The Soapbox

Joined: 01/04/2001 Posts: 26971
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Actually, a further data point to refute your view that totalitarianism

Could have achieved the success that democracy brought us. The one country on earth with American self-sufficiency within its contiguous borders was…Russia. Russian despotism did not lead to realization of that potential as democracy did here. First, the czars collapsed, leading to a new form of despotism - communism. Which led to its complete hollowing out. Its industrial capacity atrophied. It replaced that with Putinism, and now. It’s little more than a nuclear armed gas depot.

No, clearly imo, it took something along the lines of the American constitution for America to realize its potential.

[Post edited by hoolstoptheheels at 01/31/2024 1:43PM]

(In response to this post by KaHOOnah)

Posted: 01/31/2024 at 1:39PM

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Current Thread:

My 8 yo asked me how did America become so strong. I give him my thoughts. -- JohnHoo2 01/31/2024 10:34AM

Thanks for all the comments. I answered him on 3 main points. -- JohnHoo2 01/31/2024 3:37PM

Good conversation in this thread ** -- WaxHoo 01/31/2024 12:13PM

Constitutional framework of democratic/republican ideals. -- Chuck Taylor 01/31/2024 11:52AM

The potential to improve your status in life was less dependent on the -- Tuckahokie 01/31/2024 11:42AM

Layers of different reasons of course and any discussion is dependant on -- fishhoo 01/31/2024 11:17AM

We ate lots of spinach -- WahooMatt05 01/31/2024 10:54AM

Three things… -- Los Angeles Hoo 01/31/2024 10:54AM

Multi-layered answer, I think. You start with the prerequisites. The -- hoolstoptheheels 01/31/2024 10:48AM

Lots of structural advantages like oceans between us and Europe/Asia as -- CharlestonSC 01/31/2024 10:47AM

Lots of warm water ports, abundant natural resources, vast arable farmland, -- KaHOOnah 01/31/2024 10:43AM

Those warm water ports long predated the arrival of Europeans. And had -- hoolstoptheheels 01/31/2024 10:52AM

I think an authoritarian or totalitarian state easily could have evolved -- KaHOOnah 01/31/2024 11:06AM

No, actually, it couldn’t. If it could have “easily”, it would have. But -- hoolstoptheheels 01/31/2024 11:30AM

Well, I disagree. First, america does not become a hyperpower without the -- KaHOOnah 01/31/2024 11:50AM

Ok, I disagree back. The USA was already the most powerful country on -- hoolstoptheheels 01/31/2024 12:02PM

Wadr, and there’s plenty due, you’re missing the point. -- KaHOOnah 01/31/2024 12:46PM

Actually, a further data point to refute your view that totalitarianism -- hoolstoptheheels 01/31/2024 1:39PM

Russia also has dreadful shipping logistics available to them. -- SchmHoo 01/31/2024 4:28PM

I might buy that with Russia, but I buy it less with China. -- hoolstoptheheels 01/31/2024 4:32PM

I can say it because I believe it to be true. The only countries you -- hoolstoptheheels 01/31/2024 1:32PM

Well that’s semantics and the US was ostensibly an empire at the time -- KaHOOnah 01/31/2024 1:59PM

We definitely disagree. Germany needed to bring raw materials in from -- hoolstoptheheels 01/31/2024 2:25PM

If those data are true it is surprising. Any reason there’s no UK? Omitting -- KaHOOnah 01/31/2024 2:38PM

Probably because countries like NZ and Australia were part of the UK. -- hoolstoptheheels 01/31/2024 2:54PM

Europeans came with millennia of domesticatable beasts of burden. -- KaHOOnah 01/31/2024 11:00AM

Native Americans didn’t even use the wheel, although they understood the -- SixerHoo 01/31/2024 11:11AM

I’m admittedly influenced by guns germs and Steel, having read it at uva ** -- KaHOOnah 01/31/2024 11:01AM

I’m a believer in Guns Germs and Steel’s theories. It’s very telling -- hoolstoptheheels 01/31/2024 11:24AM

I started reading that and it came off, to me anyway, as a preordained -- 81_Hokie 01/31/2024 11:21AM

Correction: domestication cropped up in China more or less concurrently -- hoolstoptheheels 01/31/2024 11:47AM

Imo you should have finished the book. It would have challenged your view. -- hoolstoptheheels 01/31/2024 11:39AM

The term race is fraught with PC issues, so let's just say populations. -- 81_Hokie 01/31/2024 2:39PM

If that were remotely true, how is it that Italian Americans, German -- hoolstoptheheels 01/31/2024 2:59PM

Pretty insulting to bring up a term like eugenics. Why do YOU think -- 81_Hokie 01/31/2024 3:05PM

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This is going nowhere. I am very careful to not make value judgements of -- 81_Hokie 01/31/2024 3:55PM

You may be careful not to attach value judgements to these genetic -- hoolstoptheheels 01/31/2024 4:13PM

And yet, you still didn't answer my question. Populations that have -- 81_Hokie 01/31/2024 4:20PM

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I don’t think genetics is the right word, and tradition -- 111Balz 01/31/2024 4:11PM

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I thought he was talking more about cultural, values, and choices more than -- 111Balz 01/31/2024 4:37PM

I think that distinction is dead on arrival. I don’t see how you separate -- hoolstoptheheels 01/31/2024 4:44PM

Great book! ** -- SixerHoo 01/31/2024 11:09AM

AmeriKKKa was never that grate. ** -- ResistHoo 01/31/2024 10:35AM