Search:

When Social Security passed, the right called it socialism. When Medicare passed, the right called it socialism. Were they wrong?

Your definition fits Fabian socialism, but not other forms of...

That's the problem with a state religion, isn't it? You get arguments about who is really a Christian. Rick Santorum has already argued that President Obama was not a real Christian.

Didn't Bloody...

I, too, am a fan.

I refer you to post #291. We can refer to things that existed before we invented the term. In fact, we invent the terms because there is something to describe. At the same time, we must be at least a...

That's not an argument, it's a non sequitur. When the United States Lighthouse Service was established in 1789, it was a public enterprise, whereas in England, lighthouses were first established as...

The U.S. constitution does not dictate any particular form of economic organization, although it did allow for the rather primitive form of economic organization known as slavery. It did, however,...

The crisis is about whether we will continue to have the rule of law rather than simple assertions of power. They need to follow all the legal procedures.

Craziness and violence? That's already...

Our ideas about what is obscene are changing. The f-bomb seems less obscene than laughing about the murder of children.

Stealing top secret documents and not returning them when asked is enough to get most of us jail time, even if they can't prove he passed them on to his handlers. Otherwise, the Espionage Act could...

Russia says that's an accident. I guess someone threw away a cigarette and it caused all that damage. Russian cigarettes must be something!

they support him because opposing him is a career-ending act.

Profiles in Cowardice. Those who opposed him early on came to the realization that opposition could end their careers and changed...

Well, if Trump violated the Espionage Act, I'm sure Woodpile will be chanting 'lock him up!'

Maybe they didn't think engineers could do math.

Clinton looks a lot better than Trump. Never expected that when he was in office and eating junk food.

So, why post it here? Does it somehow relate to Trump stealing government secrets and keeping them even after getting a subpoena?

Are you claiming that Obama took 30,000 pages of documents with him when he left the White House and did not return them when subpoenas were issued, or that his library is not yet open? Wouldn't...

The stupid...it burns!

The founders were well versed in the classics, as were Locke and other liberal theorists. They had also studied the history of the Greek city states and the Roman republic. The Greek city states...

Trump will likely live another decade. Once he's in prison, life will be less stressful and his diet will be better.

Have a great one!

Going back a bit further, probably the most famous person to blacken the name of democracy was Aristotle, but there are some major misconceptions about what he said.

In the Politics, he laid out...

Well done.

https://www.oed.com/oed2/00060572

democracy

(dɪˈmɒkrəsɪ) Forms: 6–7 democracie, 6–7 (9) -cratie, 7 (9) -craty, 7– -cracy. [a. F. démocratie (siː), (Oresme 14th c.), a. med.L. dēmocratia (in...

Well played. He's called The Donald's bluff.

So, if Trump treated classified documents worse than Clinton, you'll be chanting 'lock him up,' right?

Yup. The FBI can come take away all the classified documents I've taken from the White House. O, wait...I don't have any!

You don't understand the logic. A democracy can be direct or representative. A republic can be democratic or otherwise. You are trying to make a distinction that I am not making.

It's getting...

You're still doing it. At no point have I said the U.S. is not a republic.

Whether you call it a representative democracy or a democratic republic, it remains both a democracy and a republic. You...

Sorry I can't always give you the attention you crave, but I'm under no obligation to respond to something I did not take issue with.

We, who are about to die laughing, salute you.

The Articles didn't work very well, but that's because they made the central government impotent. It couldn't collect taxes or regulate trade between the states, so there wasn't much point in it...

As more of the monarchy's powers lapse, it becomes more vestigial. Isn't that better than Charles I?

I actually think your system functions as a republic with a vestigial monarchy.

Why is that my problem? I regard both your system and ours as forms of liberal democracy.

You're not the boss of us!

I don't say it's the only difference, but I certainly admire your ability to get rid of a bad leader expeditiously.

In terms of how the British rule themselves, the difference between your...

Now you're pretending I've said things I haven't. I think you know what my point is, but you've avoided addressing it.

I'm sure all ancient sailing craft were at their best with wind behind the beam, and sailing routes would be designed to give them that as much as possible. My point is that the polar might be...

The Norwegian boats in the regatta I referred to would have looked something like this:

http://www.woodenboatfittings.com.au/public/norwegian-03.jpg

That polar is very comforting, but do we know whether they were able to sail the boat as well as the ancients did? In Inshore Craft of Norway, there is an account of the powers that be introducing...

Here's a vid of building the boat:

https://vimeo.com/324645556

You conceded that there is more than one kind of republic, but can't imagine that there is more than one kind of democracy. Madison opposed direct democracy, but wanted representative democracy, also...

Your house of Commons is democratically elected, the House of Lords is not, and the head of state is hereditary. You briefly had a republic in the 19th century, but couldn't keep it up.

Was looking for the post I was going to respond to, but it turns out you've changed it beyond all recognition.

Here's how Madison defined democracy in Federalist #10:



This is a form of...

That's a bloody horrible list. The author really likes weird stuff in his beer.

Shows how little you know about American football. Wide receivers look nothing like linemen.

What do you mean, that going to windward means an angle within 45 degrees of the wind? Hardly any vessels could do that prior to the 20th century yachts.

Why do so few archaeologists think square riggers can sail to windward? Do they never talk to sailors?

Here are the lines of the Kyrenia Ship from about 300 B.C. (bow to port):

...

He was claiming the election would be stolen long before it happened. He said he would only accept the results if he won. No way was he planning to give up the office if he lost.

Lookin' good!