Word: shams
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...precisely because direct democracy is such a manipulatable sham that every two-bit Mussolini adopts it as his own. Pomp and plebiscites. The Duce and the people. No need for the messy stuff in between. Not for nothing did the Founders abhor direct democracy. They knew it to be a highway to tyranny...
Then, of course, there was the actual teaching. What a sham. The idea that someone who could barely remember dance steps for himself could teach others went beyond the bounds of reason. But I employed some nice, twisted logic to justify my presence. I figured that the kids could look at me and say, "Well, if he can do these dances, then certainly I can do it. I mean, I can't look any dumber than he looks." I fancied myself a martyr of sorts--letting myself look bad to boost the self-esteem of the young people of Cambridge...
...argument against fast food is a sham. We already have fast food. The hypocritical defenders of Harvard Square seem only to be against honest, inexpensive, American fast food--food that students want and can afford...
Perot-style town meetings, however, would be no more than a sham. They would be no more than a regurgitation of Perotisms--he'd make sure of that. Why? Perot hasn't really learned to be interested in what the people want--few businesspeople are. The nature of running a business is just fundamentally different from the work of a politician--you care about what makes the most profits and not what's best for the people. And even as corporate executives go, Perot was known to have a particularly autocratic style...
...that the not-guilty verdicts were handed down by a jury that included no blacks (though it did have one Asian and one Hispanic) virtually proves that the criminal-justice system is ruled by bias and that they cannot look to it for fair treatment. They dismiss as a sham the official contention that the trial was moved from Los Angeles to nearby Simi Valley to guard against prejudicial publicity influencing the jury. In their view, the move was made precisely for the purpose of guaranteeing that a jury excluding blacks would be chosen (Simi Valley is not only almost...