Political Reform Ideas

Seeing pictures of former employees walking with their personal effects (and trade secrets for future use?) boxes out of the revolving doors of the offices of the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers a few weeks ago, I was somehow reminded of the common ethics tool used by employers and many other institutions, known variously as disappearing, gone, out the door, and in the ancient usage: banishment.

As the insolvency and frozen credit crisis has yet to unthaw, like many other Americans, I have been trying to understand it. And given my lack of understanding of economics, my metaphor to grasp its meaning has remained decidedly literary and simple-minded. As I recall, it was Ernest Hemingway's character, Mike, who went bankrupt in The Sun Also Rises. Someone asked Mike how he went bankrupt. He replied, "Gradually, and then suddenly."

I first heard about a project called the Copenhagen Consensus a few years ago. As I understood the idea, it was all about prioritizing the world's greatest social and economic challenges and then deciding which solutions were the most effective, based on proven "what works" practices and on the results of "the biggest bang for the buck" social and community studies and research.

Today, August 5th is primary election day. In Ann Arbor, that means voters will be deciding the probable winners for the mayoral race as well as for City Council. There has been a lot of talk over the past decade (at least) about how America has become a nation of like-minded enclaves and clone communiities, where people hold the same political views and come from the same socioeconomic class.

Originally submitted by: barcode 2x

Originally submitted by: jadelay