Maastricht Treaty revisions needed?

[kandrathe]

Why 'unfairly'? We live in a representative democracy. Two centuries ago, it was founded on what was an agricultural society. At that time, the rural areas dominated the politics. Since then, the situation has reversed. Now the urban areas dominate. Democracy is majority rule. What's unfair?

Mostly, the tension is on roads and schools. The urban area has the most need for upkeep on their paved roads, and every person on a dirt road wants theirs paved. With schools, there is the tensions over resources devoted to big suburban schools, versus smaller rural ones. It's not as bad as it was 30 years ago.

I used to think so, too. Perhaps I still do. But how do you ensure that people are educated? Especially given the indifference, even hostility, to education so many display nowadays? And how do you keep the ones who aren't educated from dominating the process?

We could make full-citizenship something earned, predicated on passing a secondary school test, and some amount of community, or military service. It might also be something you can lose, if you don't vote, and fail to occasionally serve the community.

A person who did well in school could get a perfect score, and yet not spend a second of his time following public issues or voting in elections. Someone who slept through his history and civic classes might get all those questions wrong, and yet by following the issues and voting would be more civically literate IMO. Too lazy to look up the source, but "A man who does not read is no different from a man who cannot read."

If we were talking about driving a car from A to B, then both the one who is actively incompetent, and the competent one asleep behind the wheel are a danger to the society.

But it is not. This is the fallacy of the 'honest work ethic'. Sometime in the last century, the human race reached a level of productivity such that the output of every member of the race was no longer needed for survival -- or indeed, for a comfortable life style.

Yes, and no. There is no mechanism, other than accumulated wealth, for who must work, and who gets to lay in bed and get fat. The system needs to be fair and equitable. Therefore, it is counterproductive to penalize productivity (with substantial taxation), and reward the unproductive with handouts and free programs. By equitable, I don't mean the redistribution of wealth to ensure everyone is equal.

I'll respond to the rest later... Work intrudes.