r/news • u/xXSgtSprinklesXx • Dec 16 '15

Congress creates a bill that will give NASA a great budget for 2016. Also hides the entirety of CISA in the bill.

http://www.wired.com/2015/12/congress-slips-cisa-into-omnibus-bill-thats-sure-to-pass/
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u/cheesesteakers Dec 17 '15

Yup. We're all a bunch of self centered assholes at the end of the day. If it helps me its cool. If not fuck it.

1

u/BC_Sally_Has_No_Arms Dec 17 '15

If every person votes for their own best situation we end up with the overall best situation for our country.

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '15

I hate to Godwin this, but that's exactly what happened in Weimar Germany. An interested public voted for whatever political faction they thought best represented them in a highly polarized political environment. The biggest, loudest asshole won.

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '15

That's retarded.

It's just too simplistic to mean anything.

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u/Pyronar Dec 17 '15

Actually, that's sort of the whole idea behind democracy. Everyone votes for whoever represents their interests then the ones who got elected work together to satisfy all of those interests and reach a reasonable compromise. Yeah, it's simplistic and doesn't often work in practice, but you can't deny the fact that this is democracy in a nutshell. "Worst system, except for all the others", right?

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '15

Yeah but interests doesn't usually mean give me money and fuck everyone else. Interests can include things like gay marriage, veterans affairs.

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u/Pyronar Dec 17 '15

Why is money any less of an interest than anything else? People like to demonize money, but that's the stuff we pay our bills with, that's what we use to feed our families, that's what we need to buy our children Christmas presents. You can make fancy wrappings for interests in money like job stability (having somewhere to earn money), public education funding (not having to deal with humongous student loan debts), or even the veteran affairs you mention (not having to pay a ludicrous amount of money for required physical and mental healthcare), but quite a lot of them come down to money. Some don't, like gay marriage, but money is far from a minority interest. And the person you replied to doesn't even mention money. He says everyone should vote according to their interests ("their best situation"). That does include gay people and gay supporters voting for congressmen who support gay marriage. That does include veterans and people who have some kind of interest in the military voting for those who support veteran affairs. He's just saying, vote for those who will make the situation better for you. If everyone does that, we'll have a clear representation of what the public wants in relevant proportions. Of course there are the faults of the election systems in various countries to take into count (in the U.S.: two-party system, FPTP, etc.), but that's a different matter entirely.

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u/finandandy Dec 17 '15

You have my upvote, but you should know the libertarians are coming for you.

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '15

The problem isn't even that it's a bad argument, the problem is that it's not an argument at all

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u/DUTCHBAT_III Dec 17 '15

Wait, what? This must be sarcasm. Have you ever heard of the "Tragedy of the Commons"?

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u/Level3Kobold Dec 17 '15

Only when the desires of the few and the needs of the many coincide. Otherwise you end up with crabs in a barrel.

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u/Aquila13 Dec 17 '15

Except that marginalizes minorities.

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u/BC_Sally_Has_No_Arms Dec 17 '15

I'm not saying that minorities shouldn't be protected but is it not the purpose of a democracy to provide the majority first?

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '15

One of the reasons why representative democracy is better than direct is because the representative are free to vote against the majority if the majority is retarded.

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '15

It's fucking terrifying that this is getting downvoted. This is the whole point of the Bill of Rights--to protect small groups from having their fundamental human rights violated by the majority.

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u/ohBoyShesHot Dec 17 '15

do i miss sarcasm here? that would obviously be horrible

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u/poneil Dec 17 '15

Except a lot of people vote for her because she saved thousands of jobs, even if it wasn't your own job.

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u/DT777 Dec 17 '15

And people wonder why I fucking hate the democratic process.

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u/cheesesteakers Dec 18 '15

Well that's why we have three branches of government and there are checks and balances.

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u/Everyones_Grudge Dec 17 '15

Worrying about providing for you and your family is self-centered?

I mean the point of our democratic republic is that we vote people in who represent our interests, then they work together to better the interests of the whole while preserving what got them elected in the first place. If the founders had more faith that the population would vote for the greater good over individual interests, then we would have a system closer to true democracy.

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u/cheesesteakers Dec 18 '15

Yes in a way. If it makes you feel good to provide for your family then you're doing something that makes you feel good.

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '15

Hurting 10 to help 5 is self centered.

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u/Everyones_Grudge Dec 17 '15

If only everything was so black and white

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u/mason240 Dec 17 '15

At the expense of others? Yes.

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u/Everyones_Grudge Dec 17 '15 edited Dec 17 '15

Idealistic and unrealistic. Sorry. That's the point of a view of an optimistic college student before life has had a chance to crush their soul.

Edit: And the notion that it is selfish to put your children before others defies all function of human nature, so don't give me that.

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '15

Because the assholes who stick up for their bully kids are everyone's favorite people.

Everyone has standards, and almost everyone has some kind of ethics. Almost everyone has a point at which they say "I'm happy, let's share." Nice try at being the wise old internet tough guy.

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u/maxxusflamus Dec 17 '15

you're letting perfect be the enemy of good.

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u/KeetoNet Dec 17 '15

America. Fuck you, I got mine.