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...we do have an election coming up. When our legal system fails ... | 101 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
...we do have an election coming up. When our legal system fails ...
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, November 04 2012 @ 02:39 PM EST
> Interesting dilemma only if you ignore the
obvious: choose the candidate you think
would make the best judge. Nothing else
is in the picture.

Yes. That is true enough. As to the rest of what you say, one would wish that
the real world were a little less complicated. What seems quite obvious is that
there exists a fundamental split between ordinary people and those whom we might
refer to as the elite. The elite (and I do not distinguish between elite
"conservatives" and elite "liberals" or between the economic
elite and the educated elite) seem to be quite out of touch with what ordinary
people think, feel, hope for, or fear. As to "favorite issues" there
certainly are several issues which have precipitated and crystallized this
crisis. That is true enough, too.

> Not that I believe in voting for judges. So
if you wish to get involved in voting and
such, why not work to get the law in Alabama
changed so voting isn't how judges are
elected. As you can see, the Big Guys still
get to choose, not you, as your input is
the very last item and hardly the most
important. Why not try to get Alabama to
join other states that do not vote for judges?
Then judges wouldn't be worried about pleasing
voters who often are not legal scholars and
couldn't care less about it, other than one or
two favorite issues.

I am not sure that to appoint judges instead of electing them is a panacea. As
you say, "the Big guys still get to choose." Indeed. So would things
become somehow better if some kind of "nonpolitical and non-partisan"
appointment procedure "based upon merit" were to be adopted, and after
that "the Big Guys still get to choose" (which they obviously would)
and then the public does not even get to vote about it? If we lived in Plato's
ideal republic which is governed by the wise, that would no doubt be a good
idea. At least, I would think so if I were considered to be among the wise. But
in this real sublunary world that we live in, how would that improve things?

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

...we do have an election coming up. When our legal system fails ...
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, November 05 2012 @ 09:40 AM EST
I agree. Whether it is the structure of the legal system, or the judges
themselves, ultimately this is our government, and the success or failure is
ours.

-- nyarlathotep

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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