One of the things that comes to me almost immediately is that I am not sure the whole concept of devolved power would have ever come about. The American Revolution, and its experiment in democratic republicanism, had a couple of hallmarks. One would be the Bill of Rights, but we all know the Magna Charta had a huge influence on that, yet it was unique in a number of ways. Another would be the idea that the ultimate power did not have to reside in some "thing", be it a King, or whatever. The Constitution which ultimately evolved out of the experiment, split that power in at least 3 parts. The recent decision by the US Supreme Court against the wishes of the Administration and its current war powers, shows that important principle, which was unique to the American Constitution, still works. It is interesting to ponder the unique differences in our style of representative democracy, and what the world would be like had they never occurred.

Great thread, Jerry. My mind shifted into overdrive after reading LH's post and now I probably won't get to bed for about 2 hours thinking about this.

All the best,

Mick