http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident
Imagine if something big had exploded over a Russian city around that time.
]]>Elaborating on this a little furhter, in the 19th Century, all Americans had a deep familiarity with parliamentary procedure, and seemingly a love for it. THis was the era in which Gen. Robert wrote Robert's Rules of Order. So forming associations was easy as far as they were concerned. And nobody ran associations for a living, so dissolving them was also easy.
Nowadays, we have a more populated society, in the US and beyond, which makes any sort of policy push a lot harder and means it requires hiring people to do it full time. And it does not happen spontaneously the way it once did, which is why we saw the Occupier protesters come up with rules of order that are so tedious they make Robert's Rules look good in comparison.
Still, the Occupiers had the right idea about one thing. If you want the political process to yield a beige interest in favor of a populist one, sitting in a public square and sleeping rough in it is a good first step.
]]>That is such a profoundly silly argument. The USA was never a republic or a democracy. The USA was, and is, an amalgam of Greek, Roman, Saxon, Norman, Swiss, Dutch, and yes, Judeo-Christian notions of governance (the latter was particulary significant in the early decades, when Anglican Virgina, Puritan Massachusetts, Quaker Pennsylvania were all expressly theocratic).
Plus small elements that are clearly a reaction to conditions at the founding. The Constitution is on a strict calendar because of the whole lack-of-representation in Parliament problem. America had no MPs because there was no way to dissolve parliament and reconvene a new one quickly if it meant shipping messengers to America and collecting new MPs to London in a timely fashion. So when the new government was formed, it was decided to use a calendar.
]]>The same thing happened with prohibitionist organizations, and with associations that fought too reverse prohibition. But there is the issue of what happens when getting anything done requires paying people full time.
]]>And notice that in almost all portrayals of superhuman intelligence, the beings involved transcend normal human urges.
Slight problem there, no?
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