Anyone surprised? My political science teacher at UNC has said many times the collapse of America is on hand.

I'm starting to believe him.

'timeout'?

• To reach a cold peace in the culture war, Buchanan urges a return to federalism and the overthrow of our judicial dictatorship by Congressionally mandated restrictions on the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

Wondering what uart has to say 'bout this...

You know, I'm fine with us going to the second world. I'm down.

Ron Paul's future VP?

gethoht: since you asked: Me and Pat don't see eye to eye on a lot of issues, but he is mostly right about this, I think. An overextended military fighting unpopular foreign wars, combined with the economic collapse we are headed for if we don't get our dollar-crisis under control will ultimately be the downfall of America.

as for the Supreme Court, I don't think anything would have to be overturned... the Supreme Court ultimately can decide it's own jurisdiction as an appeals court -- they can hear any case they want to hear on appeal from the states. The federal district and circuit courts have their jurisdiction determined by the congress, it is a constitutional right of the congress, designed to allow congress to 'spin off' certain types of jurisdiction to the state level (but ultimately, those cases can still be appealed to the SCOTUS).

So yeah, I'm not sure what he's talking about with that. I'm with him on federalism though.

gork: while I would worry about Pat Buchanan turning off some voters as VP, he would certainly be a much better option for Dr. Paul than some neocon prick.

uart:

Wouldn't a return to federalism = strengthening of the federal government?

End of America

i fucking hope so

Isn't Federalism the opposite of Republicanism?
Is Pat a Democrat?

Federalism (at least how Buchanan uses it) refers to the system that our founding fathers were shooting for in the constitution -- a federal government that was strong in the services it provided, but was ultimately limited in it's scope of power. Rather than a centralized government, a federal system is a government based on constituent parts, the states.

What Buchanan is suggesting is a decentralization of power.

Graycube: no. They are not incompatible. Republicanism, Democracy, and Federalism are terms that can and do overlap in their definition.

America is a Federal democratic republic.

thank god someone asked uart's opinion. i mean, we might not [youtube] it otherwise.

i love you too, mundhra...

I guess I got Federalist and 'Federalism' mixed up. Leave it to politicians to spell things out and make it clear what the heck they are standing for.

it's a vague term. All it really refers to is our form of government. Jefferson and Madison were as federalist (in a sense) as Hamilton -- they all got together to write the Constitution... Hamilton wanted to centralize power in the Federal government and leave the states as administrative outposts, while Madison and Jefferson were more interested in states rights (a concept that the segregationists managed to make a dirty word).