Slashdot editors are Americans. The people who are supposed to edit stories speak the American dialect. So what is your point exactly? That because there are people in the world for who [sic] English is not the first language it is okay for a person for who [sic] it is, [sic] to suck at it?
Hi, I'm not American, English is my first language, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the first sentence of TFS. Unlike the first sentence of your post
Is it safe to presume that Munich has similar "open" access to the city budget processes that we enjoy here in America. It would be an interesting project to monitor their IT budget for the next five years. If it goes down then we can agree the project is a success. If it doesn't, I think we can say that they did a great job of re-inventing the wheel.
Even if it doesn't go down, it would be worth looking at where the money spent is going. If it's going to businesses in Bayern instead of to Microsoft, it'll be a bonus. Also, don't forget the non-fiscal incentives for moving away from the previous setup, particularly data lockin.
Yes. On my previous job they asked me to create a schematic, and of course I had to wait a week for the IT staff to show-up and install the necessary machine on my machine. While I was waiting I searched for OSS CAD alternatives, gave each one a quick spin, and determined they were all inadequate.
Inadequate for what? gEDA has been successfully used to design several satellite payloads, at least one multi-FPGA number crunchers, software-defined radio equipment, SDSL modems, and very high power converters for wave power applications. The only major downside is that it's not supported on Windows.
(Disclosure: I'm a developer.)
For ASIC design, every IC design shop I've worked at has used Cadence and/or Synopsys running on Serious Hardware in the server room, accessed by engineers using some sort of remote desktop system (either X over SSH or a VNC-alike).
For mechanical CAD, ProE runs just fine on Linux.
The issue isn't that Munich wants to switch to Open Source for everything -- even as a FOSS developer myself, I'd be the first to admit that for some (many?) applications there isn't a FOSS solution on the market -- but that they want to standardise on a single, open platform that includes all of the standard "productivity" applications, and as much other stuff as makes sense.
Of course, telling people to "get balls and a backbone" just because they disagree with your approach isn't abusive in the slightest...
Right, so tell the people who come on here proudly crowing to everyone that they're "sticking it to the man" just because they're greedy leechers who want something for nothing to stop also - because I'm *SICK AND TIRED* of subsidising their music habits...
Actually, I believe the "balls and a backbone" comment was originally directed at me, and as I've mentioned, I may be a member of the Pirate Party, but I keep within the law (apart from the two utterly retarded facts that I break the law when I rip a CD [which I paid for] to a media player [which I own], and that I'm a criminal for using libdvdcss to watch a movie [which I paid for] on a Linux computer [which I own]). At no point have I claimed that I'm "sticking it to the man".
Your puerile ad hominem attacks don't make your argument any stronger -- they just underline your inability to understand that other people may actually disagree with you because they have principles and morals. We're seeking change through informed public debate and the ballot box; you're ranting semi-coherently on the Internet. Maybe it's you who needs to grow up?
Is there a list of constituencies where you guys are standing in the GE?
Watch this space... we'll be announcing our first few PPCs very soon now!
If you're not standing in my constituency, which of the other parties or independents have the most similar stance to the UKPP on the technology front?
Despite the frankly bizarre activities of the Liberal Democrat Lords, the Lib Dems are actually the closest of the "mainstream" parties to our position -- albeit still being ever-so-far away.
Don't forget that even if we're not standing a candidate in your area you can still help us by joining the Party, volunteering to help PPUK candidates in constituencies near your, or donating!
My friend, stop with the politics because it's actually very simple - if it's too expensive, don't buy it. Then grow a backbone and don't copy it either.
Very good advice indeed, and not only is that my approach, but I recommend it to everyone else as well. Check out sites like Jamendo. Also, donate to support those artists and corporations who have a 21st-Century approach to distribution.
When you start hitting these mega-corporations in their wallets, then they will start to listen to you.
This just isn't true. If you stop pirating, and buy their media, they decide that their increased income is because the anti-pirate measures (DRM, horrific legislation, etc) are working, so they work to get more of them. On the other hand, if you stop pirating, and don't buy their media, they decide that their decreased income is because the anti-pirate measures (DRM, horrific legislation, etc) aren't working, so they work to get more of them.
Screwed if you do, screwed if you don't.
I -- and the Pirate Party -- have absolutely no intention of "[stopping] with the politics." The erosion of civil liberties and privacy rights being pushed for by the international media cartel are totally disproportionate to the actual damage they are suffering (minimal), and are fundamentally unjust, and deserve to be fought against.
Who can afford the lawyers? Now if they really wanted to make this work (don't forget that all parties in england have to pacify the media/content owners. Do you want to upset the content producers and then be ridiculed forever in every piece of content? Go ahead, suggest the BBC should be privatized, see how long your public image survives. Yesterday the BBC aired an entirely self serving copyright program that showed only the content owners point of view. How suprising)
Well, we upset the content producers by our very existence, but we still seem to be getting some media coverage -- indeed, several media organisations have contacted us in the last few hours asking for statements!
We've published a press release about last night's Panorama programme:
The Pirate Party UK has come out as highly critical of the BBC's recent Panorama programme for its disappointing coverage of the Digital Economy Bill.
Although Panorama attempted to give a fair hearing to both sides of the controversy surrounding the bill, it was ultimately considered inadequate. In particular, the BBC was criticised for its failure to get informed commentary from organisations opposed to the bill, such as the Open Rights Group, Coadec and the Pirate Party, meaning that the arguments both for and against the Digital Economy Bill were incomplete, largely misrepresented and often factually inaccurate.
Maybe you can inform us of how you 'change' to accomodate [sic] the fact that people are takuing [sic] your output for free and not paying a single penny
What is wrong with the UK? All I ever see are stories about another stupid thing you guys are doing.
Not trolling. Think about it. Slashdot is like 7% stories about stupid privacy/internet stories from the UK.
There are a number of reasons for that:
The UK is an English-speaking country, which means that there are a large number of UK-based Slashdot readers and submitters.
At the moment, the UK government has a hard-on for copyrights. The vast majority of the Slashdot stories you've seen are actually all talking about the same thing: the Digital Economy Bill, a piece of legislation that's been in the works for some time. It started back in 2008, when the Digital Britain report was commissioned. That report was delivered, there was some proposed legislation written up, a consultation was carried out, the consultation results were published, the Digital Economy Bill was introduced in the Queen's Speech, and then the Bill has been working its way through the many stages of the UK's parliamentary legislative process. Slashdot has been reporting on all of those different points in the same process.
The UK has several highly Internet-aware groups campaigning against this process, and they've been doing their best to get as much media attention on the Bill -- and its multiple issues -- as possible. That naturally includes getting as much coverage as possible on sites like Slashdot, because Slashdot's target demographic is the same demographic that's likely to be sympathetic to their position!
There are plenty of other countries where privacy/Internet asshattery is going on (such as France), but Slashdot isn't quite such an appropriate forum.
Anyway, all of the above doesn't diminish the fact that the UK government really doesn't have a clue when it comes to the Internet, and doesn't rate privacy very highly on its list of priorities.
Unfortunately, this story is already out-of-date. The Government denied the Liberal Democrat peers the ability to amend the amendment, saying that they'd sort it out themselves during "washing-up", the period just before the General Election when ministers and last-term backbenchers rush through last-minute legislation with minimal debate while the majority of MPs return to their constituencies to campaign.
In Germany it is seen as a totalitarian anti-democratic organization
If only somebody in Germany had the guts to say the same thing about Catholicism, or for that matter Islam.
The thing is, though, that they aren't. If you're a Catholic, no-one's going to try and make your life a living hell if you want to stop coming to church. People say horrible and untrue thing about Catholics and the Catholic Church all the time, but they don't try and abuse the legal system to stop them, because they recognise the importance of freedom of speech. You can get all of the advantages and privileges of being a member of the Catholic Church for free just by turning up; you don't have to pay to access any of its teachings.
To describe Catholicism as a "totalitarian anti-democratic organisation" and thereby making a direct comparison to Scientology is simply doing your own intelligence and critical thinking skills a disservice.
If I could vote for the UK Parliament (i'm not a UK or Commonwealth national, so I can't vote in those elections) they would have my vote.
I am and I still can't vote for the UK Pirate Party. I would if I could, but they don't have anyone standing for election in my area. It's like some kind of pseudo-democracy.
Want to stand as a candidate in the general election? Get in touch with us.
Last I checked, my password identified me as me, why the extra unnecessary step? Because they want you to actually read their shovelware app spam to make money.
If you don't mind, could you tell us which Maemo phone you have? I'm interested in them and short of hearing a more extensive review, I'd like to know which model you are so happy with.
Throw us a bone here: what the heck do you think NASA should be developing w.r.t. launch technology?
This portion of the thread is not about launch technology. Its about in-space refueling of vehicles with propellants that are hard to lift, tricky to handle, and exceedingly dangerous.
