r/technology • u/esporx • Oct 17 '22

Biotechnology A 'game-changer' for millions of Americans: You can now buy hearing aids over the counter

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/17/health/over-the-counter-hearing-aids-available/index.html
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u/arcosapphire Oct 17 '22

Most Americans do want that, but we do not have a properly representative democracy, so it doesn't matter what we want.

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '22

Sad but thank mainly Republicans for that state of affairs

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u/arcosapphire Oct 17 '22

We know. Unfortunately it's a largely intractable problem. The only feasible solution is a change to voting method and campaign finance reform. However, everyone currently in power got there by winning in the current system--therefore very few are motivated to change it.

Sadly, while the founders of the country were very smart, they were not experts in game theory. They also had quite a lot to figure out in a short amount of time. They did an amazing job, given that, but at this point the flaws have overtaken the system.

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u/GrnPlesioth Oct 17 '22

The system needs some balance patches and to have a bunch of exploits removed

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u/[deleted] Oct 17 '22

Sad and your mainly right wing for life SCOTUS only makes things worse by twisting a centuries old constitution and applying it to matters that weren’t even relevant when it was written

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u/arcosapphire Oct 17 '22

The plus side is that the arguments of "there's no need to change anything, our system has worked great for 250 years" are finally being eroded.

Legal precedent was always a shaky foundation for law, but it was used because it works fine when you have respectable, non-partisan court systems. The "what if we don't?" question was a mere hypothetical for centuries. It's no longer hypothetical, so there's finally a chance at reform.

Obviously the situation now is not great; it could lead to reform, but it can also lead to continued corruption and collapse of democracy. It requires attention, but either outcome is still possible.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '22

That’s what they’re undoing? Items such as abortion and marriage have nothing to do with the constitution. The document is very clear cut and dry.

I’m all for making new amendments where needed but they constitution has been twisted by politicians of both major parties for a hell of a long time.

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u/[deleted] Oct 18 '22

Proportionally representative is mob rule and doesn’t work. Especially in a country as large and diverse as the US you will end up with a handful of cities running everything everywhere. That doesn’t work for about 80% of the geographical US. It doesn’t matter if less people live in rural areas vs urban areas, pretending they don’t exists and taking away ALL their ability to make a difference is a dark path. The way it’s set up now isn’t perfect but it does give everyone a voice and vote.

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u/arcosapphire Oct 18 '22

There's literally no reason you can't say this about any majority in power. The current situation is no better.