As a Yank, I've been watching this with detached bemusement.

 

The First Minister of Scotland clearly has no idea what he's doing. He was trying to score points and promote nationalism without a plan.

 

David Cameron should go play the lottery. I was convinced this was gonna be a yes vote. It would have cost him his job if it did. There's lots of things still to work on from where I sit.

 

I'll have to watch PMQs on Wednesday. This one should be interesting. I wanna see Milliband rip Cameron apart.

 

I do wish MCRABT were around. I'd love to get his take.

One opinion poll in 2 years gave yes a lead. 1. The SNP seemed to take that as a guarantee of victory however.

Americans...

I think Cameron and Parliament can do a better job than Obama and Congress.

 

2nd

The joys of only having 1 elected body means our chances of gridlock are much slimmer. People who think we should have an elected second chamber should take a long hard look at the gridlock it causes in the US.

The joys of only having 1 elected body means our chances of gridlock are much slimmer. People who think we should have an elected second chamber should take a long hard look at the gridlock it causes in the US.

 

The Senate is supposed to be a place where partisan differences can be calmed down and actual deliberation and consensus can be found.  However, in recent years, the opposite has happened with routine diplomats being denied confirmations for ambassadorships.  Both parties are to blame for the BS, with the Republicans having Ted Cruz drama and the Democrats having Harry Reid

Devolution begins...

The joys of only having 1 elected body means our chances of gridlock are much slimmer. People who think we should have an elected second chamber should take a long hard look at the gridlock it causes in the US.

The idea of the bicameral legislature was drafted up at a time where States' Rights were rather important. The Senate allows for the small states (population wise) to prevent the large states from passing laws that harm them. The belief in the rights of the states sort of peaked around the Civil war, and has dropped since, largely due to increased communication, commerce, ect, among the states (and globally for that matter). It is kind of an out dated system, but when your Constitution is 233 years old, what do you expect...

 

As for the Scots: If they want to be independent, I say let them. As we can see from the poll, more people want to stay part of the UK. Now it sucks for the +40% that want to separate, but democracy leads to tyranny of the masses. Sucks, but that's the best we've got.

Aye... Democracy is the best of the bad bunch we've tried so far. It still stands that the best option is a benevolent dictator, but even if you found someone finding a second would be very hard indeed!

 

True... 45% voted for independence, but it sucks less for them that it did for those who voted for Al Gore in the 2004 election! It's hard to argue that we (the UK) are worse off as a united nation than a split nation.

 

We also have no need for a second elected body at upper government but whatever you guys wanna do is up to you

 

The joys of only having 1 elected body means our chances of gridlock are much slimmer. People who think we should have an elected second chamber should take a long hard look at the gridlock it causes in the US.

The idea of the bicameral legislature was drafted up at a time where States' Rights were rather important. The Senate allows for the small states (population wise) to prevent the large states from passing laws that harm them. The belief in the rights of the states sort of peaked around the Civil war, and has dropped since, largely due to increased communication, commerce, ect, among the states (and globally for that matter). It is kind of an out dated system, but when your Constitution is 233 years old, what do you expect...

 

As for the Scots: If they want to be independent, I say let them. As we can see from the poll, more people want to stay part of the UK. Now it sucks for the +40% that want to separate, but democracy leads to tyranny of the masses. Sucks, but that's the best we've got.

 

The far right wing (and hell, a lot of moderates too) scream "States Rights" all the time.

 

Plus, our system of representation is long outdated. 435 people in the House of Representatives representing 300+M people is a joke. Ideally, IMO, there should be 1000 representatives, at minimum, to get a fairer representation of the US people. Wanna keep the Senate 100, 2 per state, I'm OK with that.

 

It'll never happen, of course, but one can hope.