In article <v8g*Bw0Ts@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>,
ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk (Ian Jackson) wrote:

> >> Anyone who is in power

>  - the ability to give advice to proponents from a position of
>     authority

Sorry to say that you have lost my vote. There is no "power" or
"authority" granted to you by election to the committee - you stand to
serve, not to gain any power or authority.

-- 
Paul Cummins - Always a NetHead
Wasting Bandwidth since 1981

In article ,
Paul Cummins  wrote:
>In article <v8g*Bw0Ts@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>,
>ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk (Ian Jackson) wrote:
>> >> Anyone who is in power
>
>>  - the ability to give advice to proponents from a position of
>>     authority
>
>Sorry to say that you have lost my vote. There is no "power" or
>"authority" granted to you by election to the committee - you stand to
>serve, not to gain any power or authority.

This seems a strange point of view.  I don't see a dichotomy here.
Are we just having a linguistic difficulty ?

Consider the Prime Minister.  Would you agree that the PM has power ?
If I asked you what form does the power of the PM take, what would you
say ?  That doesn't mean the PM's not supposed to serve - although
regrettably many past PMs seem to have regarded the purpose of the
role as boosting their own ego or fattening their purse, which perhaps
is what you're getting at ?


Whether the Committee have power or not is a matter of fact, not of
ideology.  And the Committee do collectively have power, as set out in
the various management documents.

I agree that with that power comes responsibility and that the
Committee's role is to serve.  In general, I think that anyone who has
power has that same duty to serve.

Furthermore, when a body has power we try to arrange for
accountability mechanisms (such as the elections).  If the Committee
were powerless there would be no need to elect them.

-- 
Ian Jackson                  personal email: 
These opinions are my own.        http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ijackson/
PGP2 key 1024R/0x23f5addb,     fingerprint 5906F687 BD03ACAD 0D8E602E FCF37657

On 20 Oct 2009 11:20:28 +0100 (BST), Ian Jackson
 wrote:

>In article ,
>Paul Cummins  wrote:
>>In article <v8g*Bw0Ts@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>,
>>ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk (Ian Jackson) wrote:
>>> >> Anyone who is in power
>>
>>>  - the ability to give advice to proponents from a position of
>>>     authority
>>
>>Sorry to say that you have lost my vote. There is no "power" or
>>"authority" granted to you by election to the committee - you stand to
>>serve, not to gain any power or authority.
>
>This seems a strange point of view.  I don't see a dichotomy here.
>Are we just having a linguistic difficulty ?

No, I'm afraid you are.  Paul is right.
>
>Consider the Prime Minister.  Would you agree that the PM has power ?
>If I asked you what form does the power of the PM take, what would you
>say ?  That doesn't mean the PM's not supposed to serve - although
>regrettably many past PMs seem to have regarded the purpose of the
>role as boosting their own ego or fattening their purse, which perhaps
>is what you're getting at ?

Comparisons with government are flawed.  The committee does not govern
uk.* as I have pointed out elsewhere.

-- 
Geoff Berrow (Put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker