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John Stuart Mill Excerpt for June 21st

Let us remember, then, in the first place, that political institutions (however the proposition may be at times ignored) are the work of men–owe their origin and their whole existence to human will. Men did not wake on a summer morning and find them sprung up. Neither do they resemble trees, which, once planted, "are aye growing" while men "are sleeping." In every stage of their existence they are made what they are by human voluntary agency. Like all things, therefore, which are made by men, they may be either well or ill made; judgment and skill may have been exercised in their production, or the reverse of these. And again, if a people have omitted, or from outward pressure have not had it in their power to give themselves a constitution by the tentative process of applying a corrective to each evil as it arose, or as the sufferers gained strength to resist it, this retardation of political progress is no doubt a great disadvantage to them, but it does not prove that what has been found good for others would not have been good also for them, and will not be so still when they think fit to adopt it.

On the other hand, it is also to be borne in mind that political machinery does not act of itself. As it is first made, so it has to be worked, by men, and even by ordinary men. It needs, not their simple acquiescence, but their active participation; and must be adjusted to the capacities and qualities of such men as are available. This implies three conditions. The people for whom the form of government is intended must be willing to accept it, or, at least not so unwilling as to oppose an insurmountable obstacle to its establishment. They must be willing and able to do what is necessary to keep it standing. And they must be willing and able to do what it requires of them to enable it to fulfill its purposes. The word "do" is to be understood as including forbearances as well as acts. They must be capable of fulfill ing the conditions of action and the conditions of self-restraint, which are necessary either for keeping the established polity in existence, or for enabling it to achieve the ends, its conduciveness to which forms its recommendation.

Considerations on Representative Government Excerpt

From Considerations on Representative Government by John Stuart Mill

Covered in the RateMyRep Audioblog on June 19th, 2006


In its narrowest acceptation, Order means Obedience. A government is said to preserve order if it succeeds in getting itself obeyed. But there are different degrees of obedience, and it is not every degree that is commendable. Only an unmitigated despotism demands that the individual citizen shall obey unconditionally every mandate of persons in authority. We must at least limit the definition to such mandates as are general, and issued in the deliberate form of laws. Order, thus understood, expresses, doubtless, an indispensable attribute of government. Those who are unable to make their ordinances obeyed, can not be said to govern. But, though a necessary condition, this is not the object of government. That it should make itself obeyed is requisite, in order that it may accomplish some other purpose. We are still to seek what is this other purpose, which government ought to fulfill abstractedly from the idea of improvement, and which has to be fulfilled in every society, whether stationary or progressive.

In a sense somewhat more enlarged, Order means the preservation of peace by the cessation of private violence. Order is said to exist where the people of the country have, as a general rule, ceased to prosecute their quarrels by private force, and acquired the habit of referring the decision of their disputes and the redress of their injuries to the public authorities. But in this larger use of the term, as well as in the former narrow one, Order expresses rather one of the conditions of government, than either its purpose or the criterion of its excellence; for the habit may be well established of submitting to the government, and referring all disputed matters to its authority, and yet the manner in which the government deals with those disputed matters, and with the other things about which it concerns itself, may differ by the whole interval which divides the best from the worst possible.

The Abominable List - June 2006

You guys rated your elected representatives using http://RateMyRep.blogspot.com . Now, here is the First EVER "Abominable List" for June 6, 2006.

What is the "Abominable List, Kim?

RateMyRep participants are asked to evaluate their elected officials using a sliding scale on how well their elected official compares to the House Ethics Code of Conduct for Government Service, which can be found at... http://www.house.gov/ethics/Ethicforward.html

One of the items in this Code is,

"Put loyalty to the highest moral principals and to country above loyalty to Government persons, party, or department."

Available options for Ratings were (decending from best to worst),

Excellent, Really Good, OK, Adequate, Terrible, and.... you guessed it! ABOMINABLE.

YOUR NEXT QUESTION: "What does the word abominable really mean, Kim?"

According to m-w.com:
Main Entry: abom·i·na·ble
Pronunciation: &-'bäm-n&-b&l, -'bä-m&-
Function: adjective
1 : worthy of or causing disgust or hatred : DETESTABLE
2 : quite disagreeable or unpleasant
- abom·i·na·bly /-blE/ adverb

Add it all together and whaddaya get?

The Abominable List! Here we go, in no particular order:

Barbara Cubin http://www.house.gov/cubin/index.shtml (Repub.)

Cathy McMorris http://www.mcmorris.house.gov/ (Repub.)

Tom Feeney http://www.house.gov/feeney/ (Repub.)

Kenny Hulshof http://hulshof.house.gov/ (Repub)

Congressman William Jefferson http://www.house.gov/jefferson/ (Dem)

Kay Granger http://kaygranger.house.gov/ (Repub.)

Why is a Dump Delay Button on this Non-Parisan Site?

Tom DeLay, unfortunately, has been the most visible shitty politican out there. Sure, this is a matter of opinion. I agree with you on that. Comment with the name of a Democratic corrupt candidate with a "Dump____" flash button to accompany it and I will post that up there with him.

I'm all for voting out of office any corrupt politician. I hope you are too.

Listen, here's the deal: I will post ANY online ad/button/whatever that is in favor of voting out of office any corrupt politician. ANY of them. Leave a comment with the name of the seedy/corrupt poltician along with a link to a button or graphic that asks people to DUMP that politician.

Really. It's that simple.