> Michael Lorrey wrote:
>
> > You should look at the political arena as more of an x/y coordinate system,
>
> I would argue that it has a potentially infinite number of dimensions. Political
> decisions are rarely made on the basis of one or two variables.
Sure, but as a general axiom, most issues are either a matter of social freedom or
economic freedom, or a combination thereof, or can be framed within that system. It also
delineates between merely 'conservative' and 'liberal' labels which are often painted
with rather broad brushes, so much so that in many cases, parties are insulted to be
under the same roof as another given the same label. An American Libertarian is about
the furthest you can get from a Nazi, yet both are labeled as 'right wing'. Populists
have more in common with Nazis than Libertarians do, yet Populists are frequenly given
the liberal label (except in the case of Pat Buchanan, who proved the similarity between
the two messages).
> > Really, funny, the native Americans might have something to say about the idea
> > that natural selection doesn't apply to cultural evolution, especially the dead
> > ones. So might the Nazis, the Communists, and today, the French, as their
> > uncompetetive little culture is getting overrun by Americanization (as most
> > other undynamic cultures are today). As tacky as you might think it is, the
> > current American Culture seems to presently be the most competetive culture in
> > current existence (Or North American culture, as a Canadian would say ;)). Of
> > course that could change, and if it does, we could all be eating tofu.....
>
> Well, from the outside, the way I (and i assume most of the rest of the world) see
> it, the US did not "win" world war II or the post-war period, it did what it has
> done most of this century, which is wait for the combatants to wear each other out
> and then to step in.
And you think that that doesn't demonstrate capable leadership?
> The US entered world war I in 1917 (!), and would undoubtedly have entered world war 2
> later on in the piece if the Japanese hadn't seen the writing on the wall and
> tried to get in first. The US is more competitive than the French. Sure. the french
> have also fought three major wars on their own territory in 100 years, whereas the
> US has merely exported such. This attitude you have is akin to someone stepping in
> at the late part of a fight, kicking the victor in the head several times while they
> are trying to get off the floor, and then telling everyone how tough they are.
Or busting down the door to the bar where two drunken bullies are pummeling each other,
breaking them up, and making them go sit in the corner.
> No
> one believes it. Sure, the US has nukes. The US developed it's nukes with the help
> of the rest of the allies, and then used it's undamaged economic base, maintained on
> a war footing throughout the 50s to run about and bully the rest of the world.
It is said that what caused the US superiority after the war was the nazi policy towards
Jews. The dozen most brilliant men in Europe fled to the US as a result. Thus, the Nazis
helped us to gain post war superiority far more than any of our allies. The British
could have done the same using Canada as a base if they had the capability, but they did
not. The French had the earliest start in the race with Madame Curie's work, but
preferred to collaborate with the Nazis. Stalin initially looked on nuclear physics as
mere jewish quackery that violated socialist principles, and was therefore suppressed
until spies in the Manhattan Project indicated its use.
> While I have a lot of friends in the US, and on the whole most of the americans I
> have come across are very nice people, this bullshit manifest destiny attitude is
> incredibly annoying, and I remind you of what happened to Rome when the empire fell,
> and consider the gunboat diplomacy the US has been practising for most of this
> century, and the widespread resentment it has engendered. if the US way of life was
> so incredibly superior, why is it that no-one else feels this way? I don't see the
> american way of doing things taking over the world. Democracy is not an american
> invention, neither is capitalism. What purely american systems have been
> successfully exported overseas?
If the US way of life is so inferior, why is it that everyone wants our lifestyle and
standard of living?
While most other democratic governments utilize a parliamentary system of government,
these have proven to be rather unstable and prone to rapid populist influence (bread and
circuses), the US uses a republican system with, as you must know, three equally
powerful branches that are capable of checking the other. This system provides a measure
of negative feedback that helps hold in check the most contagious of populist fads and
foolishness.
In a century where europeans and asians heralded the end of the age of the individual,
and the advent of the collective, only to be proven in the 1980-1990 period to be
hopelessly wrong by the US, the US has stood out as a lone beacon of continued
individualism, self reliance. We have successfully purged the welfare state from our
federal system, and most of our state governments. Other nations that have followed suit
now enjoy stronger economies than their stagnant socialist neighbors.
The main groups objecting to the 'US way' are the east asian tyrannies and dictators in
China, Indonesia, Singapore, Burma, Vietnam, etc.. They have claimed for the past eight
years that their Cunfucian culture is superior and can successfully be melded to an open
market, yet as recent asian markets indicate, this does not seem to be so. While asian
markets continue to hit new lows, the US market has rebounded nicely and is now setting
new highs. The 'Asian Flu' seems to be more systemic of asian systems than western style
economies.
Likewise, the French have similarly been rather stubborn about keeping their welfare
state intact, leading even to widespread rioting and violence, yet the conservative
government policies of the last several years can be credited with the recent slow
easing of inflation and unemployment there, though this past weeks elections would seem
to indicate this will end and France will fall further down the tubes, and possibly out
of the EU common money system for the time being. Those European nations that have
mirrored the US economic policies are sitting in the best positions for leadership in
the new economy there.
-- TANSTAAFL!!! Michael Lorrey ------------------------------------------------------------ mailto:retroman@together.net Inventor of the Lorrey Drive MikeySoft: Graphic Design/Animation/Publishing/Engineering ------------------------------------------------------------ How many fnords did you see before breakfast today?