Quote:
Originally Posted by nekokami
Yes, same New England... today, not 200 years ago. Have you ever lived here? I'm not saying the past didn't happen or didn't affect the present, I'm saying that regardless of the past, people who live in this corner of the country today are generally more comfortable with the idea of government than what you are portraying as a particularly "American" attitude.
I am not offering any particular theories as to why, nor am I saying this is better or worse than the mindset you have been describing. I am simply observing that there is considerable cultural diversity in the US, noted not just by me, but by many other observers as well.
I'm beginning to feel that you have a particular axe to grind with this theory, and that this is getting in the way of any real conversation on this topic between the two of us, at least. I'm very well aware that you, personally, don't like or trust the idea of government (or perhaps any other form of group decision making), and that apparently a great many people you know feel similarly. Fine so far. I'm not doubting your observations in the slightest. It's just when it seems that you want to generalize your opinion to a whole group that includes me and the community I live in that I feel I must object, because I don't think that's accurate.
Am I mistaken? Is this generalization not your intent?
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Let me phrase this very carefully.
To the extent that people in the area you describe (and other areas that you don't describe that are similar in world view), there is no cultural difference in the political sense between those regions and the general view (as much as can be generalized) of most of Europe areas. Arguments can be made that Europe cannot be generalzed. I can acccept those arguments, however the thread topic didn't define that level of detail on either side. If there was to be a distinction between the perceived differences between two generalizations, I have used the "caricatures" of both regions to work with. What is the American caricature? The classic small-government rugged individualist, who fears government running their lives. Does this include everyone in America? No. Are there similar small-government rugged individualists in Europe? Yes, although I suspect they are much fewer that in America.
As far as my quoting the past, America was a political experiment in limited government and liberty. To the extend that areas in it no longer believe in those concepts, the experiment has failed. Not totally, not everywhere, but the trend is clear. The experiment is slowly corroding away. And I mourn it.
Should I limit my discussion to wine and music and fashion. Perhaps. I would have limited the controversy. But I always believed in going past the details to a more coherent overview. And that was what I thought the thread was labeled about as well.
As far as having an ax to grind, I do. I will explicitly describe it, for the benefit of the readers. I have no problem with other people organizing themselves as they see fit. I get tired to death of other people determining they are going to organize
me to
their whims. So when someone explains how good it would be if everybody does
X for reason
Y, I get annoyed. I have no use for urbanites, who I suspect have no real grasp of the resource chain, trying in insist upon law changes that make sense for their limited environs, but that will be an utter disaster for large groups of other peoples, I get aggrevated. And when said people tell me to shut up (not you, NekoChan) because I (obviously) don't understand modern realities, I get incensed. Finally, when I see the same politicans who caused major economic disasters
still in power and fawned upon, I get disgusted.
Virtually all my life, I have been the the receiving end of the "unintended consequenses" of politicans "solving" other people's problems. I no longer say "Thank You".