[geeks] Percentages & mail list

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 03:09:18PM -0500, Lionel Peterson wrote:
> I'd argue that if that were true[0], I'm glad that 10% held such sway in the 
> colonies.

You miss the point. When the "new world" was first settled, most of the land
was owned by the king. Which king occasionally changed, but it was still the
king. The king granted ownership of parcels of land based on his whim 
(often to pay off war debts) and whomever owned the that land owned the
right to run things. 

For example, ALL of Pennsylvania was owned by William Penn (the younger),
and it was given to him in payment of war debts of the king to his father
Admiral William Penn. Penn the younger had strange religious beliefs and
was imprisoned for them, giving him the land was a way of getting rid
of both Penn, his "friends" (the name of his sect was the Religious Society
of Friends) and the debt. 

Penn's land was probably the largest single parcel given to any one person
and as long has he paid his taxes to the king, he could run it anyway he
wanted.

In practice, The "Friends" were a very strange religion in comparison to the
CofE, they were egalitarian, and peaceful. Quite simply Penn did not need
to sell of small parcels of land nor allow any form of representative
government. He did because he believed in it. 

Technically Pennsylvania is not a state, it calls itself the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania. In practice I doubt that there is any difference between it
and any other the 49 other states in the U.S., but the name remains.




> I really like this group - I am constantly amazed at the breadth of knowledge 
> and variety of interests among the list members. It is also amazing that we 
> can discuss such topics and not fall into "Godwin's Law"[1] on a regular 
> basis.

Mendelson's corollary to Godwin's Law:

(replace "call someone a Nazi", with "quote the Wikipedia".

Geoff.
-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM