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Originally Posted by RDak
I wish he were alive today. We could sit down with him, have a few beers and probably have one of the most interesting conversations we have ever had in our lives. (I've read he was pretty arrogant but I don't care, he was a pure genius IMHO.)
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I would strongly recommend you view the HBO film John Adams. It is of course, a movie but I believe it captures very well the ideas and thinking of the times. One scene Hamilton speaks about the miltia during the Quasi-War with France that Adams refused to declare 1798-1800. In it Hamilton talks about the need for a standing Army since the state miltias are deficient and then prattles on about what type uniforms they should have.
The best scene IMHO was when G. Washington, T. Jefferson, Adams and Hamilton are having lunch. Hamilton says we need credit and so should borrow money immdiately from other countries. Jefferson replies: "I fear our revolution will have been in vain if a Virginia farmer is in hock to a NY Stock-jobber who is in hock to a London Banker" to which Hamilton replies "If men were angels we would need no government". Great stuff!
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Originally Posted by RDak
Btw, thanks for the info. on Somalia. Never knew they were without any sort of constitutional framework for all intents and purposes. Being under the control of Italy for so long, I am surprised by that fact.
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From the appearance of some of the buildings it looked as though they once had a nice city in Mogadishu but that was long gone. Sometimes colonial powers imparted their best to those they governed but I never thought Italy was very strong in the governmental department at least since the Roman Empire! Great cooks however!