Posts by else@furry.engineer
(DIR) Post #AuvgOeoM01Ihs0cxsm by else@furry.engineer
2024-06-24T17:35:06Z
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I've seen a lot of people question the federalist claim that a federation helps ensure peace between the states, because we had a civil war. I think that forgets that there were several other conflicts between the states that threatened to become wars, but were instead resolved peacefully, through federal intervention (and football games #GoBucks)
(DIR) Post #AuvgOfeoqxGgUjArey by else@furry.engineer
2024-06-24T18:28:08Z
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it speaks to how utterly burnt the coding part of my brain is that I find reading founderspeak easier. this shit is fucking impenetrable
(DIR) Post #AuvgOgJwO4A4YGPhku by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-05T15:23:23Z
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finally getting back to reading the Federalist. №s 5 and 6 basically argue that neighbors always do a war, and peaceful confederation is the only way to avoid it. given *gestures broadly at Europe* I'd say that's a reasonable argument
(DIR) Post #AuvgOhBTB2ynEHSSBs by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-05T15:35:06Z
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"…the dispute between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, respecting the land at Wyoming…"well that's one I'm gonna have to look up
(DIR) Post #AuvgOht4YvrFPVrH9c by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-05T16:48:05Z
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№ 8 gives an interesting argument, that by not having to worry about invasion from each other (and being far enough from Europe to not worry about invasion by them) we can have a smaller standing army. Hamilton says a standing army is inevitable, but that the smaller it is the less of a threat it is to liberty.
(DIR) Post #AuvgOipv28vgM1OGsS by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-05T16:59:16Z
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using mastodon as a note taking app like a totally normal person
(DIR) Post #AuvgOjUKbtFuNMIXrs by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-06T17:19:49Z
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tried to read № 9 but my brain is just mush today. I think the point is that having multiple small-to-medium-size states, rather than one big one, reduces the risk of tyranny by allowing them to counter each other and check each other's power
(DIR) Post #AuvgOkKRU8wIyygA5o by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-08T16:04:04Z
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just finished № 10. I was right about what the founders (well, those who were Publius anyway) thought about parties and everyone I've ever talked to about it was wrong so pppbfbpbft
(DIR) Post #AuvgOlByH7l1eziuWm by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-08T16:38:50Z
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parties are inevitable. groups of people share common interests, and organize around those interests. what Publius (here Madison) argues is that by increasing the number of parties, no one party could get full control.they missed how the systems they were setting up would lead to a two-party (and thus, inevitably, flip-flopping one-party) system, because the game was new. fortunately, the constitution they were proposing is amendable, so the problem can be fixed. but we have to agree to fix it
(DIR) Post #AuvgOmFYLIDUwOPHkW by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-08T16:40:47Z
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I'm assuming there's discussion later in the series about amendment, and hoping it has some guidance for the hole we find ourselves in where the amendments that need to happen disadvantage the parties in power. their hope, I'm sure, was that Reasonable Statesmen would put justice above party, but, well,,,
(DIR) Post #AuvgOn3tK8TzSVxUDA by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-08T18:36:08Z
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I wonder if, had we never switched to a direct* election of the president, we would have ended up with more parties. how much of the federation-wide party duopoly comes from there being a federation-wide race for them to mobilize around? would New York have developed a different pair of parties from Georgia if those parties never had to campaign together?
(DIR) Post #AvIORXIoRGKEjNtqq0 by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-19T17:37:48Z
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№ 13 starts by saying most who are opposed to union aren't proposing 13 separate countries, but one for new england, one for new york through delaware, and one for the south, which is an interesting choice of division. it then goes on to say this would just be a waste of effort, especially since new england and old new netherland would end up joining together anyway
(DIR) Post #AvIThf7FehRpMu083c by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-19T18:05:25Z
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№ 14 brings up that good ol American middle school classic of "republic vs democracy" that never gets described in modern context. "democracy" hasn't meant direct democracy since… well, basically since the moment these papers were published. but that doesn't stop ignorant pedants pretending "we're not a democracy, we're a republic" means something 🙃
(DIR) Post #AvIThkKCHzm3WV62Qi by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-19T18:18:05Z
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I don't think it helps that we have parties (in a meaning also different from Publius's) called "Democratic" and "Republican" which in no way relate to those meanings of their names
(DIR) Post #AvITw6hhsfOyz8wNdY by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-09T16:24:44Z
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№ 11 talks a lot about trade, but I find more interesting the talk about the benefits of a shared Navy, as something that can be much stronger if all the states work together on it. the details of how southern states have more and better wood and tar for building ships are no longer relevant, but the rest applies, even more so now that there are inland states which couldn't have their own navy but benefit from being included in one.
(DIR) Post #AvITwCAxXKlvxJfJQW by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-09T16:31:53Z
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I'm reading the Federalist to better understand the US, but also to better understand the United Federation of Planets. Starfleet, being essentially a space navy, is well described by № 11. the federation's goal of preventing imperial tyranny, whether by the Romulans and Klingons or the Spanish and British, are served well by sharing participation in a larger fleet
(DIR) Post #AvITwH2zQOMt42yWCO by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-09T16:33:48Z
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"A good navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guarantee of peace."- Teddy Roosevelt, of Great White Fleet fame
(DIR) Post #AvITwKwOwpTV8lvJU8 by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-19T17:31:04Z
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№ 12 is basically saying it's cheaper and more effective for us to handle trade regulations together, since it's hard to evade tariffs when there's such a large distance between our market and the next
(DIR) Post #AvITwPXPr9SZOjGvjc by else@furry.engineer
2025-06-19T17:33:18Z
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it's a little less relevant now that income tax is the more prominent revenue stream (taco tariffs notwithstanding), but then there are advantages to centralizing that too
(DIR) Post #AxXO8w4NjJ9e5foU2i by else@furry.engineer
2025-08-25T19:00:53Z
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the french language reaching its inevitable conclusion, in which every letter is silent