Thank you Mike Malloy

[salib]

Gravel has been interviewed by many, but never has it been as penetrating as with Mike Malloy.

Thank you Mike. I now know I need not consider Gravel.

[GregD]

1. Stunning, wasn't it?

Give me Dennis!

[salib]

2. Yes, in many ways.

It was stunning just how reactionary and koolaid-like Mike Gravel really was.

It was stunning just how quickly his house of cards fell apart.

It was perhaps not so stunning that is was Mike Malloy who so quickly toppled this house of cards.

I have respect for Mike beyond what I have had in a long time.

And, yes, Dennis is my candidate.

[thereismore]

3. Yes, Gravel really came apart. His understanding of democracy was quite

primeaval. He reminds me of libertarians that dream of a utopian society that can never work.

[salib]

4. I think he will quickly be seen as just another LaRouche

[ProudDad]

5. Vouchers, vouchers

But what about the vouchers??? :)

I'm also not too sure about Switzerland as a model as Gravel suggests:

"Women were granted the right to vote in the first Swiss cantons in 1959, at the federal level in 1971, and after resistance, in the last canton Appenzell Innerrhoden in 1990."

It took until 1990 to get universal sufferage????!!!!!!

Here's what Gravel may have meant with the citizen's Referendum idea:

"Direct democracy

Swiss citizens are subject to three legal jurisdictions: the commune, canton and federal levels. The 1848 federal constitution defines a system of direct democracy (sometimes called half-direct democracy since it is complemented by the more commonplace institutions of a parliamentary democracy.) The instruments of Swiss direct democracy at the federal level, known as civil rights (droits civiques, Volksrechte), include the right to submit a constitutional initiative and a referendum, both of which may overturn parliamentary decisions.

By calling a federal referendum a group of citizens may challenge a law that has been passed by Parliament, if they can gather 50,000 signatures against the law within 100 days. If so, a national vote is scheduled where voters decide by a simple majority whether to accept or reject the law. Eight cantons together can also call a referendum on a federal law.

Similarly, the federal constitutional initiative allows citizens to put a constitutional amendment to a national vote, if they can get 100,000 voters to sign the proposed amendment within 18 months. Parliament can complement the proposed amendment with a counter-proposal, with voters having to indicate a preference on the ballot in case both proposals are accepted. Constitutional amendments, whether introduced by initiative or in Parliament, must be accepted by a double majority of both the national popular vote and a majority of the cantonal popular votes."

and the DARK side:

"A recent study found one in ten Swiss held anti-Semitic views and fifty percent of the Swiss population are xenophobic. A different study conducted by the University of Geneva with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation found that 23 per cent admitted to being anti-Semitic and "seven per cent find rightwing behaviour attractive, while 90 per cent reject it." The federal government installed a commission to fight racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and rightwing extremism in 1995. Political extremism is not a widespread phenomenon in Switzerland, although far-right extremism, together with overall delinquency, has increased slightly during the 2000s"