The Advantages of a Federal System

When this country was founded, the thinkers who designed its government made a careful effort to give the people real power to impact the way the government was involved in their lives.  The more obvious way they did this was through a system of representative democracy whereby the people are allowed to choose their own leaders from among themselves with a short enough turnover that leaders must be responsive to the popular will.

Less obviously, but not less importantly, they instituted a federal system to divide powers and responsibilities among various levels of government.  This was not done simply to prevent the accumulation of too much power in the hands of single individuals, but of too many.  This was done so that one’s votes for officials could more meaningfully represents one’s beliefs.

For instance, right now, most people will claim that their votes don’t matter, and they are largely correct.  First of all, the fact that we still rely on the electoral system for choosing the President means that only a few “swing states” actually have much chance of impacting the election.  Perversely, they are the most moderate states, while those most enthusiastic in their beliefs are least likely to affect it!  However, this is only important to us because so much power has been usurped by the national government, leaving us essentially without representation except in selection of the President, where also less than 25% of the states are truly represented.

It was never supposed to be this way.  The enumerated powers of Congress and of the President were intended to be exhaustive lists of what powers they are allowed.  The point was to have a national government whose purpose would be limited to affairs within and between the states and other sovereign entities.  This separation would allow voters to select representatives for the national government as their choice on foreign policy, and on foreign policy alone!  Other matters were reserved for states each to work out on their own, freeing voters from linking their foreign policy choices with their domestic choices.

Meanwhile, because each state was free to develop its own Constitution, citizens would have a variety of options in choosing how to be governed.  Not just because each state would develop its own laws creating social conditions more or less to one’s liking, but because each provided a different division of local and state authority as well.  In some states, for instance, a mayor might be the most powerful man you’ll meet, which gives you significant power in choosing who rules you, or a series of legislative bodies could share most sovereignty, granting citizens extreme protection against corruption and tyranny.

Unfortunately, this added layer of democracy has faded from our system, and we are forced to vote as one among tens of millions for three national figures whose powers are so vast and varied that they have precious little idea for which reason(s) any given individual is supporting them.  This frees our leaders to be unresponsive and corrupt, which they have eagerly become.

If we want our politicians to be more honest, we need to make each one responsible for fewer things.  If we did, each could be held accountable for what he said he would do in each instance, and indeed each can know with more clarity what her constituents desire.  This could be achieved in either of two ways: the first would be to move closer to a unitary system and have the People elect cabinet heads, whose powers would be fleshed out in writing.  The other would be to move back toward the federal system we began with by peeling away powers (and funding) from the national government and returning it to the states to divide and use as their people see fit.

I favor a return to the federal system because it would give voters a greater proportional amount of power in deciding how they are governed, as well as the option to vote “with their feet” by leaving one state for another whose laws and governing style are more aligned with their preferences.  However, I would also support a move to elect federal department heads because it would give us much more power to influence the actual operation of federal power on us, and a clearer way for our votes to communicate our preferences on issues of national government.  No matter how it is done, I believe we need to rework our system to give voters more real power to impact the way we are governed.

It's a Boy!

I realize my rate of publishing is rather sluggish, so instead of trying to finish putting my new ideas down, here's another doodle from a few years ago.  No, I wasn't depressed at the time; I was just channeling the emotion.

"It's a boy," said the doctor, but meant a great deal more. On a very superficial level, he meant, "Your baby is healthy enough that the only thing worth mentioning is his sex, and you can rest now. Excellent job."
"It's a boy," he said, probably happy for the new mother. Perhaps he was also a bit disappointed. That depends on his view about whether or not sons or daughters or neither or either is preferable, but he meant something by it, whether he thinks so or not.
"It's a boy," he said. Here is a new person. A complete human being: fresh, untarnished, unprejudiced, perfect. Just like you and me, but without any history of mistakes and wrong choices; innocent.
"It's a boy," he said. Someday, he will be a man, with all the same emotions as the rest of us. He will have hopes and successes, talents and dreams, friendships and family.
"It's a boy," he said. Here is Hope. Here is Possibility. Here is someone who has the potential to develop into a great mover and shaker, a deep thinker, a visionary artist, a financial titan, a hero. Here is someone who can be great, who can achieve more than we have, who can fix problems we couldn't, who can move us forward.
"It's a boy," he said. Let us rejoice.

