81–90 of 178 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there not a limit case? Would you tell people in China, "if you are disappointed with politics, vote in your People's Congress elections?"
Assuming there's a choice, I'm not familiar with Chinese elections, then yes. Why not vote? What is the advantage of that?
If you disagree with both of those things, voting has no positive and results only in negatives.
Interesting that it was a German law. I was under the impression that German law was pretty conservative on data collection.
In general, yes, and I think Germans are (at least in theory) much more protective of their data than others. Nonetheless, every government since the late 00s has been trying to push this through in one form or another. I suspect there is heavy lobbying from within the professional bureaucracy (including police and IC) for this. Possibly also diplomatic pressure from countries like the US.
Perhaps it's "always has been", it's just laughably easy to do with software these days.
Our data retention laws get overturned all the time. Usually already by our constitutional courts. Sadly our politicians don’t care much and don’t get punished, so they just try it again and again and again and usually it’s in effect for a while before the courts give judgement. I really can’t explain where Politikverdrossenheit (political apathy) comes from. edit: The last sentence is sarcasm
Don't worry. Today's newspapers reports that our fine ministerin is already looking to find and exploit loopholes in the judgement and will try to implement as much as possible [1]. It's a shame. We tend to criticize EU for a million valid reasons, but once in a while when they do something right, our government first reflex is to just ignore it. [1] (German) https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2022-09/vorratsdat…
Though if the next cabinet in a few years includes the CDU (christian democrats), they'll try again.
Our data retention laws get overturned all the time. Usually already by our constitutional courts. Sadly our politicians don’t care much and don’t get punished, so they just try it again and again and again and usually it’s in effect for a while before the courts give judgement. I really can’t explain where Politikverdrossenheit (political apathy) comes from. edit: The last sentence is sarcasm
Out of curiosity, doesn't Germany have the equivalent of a constitutional watchdog? For example in Estonia, the president fills this role (as do some other constitutions, but the president is a good example in this context). The president is otherwise a purely ceremonial figurehead in Estonia, but one functional role they fill is that before any new bill becomes law, they have to sign off on it and declare it's const…
Interesting that it was a German law. I was under the impression that German law was pretty conservative on data collection.
In general, yes, and I think Germans are (at least in theory) much more protective of their data than others. Nonetheless, every government since the late 00s has been trying to push this through in one form or another. I suspect there is heavy lobbying from within the professional bureaucracy (including police and IC) for this. Possibly also diplomatic pressure from countries like the US.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Assuming there's a choice, I'm not familiar with Chinese elections, then yes. Why not vote? What is the advantage of that?
Voting provides legitimacy to the winner of the election and to the election process itself. If you disagree with both of those things, voting has no positive and results only in negatives.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The process of voting is legitimate. Does giving legitimacy to voting accomplish anytime? What about protesting the system by not voting, does that do anything?
> The process of voting is legitimate. What do you mean by this? If I (a dictator) were to hold an election but require 90% approval to unseat me, that would be a "legitimate" process because it includes voting? Do you not understand what I am saying? > What about protesting the system by not voting, does that do anything? Arguably yes. Afghanistan's state legitimacy collapsed as basically fewer than 10% of people vo…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Assuming there's a choice, I'm not familiar with Chinese elections, then yes. Why not vote? What is the advantage of that?
Of course there is a choice. You get "Person A" from the CCP or "Person B" from the CCP. I mean even in the DPRK, you can vote for whoever you want. Its what happens afterwards..