Urban vs. Rural; What's to be done?

[Zlaxer]

Even the worst parts of the US are better than most of the shitholes around the world.

That's quite a different statement than "The US is a better place to live than 98.7% of the world". That there are shitholes out there is undeniable, there's also quite lovely and desirable places. It's an American delusion that we cannot be compared to anywhere on earth.

How much OCONUS travel have you done? Your choice of the word delusion makes me think it’s very little.....so you really don’t have much authority to make such a statement. I’ve traveled a lot - and a good portion of the rest of the world sucks donkey ballz - not all cultures are equal in my eyes.

[brewster]

Even the worst parts of the US are better than most of the shitholes around the world.

That's quite a different statement than "The US is a better place to live than 98.7% of the world". That there are shitholes out there is undeniable, there's also quite lovely and desirable places. It's an American delusion that we cannot be compared to anywhere on earth.

How much OCONUS travel have you done? Your choice of the word delusion makes me think it’s very little.....so you really don’t have much authority to make such a statement. I’ve traveled a lot - and a good portion of the rest of the world sucks donkey ballz - not all cultures are equal in my eyes.

I don't see our statements in conflict. There's shitty places all over the world, but there's also places at least as nice as the US, possibly more so depending on your wealth. The delusion is the comparison can't be made, we're special. It's even fractal, my city can't examine how things are done elsewhere in the state or country, we're special.

[BjornP]

You are overthinking a simple concept. A self-governed people is necessarily an armed people. Full stop. Self-evident truth.

Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary? From Australia to Costa Rica to Sweden there are democracies that are not full of civilians armed to the teeth. In fact most are not, Switzerland and Israel are outliers.

Not self-government at all. A disarmed people gets the government that is imposed upon them.

...and yet, most countries of the world have managed to arm themselves against their governments and start some failed, some succesful revolts and revolutions without needing a written permission slip from their government. Not that your 2nd amndt. really is/was that.

Did the American revolutionaries need it written into a British constitution, that they were allowed to arm themselves against their government? No? Then all the world's revolutions and insurrections since then didn't and don't either. You think royal 18th cent France had the equivalent of a 2nd amndt? Zarist Russia? Imperial China? You think that in all the countries with current or recent civil wars, that the people fighting the government had - or more importantly, needed - a constitutional to bear arms against their governments?

[TheReal_ND]

Some cynics argue that 2a pacifies Americans into believing they have some kind of power over their government. I think the lesson of 2018 was that France pretty much btfo's Americans when it comes to civil disobedience and if it came to revolution well.... sorry but it ain't happening in America.

[TheReal_ND]

I should add that I still love 2a however. I think it's almost necessary for a Nation like America and as Europe becomes more multicultural it will increasingly become more relevant there as well.

[Zlaxer]

https://thefederalist.com/2018/04/10/ti ... dangerous/

It’s Time For The United States To Divorce Before Things Get Dangerous

The irony of a publication called the “Federalist” arguing for secession is not lost on me.

[Fife]

Madison and Hamilton fake news wins again. They are still fooling almost all of the people all of the time.

[PartyOf5]

The delusion is the comparison can't be made, we're special.

We are special. That's why so many people from everywhere else in the world want to come here. You even proved this by stating that we are the only ones that consider/want/whatever term you choose bearing arms as a right. That makes us special by definition. I'm sure a lot of those billions around the world would love the right to own a gun to defend themselves, but their oppressive governments have them under almost complete control.

People like you want to make us just like every other lesser country because for some reason you are jealous that we have it so good here.

[Fife]

[Speaker to Animals]

It is really very simple. Government is a monopoly on violence. All government is the product of the warrior class of any complex society. True self-government, therefore, implies the people and the warrior class are more or less the same.

The United States, between 1776 and 1789 was pretty close to true self-government. The electorate were all by definition the army (white males with property were by law in the militia).

In democratic Athens, a voter in the demos was required to maintain his weapons and armor. The landed farmers outside the city were required to maintain horses and cavalry equipment. If you were especially wealthy, your "tax" could simply be the construction and maintenance of a warship. If you voted to go to war, and a majority agreed with you, then you probably were getting mustered thereafter.

You cannot in any sense of the term call yourselves "self-governed" if you are disarmed. A disarmed people ultimately get the government the army imposes upon them. Their only recourse is, like a battered woman, to pathetically appeal to the consciences of the army, or to helplessly flail in the streets as we see in France, daring the army to crush their windpipe. At best, you can attempt to convince enough people in the army to take your side in a civil war (see Venezuela).


Self-government you are not.