Chatting around the dining table the other night, we reviewed all the laws that require sellers to fully disclose to the buyer the condition and relevant history of what is being sold. Such full disclosure provisions as apply to real estate, cars, firearm purchases, medicines, and so on.
So here we go again, voting for some smooth talking, slicked down Sam or Sally, and later we happen to find out that s/he has been fighting clinical depression for years, has a law degree from an online diploma mill, ran two businesses into the ground, smokes pot regularly, or mysteriously lost a spouse whose remains have never been found. You get my drift.
Wouldn’t it be better if there were a Candidates’ Full Disclosure of Material Facts law that requires each candidate to fill out an appropriately revealing questionnaire, and publish its answers online? The questionnaire would also ask if there were any other material factors or incidents in the candidate’s past that would bear on a decision by a reasonable voter to reject the candidate. The law would stipulate that knowingly providing false, incomplete, and/or inaccurate information constitutes perjury, and its subsequent discovery would be prima facie sufficient cause to start impeachment proceedings against the office holder.
Would such full disclosure laws on the books of the several states and in the US Code result in our becoming better informed voters while getting a better slate of candidates, and consequently a better set of politicians in office? Or would there be collateral effects that outweigh any benefits, advising us to just suck it in and be satisfied with being led by sleazebags and morons?
US Murder Rate History [Addended] (updated 27apr13)
George Rebane
In doing some research for the upcoming Breaking Bread episode on the Second Amendment, I found this clear summary of America’s murder rate. It is compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center using FBI statistics. These numbers and the trend overwhelm the infrequent episodic mass killings that have occurred over the last years.
Guns account for approximately 75% of the means used to murder people in America according to factcheck.org (I thought it would have been higher). The rate of guns used for murder has been going down for the last twenty years, while gun ownership has been steadily rising. In 2007 Americans owned about 89 guns for every 100 people. And other gun violence numbers also going down are ‘gun aggravated assault’ and ‘gun robberies’ which in 2011 were the lowest since 2004. All this goes to illustrate and highlight the bogus nature of the recently failed gun control bill in Congress, and the misleading arguments used by the nation's gun control crowd even before the Second Amendment considerations are included.
[Addendum] Apropos to the ongoing gun control debate, the following is a verbatim extract from one of several such emails that are circulating among conservatives, and fueling the polarization of Americans. I post the email in its entirety to let our liberal readers understand what also fuels the emotions of the Right; emotions that go beyond the more reasoned and measured arguments usually made by conservatives in defense of the Second Amendment, and the private ownership of arms and the concealed carry of guns. The Brunswick, Georgia mother most certainly could have used one, and should have had one to protect herself and her baby. The murder is reported by CNN here, and the Crime Library site gives some background here on the alleged killer’s family.
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Posted at 01:02 PM in Agenda 21, Critical Thinking & Numeracy, Culture Comments, Happenings, Our Country, We the Sheeple | Permalink | Comments (115) | TrackBack (0)