[an0n]

The party symbol is the Union Jack

Uh, no their party symbol is the Cross of Saint George, just the red bit in the middle. It's the flag of England where as the Jack is the flag of the united kingdom of which england is the central part.

No, it's the Union Jack. But in the past few years they've been migrating towards St George's Cross to try and make it look like all the England supporters are actually rooting for the BNP.

[Dark Knight]

Sorry you are right. I thought they'd adopted it as their official symbol a few years back since they dropped using the Union Jack all together at the last Election but they never officially changed it.

[karajorma]

So while the Dictator could do whatever he pleased on a personal and state level, if he tried to combine the two the organizational structure of the government would mean he'd be trying to take power from the Military, captains of industry and selfish, manipulative politicians. He'd be dancing in a nest of vipers.

Even if I believed all the rest of your post was possible (which I don't) you still face the very real threat of the people mentioned above simply manipulating the dictator to their own ends.

[an0n]

How, exactly?

He could just kill them all if they tried.

[karajorma]

Which contradicts your earlier point that the dictator couldn't simply abolish their house if he wanted to. Either he's a puppet or a colossus. You need to make up your mind.

[an0n]

He could kill them in scores if he could provide enough proof to the ones he wasn't killing that the massacre was justified.

And then the ones he'd killed would be replaced by new people.

But he couldn't dissolve the Houses.

[karajorma]

Why couldn't he? Or why couldn't he simply fill the houses with yes men who don't want to be killed after having purged them of everyone stupid enough to say no and get themselves killed by him? He'd only need one night of the long knives to do that. Everything would be done and dusted before parliament could reconvene to tell him to stop.

[an0n]

Because the First House is voted into office, the Second House is comprised of military and business leaders who'd take exception to being killed off wholesale and the Third House is voted in by the First and Second Houses.

And while it's entire possible he could coerse the military and the public, the business leaders interests could never be served by allying themselves to a power-mad dictator and they could topple the entire economy if he ever tried to move against them, leaving the country in total chaos.

The system balances military power, economic power, the will of the people and the honour of patriots to ensure that while the Dictator can rock the boat, if he ever tries to make himself the de-facto captain the entire ship sinks killing everyone aboard.

[IceFire]

NEVER talk to a West Canadian about the bilingual thing. Especially if they had to learn French in school.
Not that I don't think the seperatists are the biggest promoters of huge overkill in the world.
Although I can't see how you can call Canada an OK democracy if the Conservatives got elected.
Well, after that politically charged remark, hopefully it won't be long before this topic detonates and collapses the nearest jump node. I give it 2 days or so at most.

We didn't elect the Conservatives....we un-elected the Liberals.  And its a minority government...something that doesn't really happen in U.S. style government.  The Conservatives have to have the support of at least a few MPs from another party to get anything pushed through.  As nobody wants another election right now...they will go along with things...but they will change bills before they are passed to try and keep the NDP and the Liberals in check.  And apparently the Governor General can, if parliament falls, ask another party to try and form a coalition government or form a minority government, if it means preventing follow up snap elections.

[IceFire]

True enough. The only countries not currently going straight to Hell are the UK and Canada.

But the UK has ****ty immigration policies and Canada has French people.

Well nobodys perfect...we'll take the road to hell paved with good intentions instead

[an0n]

Personally, I'd rather sail to Hell along the River Styx in a ship made from the bones of my enemies, with sails made of their skin and crewed by the rotting souls of all those I corrupted along the way.....

[Dark Knight]

Personally, I'd rather sail to Hell along the River Styx in a ship made from the bones of my enemies, with sails made of their skin and crewed by the rotting souls of all those I corrupted along the way.....

For some reason, I heard that in the voice of Sarge from Red vs. Blue.

[aceofspades]

Perfect 

Go Sarge. Although my favorite character is church. And I'm such a stupid romantic that I'm a church/tex shipper. Now that's what I call an accomplishment: I'm almost certainly the only person in the world to support a Red vs. Blue ship.

If you don't know about the 'shipping' terminology, use wikipedia.
Wow. I just made a post completely about RvB in a UK politics thread. Do I get the Off Topic Medal?

[NGTM-1R]

Now that's what I call an accomplishment: I'm almost certainly the only person in the world to support a Red vs. Blue ship.

You are not. You are also now on my hitlist.

Do not expect to be spared when the revolution comes.

[aceofspades]

  It's okay, I always knew I would end up on someone's hitlist. However, much more importantly...

ARE THESE OTHER CHURCH/TEX SHIPPERS!? Give me contact info, damnit! We have to start a community, to spread the word. To put more pressure on the RvB team util they yield to our demands.

Do you think we could get HLP to host us? 

[SadisticSid]

Perfect 

Go Sarge. Although my favorite character is church. And I'm such a stupid romantic that I'm a church/tex shipper. Now that's what I call an accomplishment: I'm almost certainly the only person in the world to support a Red vs. Blue ship.

If you don't know about the 'shipping' terminology, use wikipedia.
Wow. I just made a post completely about RvB in a UK politics thread. Do I get the Off Topic Medal?

No, just a big pin badge with the words WHINY SHIPPER PUSSY in big, bold letters.

[aceofspades]

I'll take that as a complement