Re: [Pen-l] Green Public investment

["Jim Devine" <jdevine03@xxxxxxxxx>]

 Perelman wrote:
> It also increases the influence of lobbyists relative to inexperienced legislators.<

I was assuming that we were talking about an ideal, in which there are
no lobbyists. More likely, no lobbyists would have more influence than
others -- or than non-lobbyists (a level playing field).

Doug Henwood wrote:
> There's a paradox here - term limits (and I assume that this sort of approach) actually reduces the influence of elected officials and raises that of the civil service professionals, and seems to reduce legislative branch power and enhance the executive's. So this may not be as democratic  as it seems.<

ideally (again), the professionals would be subject to recall and
limits on perks, pay, and privileges.

of course, in the real world of capitalism, term limits (or the right
to recall) and limits on largesse to legislators can be a bad thing.
In California, the GOP used recall elections to punish those who
didn't toe the Party Line (or maybe it was just one of them). Pay caps
on government can drive the best people out. Etc. In this real world,
we need second-best solutions.

-- 
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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