Morning Noises

It's 4:15 am Central Time right now. I went to bed a smidge after 12:30 am. As I was dozing off, I heard that familiar furniture-moving noise from the floor above. A few minutes ago, I heard it again. Now there's a perfectly good reason for me to be awake right now (my flight), but what on earth is going on up there? My friend suggested a few moments ago that maybe it was "one of those vacuum robot things." 

ROOMBA!

Of course...the vacuum-robot...Roomba...

Re: Machiavelli

Machiavelli is a Romaphile, of this much I am certain. He charts the relative successes and failures of all three states/republics/empires/whathaveyou from their earliest development. Sparta was "granted" its strong constitution and laws by Lycurgus. Under this system, class roles were highly prescriptive. Everyone knew where they were going and how they were getting there. The populace was very limited in its exercise of power. In Athens, on the other hand, the system set in place by Theseus and his successors did not clearly state where people "ought" to be in society. There was no "proper" role for strongmen or aristocrats. Because of these problems, Athenian democracy was very messy, and led to a great many fallings-down. 

In Rome, though, the original governance style was that of a kingdom; there was no place for laws detailing freedom and democratic representation. When liberty came, a rush of new laws followed it. These laws were then augmented to reflect changing situations. The republic developed organically. Plebeians were allowed certain leadership positions in the military and market, but otherwise the bulk of power was in the hands of the Senate and the patricians. This set Rome up for class conflict, but Machiavelli points out that it was just such conflict that provided the impetus for growth and change. Political crisis forced the evolution of the Roman state into a highly-functional and pragmatic machine. Power was added to power, and it was never really allowed to slip down to the populace in the form of full enfranchisement. 

Rome eventually expanded as a multi-ethnic empire, which forced it to involve all sorts of other folks in the governance process. They had to flatten their control. Athens was more localized in its endeavors, and when it did send itself out to gain land, it failed. Sparta had the same problem. Their expansion proved foolish, for their concentrated power was best at just that: being concentrated. Rome was the more perfect state because it was more willing to adapt and learn from its mistakes. It did not overly appease, nor did it overly oppress. It was, as one student noted in her response, the embodiment of "The Prince." 

Intern Much?

First post up at The 1010 Project's social network:

http://the1010project.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2292542:BlogPost:782

Palin

Slate.com's John Dickerson captures the McCain VP pick perfectly:

Huh?

Palin is a strong choice, to be sure, but what will it mean in two months' time?

The Convention, pt. 4 (Invesco)

I was informed quite early this morning that my press credentials would not suffice to get me into Invesco Field for the big speech. I was sad, yes, but I went downtown anyway. I stopped in at the Tattered Cover for some mate, an Economist, a danish, and a book of Sudoku, my guilty pleasure.

Took the Light Rail to Invesco and simply walked in. I held out my creds as I would have at the Pepsi Center, and I tried to carry myself as someone who belonged there. It worked. I ended up in the bleachers watching sound checks for will.I.am (WIllisms issmsm.s.semam.s..s..eiwiwle.) and Stevie Wonder, which was a real treat. It was seriously THE Stevie Wonder, and I saw him. And Michael McDonald, and Al Gore, and a whole slew of other cool and interesting people.

I finished the entire Economist while we waited, stuck underneath a speaker stand on the field. I also did a handful of Sudoku puzzles, of which I was very proud. Sometime in the afternoon, I'm not sure when, the meeting actually started. Lots of people spoke. Bill Richardson said a bunch of funny stuff, there was music, I watched the field fill with tens of thousands of people. Dick Durbin (Illinois reppin!) introduced a video about the Nominee. There were baby pictures, MIchelle stories, and some highlights. I was walking around the field during all of this, watching the crowd. They were quiet - very quiet. Just watching and waiting.It was eerie and wonderful.Then Senator Obama took the podium. The crowd exploded. As I rewatch the footage, I realize that he said "Thank you" for just under three minutes. Then he accepted the nomination. The crowd exploded again.

Again, as I rewatch this I can't help but realize that there were substantial things that I missed, like the Thank You Party in the beginning, a few of the things he said, and the way he ended the speech. I was wandering around, taking it all in; I was still listening, but it was hypnotic. The guy can talk. When he spoke of the military, the crowd chanted USA USA USA, which would normally have concerned me, but this loud patriotism felt strangely comforting. And then he said THANK YOU again and the fireworks went off and the crowd blew up and there were streamers and confetti and Obama's and Joe Biden's family came out on stage and everyone cheered and cheered.

Whatever happens in November, this was truly a night to remember. 82000-odd people at Invesco, and another 38 million watching at home. I am terribly lucky to have been so close, down on the field with the media, watching history. Hopefully November will keep with the theme. I got to bed late and tired.

Some little explosions and streamers and confetti:

And more:

The Convention, pt. 3

Today was slower than usual. Lined up a few delegate interviews for my correspondent. We wanted to find some Clinton delegates and figure out what was what with the roll call later in the evening.

 

As it just so happened, I was sitting in Press Pavilion #4 during the roll call, nursing a Fat Tire and watching each delegation rant and rave about the wonderful features of their state. I thought I had missed Illinois, but then they caught a deferment. Mayor Daley spoke briefly and deferred to New York. Hillary Clinton suspended the roll call for a vote by acclamation.

 

It worked, and Barack Hussein Obama II (betcha forgot he's got numbers after his name) became the Democratic nominee. It was all very nice.

The Convention, pt. 2

I spoke with a number of delegates today as part of my "press duties." Accidentally spoke with at least one well-known Representative, which was slightly embarrasing once I realized who she was. On the whole, though, the day was a success. My legs are still killing me from the weekend's climb, but if you're wearing a suit, even a limp looks slightly cool.

 

Went to the Truman National Security Project meeting downtown, which was cool. Bill Clinton's Secretary of Defense William Perry was there, as was former Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig, who is now advising Barack Obama on defense policy. This guy could be the new SECDEF, and he's funny to boot! They spoke of many things, especially Russia's recent adventures in the Caucasus, and Danzig especially kept referring to all of America's foreign policy potential. He was talking not just about DoD, but also USAID, Peace Corps, Commerce, etc. It's what I call "full spectrum dominance."

 

I for one would LOVE to see about a third of the DoD's budget (a third would be close to a bazillion dollars) go towards the State Department. That would be awesome.