tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3108887851727398892.post4400617042345132735..comments2008-10-29T05:50:42.229-07:00Lakin Weckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00259375099647799314noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3108887851727398892.post-78789364917389154872008-10-29T05:50:00.000-07:002008-10-29T05:50:00.000-07:00Thanks Steve - that's a great quote.Lakin Weckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00259375099647799314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3108887851727398892.post-15111038187999416202008-10-28T22:20:00.000-07:002008-10-28T22:20:00.000-07:00After reading your post I couldn't hold this quote back!<BR/><BR/>"The biggest argument against democracy is a five minute discussion with the average voter." -Winston ChurchillStevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17819946019595816684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3108887851727398892.post-33142999527105500322008-10-14T04:49:00.000-07:002008-10-14T04:49:00.000-07:00I should probably read the source material on [2] as well. If you get around to it, please let me know if it's something that has truth to it, or if it's a journalist getting it wrong.Lakin Weckerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00259375099647799314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3108887851727398892.post-49279209135659279742008-10-13T22:12:00.000-07:002008-10-13T22:12:00.000-07:00It is odd that anyone would make the "biology" claim, when anyone with even slight familiarity with biology should be able to tell you that in many animals sex is a social as well as reproductive behavior and homosexuality can be positively selected for for that reason. This is particularly true in humans and other apes (see: bonobos).<BR/><BR/>I was personally going to wait to read the source material on [2] before repeating it. Not that the one-sidedness of this doesn't sound "truthy" to me. It's just that this wouldn't be the first time that a clueless journalist or editor didn't read the whole paper and slapped a title on an article that, ironically, demonstrates the premise in an unexpected way. <BR/><BR/>I am not ready to throw in the towel on representative government, but it is increasingly clear to me that (in the US at least) we will have to accept that the Constitution is not a perfect document and that we need additional structural protections from the wealthy, from religions, and from what now amounts to a constitutional dictatorship. Of course the idea that the framers were imperfect is not likely to catch fire anytime soon, and depending on the specific conditions things could go the other direction in very bad ways.Dan McKinleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16303505992331612487noreply@blogger.com