Has the time come for a revived CSA?

[Saras]

Voting is an insurance against the govenrment turning out not the way it was intended. It's also nice you can change your government without (too many) bloodshed.

And today it seems like we're gonna be the first country to ever impeach (and I mean do the whole dance, not just the threat of it) our head of state, President Paksas. Woohooo!!!

[David Floyd]

Voting is an insurance against the govenrment turning out not the way it was intended. It's also nice you can change your government without (too many) bloodshed.

Yes, but this is much less true if the government doesn't have very much power to begin with, and if a system of checks and balances are in place to keep it that way (independent judiciary, for starters).

[Gatekeeper]

Hmpfh. I like the geographic makeup of the United States as it is, thank you very much.

That said, the Dakotas would be a *nuclear* power ... Anyone wanna join us at the party? Minnesota? Nebraska? Montana? Wyoming? Iowa? Manitoba? Ontario? Saskatchewan? C'mon. You know you want to party with the Dakotas ...

We could be a mighty inland empire with access to the world's oceans via the Great Lakes and (better) Hudson Bay (er, yes, it does get icy ... oh, well).

Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper

[Saras]

Originally posted by David Floyd


Yes, but this is much less true if the government doesn't have very much power to begin with, and if a system of checks and balances are in place to keep it that way (independent judiciary, for starters).

So you don't want the ability to change it? Don;t you think there's a nonzero probability of even the ideal DFloydian minarchist government turning into something not intended?

[Drake Tungsten]

That said, the Dakotas would be a *nuclear* power ... Anyone wanna join us at the party? Minnesota? Nebraska? Montana? Wyoming? Iowa? Manitoba? Ontario? Saskatchewan? C'mon. You know you want to party with the Dakotas ...

We'll party with the Dakotas. Nebraska and the Dakotas will be the lynchpins in the defense of the mighty Taiheigen Empire; the Dakotas have the nukes and Nebraska controls them. All shall quake before our might.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by David Floyd


In a system where the central government has extremely limited and precisely defined powers - and those powers don't include the ability to create wealth transfer programs - I wonder how important voting really is?

So this is really about social security is it? Do you honestly think that a revived Confederacy is going to do away with SSI? What are you going to do, expel the old people? HA! In your wildest dreams!

[MrFun]

Originally posted by monkspider


So says the man that is opposed to teddy bears.

For the last freaking time, I was arguing in FAVOR of those roadside memorials!

[SlowwHand]

Liar. You're a closet bear-hater.
I knew it! Out of one closet, and into another.

[MrFun]

If I'm closeted about anything, then just say that I'm a closeted neo-Confederate.

[Spiffor]

With my support for the "two gears Europe", where countries prone to federation would not force countries prone to confederation to follow them, I can only agree with the idea of the south separating from the north

I never understood why your country insisted of having Sava and Sloww living under the same banner

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Saras
And today it seems like we're gonna be the first country to ever impeach (and I mean do the whole dance, not just the threat of it) our head of state, President Paksas. Woohooo!!!

BTW, a short question from an ignorant Frenchman: to what language group does Lithuanian belong? (Slavic, Germanic, Finno-Ugric, other?)
Are the 3 Baltic languages very different (like Russian and Spanish), slightly different (Grman and Dutch), or very similar?

[Saras]

Originally posted by Spiffor



BTW, a short question from an ignorant Frenchman: to what language group does Lithuanian belong? (Slavic, Germanic, Finno-Ugric, other?)
Are the 3 Baltic languages very different (like Russian and Spanish), slightly different (Grman and Dutch), or very similar?

Latvian and Lithuanian languages are Baltic languages, and are really close to the maternal indo-european language, the ancient sanskrit. Estonian is Finno-Ugric, close to Finnish.

Latvian and Lithuanian are like German and Dutch. Lithuanian-Estonian is worse than Russian-Spanish. It's like Navajo-Swahili.

I charge 25 EUR per word of my profound linguistic wisdom. Would you like to wire the money or send a check?



P.S. I demand a :€€€: smiley to be created

[David Floyd]

Saras,

So you don't want the ability to change it? Don;t you think there's a nonzero probability of even the ideal DFloydian minarchist government turning into something not intended

First of all, changing the person in power doesn't strike me as that important, assuming he has very little power to begin with.

Secondly, sure, there's a chance that something could go wrong. However, I doubt voting in a new President would solve the problem.

But let's be clear. I'm not opposed to voting. I'm actually in favor of it. I just think it is LESS important than having a Constitution that can't be changed that STRICTLY limits the government AND precisely defines the government's limited powers, and reserves all other powers and liberties to the people.

DS,

No, this isn't totally about Social Security, although SS would certainly be done away with in my ideal society. Wealth transfer programs were an example, and they include SS, social welfare, Medicare/Medicaid, corporate welfare, etc. All that would be gone.

Old people would not be expelled, but forced to rely on family, friends, charity, and the church, assuming they had no savings of their own. If old people made the stupid decision not to save money, or if they squandered their savings, everyone else wouldn't be responsible for it - if it came down to it, the fool with no money could starve before I'd force someone else to feed him.

[David Floyd]

Saras,

Latvian and Lithuanian languages are Baltic languages, and are really close to the maternal indo-european language, the ancient sanskrit. Estonian is Finno-Ugric, close to Finnish.

I was under the impression that Finnish (along with Hungarian) was an Altaic language.

It's been a while since I've looked at linguistics, so I could easily be wrong.

[Saras]

Originally posted by David Floyd
Saras,



I was under the impression that Finnish (along with Hungarian) was an Altaic language.

It's been a while since I've looked at linguistics, so I could easily be wrong.

You can split the bill with Spiff.