Reply #50: Hey, ease up, huh? "Crying and bemoaning" isn't what's happening here [View All]

[Mairead]

I'm talking Principles of Negotiation 101: the value of a service drops sharply once the service has been rendered.

Once we give them what they want--our votes--we have nothing left. Our hands are empty. We're not electing delegates who can be dismissed and replaced ad libitum, we're electing our rulers. We can't get rid of them for years after, short of violence.

Civil disobedience? How many would participate, with the spectre hovering in the background of being declared a terrorist?

If we can't even get people to do something safe, fully legal, and completely in their short- AND long-term best interests, what hope have we that we can persuade them to do something that's not safe, can be construed as illegal, and might be a short-term disaster for them?