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JamesHackerMP

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Everything posted by JamesHackerMP

  1. What's interesting is how Renaissance-era Italy could be the Middle East by any standards. I wonder how many people like Hosni Mubarak, Ben Ali, Bashar Assad, etc., have read this?
  2. Is the electoral quotient between the more and less populous provinces still disproportionate?
  3. Nice answer! It's a bit like rules of acquisition--but of power, not profit. Machiavelli never really discussed how they can mean the same thing, though. I think she has a man-crush on Cesare Borgia, too.
  4. That sounds just like the sort of debates we had: will the new government crush the powers of its members. I guess power consolidates. Funny, though that Edward Luttwak, in his landmark book on coups d'etat, written in the 1960s, said that Canada was becoming increasingly decentralized, while the United States was becoming increasingly centralized. Maybe at that time it was true. Or perhaps Luttwak was just wrong?
  5. OK thanks that answers my question. Has power devolved to the provinces over time, or to the federal government over time? (since Confederation, iow)
  6. I see. So what's that mean in practical terms, exactly?
  7. So in other words, it's the definition of what they call "Marble-Cake Federalism" as far as Canada's health care system is (or systems are) concerned, right?
  8. Also, I think NIck wanted a savior for Italy more than he wanted a despot for Florence.
  9. But before we get TOO far off topic, I have a couple of questions. I understand they added 30 seats to the House in the 2015 election. I read that this was to bring the electoral quotients of the provinces more in line with each other (reduce the overrepresentation of the smaller provinces). Are the electoral quotients now pretty even?
  10. He did kind of have a "man crush" on Cesare Borgia.
  11. The US is the same way. I've been to California once for a week, and this was after having gone to France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Portugal on several trips hitherto.
  12. Yeah, the guys in HS who played field lacrosse were pretty tough people. Not all of them "looked" tough they just were.
  13. Doesn't look like much. Then again, the American constitution has a bit of a problem: the X Amendment, which delegates powers to the states not reserved to Congress, is a bit ambiguous, causing a constant debate over where the "demarcation" line is between state and federal government. At least you guys have a "demarcation" line that's written in stone.
  14. In China, with less people owning their own cars, it makes a lot of sense. Ditto for Europe. As the American president once said "I have a million ideas; the country cannot afford them all."
  15. Even though that's a different topic, TimG, I have to say that you're wrong about your opinion on intercity rail. At least in the US. In the NE corridor, it's actually quite useful. That's why, when Obama announced billions of dollars would be put into a maglev train system in the US I smacked my hand on my head in dismay. We need to update the passenger rail system as it is now, not something totally new like maglev. I've never traveled on Canada's rails, but the people who have traveled on Amtrak tell me that it gets lower priority than freight, who own the actual rails themselves. And maybe Americans and Canadians like to drive more a la "Road Trip"?
  16. Interesting. It could be the gradual lessening in the authority of the monarchy that did that. And in the search for a "national leader" power has moved one rung down the ladder: to the queen's ministers. It's fascinating how, in commonwealth countries, the word "the crown" can mean whatever you want it to mean. Everyone needs a "national leader", and now that it's not the monarch (even through her GG) anymore, I'm assuming it has to be the prime minister. Power tends to consolidate over time. That's just my observation from south of the 49th. My country's founding fathers also saw the need for a national leader, but didn't mean for him to be as powerful as he is today. Which seems to be a popular leitmotiv in democratic politics, no? Taxme, with all due respect, you do your fellow Canadians no great justice by being so jingoistic in regards to your country of origin. Which, I'm going to go out on a limb, and guess is the Middle Kingdom. You may have a world-class rail system, but I would take the government in Ottawa ANY day as my national government over the one in Beijing. No offense is meant by that, it's just you're getting a little over the top comparing your country of origin to your adoptive land. Most Chinese-Americans I've met (I haven't met too many Chinese-Canadians) have the good sense not to do that.
  17. Who's read The Prince before? What did y'all think of it? One of the more fascinating books I've read in the political realm and, best of all, IT'S SHORT!
  18. How are judges to the Canadian Supreme Court appointed in Canada? Is it the same way the Senate is?
  19. Who runs the health service in Canada? Isn't it actually provincial, not really "national" per se?
  20. I have a question though: was once the prime minister, like back in the days of John MacDonald's prime ministry, a sort of primus inter pares? (first among equals) rather than the "supreme leaders" they are sometimes today? I've heard Canadians (even on this website) talk about that.
  21. Tweak trump? You mean tweak his.....??????? No thank you I ain't touchin' those.
  22. Both of our systems I would surmise could use a "tweak" here and there, then, you think?
  23. By the way, the name for this thread came from a book about Canadian politics, contributed to by former MPs. I'm not here trying to bash your system. I rather admire it in fact.
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