Taxation Without Representation?

For some reason I woke up this morning thinking about the US midterm elections earlier this month.  I myself, to paraphrase one of the greatest writers of all time, don't vote, so I can claim the system doesn't represent me, and thus justify my further lack of participation.  Watterson's intention was sarcastic, but unfortunately for someone of my political leanings, not voting is more of a protest against the lack of an acceptable candidate than it is apathy.  But many of my fellow American's do vote, and I guess what worries me is the general lack of knowledge about policy decisions past that most of us share.
 
I am not suggesting that the American system has degraded to the point of having taxes cripple us financially so our government can go off and slaughter Huguenots; without asking if any of us really care if the Huguenots are gaining numbers in the south west provinces am I?...Am I?

But I do wonder, in a system where a vast majority of the voting public votes for a party line and knows little to nothing about the policy record of individual candidates, how often do elected officials stray from their party lines? 

More importantly, how often do political actions taken represent the desires of those who elected the official?  "Almost never?"  Yea that's my guess too.   Outside of local politics, where I still see some hope,  we are ruled by a wealthy elite....taxation without representation? yes and no, Policy decisions without representation, yes, profoundly yes.

Great Link: A Podcast on the Morality of Gun Control

(New favorite image lifted from the web for my blog.) 
 

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It is clearly wrong to take someone's gun away as they are about to be murdered?  You are violating that person's right to self defense? Essentially you are complicit in that person's murder?  Correct?

Jeff McMahan (on the Philosophy Bites Podcast) argues that "self defense" is not a fundamental right, rather, "personal security" is a fundamental right and private gun ownership violates this right. 
http://philosophybites.com/2013/02/jeff-mcmahan-on-gun-control.html

Just look at the statistics people!
The U.S., with 4.5 percent of the world population, accounts for about 40 percent of the planet's civilian firearms, said Dr. Garen Wintemute, of the University of California, Davis, Medical Center.

I have not been writing lately (a lot of grading at the end of the spring semester this year), but as I ramp up my own writing I wanted to start posting again.  So I am starting slow, with a link, but a good one! 


*** To my valued readers: I have not been writing lately (a lot of grading at the end of the spring semester this year), but as I ramp up my own writing I wanted to start posting again.  So I am starting slow, with a link, but a very good one! The following is about a great episode from this past February of one of my favorite online shows. 

Philosophy Bites is a great podcast! Simple and short (usually about 15 minutes) on topics from current cultural processes all the way to philosophy's biggest questions.  I highly recommend a listen to a couple episodes.  I have found that the episodes often stimulate new lines of thought / perspectives in my own thinking.   The debt I feel from the free stimulation I have received leads me to link to them today.