On Sat, Mar 10, 2018 at 9:50 PM, Cian Witherspoon <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

Distant empires don't interfere with local matters at all - sort of like the relationship between the US Congress and the town council of some place out in the middle of Wyoming. All the empire cares about is that the taxes come in and the planet doesn't rebel. The Third Imperium is a Distant empire in some interpretations.

Close empires usually leave local affairs to the locals

I think your first example is a bit off. The U.S. federal government is a "close empire," rather than a "distant empire," at least as regards states and large cities (a better equivalent for planets than towns).  The federal Constitution says flat out that state constitutions (and by implication all lesser laws based upon these) can't violate what it's requirements. While actual federal control is usually enforced economically ("If you don't behave, you won't get your share of the tax money provided by this program."), it's not impossible for the feds to enforce control through the courts. Consider the current lawsuit by the Trump administration against California's new laws that effectively regulate immigration (something reserved to the federal government by the Constitution).

--

Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident."  Robert A. Heinlein

"I studied the Koran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as Muhammed." Alexis de Tocqueville

"We know a little about a lot of things; just enough to make us dangerous." Dean Winchester (fictional monster hunter portrayed by Jensen Ackles)

"It has been my experience that a gun doesn't care who pulls its trigger." Newton Knight (as portrayed by Matthew McConaughey), to a scoffing Confederate tax collector facing the weapons held by Knight's young children and wife.

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