Your line about “Americans are philosophically conservative but operationally liberal” really struck. I’ve heard (and observed) this phenomena in the US for a good long while now, just never saw it succinctly said. Following on from that, is there an argument to make that the Democrats, for the most part, have it ass-backwards in that they’re philosophically liberal but tend to operate in a conservative fashion?

I would say the more accurate statement is that Democrats over-estimate how conservative the electorate actually is and operate accordingly, although they’re not as bad as Republicans.

Hi Steven! I’m currently trying to worldbuild for a story & was searching thru your blog for money & economics for the middle ages. It’s been v helpful (more so than my wiki searches) but I’m still not quite grasping how they decide the worth of coins. I know the more gold in supply effects the worth but how do they decide gold is X value? Also if you know of any resources/links that would be v helpful, since I don’t want to keep bothering you w/ questions. Thank you so much for your time!

The way that medieval coinage would generally work is that a decision would be made about how many coins would be struck from a given weight of metal, which would therefore indicate the value of the individual coin.

So to take the pound as an example, starting with King Offa of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxons established that 240 silver pennies would be struck from one pound weight of silver, and further than one penny was worth four farthings and twelve pennies were worth 1 shilling (which meant that twenty shillings were worth one pound). Offa in turn was borrowing from Charlemagne, who established that one pound of silver was equal to one livre, which was worth 20 sous/sols, which in turn were worth twelve deniers. Keen eyed observers will note that the notations for the different currencies – l, d, s – are the same in the British and Frankish systems. The reason for that is that Charlesmagne and his copiers in England, Italy, Spain, etc. were in turn copying Roman currencies: the “l” stands for “libra,” the “d” for “denarius,” and the “s” for “solidus.”

In other words, tradition and culture matters. Rome was associated with a commercial, currency-based economy and even after the fall of the Roman Empire, the memory of that economy was still strong, so associating your coins with theirs went part of the way towards ensuring that people thought your currency was good.

So for gold coins, you’d figure out how many coins would be struck from how much gold. Again, to take the English example, the “noble” was the first English gold coin to circulate widely. Originally, the noble was 138.5 grains or 9 grams of gold, so that one pound of gold would produce 453 or so nobles.

However, one thing to keep in mind is that, with a metallic standard, the government has to be careful that the cost of the coin doesn’t exceed its value (which means you’re actually losing money by making it), and there’s always an incentive to exercise the right of seignorage by declaring the face value of the coin to be greater than the actual metallic content of the coin (which means you’re making money by making money). Combined with the constant problem of private individuals producing counterfeit coins by clipping, sweating, or plating, the actual weight and purity of the currency in circulation tends to change over time.

In regards to town and city charters did people vote for their mayor and city council? If not who appointed the people in charge, and when did citizens gain the right to vote someone into office?

Good question!

While there were cases where local government was appointed, more often with chartered towns and cities these positions were elected. The franchise tended to be restricted to either freeholders or people who had “the freedom of the city” (also known as “freemen”) which like the freehold was often associated with some sort of property requirement or payment.

As a scholar of labour issues and someone with an interest in both real world and fictional politics, what are your thoughts on the people of Missouri and Arkansas electing Republicans but also voting for a significant increase to the minimum wage in their respective states?

I think it’s a good data point for the idea that Americans are philosophically conservative but operationally liberal, and the idea that voters are rarely ideologically consistent, and the idea that it’s hard to get people to connect policies to political parties.

Thank you for explaining about the House and Senate! One more thing though, you know how women like Alexandria was elected, what positions are they in? Or are they too varied that it would take too long? If it is then there is no need.

In one of those “good problems” more than a hundred women got elected, so it would take a long time to describe all of the districts they won.

But there were a lot of great firsts.

