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Why the US Can't Fix Big Problems
Why the US Can't Fix Big Problems
#1
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...ge/576802/

Interesting article trying to diagnose why we can't seem to act on the big challenges facing the nation.
  • Anti-statism combined with the assumption that the free market will take care of it.
  • Anti-intellectualism
  • The conceit that this Nation special and above what ails everyone else
  • A system of government that disproportionately favors rural states

What do you guys think?
“We can never undo what we have done. We can never go back in time. We write history with our decisions and our actions. But we also write history with our responses to those actions. We can leave the pain and the damage in our wake, unattended, or we can do the work of acknowledging and fixing, to whatever extent possible, the harm that we have caused.”

— On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World by Danya Ruttenberg
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RE: Why the US Can't Fix Big Problems
#2
I suspect the first two points have an undue effect on the matter. As soon as you append "ism" to a term, you've named a religion (intellectualism, anti-intellectualism, populism, even Haruhism) - and religions aren't normally open to considering facts that disagree with their tenets.

"The conceit that this Nation special and above what ails everyone else" ... well, yeah, the "Ugly American" has been an issue for decades. That's one of those facts that disagree with some people's tenets.

"A system of government that disproportionately favors rural states" is only an impediment if the rural states are responsible for causing the big problems. Which they might be; I don't know.
--
Rob Kelk

Sticks and stones can break your bones,
But words can break your heart.
- unknown
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RE: Why the US Can't Fix Big Problems
#3
(11-28-2018, 07:13 PM)robkelk Wrote: I suspect the first two points have an undue effect on the matter. As soon as you append "ism" to a term, you've named a religion (intellectualism, anti-intellectualism, populism, even Haruhism) - and religions aren't normally open to considering facts that disagree with their tenets.

"The conceit that this Nation special and above what ails everyone else" ... well, yeah, the "Ugly American" has been an issue for decades. That's one of those facts that disagree with some people's tenets.

"A system of government that disproportionately favors rural states" is only an impediment if the rural states are responsible for causing the big problems. Which they might be; I don't know.

They aren't, not directly the people in them anyway.

But their disproportionate power is exploited by special interest groups funded by big corporations on the behalf of those big corporations.
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RE: Why the US Can't Fix Big Problems
#4
(11-28-2018, 11:51 AM)SilverFang01 Wrote: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...ge/576802/

Interesting article trying to diagnose why we can't seem to act on the big challenges facing the nation.
  • Anti-statism combined with the assumption that the free market will take care of it.
  • Anti-intellectualism
  • The conceit that this Nation special and above what ails everyone else
  • A system of government that disproportionately favors rural states

What do you guys think?

Or, if I may summarize further:
  • Greed
  • Sloth
  • Pride
  • Envy
Yes, that does sound like a recipe for tragedy.  Some of the problems he mentions are problems inherent with democracy, though we do a bad job of mitigating them.  But if you have people convinced that a "Flight 93 Presidency" is a better option than compromise, then yes, we are failing at the democracy thing. 

I think an honest conservative perspective would be that the government disproportionately favors urban areas.  This is a pretty classic split you see worldwide, where urban/rural splits are a proxy for inequality as a whole.

Anyway, I found this article more interesting, as it argues that the center of both liberal and conservative thought is in California, and that all of this angst comes from Conservatives who really are besieged by people who disagree with them completely.  And this was before the last election -- now only 7 of California's 53 congresscritters are Republican, as the Dems won every single seat they targeted this year in the state.  The counties containing the Reagan and Nixon Libraries are now represented entirely by Democrats at the national level.

EDIT: CA GOP seats down from 9 to 7
"Kitto daijoubu da yo." - Sakura Kinomoto
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RE: Why the US Can't Fix Big Problems
#5
(11-29-2018, 03:05 AM)Labster Wrote: Anyway, I found this article more interesting, as it argues that the center of both liberal and conservative thought is in California, and that all of this angst comes from Conservatives who really are besieged by people who disagree with them completely.  And this was before the last election -- now only 9 of California's 53 congresscritters are Republican, as the Dems won every single seat they targeted this year in the state.  The counties containing the Reagan and Nixon Libraries are now represented entirely by Democrats at the national level.

Interesting indeed, and it answers my question about why conservatives are so obsessed with California, specially about splitting the state. It gives me the impression that we are dealing with a cult more than a political movement.
“We can never undo what we have done. We can never go back in time. We write history with our decisions and our actions. But we also write history with our responses to those actions. We can leave the pain and the damage in our wake, unattended, or we can do the work of acknowledging and fixing, to whatever extent possible, the harm that we have caused.”

— On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World by Danya Ruttenberg
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RE: Why the US Can't Fix Big Problems
#6
(11-29-2018, 10:07 AM)SilverFang01 Wrote: Interesting indeed, and it answers my question about why conservatives are so obsessed with California, specially about splitting the state. It gives me the impression that we are dealing with a cult more than a political movement.

There've been noises in the past here in Colorado towards similar ideas of splitting the state - I've taken to viewing it as another form of gerrymandering from the Cult of Conservatism, where by splitting the state north/south, they could gain two potentially permanently-red seats in the House and dilute the blue votes, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was the goal with the same idea in California.
"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor
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RE: Why the US Can't Fix Big Problems
#7
I hate this. I really do. This desire to divide up the country. It's utter insanity. I am reminded of The Judgement of Solomon. Except that this time, there is no Solomon, the blade is in the hands of one of the two mothers, and she isn't showing any signs of relenting on the matter.

Some might say this is just. I ask what makes this just? The only way this could even be considered just is in the most lawful-evil sense possible.

I know it's not secession. But in a sense, it's just as bad. You're trying to split the country in the same way it got divided just before the Civil War. And we all know how that turned out.
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RE: Why the US Can't Fix Big Problems
#8
Yes, yes we do. And with the way both ends of the spectrum seem to scramble to polarize whenever someone points out something that looks like common ground, it won't surprise me when violence does ensue. Disappoint and horrify, but not surprise. Because we no longer live in America, FUCK YEAH!, more like America, WTF!?
--
‎noli esse culus
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RE: Why the US Can't Fix Big Problems
#9
Ugh, and I just realized WHY The Judgement of Solomon is such a perverse fit.

The woman that doesn't mind the idea of cutting up the baby? It's all about how many 'pieces' she can claim, because apparently in this parlance even just 'a piece of the baby' counts as 'a baby', and so she would like the baby to be cut into as many pieces as she feels she can get away with. And also the reason she won't relent on the matter, even if the real mother were to let the crazy mother have her way. Because it's all about having more baby, and more baby means more power and prestige.

And all the while, she doesn't seem to get it into her depraved head that cutting the baby up will very likely kill the baby.

Dear God, help us.
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