 53% in consumer magazine, questioned it. Junk science backed by big oil. This resulted in government delaying 10 years. This is an example of how the government gets the easy questions wrong.
In 2000 they erased dissent from the list of doctors reviewing AHA. The appearance of dispassionate analysis was eroded by large donation from a drug company.
94 members changed vote. The average contribution to those who changed their vote was 2 times those who did not receive the contribution. (re telecom vote). How can we trust this? We can't trust and have faith in this.l
Money destroys the opportunity for trust." And trust is the essential element necessary for public discourse.
94 members changed vote on FISA act - MAPLight reports that 2x increase in contributions from telecom lobby
We need more than hope every 4 years but a sustained effort to move forward and change the way government is corrupted and dictated by big money.
We have such big problems. We won t be able to address any of these problems effectively unless we can change these problems at the core of our government.
The 19th century was a cease pool of corruption. Today is much better than the past.
Individuals are better now, the problem with the corruption in our nation is much worse because government today is much more significant. It's more critical to core national problems. It is also more pervasive. The tools of competition become the government itself.
People in industry are willing to invest money because they see opportunities here. The respect for congress has never been lower. 88% of LL district believe money buys congress and their view is unfavorable. The people's house, is NOT the people's house.
This is exactly the dependence that our framers worried about. But it is a different kind of dependence. A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.
The problem we are facing is not the poor trying to steal from the rich. It's the inverse. The rich using the power to capture government to steal from the democracy. So long private funding captures election. Crony capitalization defines how our government works. A subtle form of corruption and is deadly for this democracy.
What is the cost of this kind of corruption?
How much extortion enabling regulation is out there? How much public funding would be available if this was changed? How much does this empower the government to give the wrong answer on issues.
Not all cases the government considers are hard cases. The government often gets it wrong for even the no browsers.
All this in order to get reelected.
Global warming: 0% questioned the consensus among experts. 53% in consumer magazine, questioned it. Junk science backed by big oil. This resulted in government delaying 10 years. This is an example of how the government gets the easy questions wrong.
In 2000 they erased dissent from the list of doctors reviewing AHA. The appearance of dispassionate analysis was eroded by large donation from a drug company.
94 members changed vote. The average contribution to those who changed their vote was 2 times those who did not receive the contribution. (re telecom vote). How can we trust this? We can't trust and have faith in this.l
Money destroys the opportunity for trust." And trust is the essential element necessary for public discourse.
94 members changed vote on FISA act - MAPLight reports that 2x increase in contributions from telecom lobby
We need more than hope every 4 years but a sustained effort to move forward and change the way government is corrupted and dictated by big money.
We have such big problems. We won t be able to address any of these problems effectively unless we can change these problems at the core of our government.
