Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Polistra is puzzled
Polistra: Numbers, numbers, numbers!
Author: What?
Polistra: These DC idiots don't make any damn sense. In most cases they look only at raw numbers, neglecting all other phenomena. And in other cases they consider raw numbers to be a crime.
Author: Okay, I'll bite. I've been constantly discussing the first part, but I haven't seen any case where the Expert Idiots dislike the use of raw numbers. What is it?
Polistra: This Blagojevich thing. He's just using pure free-market capitalism. In what we might call the "Political Service Industry", the usual sales transaction is hidden, distributed and indirect, like a cross between a Mortgage-Backed Security and a Zen koan. Companies and unions distribute money in small chunks across a variety of political action committees, and the politician then "happens" by "coincidence" to give them what they want. Well, anyone with any sense knows that you'll get in trouble that way. You're not allowed to sell a car that way, because it destroys the natural relationships of liability and warranties. If something goes wrong, you won't know who to ask. So this Blagojevich is doing business the old fashioned way, straight cash and carry. No hidden fucking derivatives, no distributed fucking liability, no indirect fucking hints. You give me 500,000 fucking dollars, and I give you the fucking Senate seat. What the fuck is wrong with that? Not one fucking thing that I can fucking see.
Author: Now that you put it that way, I can't see anything wrong either. In fact, Blagojevich has returned to the original notion of the Senate. Before the 17th Amendment, each Senator was a direct delegate from the government of his State. They were appointed, I think, by the state legislature. The 17th turned the Senate into an expensive private club that represents nothing, because each Senator isn't really answerable to anyone. We were better off when Senators had to answer directly to the governor and legislature. If we did it the Blago way, each Senator would be directly owned by the governor ... so he would have, as you say, a warranty, a contract to fulfill. Yes, I really like the Blago method. Unfortunately, our DC traitors prefer to represent enemy nations, so they are naturally in a monstrous uproar over this attempt to have a Senator who represents a state.
Polistra: But wouldn't the money have to go the other way around? I mean, the governor would have to buy the senator. In this case the governor is selling the office to the senator.
Author: Hmm. In a strict commercial way, yes ... maybe the analogy doesn't work well. But I still think Blago would effectively own that senator, because the senator would know that Blago could sell the office to a higher bidder at any time.
Polistra: Yeah, that does make sense, even though the analogy fails. ¶ 8:55 AM
Polistra: Numbers, numbers, numbers!
Author: What?
Polistra: These DC idiots don't make any damn sense. In most cases they look only at raw numbers, neglecting all other phenomena. And in other cases they consider raw numbers to be a crime.
Author: Okay, I'll bite. I've been constantly discussing the first part, but I haven't seen any case where the Expert Idiots dislike the use of raw numbers. What is it?
Polistra: This Blagojevich thing. He's just using pure free-market capitalism. In what we might call the "Political Service Industry", the usual sales transaction is hidden, distributed and indirect, like a cross between a Mortgage-Backed Security and a Zen koan. Companies and unions distribute money in small chunks across a variety of political action committees, and the politician then "happens" by "coincidence" to give them what they want. Well, anyone with any sense knows that you'll get in trouble that way. You're not allowed to sell a car that way, because it destroys the natural relationships of liability and warranties. If something goes wrong, you won't know who to ask. So this Blagojevich is doing business the old fashioned way, straight cash and carry. No hidden fucking derivatives, no distributed fucking liability, no indirect fucking hints. You give me 500,000 fucking dollars, and I give you the fucking Senate seat. What the fuck is wrong with that? Not one fucking thing that I can fucking see.
Author: Now that you put it that way, I can't see anything wrong either. In fact, Blagojevich has returned to the original notion of the Senate. Before the 17th Amendment, each Senator was a direct delegate from the government of his State. They were appointed, I think, by the state legislature. The 17th turned the Senate into an expensive private club that represents nothing, because each Senator isn't really answerable to anyone. We were better off when Senators had to answer directly to the governor and legislature. If we did it the Blago way, each Senator would be directly owned by the governor ... so he would have, as you say, a warranty, a contract to fulfill. Yes, I really like the Blago method. Unfortunately, our DC traitors prefer to represent enemy nations, so they are naturally in a monstrous uproar over this attempt to have a Senator who represents a state.
Polistra: But wouldn't the money have to go the other way around? I mean, the governor would have to buy the senator. In this case the governor is selling the office to the senator.
Author: Hmm. In a strict commercial way, yes ... maybe the analogy doesn't work well. But I still think Blago would effectively own that senator, because the senator would know that Blago could sell the office to a higher bidder at any time.
Polistra: Yeah, that does make sense, even though the analogy fails. ¶ 8:55 AM