Dammit, reading comprehension let me down again!. I thought you were complaining about current launch technology. In my defence, I do notice that the set of people complaining that rockets are so last century does substantially intersect with the people who hate space elevators, and this observation inspired my comment.
Some of my colleagues here at Surrey Space Centre are working on helicon double-layer thrusters (a type of electric propulsion) which has a lot of promise, but to make them suitable for manned interplanetary flight there's a really important question to be answered: how, if the environmental nuts won't let us put fission piles in space, do we power these things? You're probably also aware of the VASIMR project, which IIRC NASA are continuing to fund.
Re in orbit refueling: LH2 and LO2 are actually pretty good. You lift a tank full of distilled water (contains hydrogen and oxygen in exactly the correct proportions, dense, easy to store, non-toxic, environmentally friendly), and when it arrives at your in-orbit refueling centre, you electrolyse it and liquefy the products using abundant solar energy. Since most of space has a temperature of ~ 4 K, you can store the propellants easily as long as you keep the storage tanks in the shade. What's the big deal?
We are never going to get out of sight with our current propellant technology. The money spent on this is a waste, like building yet another pony express station. Its time to focus in another direction.
I notice that the people who keep saying this are the same people who pour ridicule on NASAs funding of the initial development of technologies needed for a space elevator, and decry nuclear rockets as too unsafe and environmentally unfriendly.
Throw us a bone here: what the heck do you think NASA should be developing w.r.t. launch technology?
Religion ("believing in something") is considered more important than science ("examining things"). So what is the surprise in that education in general goes down the drain? The home-schooling religious right has one thing correct: Education is fundamentally hostile to religion and all the other "we already have the answers" bullshit bingo.
Right, so that's why monks were the first groups of people in the modern era to set up organised schools for teaching things like grammar, mathematics, logic and philosophy (hence grammar schools). And why the Vatican has an official astronomer and funds serious astronomical research.
All through my (admittedly very conservative) Catholic upbringing, the preachers and teachers I encountered always emphasised not only the benefits of a deep and broad education, but also the importance of critical thinking, the dialectic method in theology and the necessity of questioning and understanding the rationale for belief.
I think that identifying organised religion with blind, anti-rational and anti-scientific viewpoints and hostility to education, or asserting some sort of mutual exclusivity between belief and critical thinking, would be a bigoted and foolish mistake on your part. Of course, since I am clearly a member of the "religious right", and was home-schooled to the age of seven, I expect you to dismiss my opinion completely.
The full prices aren't that great but they do often run deals and occasionally there'll be a pretty competitively priced game - considering the fact that you get to play sooner, it's not always the worst option. I've never bought one that way though (I refuse to have a credit card and it seems they don't, or didn't when I last tried, accept debit cards in the UK).
My Lloyds TSB debit card has worked absolutely fine with Steam for as long as I can remember.
Peter, it's clear there's no arguing with you, since you know more from wherever your keyboard is, than a person living in NH & deeply involved with civic life here.
Please, enough sarcastic ad hominem arguments already. My keyboard is located in the UK, and no, I do not know much about NH. I couldn't even point it out on a map.
As you may recall, there's been a big storm of excrement over here in the last year about MPs' pay, and when someone suggests not paying MPs, the questions I asked in my post are always presented.
May I suggest that people will be more interested in engaging in a meaningful debate with you if you don't automatically assume that their questions and concerns are insincere?
If "only wealthy people" ran for State Rep, how come one of mine is a farmer who'se on the brink of bankruptcy? How come another of my state reps is a carpenter who could really use a few more jobs during the hard winter season?
Good question. How come? Perhaps, rather than providing anecdotes, you could provide a cogent explanation of how the NH legislature avoids the pitfall of being dominated by individuals with prior wealth, and why you expect it to avoid that problem in the future. Are there specific conditions in NH that make such a system work well? Do you think it would work as well for the US Congress, for example?
"But since you know everything, I'll make someone else a deal. Uh-huh the packet-MAN!"
New Hampshire really is unique in terms of the structure of its government. You know we don't pay our politicians? There's no money to be made. Does wonders at reducing corruption.
Does it really? Surely not paying your politicians means that only wealthy people are willing to run for government, thus skewing the proportions with which certain demographics are represented in the state legislature?
You forcibly reduce salaries to 65k a year and you'll see he number of people willing to pony up the money and the twelve 'best' years of their life to med school drop through the fucking floor.
As a data point, the average NHS GP in the UK earns £115,000 (about $188,000).
