Comment by thakoppno

4 months ago

> I actually do real political work

I’m not even sure why but this sentiment rubs me the wrong way.

Perhaps it’s that what’s resonated most to me about democracy is the premise that it is all “for the people, of the people, by the people.”

There’s something exclusive about that statement.

Yes. The people are supposed to do work. Believe me: ordinary people who strongly disagree with a lot of what's being said on this thread are doing the work, showing up and complaining about "defund the police" people being behind any limitations on ALPRs at all. I had to argue with them! You are responsible for engaging on this, because, contrary to the claim at the top of the thread, this simply is not a "red line".

That's the "magic" of democracy. It makes states stable because the government is theoretically representative which adds a ton of friction to the usual "we'll just throw the kind and his court off a cliff because they don't represent us and install some lords who do" workflow.