One of the premises of 19thC Australian Republicanism was that increasing liberty leads to increasing moral expression and consequent self-governance. The goal being moral perfection and the lack of need of a public government of any kind. Geoffrey Stone writes in
War and Liberty that despite fears and concerns, even with the secretive Bush Administration, there has been an increasing morality in the conduct of the executive such that liberty is increasingly preserved. Stone writes:
Nonetheless, I am confident that the major restrictions of civil liberties discussed ... would be less thinkable today than they were in 1798, 1861, 1917, 1942, 1950, or 1969. In terms of both the evolution of constitutional doctrine and the development of a national consciousness about civil liberties, we have made demonstrable progress.
In essence the American system of republicanism has promoted a culture of liberty and a culture of protecting, as well as expanding, civil liberties. This is probably the greatest role of the Bill of Rights in political history. Even countries without such as an entrenched constitutional set of rights, such as Australia, often claim things such as freedom of speech as both a natural and political right.
Stone continues:
In the past the United States has imprisoned such national leaders as Matther Lyon, Celement Vallandigham and Eugene Debs for criticizing a war. But in 2004 it was inconceivable that the Bush Administration could prosecute Howard Dean, even though his criticisms of the war in Iraq were every bit as inflammatory as the criticisms of Lyon, Vallandigham, and Debs.
I recall being amazed at what those names said that got them imprisoned. Debs, for instance, questioned the morality of a draft during WWI in a speech. A common political refrain in the last seven years.
This is a profound and hard-bought achievement. We should neither take it for granted, nor under-estimate its significance. It is a testament to the strength of American democracy.
The judicature is often hopelessly political, framing its decisions within what is politically and democratically achievable. Rather than the stalwart and tenured branch protecting the individual from the tyranny of the executive, the judicature has been a political branch. Often it is the morality of the citizenry, constitutional liberalism (republicanism) and the occasional judge themselves that is limiting what is possible in the forms of executive tyranny.
Most Popular on South Sea Republic
The articles that have been viewed the most:
Most Popular Restaurants in Phoenix
Phoenix Eats Out is the restaurant review site for
Phoenix,
Scottsdale and
Old Town Scottsdale which lists the modernist and contemporary restaurants, taverns and bars in the greater Phoenix area.
This is the list of the most popular restaurants pages from phoenixeatsout.com that have been viewed the most;
My personal favourite restaurants in Phoenix are
AZ88,
Postinos,
Bomberos with
Grazie,
Humble Pie,
Orange Table,
The Vig,
Fez and others coming close behind. View the complete list with the photo-journalistic style images on
phoenixeatsout.com
Most Popular Hikes in Arizona
Arizona is an outdoor state and has lots of hiking in the city and around the state. Phoenix is unusual for most cities in having several large mountains in the center of the city with great hiking. Anyone who comes to Phoenix has to do the
Echo Canyon trail on Camelback and the
Summit Hike on Squaw Peak or Piesta Peak. The views of the city, suburbs and surrounding mountains are wonderful from Camelback and Piesta Peak.
For more experienced hikers there is the McDowell Mountains in North Scottsdale that has several difficult and strenuous hikes in
Tom's Thumb and
Bell Pass. Alternatively, you can hike the highest mountain in Arizona. At 12,600 feet
Humphrey's Peak is a long and difficult hike.
Alternate Australian Constitutions
Between 2004 and 2009 this site,
southsearepublic.org, was a constitutional blog based on scoop which focused on Australian and global constitutional issues.
One of the strongest aspects of it was the development of constitutions by those involved in the blog. These constitutions are the outcome:
The constitutions were built using principles from Montesquieu's separation of powers, the enlightnment's universal political rights and the ancient Athenian technology of sortition and choice by lot.
Archives For South Sea Republic
South Sea Republic started in 2004 as an Australian constitutional blog in 2004 based on scoop software. It was an immigrative outgrowth of Kuro5hin. The archives for each year since then;
The articles are ordered by views.
Who Is Cam Riley
I am an Australian living in the United States as a permanent resident.
I am a software developer by trade and mostly work in Java and jump between middleware and front end.
I originally worked in the New York area of the United States in telecommunications before moving to Washington DC and
working in a mix of telecommunications, energy and ITS. I started my own software company before heading out to
Arizona and working with Shutterfly. Since then I have joined a startup in the Phoenix area and am thoroughly enjoying myself.
I do a lot of photography which I post on this website, but also on flickr. I have a photo-journalistic website which lists
the modernist and contemporary restaurants in phoenix. I have a site on the
Australian Flying Corps [AFC] which has been around since the 1990s and which I unfortunately
lost the .org URL to during a life event; however, it is under the
www.australianflyingcorps.com URL now.
The AFC website has gone through several iterations since the 90s and the two most recent are
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2004-2002) and
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2002-1999) which are good places to start.
Websites Worth Reading
Websites of friends, colleagues and of interest;
