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FUCK THE POLICE
08-18-2006, 03:35 PM
Why the hell are there so many elected offices in the US? I mean seriously, what the hell does an "insurance commissioner" at the state level do but handle paperwork, and doesn't a "sherriff" only carry out the law, not decide whether or not to carry out the law? They are adminstrators, not policy makers, and there's little reason to elect them. The ballots in the US get humongous, and often many offices are simply elected because of random choices made by people or party-line voting. It distracts from real races and I see little reason to do it.

The only positions that should be elected is the cheif executive and the legislatures... maybe 1 or 2 extra executives (the lieutenant governer is a pointless position that has nothing to do with the executive branch that should be abolished), or an executive council, and in local elections the mayor and the city council, but electing a the local coroner is ridiculous and you probably don't know who they are anyway. It should be appointed by people who know what their doing, not elected by people who don't know who they are.

Cypress
08-18-2006, 03:39 PM
Local politics are very important to adults. Many adults care about local politics more than state or national politics.

Until one grows up and gets out on their own, property taxes, school boards, city councils and county commissioners might not seem like a big deal. But they affect our lives more than national poltics do in many respects.

Most adults I know pay as much, or more, attention to local politics, than to what goes on inside the Washington beltway.

FUCK THE POLICE
08-18-2006, 03:50 PM
OK.

Who's your city coroner, Cypress?

FUCK THE POLICE
08-18-2006, 03:53 PM
You're acting as if I want to abolish municipal government. I just don't think a ballot should be several pages long, and there's little reason for it. Most voters just make random choices on the pointless administrative offices, and it's little different than rolling the dice on who gets elected. There's no way a single person can keep up with dozens of different races, and ther's little reason to make it that way whenever you could simply concentrate on policy making officials.

Damocles
08-18-2006, 06:28 PM
We don't vote for coroner. You are getting a bit rediculous. I don't live in a city either mr. fancy britches! You and your fancy-schmancy city governments!

:P

FUCK THE POLICE
08-18-2006, 10:44 PM
lol.

The coroner was just a ridiculous example, but a few towns throughout the nation do actually vote for it. It comes from the jacksonian democracy thing about elect damn near every office, I just don't think it's very pragmatic. The long ballots hurt more than they help, and if the decision is slightly rational it will be based more on who knows the guy than anything else.

Brent
08-19-2006, 12:10 PM
Local politics are very important to adults. Many adults care about local politics more than state or national politics.

Until one grows up and gets out on their own, property taxes, school boards, city councils and county commissioners might not seem like a big deal. But they affect our lives more than national poltics do in many respects.

Most adults I know pay as much, or more, attention to local politics, than to what goes on inside the Washington beltway.

For once, I agree with Cypress.

FUCK THE POLICE
08-20-2006, 06:23 PM
For once, I agree with Cypress.

Whoever disagreed with him? He just went off on his own little tangeant. I never mentioned anything about hating local offices, I'm just saying that the entire concept of Jacksonian democracy that has invaded the state and local governments and given us 10 page long ballots full of names we've never heard and offices we had no idea existed isn't good for the nation.