Referendum on Scottish Independence

[Tahuti]

I don't think terrorism would be reduced. Think about it; if a terrorist wants to destroy your phallic-shaped skyscraper, closing the borders probably won't help all that much.

To be honest, phallic-shaped skyscrapers should be destroyed, so I couldn't care less about it.

 

[Flying Pig]

I don't think terrorism would be reduced. Think about it; if a terrorist wants to destroy your phallic-shaped skyscraper, closing the borders probably won't help all that much.

It will if he's planning on using an aircraft to do it, though.

 

[gay_Aleks]

If said terrorist really wants to, he'll find other ways. You might have not noticed, but these people just don't give up.

The US government and anyone non-terrorist living in Iraq, however might have.

 

[Flying Pig]

Certainly, but it raises the threshold of 'really wanting to'. Put another way, it's obvious that if you made it easier to use any given means of terrorism, there wouldn't just be more terrorism of that sort - there would be more absolutely, because the other means are equally easy and one just got easier. It works the other way too: the same happens in everything else. If you raise the price of cinema tickets, people are going to try and find other ways of having fun, but the total amount of fun being had is going to go down.

 

[Commodore]

We don't need a global authority. Every problem that has a global reach was to some extent a result of centralising governments.



Immigration laws and travel restrictions prevent the spread of diseases, terrorism and typical globalisation problems.

Again you seem to think I want a centralized government lording over the world when that is not what I am advocating at all. I want to see a global federalized government structure where the global authority handles global issues and regional governments handle regional issues. It would be very similar to how the US is theoretically supposed to work with the states mostly governing themselves and the federal government mainly existing to provide for the common defense and regulate interstate commerce. I don't see why you would be against having a similar system applied at the global level.

As for your point about travel restrictions: You could still have all that with a global government, and I would go as far to say it would be easier to enforce since everyone would be operating on the same standards and regulations instead of the situation we have now where one government takes border security seriously while another doesn't (or doesn't have the funding to take security seriously).

 

[Borachio]

Not so much a global government but a global administration for all things global? Makes sense to me. And there are already a lot of things which are regulated globally to one degree or another. Air, and marine, travel and transport, for instance.

But what is truly global and what merely local? Don't all local activities affect things globally to some extent? Well, not all. Me picking my nose on a wet Tuesday afternoon probably doesn't have a significant effect on Ruanda, for example.

 

[Commodore]

Not so much a global government but a global administration for all things global? Makes sense to me. And there are already a lot of things which are regulated globally to one degree or another. Air, and marine, travel and transport, for instance.

But what is truly global and what merely local. Don't all local activities affect things globally to some extent? Well, not all. Me picking my nose on a wet Tuesday afternoon probably doesn't have a significant effect on Ruanda, for example.

Well I think the theoretical division of power between the federal government and state governments in the US would be a good starting point to determine where the global administration would have authority and where regional governments would have authority. I also wouldn't be against a "Global Constitution" that would have a similar function to the US Constitution in the sense that regional governments could pass any laws and regulations they see fit as long as it does not contradict or invalidate any part of the Global Constitution.

 

[SeekTruthFromFacts]

Well I think the theoretical division of power between the federal government and state governments in the US would be a good starting point to determine where the global administration would have authority and where regional governments would have authority. I also wouldn't be against a "Global Constitution" that would have a similar function to the US Constitution in the sense that regional governments could pass any laws and regulations they see fit as long as it does not contradict or invalidate any part of the Global Constitution.

You seem to be in favour of the EU to keep on expanding until it covers the world, as far as I can see.

 

[Tahuti]

Again you seem to think I want a centralized government lording over the world when that is not what I am advocating at all. I want to see a global federalized government structure where the global authority handles global issues and regional governments handle regional issues. It would be very similar to how the US is theoretically supposed to work with the states mostly governing themselves and the federal government mainly existing to provide for the common defense and regulate interstate commerce. I don't see why you would be against having a similar system applied at the global level.

I already think the US Federal government is way too centralised.

As for your point about travel restrictions: You could still have all that with a global government, and I would go as far to say it would be easier to enforce since everyone would be operating on the same standards and regulations instead of the situation we have now where one government takes border security seriously while another doesn't (or doesn't have the funding to take security seriously).

At large, that will be the problem of the state that neglects border security. A global government - even one that too some degree still respects the autonomy of its constituent states - is bound to propagate an monotonous ecosystem of political entities.

 

[Commodore]

I already think the US Federal government is way too centralised.

Agreed, that's why I said I would be in favor of how it is supposed theoretically work, not how it actually has been working. Unless of course you feel it is even too centralized in theory; in which case I would have to respectfully disagree with you.

@SeekTruthFromFacts: Yeah sure, if that's how it comes about. There could definitely be worse ways to govern humanity. Honestly the way I see it going is the world coalescing into several EU-type entities and those entities slowly integrating more and more until a Global Union is formed.

 

[Mouthwash]

Y'know, England and Scotland just kind of deserve each other.

 

[Traitorfish]

Moreso than the Palestinians deserve the Israelis, at any rate.

 

[plarq]

Y'know, England and Scotland just kind of deserve each other.

They're forcibly united by a king who happened to rule both countries?

 

[Takhisis]

Actually, they were forcibly united by a few dozen parliamentarians who decided to accept English coin in exchange for their votes.

 

[Antilogic]

Actually, they were forcibly united by a few dozen parliamentarians who decided to accept English coin in exchange for their votes.

JUST AS GOD (and nature) INTENDED.

 

[Takhisis]

Silence! Your country's 238-year-old rebellion shall be crushed. The British Invasion spelled the beginning of the end for your lot.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Well, the lesson is clear: don't dig channels in Panama unless you're American and ready for anything.

 

[MacAttack]

Silence! Your country's 238-year-old rebellion shall be crushed. The British Invasion spelled the beginning of the end for your lot.

OMG If only you were serious.

 

[Farm Boy]

OMG If only you were serious.

Heheh. Between the overall topic, your avatar, and the fact that I just started re-watching Ken Burn's The Civil War with the wife, I'm reminded how dead-on Sam Houston nailed it before Texas kicked him out.

 

[Rashiminos]

Again you seem to think I want a centralized government lording over the world when that is not what I am advocating at all. I want to see a global federalized government structure where the global authority handles global issues and regional governments handle regional issues.

In many cases those two ideas would converge.