Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83 (MC840302); site erix.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!mcvax!enea!erix!mike
From: mike@erix.UUCP (Mike Williams)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Re: Euromissiles in Belgium
Message-ID: <731@erix.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 1-Feb-85 08:20:48 EST
Article-I.D.: erix.731
Posted: Fri Feb  1 08:20:48 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 9-Feb-85 06:00:58 EST
References: <229@usl.UUCP> <511@fisher.UUCP> <435@mcvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: mike@erix.UUCP (Mike Williams)
Distribution: net
Organization: L M Ericsson, Stockholm, Sweden
Lines: 30
Summary: 

In article <435@mcvax.UUCP> piet@mcvax.UUCP (Piet Beertema) writes:
>And who is going to decide whether or not something is morally wrong
>or patently stupid. Fortunately we don't have a dictator here to decide
>that for us. Is abortion morally wrong? A majority of people here don't
>think so. Is deploying cruise missiles in Europa patently stupid? Lots
>of people think so, yes, because it can threaten our very existence.
>
>So what is "national interest"? That's the interest of the *people*, not
>of those that happen to "rule" a country.

I agree.

When the man on the feels that his views are taken into consideration by the 
people in power, he will start thinking realistically about important
issues. When he knows that his views are largly disregarded by the politians
in power, is it small wonder that he is liable to have extremist opinions
(eg "nuke Iran" or "shoot all drug addicts" etc etc). Nor is it very
suprising that many people - especially the really disregarded such as the
unemployed - don't bother to vote. 

Perhaps the worse voting figures are in the countries with really undemocratic
electoral systems, such as in the USA or Britain. I suspect that the situation
is better in countries with proportional representation. 

(Proportional representation means that if a party gets X% of the TOTAL 
electoral vote in a national parliament (or whatever it is called) then it 
get X% of the seats)

Mike Williams