Indefinite Detention and a 2-Tier Citizenship

Rolling Stone Article

The Starship Troopers quote/clip at the end is an interesting one. It's essentially the Roman model of citizenship. I'm not suggesting the military rule, but rather that citizenship should be earned by people willing and qualified to participate.

There's a similar line in "Attack of the Clones" where Anakin and Padme discuss the failures of the Galactic Senate and whether a dictatorship would be more effective.

At this point in American politics that's where our pendulum has swung - as it did in Rome, as it did on Coruscant, as it did in 'Troopers. Two of those may have been fictional but the pendulum swinging through history is completely predictable.

I know I'm crossing the left/right line on this one, but I'm usually just left of that line anyways.

What if we did have a 2-tier citizenship de jure? (We already have one de facto.)

It seems to me that the needs of the many can only be managed by the few - the Greek-style mass democracy can't manage it. That's why we have a Republic. What if we could guarantee the social rights and well-being of all (health-care, food, housing, education), yet reserve voting authority only to those who actively work to attain it?

What I really want is a government that takes care of its people and is run by qualified civil servants who are there to look after the well being of all of its people. At the moment I have neither. I have a government that abandons its people in the interests of a few key power brokers and craft laws like this that will help maintain the current status-quo.

Maybe a socialist oriented oligo-meritocracy? A true Senatus Populusque Americanus?

Playing with Fire and the Global Economy

I commissioned this from my friend Harold. Click on the image to go to his site.

If you don't think that using the debt ceiling as a hardball negotiating tactic is like playing with fire or if you're not sure exactly what the big deal is, read this CNN article. It's pretty politically neutral:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/03/news/economy/debt_ceiling_faqs/index.htm?iid=EL

The short of it is that if we don't deal with it and default on our debts, we "could cripple the economy and send world markets into a tailspin."

Even Boehner says that it would be irresponsible to default on our debts:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/09/news/economy/boehner_deficits/?section=money_latest

The debt and the budget process do need to be dealt with - seriously, strongly, and swiftly. However, this is the wrong tool to address them with.