Re: OT naming customs

Quoting Cian Ross <cian@...>:

> On 12/16/01 at 7:51 PM Thomas R. Wier wrote:
>
> >[...] Because of this, the [Texas] State
> >constitutional convention of 1876 created a "plural executive",
> >where not only the State lieutenant governor, but also all the
> >members of the cabinet were popularly elected.  It is widely
> >considered a model of How Not to Get Things Done.
>
> And many of us here like it just fine that way. >>:)
If I were given the job of state nomothete, I'd ditch the
plural executive part and have a governor capable of appointing
his cabinet (though not the Lieutenant Gov.), and have a
legislature that meets more than, like, 60 days in any two
year legislative sessions.  I'd turn that into a annually
elected legislature, but at the same time would reduce the
scope over which the central state government has authority
by federalizing Texas into maybe five or six Regions above
the 256 counties to handle affairs which are not of
statewide scope (local water and land management), but of
greater scope than a county. This is IMO reasonable, since
such regions would be as large as many eastern states, and
shouldn't have to wait for a dilatory state government to
attend to urgent local needs.  Also, since some other states
can call themselves "Commonwealths", I see no reason why we
could not call the state a "Republic" (this would be of
purely symbolic importance, of course, to harken back to
before 1845).

If I were the nomothete, of course.  I could never actually
be one.

=====================================================================
Thomas Wier <trwier@...> <http://home.uchicago.edu/~trwier>

             "...koruphàs hetéras hetére:isi prosápto:n /
Dept. of Linguistics  mú:tho:n mè: teléein atrapòn mían..."
University of Chicago "To join together diverse peaks of thought /
1010 E. 59th Street   and not complete one road that has no turn"
Chicago, IL 60637     Empedocles, _On Nature_, on speculative thinkers