On 2002.05.27 08:02 Thomas Good wrote:
On Sun, 26 May 2002, Ian D. Stewart wrote:
> Oh, that's nothing. You should see what the Yanks do to folks they
> really don't like (hint: do a Google search for 'Sherman March
Sea').
> You wanna talk about bitter? South Carolina's unofficial state
motto
> is 'WE didn't surrender'
Ian,
I've heard it said on this list that Canucks and Aussies have
inferiority
complexes. I think we Yanks do too. Being upstarts (+- 200 years
makes
us adolescents in the history of humankind) we are a bit sensitive
about
self image. We actually have a lot in common with our Australian
cousins.
And Canadians too. The average Yank is a good guy who doesn't trust
the government, works hard and behaves decently towards his neighbors.
But our behaviour as a nation is still young and foolish - maybe if
our elected officials served their country rather than their wallets
we would mature as nation, at a faster pace. I think the lacking
leadership is a serious issue here...greed (and avarice) don't make
for
stability - either internally or in the community of nations.
Tom,
Have you read the Federalist Papers? If not, I would highly recommend
that you do. 'Publius' makes a strong argument for balancing the
relative strengths and weaknesses of centralized control and
de-centralized government by allowing the states to govern their own
internal affairs and restricting the role of the federal government to
conflicts between the states and relations with the outside world, a
balance that has largely been missing since 1865.
The increasing influence of big money, both from the private sector and
from non-business interests such as organized labor and other special
interest groups, is indeed disturbing, but I see it as more a symptom
of the increasingly invasive influence of the federal government than
as a cause.
Ian
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