Oh NOW I understand why Elspode feels the nation is fascist

[9th Engineer]

The best action would probably be to remove common law marriage from the books. It doesn't serve any meaningful purpose, and it's only going to muddle things further in the future. In states allowing gay marriage for example, you'll run into trouble with people making legal comittments they never intended too. As a college student I'd have to watch my housing agreements very carefully, and make sure I never shared an apartment with anyone long enough for CLM to kick in. Sounds weird? Not really, I'm sure there are plenty of scumbag guys out there who'd take advantage of having a legal right to half my belongings. It's just too outdated to keep around.

[xoxoxoBruce]

If you don't graduate before CLM kicks in, then give it up.

Unless you "present" yourself as being married, you'd have to live together a very long time to be ensnared into CLM against your will. Having a kid or two would shorten that, however.

There are still places in this country where doing the paperwork and finding someone "authorized" to marry people, could be expensive and time consuming.
In the distant past, those places were not hard to find. Also in the distant past, people didn't feel right about "living in sin"...and had even stronger feelings about their neighbors, "living in sin".

[headsplice]

Fascism: "A philosophy or system of government that is marked by stringent social and economic control, a strong, centralized government usually headed by a dictator, and often a policy of belligerent nationalism."

Sound familiar to anyone?

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Yes: Cubans.

[headsplice]

Let's see:
Strong, centralized government under one authority (the Executive)? Check.
Belligerent nationalism? Check.
Stringent social and economic controls? Not yet, but we're on the way.

[wolf]

On the assumption that you are not responding to UG, but rather are engaging in commentary about the United States ... (if I'm wrong, please just ignore this post, thank you.)

Originally Posted by headsplice

Let's see:
Strong, centralized government under one authority (the Executive)? Check.

Last time I checked they hadn't shut down the Judicial and Legislative Branches.

Get back to me after the state of emergency is declared after the Reichstag burns down.

Belligerent nationalism? Check.

Anti-Nationalism is much more belligerent. When was the last time that a bunch of patriotic guys waving flags threw a newspaper box through a Starbucks window?

Stringent social and economic controls? Not yet, but we're on the way.

While I have problems with paying farmers not to grow cotton or corn, and the Federal Reserve (which is neither Federal nor does it have Reserves of anything) as far as I can tell prices still react to supply and demand for the most part.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by wolf

Last time I checked they hadn't shut down the Judicial and Legislative Branches.

Get back to me after the state of emergency is declared after the Reichstag burns down.

Isn't a state of emergency adter the WTC was knocked down the justification for bypassing Congress and the Courts to do warrantless wiretapping?

[Elspode]

Our government has a long tradition of appointing people who can be counted on to interpret law in a predictable manner, one which is agreeable to the appointer. Now, I'm not saying that this is the exclusive province of the current administration, but, if done skillfully and thoroughly enough, it could well remove most of the problems a potential despot might incur from the Judiciary. As to Legislative...last time I checked, they were pretty much on board with the current programs, so they aren't going to pose much of a problem to our prospective despot, either. Vote along Party lines, outcomes are rather predictable.

Perhaps the American sheep...err, People...will vote to make all of this a bit more balanced? If the votes count, that is.

BTW, the definition of "activist judge" is any judge who fails to rule in accordance to one's own idea of how things ought to be.

[headsplice]

Originally Posted by wolf

-1)Last time I checked they hadn't shut down the Judicial and Legislative Branches.
-2)Anti-Nationalism is much more belligerent. When was the last time that a bunch of patriotic guys waving flags threw a newspaper box through a Starbucks window?
-3)While I have problems with paying farmers not to grow cotton or corn, and the Federal Reserve (which is neither Federal nor does it have Reserves of anything) as far as I can tell prices still react to supply and demand for the most part.

-1)Last time I checked, the President made a statement saying that since we're at war, he doesn't have to obey laws that he doesn't want to.
-2)Newspaper box through window < Invading a sovereign nation under false pretenses and fear mongering. I'd argue about whether or not the Starbucks/window thing is anti-nationalism, but I don't want to right now...different thread.
-3)How much of the GDP is the current federal budget? How much will it be in six years, if current spending trends continue? How long did it take to get Plan B into stores as a non-prescription item, despite being characterized as the safest drug reviewed by the FDA? How much have barriers between church and state fallen in the past six years?

Yes. I'm hyperbolizing some. But only some. We are not headed in a good direction. Remember how great it was when all we had to complain about was the Prez getting head in the Oval? That was pretty terrific, by golly.

[Elspode]

Was the Catholic Church considered to be fascist during the Dark Ages/Inquisition/Burning Times? I can't recall.

[headsplice]

I learned something new on MPR yesterday at lunch. Fascists subordinate business to the state (sort of like Stalinists, but via a different mechanism). This administration has no intentions of doing that. So, instead of facism, we have a new political entity to try and describe. Sweet.
Any takers?

[Griff]

They've taken elements from feudalism, mercantilism, and fascism. I think it is new because we live in a different world. If you update mercantilism to a world where precious metals are not monetized, fiat money has only the value it is perceived to have, and where control of energy resources is paramount, the perceived military effectiveness is of a country becomes the real source of power. We are in the unfortunate position of Mussolini's Italians. It was our idea but we were not effective in its implementation. We'll bleed out while another power rises that is thinking clearly about the goal.

Let's call it Bushism.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Griff

They've taken elements from feudalism, mercantilism, and fascism. I think it is new because we live in a different world. If you update mercantilism to a world where precious metals are not monetized, fiat money has only the value it is perceived to have, and where control of energy resources is paramount, the perceived military effectiveness is of a country becomes the real source of power. We are in the unfortunate position of Mussolini's Italians. It was our idea but we were not effective in its implementation. We'll bleed out while another power rises that is thinking clearly about the goal.

Let's call it Bushism.

Wow.
Mechanized Italian Army is to horse-riding Ethiopians as Mechanized American Army is to IED-using Iraqi insyrgents.
Got it.

How about we call it penis envy?

[headsplice]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

Wow.
Mechanized Italian Army is to horse-riding Ethiopians as Mechanized American Army is to IED-using Iraqi insyrgents.
Got it.
How about we call it penis envy?

Whatever you're smoking, I wish you'd share.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by headsplice

Whatever you're smoking, I wish you'd share.

Amen!