Just for some perspective...

[turil.livejournal.com]

Joe Curtatone, while winning the election for mayor, was voted in by less than 8% of Somerville's human population.

Comments

[turil.livejournal.com]

All elected officials and government employees are effectively "supervoters". That's kind of the point of having a government - so that there are people who's jobs it is to make decisions for the people, so that we don't have to vote on every single thing. So yes, I would definitely like to have experts working to give a voice to those who are often voiceless in politics. And sure, politics and government is a mess, and I'd like to have more transparency and responsibility in government, as well as having more direct representation of everyone who is affected by policies.

[halleyscomet.livejournal.com]

Let me get this straight:

You honestly don't see a difference between an elected official who can be ousted in the next election and a super-voter who can literally overrule the will of hundreds to thousands of other voters?

You really don't see the difference between being an elected official and having the power to prevent the people from electing who they want?

This is a joke, right? You're not really this dense are you?

[turil.livejournal.com]

Huh? Are you bothered by the idea that most of the people who work in the government are not elected? Because this is the case right now.

[halleyscomet.livejournal.com]

Most are not elected, but none of them have the kind of power your super-voters would wield. You want to create a voter who could literally nullify the votes of thousands of humans so "birds" get representation.

Who said anything about "nullifying" anything?

[turil.livejournal.com]

Everyone's votes should count. But it sounds like you want to discriminate against certain individuals...

So I imagine that you are really bothered by the existence of this kind of "supervoter" that we already have, in the form of the folks who run the endangered species program.

Are you really that scared of others, or are you just being silly here, out of boredom or something?

My goal is to work with everyone to help us all be healthy and successful as we share our home (the planet). When we try to segregate the world and discriminate against others, we tend to get wars, which is just plain sucky for everyone in the end.

Re: Who said anything about "nullifying" anything?

[halleyscomet.livejournal.com]

"But it sounds like you want to discriminate against certain individuals..."

That's a bald faced lie. That assertion is not supported by anything I wrote and I think you know it.

I found you perplexing before. Now I understand your main problem.

You have NO clue how elections actually work and are unable to distinguish between government employees who are hired by elected officials and the officials themselves. You're also incapable of thinking though the results of the ideas you've been floating. You have a cute idea, but lack the will or capacity to think it through to the end.

The nullification I spoke of was just one consequence we would see if special voters were allocated to "vote" on behalf of large groups of animals and plants, as you seem to be advocating. I don't think you even understand what you're trying to propose. You just have a vague notion that "someone" is being left out of the voting process, but are unable to articulate anything more specific than "birds" and "aliens."

I'm sorry.

[turil.livejournal.com]

I'm clearly not offering you anything that you really enjoy. I'm sorry. Hopefully someone else will. I'd be happy to offer more of my perspective if you want, but it sounds like you don't appreciate hearing it. So I'll go do something else more productive. I wish you well.