🚀 go-pugleaf

Adrian Burd (adrian@calanus.tamu.edu) wrote:
: Gumby wrote:
: > 
: > Adrian Burd <adrian@calanus.tamu.edu> writes...
: > 
: > >Unfortunately, not everyone is similarly
: > >endowed with such a social conscience.
: > 
: > But do you restrict 50% of society to protect the other 50%?
: > Would you restrict 1%?
: > Would you restrict 99%?

: Good point, and this is why there is some semblance of a democratic
: system in this country. Take as an example the recent push to cut back
: on enforcement of environmental legislation. Rightly or wrongly, it has
: been perceived by people that the enforcement of these regulations has
: gone too far. 

Not so.  Polls consistently show 70-75% of the American people want 
strong environmental laws and strict enforcement.

: A new Congress was elected who reflected that view and 
: started to roll-back those laws. 

Uh, no, the Contract with America never mentioned they wanted to do this.

: According to the polls (not a
: particularly reliable source, but it's the only one there is), many
: people think the GOP has gone too far the other way, so the GOP has
: stepped back somewhat from their previous postions. 

They've retreated in disarray.  Newt told the troops to leave this alone 
in an election year.  There's a group of moderate Republicans pushing for 
strong environmental protection.  There's a million-person-plus group of 
conservative Christians pushing for this too, on the basis that the Bible 
makes us stewards of the earth.

: I don't expect some
: mage to miraculously come up with the right mixture straight away, nor
: do I expect it to always remain constant. It is an evolving process. IF
: there was sufficient outcry about the terrible imposition of speed
: limits or income taxes then they would be changed since the politicians
: would lose votes if some action was not taken. 

Maybe people generally favor them.

: I am not, nor have I ever
: implied, that the system is perfect, but as far as I can see it is a
: pretty good one given all the possibilities and the fact that the
: society we live in today is radically different from that 250 years ago. 
: As another example, consider the attempt by Margret Thatcher to impose a
: Poll Tax to replace the outdated "rates" system. The outcry from the
: citizens of the UK not only reversed the decision but also helped to
: remove Thatcher from government.

Yet when Reagan engineered the biggest tax increase in history (yes, 
bigger than Clinton's) mainly in the form of increased social security 
taxes, it didn't seem to hurt him.  Clinton's tax plan hasn't hurt him 
either.  Polls in Georgia consistently show people favor keeping the 
existing 55/65 mph speed limits by a 3-1 margin as well.