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Ted Cruz

7 (6.5%)

Rick Santorum

16 (14.8%)

Michelle Bachmann

13 (12%)

Chris Christie

23 (21.3%)

Rand Paul

49 (45.4%)

Total Members Voted: 107

[Bauglir]

Dude sure loves to hype his book. More importantly, though, it seems a little simplistic, while spending most of its time criticizing an even more simplistic idea of the US as a monolithic culture (which, to be fair, is a thing that does need to be criticized). The book maybe delineates them better, but the article seems to spend most of its time dealing with opinions on vengeance vs. reformation in justice, creating a single dichotomy instead of something producing eleven "nations". It concludes by admitting that two of those nations overshadow everyone else, which seems a strange way of supporting the idea that two isn't enough. For that matter, he's got a pretty clear bias in terms of the one he prefers, which makes me suspicious of the usefulness of this as an analytical framework. It's a fine enough idea for making a particular argument (this one), it just seems limited to that.

[RedKing]

I don't know, man. I didn't get a "Scots and Irish are more violent", so much as a "Herding cultures are more violent, the Scots and Irish (at least periphery, where the immigration came from) are herding cultures."

Not necessarily. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Lowland periphery (where the immigration came from) were quite diverse in their agriculture. A lot of arable farming went on down in the Lowlands because the land is fertile. Though herding was very common in the Lowlands and the Highlands, it's the Highlands that are more defined by that than anywhere else. I can't speak for Ireland unfortunately.

Ahh, the stout Irish potato herder, lovingly tending to his flock of spuds as they roam Ireland's green fields.... 

[Lagslayer]

Dude sure loves to hype his book. More importantly, though, it seems a little simplistic, while spending most of its time criticizing an even more simplistic idea of the US as a monolithic culture (which, to be fair, is a thing that does need to be criticized). The book maybe delineates them better, but the article seems to spend most of its time dealing with opinions on vengeance vs. reformation in justice, creating a single dichotomy instead of something producing eleven "nations". It concludes by admitting that two of those nations overshadow everyone else, which seems a strange way of supporting the idea that two isn't enough. For that matter, he's got a pretty clear bias in terms of the one he prefers, which makes me suspicious of the usefulness of this as an analytical framework. It's a fine enough idea for making a particular argument (this one), it just seems limited to that.

+1.

[misko27]

I don't know, man. I didn't get a "Scots and Irish are more violent", so much as a "Herding cultures are more violent, the Scots and Irish (at least periphery, where the immigration came from) are herding cultures."

Not necessarily. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Lowland periphery (where the immigration came from) were quite diverse in their agriculture. A lot of arable farming went on down in the Lowlands because the land is fertile. Though herding was very common in the Lowlands and the Highlands, it's the Highlands that are more defined by that than anywhere else. I can't speak for Ireland unfortunately.

Ahh, the stout Irish potato herder, lovingly tending to his flock of spuds as they roam Ireland's green fields.... 

Indeed.  Was it not Mad Cow disease that swept Ireland so long ago, and gave rise to the Potato famine that brought them here?

Interesting, but ultimately flawed by the broad-brushstroke approach and ignoring massive demographic shifts over the last 40 years. While the Tidewater region may have had its origins in English planter gentry society, the antebellum families that once held sway are almost demographically invisible today. (Oddly, he places Wilmington, NC in the Deep South region when it's actually one of the few areas of North Carolina that *does* still have some connection to its colonial and antebellum gentrified past.)

The running joke in the Triangle (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill) is that no around here is actually *from* here. RTP brought massive influxes of population from places like New York, Pennsylvania and Ontario and many of them preferred to stay even after their jobs no longer required it. Likewise, the Norfolk naval complex and the bedroom communities of Washington DC bring large numbers of internal immigrants from other parts of the country, and have been for decades.

Also this. Upper New York was placed in Yankeedom, despite being a snowy forest version of the rural south.

[FearfulJesuit]

Maybe Christie will be our next president. Food for thought, at least.

And the bill to outlaw LGBT discrimination in the workplace has passed the Senate, and could even pass the House.

[misko27]

Maybe Christie will be our next president. Food for thought, at least.

And the bill to outlaw LGBT discrimination in the workplace has passed the Senate, and could even pass the House.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I mentioned ENDA earlier, though I don't think most noticed.


On the note of Gay Rights, Illinois will become the 15th state to legalize Gay Marriage on Nov 20th.

[FearfulJesuit]

The spawn of Jimmy Carter has sunk his claws of malaise into politics.

Can anyone tell I'm bored?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The spawn of Jimmy Carter has sunk his claws of malaise into politics.

Can anyone tell I'm bored?

They say if you chant his mantra three times, Carter will appear from the ether. Malaise malaise malaise.

[kaijyuu]

Aww, Carter was a great guy, if a horrible president.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I don't think he was a horrible president. You can't have much worse circumstances than he had. Just the same, Reagan couldn't have had better circumstances.

[GlyphGryph]

I never quite understood why people thought he was a horrible president. His main fault was that he wasn't re-elected, as far as I can tell. I'd much rather have had Carter than most of our recent Presidents...

[misko27]

Ahh, the warm, blurry, rose-colored glow of nostalgia.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I'm not sure if you can really call it nostalgia if you hadn't even been conceived when it happened.

[GlyphGryph]

Seriously - other than 'Lost to Reagan' what the hell did he do wrong? Everything I've read, seen, and heard indicates he avoided screwing things up and making things worse, and did at least a bit to make things better in many ways.

[RedKing]

Speak for yourselves.

Actually one of my earliest memories is Reagan getting shot. Mostly because it pissed me off that they pre-empted my cartoons.


EDIT: One thing that Carter did wrong -- started arming the Afghan mujhadeen. Granted, that was more Brezinzki's decision than Carter's, but Carter approved it. And also granted, I probably would have done the same wrong thing, given the time period.