Where Do We Draw The Line?

These are very difficult issues and in most of them it depend on what your stake is in the issue as to how you're going to feel about it. The only thing that I want a Government to do is provide a level playing field for all it's Citizens.
I don't feel that ours(US) has done these very often in recent memory.
I also feel that it's stacking the cards against most of it's population more and more frequently.
I can understand if this is being caused by ideology but it's looking like it's just caused by Greed.

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Originally Posted by gugi

I don't think this is necessary, plus who is to say that the modern day corporations are the same as those in the old days? Better to just look at how it works right now. There are plenty of corporations with worldwide operations and their practices do vary under different local regulations.

From what I've seen if anything is profitable and legal it gets done regardless of whether it's ethical. Hence the need for big legal departments and big lobbying (in the ideal world everything profitable is legal). But individual people do have the power to vote for or against their representatives, so it's not like the game is completely rigged. It's that people sometimes plenty of them seem to be stupid enough to vote against their own interest.

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They vote against their own interest because they have been brainwashed and cajoled by the wealthy and powerful into believing what they are told. They are told what the "important issue" is and forget about everything else. The wealthy will take care of everything else.

Well, as one of my teachers in high school used to day, freedom is both for the smart and for the stupid. The smart use it to do smart things, the stupid use it to do stupid things...

I guess it's sort of like when the Pres. takes his oath of office. I believe it goes something like "I swear to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United Staes (All 57 of 'em). If I didn't know better, I would think he was lying through his teeth when he took that oath.

And then there is his book published in 2007 where he stated in print that the Constitution is an obstacle for him in the achievement of his goals. One year later he wins the presidency.

I say blame the apethetic citizens, especially all the ones who don't even vote. There in lies much of the problem.

Jerry

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Originally Posted by mrsell63

I say blame the apethetic citizens, especially all the ones who don't even vote. There in lies much of the problem.Jerry

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Why should I vote if I don't believe in or agree with any of the candidates? Having the right to vote is also having the right to not vote.

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Originally Posted by Theseus

Why should I vote if I don't believe in or agree with any of the candidates? Having the right to vote is also having the right to not vote.

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If nobody voted, government officials would have a field day. Welcome to the full dictatorship........

Jerry

Just one thing.. storage isnt the problem,BMW has a hydrogen car which works fine and at this moment they are building a hydrogen highway in Finland I believe.

There storage cell seems to work fine.

I've always thought the two party system was only marginally better than a one party system... always had a problem trying to decide who to vote against.

I see the basic problem as human nature. Greedy people = greedy people voted into office. Greedy elected official = bribable official. The occasional non-greedy or "non-cooperative" official is swimming in a sea of greedy ones, they probably don't last very long.

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Originally Posted by Grizzley1

Just one thing.. storage isnt the problem,BMW has a hydrogen car which works fine and at this moment they are building a hydrogen highway in Finland I believe.

There storage cell seems to work fine.

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There have always been 'model cars' that show something is possible, but commercializing it is a different problem. A whole bunch of car manufacturers have cancelled their hydrogen car projects.

Here's the fundamental problem:

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A 2008 Technology Review article stated, "Electric cars—and plug-in hybrid cars—have an enormous advantage over hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles in utilizing low-carbon electricity. That is because of the inherent inefficiency of the entire hydrogen fueling process, from generating the hydrogen with that electricity to transporting this diffuse gas long distances, getting the hydrogen in the car, and then running it through a fuel cell—all for the purpose of converting the hydrogen back into electricity to drive the same exact electric motor you'll find in an electric car."

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Hydrogen is a pretty good rocket fuel, but that's a very different way of energy release.

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Originally Posted by Theseus

Why should I vote if I don't believe in or agree with any of the candidates? Having the right to vote is also having the right to not vote.

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Nope....Although free elections are part of the freedoms we enjoy, I believe voting is an obligation not a right. Its one of the very, very small prices we pay for democracy.

Theseus, I'm sure you're a great guy, but you're off the mark on this one.