Thomas Jefferson wrote "To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." It seems that politicians are always working against us, stealing our money to hand out to their corporate buddies or to finance wars. Their destruction never stops. They can do whatever they want with impunity.
So here's an idea - rather than politicians stealing our money through compulsory taxation, why don't we pay politicians to NOT work? You read that correctly. Go ahead and elect them as you generally do. However, their first day on the job, let's make them an offer they can't refuse - let's offer them a guaranteed, very large paycheck at the end of their term if they don't work. That means no votes... no creation or sponsorship of laws... hell, let's even say they are not allowed to go into any government building, make a phone call/send an email to another government employee, or write a news article/appear on TV in an official capacity. How much money should we offer politicians to not work? What metrics should we use to determine how effective this method would be (e.g., budgets, debt, inflation, crime, war deaths, terrorist acts)?
DISCUSS!
Original posting by Braincrave Second Life staff on Jan 3, 2011 at http://www.braincrave.com/viewblog.php?id=422
We all admire beauty, but the mind ultimately must be stimulated for maximum arousal. Longevity in relationships cannot occur without a meeting of the minds. And that is what Braincrave is: a dating venue where minds meet. Learn about the thoughts of your potential match on deeper topics... topics that spawn your own insights around what you think, the choices you make, and the actions you take.
We are a community of men and women who seek beauty and stimulation through our minds. We find ideas, education, and self-improvement sexy. We think intelligence is hot. But Braincrave is more than brains and I.Q. alone. We are curious. We have common sense. We value and offer wisdom. We experiment. We have great imaginations. We devour literacy. We are intellectually honest. We support and encourage each other to be better.
You might be lonely but you aren't alone.
Sep, 2017 update: Although Braincrave resulted in two confirmed marriages, the venture didn't meet financial targets. Rather than updating our outdated code base, we've removed all previous dating profiles and retained the articles that continue to generate interest. Moving to valME.io's platform supports dating profiles (which you are welcome to post) but won't allow typical date-matching functionality (e.g., location proximity, attribute similarity).
The Braincrave.com discussion group on Second Life was a twice-daily intellectual group discussions typically held at 12:00 PM SLT (PST) and 7:00 PM SLT. The discussions took place in Second Life group chat but are no longer formally scheduled or managed. The daily articles were used to encourage the discussions.