[geeks] KVM for Sun Sparc Servers with USB keyboards

[Shannon Hendrix]

On May 6, 2009, at 13:15 , Jonathan C. Patschke wrote:

> And that's the problem.  If I want a different service, I have to  
> pack up
> and leave?  Why?  Why can't I just fire the ineffective one (and stop
> paying it) and begin paying a competitor?

If I am your neighbor, why should I let you hire someone who might  
interfere with the service provider that I like?

Not necessarily disagreeing with you, but think about it.

We can't all just take off and do as we please.  We already know that  
doesn't work.

>> if it were there'd be no need for the Congress (or other government
>> representatives), policy decions would be made based on the funding  
>> (or
>> lack of funding) from the citizens.
>
> Which is a lot closer to representation that we have now.

Are you sure?

Just as people will vote largess and bankrupt the country, they will  
also vote to be cheapskates and fail to maintain what we need.

That's why we have a republic with indirect representation.  The  
founders quite rightly realized that direct democracy does not work  
and you have to have some amount control outside of the citizenry.

A voter will not just refuse to fund what they don't like, they also  
refuse to fund what they don't understand.

I sure as hell don't want that.

The vast majority of people would never have voted for the Internet,  
space exploration, or a number of things which I happen to think are  
not only important, but perhaps necessary for our race to survive.

I don't want that decision being made against the slobbering masses  
getting bigger TVs instead.

> A republic form of government inherently involves representation.   
> When
> there are huge numbers of people against things (bailouts, wars  
> overseas)
> and huge number of people divided on others (drug prohibition,
> climate-change legislation), and the "representatives" still see the  
> only
> way as a one-size-fits-all-but-really-doesn't way, that's not
> representation.  That's just being arbitrary.

That's why the states are supposed to have the most power, and they  
are supposed to go further and delegate to local government.

Done properly it works very well, and the fix for most of our problems  
is to simply go back to the system as it was intended to be.

It's not perfect, but a hell of a lot better than either what we have  
now or anarchy.

> I'll take that challenge.  Even Washington showed how oppressive he  
> could
> be through quelling the "Whiskey Rebellion".

Originally Washington was going to meet VIPs on a raised dias.  You  
have to remember that at that time the idea of a president was pretty  
alien to even the people who had just won the revolution.

You left out Jefferson, who went above and beyond reason in his war  
against the Barbary Coast, up to and including sending in assassins,  
and then abandoning them when things went bad.

No one is perfect.

> Lincoln stomped on freedom
> of the press and was approximately as instrumental in the war  
> between the
> states (which Lincoln said he would end without freeing a single black
> slave, if he could) as the Confederacy for firing on Fort Sumter.

The Confederacy fired on Fort Sumpter in reaction to the Union massing  
an army against Virginia, a sovereign state.  It was meant to show  
that they fully intended to defend themselves.

It's mischaracterized as a first strike, but the first act of war was  
firmly on the Union side of things.

Lincoln chose a show of force instead of a bargaining table, a  
historic mistake that cost hundreds of thousands of American lives,  
and probably the single biggest blow to legal banking, the  
Constitution and states rights, and free trade.

> You cannot represent my interests/opinions at the very same time  
> you're
> telling me that I need to put them aside for something else.

Of course you can.

Life is all about compromise.

If you have N people in a boat, you cannot allow all of them to have  
whatever they want.

Leadership and representation are a matter of compromise no matter  
what form they take.


-- 
Shannon Hendrix
shannon at widomaker.com