[MD] US democracy at work?

[Ian Glendinning]

Hi Horse, no taboos on the subjects. Only one rule : respect, respect,
respect, as you say.

I guess I'm just frustrated that unless people take care to separate
the subjects, we just keep falling into the liberal / social-democrat
vs conservative / republican knock-about and fail to make any real
progress.

I do live in hope, though ;-)

Several different points here - and I have opinions on all of them ;-).

A contract is a contract, whether your employer is public or private.
If public it is important that the "civil service" is separate from
partisan government, so that arrangements don't flip-flop with the
ballot box. (Another reason why I'm dead against both houses in a
two-house system being elected by the same popular vote .... the
second house should always be on longer term appointments - of various
balanced kinds.)

Collective representation & bargaining is a freedom, but I've never
subscribed to such rules being enforced in law - either way. ie my
employment contract (if I had one) is between me and my employer, a
union doesn't come into it. I call on the union of I believe I'm
unfairly treated (see respect above).

I was really, in the initial exchange, hoping we were talking about
the filibuster "tactic" in parlaimentary process. I don't believe the
reasoning here should be related to specific partisan use / abuse of
such quaint, historical, traditional tactics. The important thing,
whichever party uses such a tactic, is that it should be exceptional
and not be overused. Checks and balances.

Ian

On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 1:36 PM, Horse <horse at darkstar.uk.net> wrote:
> Hi Ian
> I would have thought that the subject includes both.
> Probably best to avoid the latter but as long as posts remain respectful
> there's no problem with comments.
> These issues affect all of us to a greater or lesser extent - how do you
> treat both public and private contractual relationships within a democratic
> framework. Especially where the latter can, and probably will, damage the
> former.
>
> Horse
>
> On 28/02/2011 11:28, Ian Glendinning wrote:
>>
>> I think we need to separate (at least) two issues here.
>>
>> Two-house parliamentary processes, and tactics, used in mature
>> sophisticated democracies.
>>
>> Public / private funding of services like pensions and healthcare (and
>> whether public employees get any advantage over private sector in
>> these arrangements).
>>
>> I thought the original point was about the former, the practical
>> workings of a democracy, not the usual partisan claptrap of the
>> latter.
>> Ian
>>
>
> --
>
> "Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
> deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
> — Frank Zappa
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