"The doctor said all of this 24 years ago, when I was born. He was a fool. He was naive, and so is everyone else who imagines so much from a baby. All people are born infants, and all are born with the same apparent potential and flawlessness. Because all were born as such and all now have less potential, less perfection, it follows that it is unrealistic to expect any infant to develop into anything more than just another regular person, as discontent and powerless as any other.
When someone is born, he'd be better off climbing back into the womb and suffocating. Ahead of him is a harsh, unforgiving world full of hard lessons and unfulfilling rewards. Nothing he achieves will ever seem sufficient, and every failure will cut him to his soul. He is doomed, as are we all, to a life full of disappointment, inconvenience, shame, hate, and insincerity. Brief episodes of happiness will be followed by long stretches of boredom and discomfort.
There is no getting ahead. I weary of this Hell. Perhaps the next will be more to my liking.”

-- -- --

"It's a man!" cried the old woman, craning her neck to see what was floating above the water. She meant a great deal more by it.

The Seat

A few years ago, I had made a habit of writing extremely short stories for fun. I call them "doodles" because they were not serious works, involved little or no planning, and were generally not intended for any but a very select few to see. Most of them are awful, and y'all'll never have an opportunity to read them. However, I am proud of how several of them turned out, and this seems as good a place as any to publish them.

This particular story was written as part of an exercise with a friend back at Berkeley. We used a random word generator online to pick a word that would act as the theme of whatever we were to write, and then had a time limit (I think it was an hour. Maybe two?) to produce something to share. Come to think of it, this was the only time we tried this, a fact I now regret. I should contact him about doing this more regularly, especially since he lives in a different state now and we don't get much opportunity to interact anymore. Anyway, without further ado, here is "The Seat."

Howard was comfortable. Not, perhaps, in the sense you normally think of when using this word. In fact, the seat he occupied was old, smelly, and had a spring that poked at him every time he shifted his weight the wrong way, which was often.

Many years hence, it had been a fair enough piece of furniture; brand new from the manufacturers. That had been when he was a mere boy living in his parents’ home. Those days were long gone. He was in his forties now, and the couch was in his own home. Well, not really his own; he was renting it. But he thought of it as his own, for he had been the only permanent occupant there for seventeen years.

Howard had spent his entire life in this seat. As a child, he’d spent innumerable hours watching TV and doing homework on this very same cushion. He’d spent nearly every afternoon staring outside, awaiting his dad’s return, whether in anticipation or dread. His first kiss had been right here. So had his first alcohol-induced black-out. Now, and for the past decade at least, it stood vigilantly watching a series of ever-improving television sets. To say it was worn would be like saying the sun is bright.

Howard was very comfortable in this seat. Not because it was soft; it wasn’t. Not because it supported his weight evenly; it didn’t. Not because it was clean; not by a long shot. In fact, anyone else who tried to sit on the old hunk of junk would probably be about as comfortable sitting on grimy, pointed rocks. But for Howard, it was quite comfortable.

It was in this very seat that he had watched the prime of his life dwindle away like the batteries in his remote control. From this seat, he had watched his body go through far too many seasons, decreasing in appeal like all his favorite shows. From this seat, taking out the garbage seemed like a major accomplishment, while all his dreams became as empty as last night’s pizza box. Howard was far too comfortable in this seat.

He hated it. This seat had conquered him. He did not know what to do except sit down in it and watch TV. Everything else seemed to be impossibly foreign and undesirable, for he was so comfortable sitting there. Yet every minute he lounged on this spot was sheer misery for him. If only he had the courage to stand up and walk outside. If only he had the courage to call somebody, anybody on the phone. If only he had the courage to put it out on the curb and end its terrible reign once and for all! But it would never be so. Howard was comfortable.

An Introduction

Greetings, reader!

Welcome to my blog. I have toyed with the notion of creating a blog many times. I've even done an introduction more than once before. Why didn't I create it? Distraction. I have always had things to write about, and I've never been shy about publishing them. I've even gone so far as to type up ideas with the intention of sharing and then leave them completely obscured in a folder on my computer. I just got repeatedly side-tracked before ever posting anything. Well, those days are no more. The time has finally come for me to read through that folder and start putting my thoughts up to be seen. I have no specific theme or intent with this blog -- simply to write, at greater length than is conducive to social networking sites, about subjects which I find important, interesting, upsetting, or humorous. I hope you will find value in what you behold.

The fact that you are reading this now indicates that there is a very high probability that you already know who I am. If this is not the case, I have included a very brief autobiography so that you can get an idea of where I am coming from when forming your prejudices.

Brief biography:
My name is Ben. I have lived my entire life in Los Angeles. I am 24 years old, married to Mariam, and father to Eleanor (Almost 9 months). I have two older brothers, an older sister, and two little sisters. We are of mixed-race heritage (Chinese/White). We were home-schooled until my parents divorced and I started 9th grade. I received my BA in Economics from the University of Berkeley and my Masters in Education from Pepperdine University. I was born and raised in the Presbyterian church. I currently teach Government at a charter high school.