Monday, December 12, 2016

Separation of Powers - half gone?

Aretae is back, with a post pondering Separation of Powers as envisioned by the founders and as recognized today.  His take: half of the original mechanisms are now gone:
Overall, there were at least eight elements built into the fabric of the federal government for the purpose of balancing the states’ power against that of the federal government. There are still four left.
Actually, by his count there are three left.  His first one is Secession, which Foseti dealt with some time back.  That link is well worth a read.

In unrelated-but-related news, we are told that the grandsons of John Tyler - the 10th U.S. President - are still alive:
The Tyler men have a habit of having kids very late in life. Lyon Gardiner Tyler, one of President Tyler’s 15 kids, was born in 1853. He fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. in 1924, and Harrison Ruffin Tyler in 1928.
And so back to Aretae's list.  All eight elements were in full force when Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr's father was born.  Five were left when he was born, and he has watched another two be eliminated.

TL;DR: it only took two generations for the majority of the pillars of Separation of Powers to be eliminated.  Moldbug said something similar, although in eleventy million more words.

But hey, Aretae's back!  Go leave him some welcome-back comment love.

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