Only in America... | Page 35 | Vital Football

Only in America...

NottyImp said:
Why not? He's probably a Lincoln fan already. ;)
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There must somewhere somehow be something that says Abe's antecedents came from our fair city. And we've got the Magna Carta too, and Americans (most do anyway) like human rights declaration type things.
 
I remember reading a history of America, and what I seem to remember is that migrants went and set up communities in different areas, leading to different "states" that were each autonomous and self governing. When they decided that they needed to "unite" under a single government, they didn't want to relinquish the power of their own state governments, and so set up a system whereby the US government would not really be able to change anything. This can be seen today in the relationships between the President, Senate and Congress - the difficulties in establishing Obama's health care is such an example
 
stokeimp said:
I remember reading a history of America, and what I seem to remember is that migrants went and set up communities in different areas, leading to different "states" that were each autonomous and self governing. When they decided that they needed to "unite" under a single government, they didn't want to relinquish the power of their own state governments, and so set up a system whereby the US government would not really be able to change anything. This can be seen today in the relationships between the President, Senate and Congress - the difficulties in establishing Obama's health care is such an example
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Interestingly, some of the states already had legislative assemblies *before* the revolution of 1776, albeit with limited powers. In fact, most Americans at that time had rather more "representation" than your average peasant/prole had in the mother country.

You don't often hear about that, though. ;)
 
NottyImp said:
Interestingly, some of the states already had legislative assemblies *before* the revolution of 1776, albeit with limited powers. In fact, most Americans at that time had rather more "representation" than your average peasant/prole had in the mother country.

You don't often hear about that, though. ;)
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Yes, one of their major motivations was rejection of the Monarchy - and they did not want a "monarchical" system, however iterated, in their new land
 
stokeimp said:
Yes, one of their major motivations was rejection of the Monarchy - and they did not want a "monarchical" system, however iterated, in their new land
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And then they gifted their President extensive - almost monarchial - powers. Of course, they're elected but today weild far more power as head-of-state than either the Queen or our PM.
 
NottyImp said:
And then they gifted their President extensive - almost monarchial - powers. Of course, they're elected but today weild far more power as head-of-state than either the Queen or our PM.
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In some ways. But our PM is leader of the party which is elected to form a government, so by implication, MOST of the time he can guarantee to carry forward his programme (Thatcher and Blair are best examples in recent times). In America, however, the President is one of three bodies elected, and they may work against each other (the "checks and balances" designed into their system). So again, going back to Obama as an example, he won the presidency with a mandate to introduce a healthcare system, which the Republican senate opposed, and so the final version was not what he had proposed. Even Trump had issues with Congress
 
LA_Imp said:
I really like AOC and see a strong future for her in politics. Smart, cuts through the bullshit, principled and consistent. It doesn't hurt that she is easy on the eyes as well.
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There's a terrific clip of her interrogating congress on how corrupt it is possible to be while running for office
 
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