[tmpz22]

In 1999 the show writers of the West Wing accurately predicated this in an episode about the selection of a Supreme Court Judge:

"It's not just about abortion, it's about the next 20 years. In the '20s and '30s it was the role of government. '50s and '60s it was civil rights. The next two decades are going to be privacy. I'm talking about the Internet. I'm talking about cell phones. I'm talking about health records and who's gay and who's not. And moreover, in a country born on the will to be free, what could be more fundamental than this?"

- Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) West Wing (ep: The Short List) 1999

- We've seen massive breaches of EMR systems

- We've seen massive breeahes from dating apps (Grindr) outing Gay individuals

- None of these entities faced significant consequences for their actions and continue to operate with large amounts of profit.

- 2 years after this episode the Patriot Act was passed. We've failed on privacy so far.

[m463]

The government has failed the constituents.

Regulatory capture is still the highest ROI investment, and we should work on that.

[potato3732842]

It's a perverse feedback loop. The more power the .gov has to regulate the better the ROI of regulatory capture.'

I'm not sure how we get out of this situation without it getting way worse.

[hobobaggins]

Reduce the power of the govt to regulate things at the federal level and instead move that power to the states. This will return power to the people, and people will naturally move to states that are delivering for them (whatever that is that they're looking for).

Across 50 states, this makes it 50 times harder (literally) to practice regulatory capture, and 50 times as likely that they'll be caught out by it, and because news travels at the speed of light today (unlike in the Constitutional era), 50 times as likely that the other state residents will find out about it.

Everything becomes fifty times better once we just return to the principles of federalism: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." (Tenth Amendment)

Decentralization still works. Push the power back downward to the people who care the most -- you and me. Even though it's one of the rare examples of a federal governing agency that is mostly apolitical and actually functions semi-effectively, the FTC, for example, is a largely pointless, neutered entity that pales in comparison to state powers. For example, the state Attorneys General were able to effectively destroy Big Tobacco. The federal government didn't even come close.

[paulryanrogers]

People cannot move so easily. Some states have more influence than others. It also makes the decision of 'where' to move more complex.

Do I choose a state where my daughters have few rights or one where corporations control everything or where the pollution is so bad my kid's IQ will suffer?

[fragmede]

Also, the one without school shootings please.

[paulryanrogers]

States have open borders, so I'm afraid that can't be solved by local measure alone

[consteval]

This just doesn't work because MOST companies are multi-state. Hell, most are multi-national in the new globalized world. So you have to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

[Hikikomori]

Sounds like a free market approach, we know how that usually goes, and we already see how bad it is for women and abortions.

[tekknik]

It seems like most of the problems with abortions are seeking one when you want one and don’t need one and also live in a state that outlaws them. In fact recently I read an article where the Drs refused a medically necessary abortion and even the judge said they were cleared given the situation.

when will people stop being controlling and learn there’s two sides to this?

[consteval]

Because there aren't actually two sides to this, because even an anti-abortion stance doesn't save lives in the long run.

Also, yeah duh Doctors are scared. That's called a "chilling effect", and it's 100% intentional by the legislature.

Most "pro-life" politicians are completely anti-abortion, including in extreme cases such as rape. They're also almost always anti-contraception, which is hypocritical but also obvious.

[b3ing]

Yeah and only 1 or 2 states will get around to doing anything about that 5-10 years down the road.

[r-w]

Huh? Why can't you just regulate the flow of private funds to public servants and leave it at that? Not sure why you seem to be arguing that passing one bill expands the power of government as a whole.

[bee_rider]

Someone should come up with a form of government where we just, like, ask the people what they want the government to do and then it does that.

[paulryanrogers]

Supreme Court said money is speech and corporations are persons. We'll need to unwind some of the crazy first.

[UncleMeat]

The supreme court has said that partisan gerrymandering is a-okay, making it totally viable for states with 50-50 populations to end up with supermajorities in their state legislatures and house delegations.

The federal senate is not allocated according to the population and does not directly reflect the will of the majority.

Efforts to limit access to the franchise have been upheld by the courts and key protections from federal legislation like the voting rights act have been undone.

Even when the federal government does pass laws or regulations, the courts step in to strike them down through increasingly spurious reasoning.

[Loughla]

I was at breakfast this morning and overheard a conversation at the table next to me.

This conversation was about how a recent thunderstorm had small hail accompanying the rain. And then that this small hail was the leftover seeds from "the jet planes spraying that stuff to control the weather."

Direct voting on issues terrifies me.

[Yeul]

Yes the American system is based on the admirable but false idea of the intelligent citizen. It probably worked a lot better when all the voters were wealthy land owners.

[bitnasty]

Worked better for who?

[throw10920]

...and yet it works better than any other system in existence.

The only people who want to dissolve the US system are those who wish to take advantage of a weaker system for their own benefit.

[yencabulator]

What kind of American exceptionalism is that? There are countries significantly more democratic and happy than USA.

[jh00ker]

I was at a coffee shop a couple weeks ago and I heard two guys going on about how the moon landing never could have happened because it seems impossible. They didn't have any supporting data. They just kept saying things like "all the footage looked so totally fake." My favorite was "and how did they even get back to Earth? I don't remember ever seeing video of then launching a rocket off the moon, do you?"

SMH

[orbisvicis]

The astronauts drew straws, and Sandy Koufax had the bad fortune to draw the short straw. He would stay behind to roll tape while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were to return home. The two astronauts would remain suited for the ascent. Buzz Aldrin would monitor the instrument consoles while Neil Armstrong was to remain tethered to the open hatchway in what was later termed "a daring attempt" to recover the film canister thrown by Sandy Koufax. Unfortunately Neil Armstrong was unable to recover the canister. He described it whizzing past his gloved fingers merely inches away during the docking maneuvers with the command module. No one knows what became of the footage. To this day it is likely tumbling around the cold dark expanse of space, perhaps as a new lunar satellite.

... and that's why we don't have footage of the lunar ascent.

[orbisvicis]

As for his heroic efforts, Sandy Koufax was posthumously inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame, and to this day continues to be known for the "shot that went around the moon".

[bee_rider]

Eh, I guess, although I’ve also heard some pretty wild things by elected officials. What can we do?

[bloomingeek]

I'm a boomer, the best thing is for my generation to die out. We are the most selfish and ignorant generation ever in modern times. And yet we had access to the most information! My kids don't like me to talk like this, my reply is always, "prove me wrong". (I'm referring to the mess we have caused the world, not necessarily the mankind helping accomplishments.)

[bee_rider]

Ah, well don’t be too rough on yourself. My parents are boomers, they are allright, I’m sure you are too.

I won’t say your generation didn’t make some mistakes politically. But in any group it is the kind and introspective that feel guilt about the group’s negative actions, while the selfish just go on happily being selfish. You don’t have to make up for the selfish folks who happen to have been born around the same time as you, but if you want to, live a long happy kind life.

[Loughla]

Isn't what we're seeing with boomers just the natural progression? Heroes die before they become villains or whatever that saying is.

Millennials are already getting roasted for being kind of shitty, and they also wanted to change the world. That sort of thing?

(And yes leaving gen. X out was intentional - the ones that I know tend to complain about being a forgotten generation, so I thought it was funny)

[awkwardpotato]

There are so many beautiful quote I love from the West Wing... but this one stands out for me because of how (a decade off but) shockingly accurate it is.

[SturgeonsLaw]

Imagine if the real government was as competent and good faith as the West Wing government

[switch007]

Right! The West Wing was political porn, and I loved it (and still re-watch it occasionally)