Slashdot Mirror
Slashdot editors are Americans. The people who are supposed to edit stories speak the American dialect. So what is your point exactly? That because there are people in the world for who [sic] English is not the first language it is okay for a person for who [sic] it is, [sic] to suck at it?
Hi, I'm not American, English is my first language, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the first sentence of TFS. Unlike the first sentence of your post
Is it safe to presume that Munich has similar "open" access to the city budget processes that we enjoy here in America. It would be an interesting project to monitor their IT budget for the next five years. If it goes down then we can agree the project is a success. If it doesn't, I think we can say that they did a great job of re-inventing the wheel.
Even if it doesn't go down, it would be worth looking at where the money spent is going. If it's going to businesses in Bayern instead of to Microsoft, it'll be a bonus. Also, don't forget the non-fiscal incentives for moving away from the previous setup, particularly data lockin.
Yes. On my previous job they asked me to create a schematic, and of course I had to wait a week for the IT staff to show-up and install the necessary machine on my machine. While I was waiting I searched for OSS CAD alternatives, gave each one a quick spin, and determined they were all inadequate.
Inadequate for what? gEDA has been successfully used to design several satellite payloads, at least one multi-FPGA number crunchers, software-defined radio equipment, SDSL modems, and very high power converters for wave power applications. The only major downside is that it's not supported on Windows.
(Disclosure: I'm a developer.)
For ASIC design, every IC design shop I've worked at has used Cadence and/or Synopsys running on Serious Hardware in the server room, accessed by engineers using some sort of remote desktop system (either X over SSH or a VNC-alike).
For mechanical CAD, ProE runs just fine on Linux.
The issue isn't that Munich wants to switch to Open Source for everything -- even as a FOSS developer myself, I'd be the first to admit that for some (many?) applications there isn't a FOSS solution on the market -- but that they want to standardise on a single, open platform that includes all of the standard "productivity" applications, and as much other stuff as makes sense.
Of course, telling people to "get balls and a backbone" just because they disagree with your approach isn't abusive in the slightest...
Right, so tell the people who come on here proudly crowing to everyone that they're "sticking it to the man" just because they're greedy leechers who want something for nothing to stop also - because I'm *SICK AND TIRED* of subsidising their music habits...
Actually, I believe the "balls and a backbone" comment was originally directed at me, and as I've mentioned, I may be a member of the Pirate Party, but I keep within the law (apart from the two utterly retarded facts that I break the law when I rip a CD [which I paid for] to a media player [which I own], and that I'm a criminal for using libdvdcss to watch a movie [which I paid for] on a Linux computer [which I own]). At no point have I claimed that I'm "sticking it to the man".
Your puerile ad hominem attacks don't make your argument any stronger -- they just underline your inability to understand that other people may actually disagree with you because they have principles and morals. We're seeking change through informed public debate and the ballot box; you're ranting semi-coherently on the Internet. Maybe it's you who needs to grow up?
There's never been a better time to start our own party.
"Sick of those other arseholes? Join us!"
No, join us! There's still enough time to put yourself forward as a candidate for the Pirate Party!
Is there a list of constituencies where you guys are standing in the GE?
Watch this space... we'll be announcing our first few PPCs very soon now!
If you're not standing in my constituency, which of the other parties or independents have the most similar stance to the UKPP on the technology front?
Despite the frankly bizarre activities of the Liberal Democrat Lords, the Lib Dems are actually the closest of the "mainstream" parties to our position -- albeit still being ever-so-far away.
Don't forget that even if we're not standing a candidate in your area you can still help us by joining the Party, volunteering to help PPUK candidates in constituencies near your, or donating!
My friend, stop with the politics because it's actually very simple - if it's too expensive, don't buy it. Then grow a backbone and don't copy it either.
Very good advice indeed, and not only is that my approach, but I recommend it to everyone else as well. Check out sites like Jamendo. Also, donate to support those artists and corporations who have a 21st-Century approach to distribution.
When you start hitting these mega-corporations in their wallets, then they will start to listen to you.
This just isn't true. If you stop pirating, and buy their media, they decide that their increased income is because the anti-pirate measures (DRM, horrific legislation, etc) are working, so they work to get more of them. On the other hand, if you stop pirating, and don't buy their media, they decide that their decreased income is because the anti-pirate measures (DRM, horrific legislation, etc) aren't working, so they work to get more of them.
Screwed if you do, screwed if you don't.
