Without the state

links for 2011-04-16

• New Deal Cultural Programs
  (tags: history research art culture wpa)

links for 2011-04-15

• Top 25 UK Arts & Culture Blogs | November 2009 | CreativeTourist.com
  (tags: art artsandculture blogging uk)
• 9 crowdfunding websites to help you change the world.
  (tags: crowdfunding funding inspiration business ideas creativity)

Once upon a Time...

Sometimes you come to put up a post and for some reason nothing comes - not writers block, just you can't summon up the energy to bang your head against the wall of indifference and contempt that the political classes have erected. At times like that it is good to read Arther Silber's blog 'Once Upon a Time'. I've never met Arthur, never corresponded with him. I know very little about him other than he has cats and loves the work of Maria Callas - and that he is dying because he has no medical insurance.

Despite that he still manges to publish incisive demolitions of US foreign and domestic policy. Sometimes his anger just bursts from the page, raging and roaring around you. Sometimes he  writes about his condition in such bald terms that it leaves you breathless, marvelling that a man in such pain can summon up the energy to write anything - and angry that the soi-disant greatest nation on Earth can allow its citizens to live - and die in such a way.

If you do nothing else read his blog. Take the time to go through the old postings too. They are a remarkable collection.  And please - if you can make a donation to help this remarkable writer. Let him know he isn't alone.

Politicians hold the electorate in contempt

The current debate in the UK over AV, or more particularly  the way in which it is being handled by the political classes, is yet another example of their duplicity and of their contempt for those of us outside their introverted little world. In this case it is those arguing against AV who are letting their real beliefs slip through, but I have no doubt that in different circumstances the same sort of lies and deceit would be coming from the rest of them.

The NO campaign are getting increasingly desparate it seems, since the combination of AV and 30 fewer seats will see a lot of them out of work - and good riddance too. Even so to try and claim that AV is extradordinarily difficult, as I heard one recently say on the radio, says more about them than the proposed system. It suggests that they are themselves extradordinarly stupid or extraordinarily deceitful.

All you really need to understand with AV is how to count - and even then not very high. If a politican can't do that then we might ask if they are fit to hold office. Clearly, however, given the number of them indicted for fiddling expenses, many of them can indeed count to very high numbers, which suggests yet again that they are simply lying to protect their privileged positions.

Another claim being made is that AV will allow minority parties to gain a foothold - the BNP will love it they say. That might hold more weight were it not that the BNP is campaigning against AV.  In truth of course, few people will place the BNP as their second choice.  The BNP are much more likely to have a chance under the first past the post system in polarised constituencies with multiple candidates, where the candidate with more votes than the next one will win - perhaps with as little as 20% of the electorate supporting them.

You might ask why am I so concerned about the issue given the basic premise of this blog that the state is something to be avoided.

My answer to that is three fold:

First, the desperate and deceitful arguments put forward by the NO campaigners show the generally low standard of ethical behaviour that prevails in the political classes of the UK;

Second, even a minima state requires some method to select those who run it, and that might as well be something that leads to a governmetn reflective of general opinion;

Finally, if AV increases the likelihood of coalitions and leads to uncertaintly in government, then good! The more that politicans are constrained the better.

 

 

Related articles

• Debunked: The latest No2AV 'AV/BNP' spin (leftfootforward.org)
• Top Tory says AV will boost BNP (bbc.co.uk)
• The Increasingly Shrill Anti-AV Campaign and Baroness Warsi (adamcollyer.wordpress.com)

links for 2011-04-04

• BBC News - 'Try before you buy' art comes to US
  (tags: art, selling, online, emerging_artists)

links for 2011-04-01

• Why Your Website Content Loses 7 Percent of Customers | Men with Pens
  (tags: webdesign webcontent writing)
• Canon Printers Waste Tank Error Message Reset Solution
  (tags: printer canon tips diy maintenance repair)