Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Al Gore vs George Bush: the moderate's perspective -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (6299)	11/16/2000 9:19:13 AM
From: Solon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10042

Domestically speaking, bringing two prominent black figures in the White House will help to soothe racial tensions while, at the same time, be a superb coup by the GOP in its attempt to unhook the black electorate from the Democrat bandwagon Precisely. In a democracy, power must rely on votes. Because people have their own interests at heart, they will vote for the leader they perceive as favouring them in some way. The political parties have carved out their territories; And they attempt to hold these votes by subtle, and not so subtle, twisting of the truth. One party depends on minority voters; So they engage in fear mongering against the other party at every opportunity. Another party depends on a religious vote; So they engage in fear mongering at every good chance. And so, on and on. The truth is: The voters are not nearly as polarized or different as the leaders and the media, make them out to be. In the end, we need the whole mix of human ideas if human society is to continue to evolve safely forward without taking any dangerous paths. It is true that democracy does not move in a completely straight line; But it does move forward; Because it hears every voice, it moves everyone toward the green. Individual groups have their self interest; They can easily see others as representing evil or stupid beliefs. But this is the beauty of democracy. Its goal is not the advancement of any one particular group...but the furtherance of the interests of all. Thus, we need to hear the voices of all the parties. Democracy includes all colors; It includes straights and gays; It includes the strong and the weak; The old and the young. When the total group is allowed to speak, it is ultimately wiser than any one individual or group. Democracy wants the survival and progress of the whole, and not merely the part. Where democracy exists under the rule of a fair and intelligent law, I believe the voter always makes the correct choice--not necessarily for me, personally--but surely, for society as a whole. I have a lot of faith in what democracy can do if it is trusted. When the human race advanced to that point, it could have voted out slavery. But people relied on their personal self interest, and so slavery had to be erased with dead bodies. The Union alone lost almost 400,000 people during the war. Needless, really. Democracy has advanced human rights more in 200 years than in all previous history. It is for all people. If it is respected, war will become unnecessary. Not only that, but eventually we will become as wise as the dogs that play in front of our eyes: Black dogs with spotted dogs and brown dogs. Someday we will not need elections. Democracy is only a tool, after all. The real good lies in the good will and the empathy of each human for one another. I think that as the global village comes together, and as we look upward into space, humankind will increasingly recognize that we are adrift in the same canoe. Our self interest is common to all. I am reminded of some lines from a Frost poem: "Men work together, I told him from the heart; Rather they work together or apart". It only makes sense.