I -- and the Pirate Party -- have absolutely no intention of "[stopping] with the politics." The erosion of civil liberties and privacy rights being pushed for by the international media cartel are totally disproportionate to the actual damage they are suffering (minimal), and are fundamentally unjust, and deserve to be fought against.
Who can afford the lawyers? Now if they really wanted to make this work (don't forget that all parties in england have to pacify the media/content owners. Do you want to upset the content producers and then be ridiculed forever in every piece of content? Go ahead, suggest the BBC should be privatized, see how long your public image survives. Yesterday the BBC aired an entirely self serving copyright program that showed only the content owners point of view. How suprising)
Well, we upset the content producers by our very existence, but we still seem to be getting some media coverage -- indeed, several media organisations have contacted us in the last few hours asking for statements!
We've published a press release about last night's Panorama programme:
The Pirate Party UK has come out as highly critical of the BBC's recent Panorama programme for its disappointing coverage of the Digital Economy Bill.
Although Panorama attempted to give a fair hearing to both sides of the controversy surrounding the bill, it was ultimately considered inadequate. In particular, the BBC was criticised for its failure to get informed commentary from organisations opposed to the bill, such as the Open Rights Group, Coadec and the Pirate Party, meaning that the arguments both for and against the Digital Economy Bill were incomplete, largely misrepresented and often factually inaccurate.
...
Panorama: Separating Fact from Fiction
Maybe you can inform us of how you 'change' to accomodate [sic] the fact that people are takuing [sic] your output for free and not paying a single penny
Except you're a troll, because:
Some good changes that the industry could make would be to, firstly, stop lying, and secondly, to stop trying to criminalise their own best customers
What is wrong with the UK? All I ever see are stories about another stupid thing you guys are doing. Not trolling. Think about it. Slashdot is like 7% stories about stupid privacy/internet stories from the UK.
There are a number of reasons for that:
There are plenty of other countries where privacy/Internet asshattery is going on (such as France), but Slashdot isn't quite such an appropriate forum.
Anyway, all of the above doesn't diminish the fact that the UK government really doesn't have a clue when it comes to the Internet, and doesn't rate privacy very highly on its list of priorities.
Unfortunately, this story is already out-of-date. The Government denied the Liberal Democrat peers the ability to amend the amendment, saying that they'd sort it out themselves during "washing-up", the period just before the General Election when ministers and last-term backbenchers rush through last-minute legislation with minimal debate while the majority of MPs return to their constituencies to campaign.
See this Guardian article for more information.
Your assignment this week: United States vs. Catholic Church - compare and contrast
Yes, I would read that essay with interest and probably great amusement.
In Germany it is seen as a totalitarian anti-democratic organization
If only somebody in Germany had the guts to say the same thing about Catholicism, or for that matter Islam.
The thing is, though, that they aren't. If you're a Catholic, no-one's going to try and make your life a living hell if you want to stop coming to church. People say horrible and untrue thing about Catholics and the Catholic Church all the time, but they don't try and abuse the legal system to stop them, because they recognise the importance of freedom of speech. You can get all of the advantages and privileges of being a member of the Catholic Church for free just by turning up; you don't have to pay to access any of its teachings.
To describe Catholicism as a "totalitarian anti-democratic organisation" and thereby making a direct comparison to Scientology is simply doing your own intelligence and critical thinking skills a disservice.
I am and I still can't vote for the UK Pirate Party. I would if I could, but they don't have anyone standing for election in my area. It's like some kind of pseudo-democracy.
Want to stand as a candidate in the general election? Get in touch with us.
Last I checked, my password identified me as me, why the extra unnecessary step? Because they want you to actually read their shovelware app spam to make money.
That tin foil hat really suits you.
If you don't mind, could you tell us which Maemo phone you have? I'm interested in them and short of hearing a more extensive review, I'd like to know which model you are so happy with.
There's only one Maemo phone so far: the N900.
Throw us a bone here: what the heck do you think NASA should be developing w.r.t. launch technology?
This portion of the thread is not about launch technology. Its about in-space refueling of vehicles with propellants that are hard to lift, tricky to handle, and exceedingly dangerous.
Dammit, reading comprehension let me down again!. I thought you were complaining about current launch technology. In my defence, I do notice that the set of people complaining that rockets are so last century does substantially intersect with the people who hate space elevators, and this observation inspired my comment.
Some of my colleagues here at Surrey Space Centre are working on helicon double-layer thrusters (a type of electric propulsion) which has a lot of promise, but to make them suitable for manned interplanetary flight there's a really important question to be answered: how, if the environmental nuts won't let us put fission piles in space, do we power these things? You're probably also aware of the VASIMR project, which IIRC NASA are continuing to fund.
