The revolution is upon us and the past is of no account

[mick silver]

Some of the the recommendations for very powerful and intrusive central government unsettle me, but Ireland is so much smaller that it is more like a state in the US, so the public can keep an eye on it better if it has emergency powers. http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/eoghan-harris/the-revolution-is-upon-us-and-the-past-is-of-no-account-1640529.html

[sunsetcliff]

First, the political class does not recognise that it has a revolutionary situation. As a student of the French and Irish revolutions I did not make that mistake. Last December in Seanad Eireann I made three predictions which surprised some of my colleagues but which seem commonplace now: (a) That unemployment would hit 500,000; (b) That we needed a state of economic emergency and a national government; (c) That we should prepare for serious riots in the streets.

The second mistake in a revolutionary epoch is to look to the recent past -- rather than the historic past -- for precedents. In a structural crisis there are no precedents. All you can do is assume the worst, think the unthinkable and face the fact that you may soon have to arrest some of your former fat cat friends who are feeding off the poor.

/snip

good find!

[Katwoman]

Each state in the union already has its own centralized government and the independent ability to declare a state of emergency....read the constitution. This is the reason many states are as we speak are passing sovereignty resolutions and Katrina bills. And as for comparing us to Ireland certainly you do know that it is no different than Texas? The legal name of the "state" is simply "Ireland" although its legal description the Republic of Ireland is sometimes used to differentiate the state from the island which as you know includes parts of Great Britain. So this action on the part of the state of Ireland is in effect no different than Louisiana declaring a state of emergency after Katrina. By contrast having the Federal Government attempt nationalized control of the United States would undoubtedly lead to civil war.

[sunsetcliff]

not so simple tho. states are broke. enter money from where ever. with such money will be strings. lots of strings.