Where was it confirmed that the Lannister/Frey wedding would take place at Riverrun? Daven told Jaime he would ‘wed and bed [his] stoat,’ but I don’t think they ever said where. I think it makes more thematic sense for it to be at the Twins, and frankly I think it would make a sick sense for Lord Walder’s character to make a power play by forcing everyone to attend another wedding at the Twins KNOWING the treachery that took place at the last wedding but powerless to resist the ‘invitation.’

I disagree.

First, the bulk of the Frey and Lannister forces are at Riverrun, so it makes sense to have the wedding there since the guests (and the groom) are already there.

Second, it’s where our POVs are. Brienne went to Riverrun to get Jaime, and that’s where they both disappeared from.

Third, it works better thematically. We’ve already had the Red Wedding at the Twins, repeating it there retreads the same ground. But having Lady Stoneheart commit a similar atrocity at Riverrun – a place that’s been associated throughout the series as a place of safety, a place where family is protected and loved – complicates our understanding of revenge. If the cost of revenge is that this place is defiled, is it worth pursuing?

RW 2.0 anon here. My bad, I was under the impression it would happen at the Twins. Still, what do you think the future reserves to a Thin Place Twins, and the other questions I asked, lol. Just some speculation, that is.

I think there’s a decent chance, given what happened at the Red Wedding and what’ll happen when Lord Walder dies.

Whats a thin place??

It’s a term I use to describe places where the barriers between this world and the next become weakened by a combination of human suffering and magic.

For more, see here.

Ik i must sound so ignorant but can you explain what the Senate and House are and why its good Dems got the House? (Ik its a good thing but man politics are confusing)

No problem.

The U.S Congress is a bicameral (”two-chambered”) legislature, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives is based on population, with 435 Representatives each representing a local district that’s supposed to be relatively equal in population. The Senate is not based on population, so that every state has exactly two Senators.

Democrats taking power in the House has a lot of important consequences:

Veto power over legislation. This is the most straightforward consequence. Since legislation has to be approved by both the House and Senate, no legislation is going to happen for the next two years without approval from the Democratically-controlled House. This is especially true for taxation, spending, and budgets, since revenue bills have to start in the House.
Agenda-setting. Even though they can’t pass laws on their own, the House still has the ability to put issues on the national political agenda by passing bills through the House or attaching them as amendments to Senate legislation, and then forcing both/either Trump or Republicans in the Senate to take a position. This includes stuff like the DREAM Act, raising the minimum wage, women’s right to choose, voting rights, and on and on.
Subpoena/investigative powers. Both the House and Senate have a number of committees, which have powers to investigate pretty much anything they want to. These powers include the power to issue subpoenas to compel witnesses to testify or disclose documents, the power to hold people in contempt (i.e, fine and/or jail them) for non-compliance, or to charge them for lying to Congress in addition to perjury if they don’t tell the truth. For the last two years, Republicans have refused to use these powers in relation to a very long list of things, pretty much every scandal that you’ve heard about from the 2016 campaign through the whole of the Trump Administration. Now, Democrats can use their investigative powers to hold the Trump Administration and Trump himself accountable under the law.
Impeachment. While Republican control of the Senate makes convicting and removing Trump from office unlikely, it is quite possible that in the investigations of the Trump Administration by Congress or the Mueller investigation, that they turn up enough to charge the president with obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and/or whatever colluding with the Russian government actually works out to in the law. Then the rest is up to the Senate, and ultimately the American people in 2020.

It wouldn’t be too much a stretch to assume the Twins will become a thin place. Especially if Red Wedding 2.0 takes place there. What will the consequences of it becoming a thin place going forward? Rumors of hauntings and stuff? Maybe the Freys lose the Twins? What do you think the future reserves for Thin Place Twins?

ladyofdragonstone:

racefortheironthrone:

But Red Wedding 2.0 is going to happen at Riverrun, not the Twins.

Am i an absolute fool for not hearing of this red wedding 2.0?

No, it’s just a fan theory about what Lady Stoneheart and the Brotherhood Without Banners are up to.