Re in orbit refueling: LH2 and LO2 are actually pretty good. You lift a tank full of distilled water (contains hydrogen and oxygen in exactly the correct proportions, dense, easy to store, non-toxic, environmentally friendly), and when it arrives at your in-orbit refueling centre, you electrolyse it and liquefy the products using abundant solar energy. Since most of space has a temperature of ~ 4 K, you can store the propellants easily as long as you keep the storage tanks in the shade. What's the big deal?
We are never going to get out of sight with our current propellant technology. The money spent on this is a waste, like building yet another pony express station. Its time to focus in another direction.
I notice that the people who keep saying this are the same people who pour ridicule on NASAs funding of the initial development of technologies needed for a space elevator, and decry nuclear rockets as too unsafe and environmentally unfriendly.
Throw us a bone here: what the heck do you think NASA should be developing w.r.t. launch technology?
Bike hits pedestrian - mostly minor injuries or annoyance for both parties...
Unfortunately, this isn't true -- there's actually a high chance of serious injuries to or death of both rider and pedestrian.
Religion ("believing in something") is considered more important than science ("examining things"). So what is the surprise in that education in general goes down the drain? The home-schooling religious right has one thing correct: Education is fundamentally hostile to religion and all the other "we already have the answers" bullshit bingo.
Right, so that's why monks were the first groups of people in the modern era to set up organised schools for teaching things like grammar, mathematics, logic and philosophy (hence grammar schools). And why the Vatican has an official astronomer and funds serious astronomical research.
All through my (admittedly very conservative) Catholic upbringing, the preachers and teachers I encountered always emphasised not only the benefits of a deep and broad education, but also the importance of critical thinking, the dialectic method in theology and the necessity of questioning and understanding the rationale for belief.
I think that identifying organised religion with blind, anti-rational and anti-scientific viewpoints and hostility to education, or asserting some sort of mutual exclusivity between belief and critical thinking, would be a bigoted and foolish mistake on your part. Of course, since I am clearly a member of the "religious right", and was home-schooled to the age of seven, I expect you to dismiss my opinion completely.
I think the scenario could play out that way, and it would truly suck for gaming.
But we should keep perspective. Here are some ways you can still have fun even if/when this nightmare scenario occurs:
Or even a good, DRM-free e-book.
The full prices aren't that great but they do often run deals and occasionally there'll be a pretty competitively priced game - considering the fact that you get to play sooner, it's not always the worst option. I've never bought one that way though (I refuse to have a credit card and it seems they don't, or didn't when I last tried, accept debit cards in the UK).
My Lloyds TSB debit card has worked absolutely fine with Steam for as long as I can remember.
Peter, it's clear there's no arguing with you, since you know more from wherever your keyboard is, than a person living in NH & deeply involved with civic life here.
Please, enough sarcastic ad hominem arguments already. My keyboard is located in the UK, and no, I do not know much about NH. I couldn't even point it out on a map.
As you may recall, there's been a big storm of excrement over here in the last year about MPs' pay, and when someone suggests not paying MPs, the questions I asked in my post are always presented.
May I suggest that people will be more interested in engaging in a meaningful debate with you if you don't automatically assume that their questions and concerns are insincere?
If "only wealthy people" ran for State Rep, how come one of mine is a farmer who'se on the brink of bankruptcy? How come another of my state reps is a carpenter who could really use a few more jobs during the hard winter season?
Good question. How come? Perhaps, rather than providing anecdotes, you could provide a cogent explanation of how the NH legislature avoids the pitfall of being dominated by individuals with prior wealth, and why you expect it to avoid that problem in the future. Are there specific conditions in NH that make such a system work well? Do you think it would work as well for the US Congress, for example?
"But since you know everything, I'll make someone else a deal. Uh-huh the packet-MAN!"
Stop being childish.
New Hampshire really is unique in terms of the structure of its government. You know we don't pay our politicians? There's no money to be made. Does wonders at reducing corruption.
Does it really? Surely not paying your politicians means that only wealthy people are willing to run for government, thus skewing the proportions with which certain demographics are represented in the state legislature?
You forcibly reduce salaries to 65k a year and you'll see he number of people willing to pony up the money and the twelve 'best' years of their life to med school drop through the fucking floor.
As a data point, the average NHS GP in the UK earns £115,000 (about $188,000).