pauljmey

Recent Actions

• Commented on Schroedinger's Kingdom: the Scottish Political Singularity Explained
  I have not been following the Scotland-EU courting very closely but I've never seen anything to indicate EU membership (including trade benefits) is dependent on adopting the Euro. In fact, as I understand the process you have to be a...
• Commented on Schroedinger's Kingdom: the Scottish Political Singularity Explained
  To quote: "[Of course Scotland can stay on the Pound if it wants...]The better question is why an independent Scotland would want to keep the pound as its currency. Presumably one of the goals of independence would be to free...
• Commented on Schroedinger's Kingdom: the Scottish Political Singularity Explained
  Another viewpoint on the economic viability of Scotland. To whit, Scotland may join the EU but it should avoid monetary union like the plague, especially as long as the ECB keeps screwing up macro-economic management. If the Tories stay in...
• Commented on "Write me something fresh and new, but make it just like the last one"
  Science fantasy was a term applied to Amber. How about Math fantasy? And the observations about the distinction between urban fantasy and horror seem on target....
• Commented on Trotskyite singularitarians for Monarchism! A political speculation.
  True dat....
• Commented on Who ordered *that*?
  I think the value of Charlie's point is that there are a number of ways achieving the same the thing, supplementing the power of a propertied (even if the "property" is functional, i.e., state security power) elite with some mechanism...
• Commented on Who ordered *that*?
  I am not sure what your point is. In fact, I was suggesting communism (which I think you are conflating with Marxism, a common but somewhat unhistorical confusion) is something worse than a religion, it was a cynical attempt to...
• Commented on Who ordered *that*?
  As for the topic of revolution, there are two distinct definitions which get thrown around, political and social revolution, the later sometimes seen as encompassing the first (though not necessarily). Political revolutions are reasonably common, whereas soc-rev is not, though...
• Commented on Who ordered *that*?
  Though I am somewhat sympathetic to the claims of US "imperial" power, I don't think it is quite so simple. For one thing, to some extent we are talking about the influence of international corporate capitalism on the world. While...
• Commented on A Bad Dream
  Jay, I get your point too and it is probably applicable to the UK (though I am not an expert on this). Basically, the legislative process in any country falls somewhere on spectrum between "legislators decide everything after they are...
• Commented on A Bad Dream
  Part of the problem with the UK is that needs to be party competition with voting blocs. With only one major party, Labor, laying claim to working class voters, the party's responsiveness to the concern of its electorate is dampened....
• Commented on A Bad Dream
  They don't get put on the ballot. For the most part, political parties control access to the ballot (and they don't do primaries). But I am not sure you get the distinction between American politics and most state-of-the-art democracies. The...
• Commented on A Bad Dream
  Yeah, the US is one departure from "pure" type parliamentary democracies. The UK (proably by virtue being one of the oldest systems) is another example of departure with all of the "Commonwealth" democracies sharing some of its flaws. France is...
• Commented on A Bad Dream
  Jay, what you don't get (as do most people in the US) is that there are political systems (most democracies) where there politicians have to keep their promises (i.e. votes in accordance with the party platforms). In the US, no...
• Commented on A Bad Dream
  Yup. Electoral reform in the UK is pretty crucial. Though Labor as a major party might suffer, progressive, democratic politics as a whole will flourish. Some people think "process" or "the rules" are not worth thinking about because presumably they...
• Commented on A Bad Dream
  Charlie, I don't think one can describe in broad brush terms the failure modes of democracy. I think the UK (and especially, the US) failure modes are much more troubling than in general. From what I know about comparative politics,...
• Commented on "Fuck every cause that ends in murder and children crying" — Iain Banks, 1954-2013
  Perfection may be the enemy of the good, but the much better is not. The Culture isn't perfection, it's the much better. The thing that always appealed to me about the Culture is how much it reflected a (mature) socialist...
• Commented on Minor hiccup
  Speaking as an American, the "odd continuity" merely indicates you are paying attention. Keep it up....
• Commented on Crib sheet: Singularity Sky
  All very interesting, thanks for it. Love the connection to Festival time (I was once bummed around Leith as a tourist during August looking for a low key pub). SS was a great joy of a read. I had mostly...
• Commented on No. Words.
  Nice....