The U.S. is awesome. I bet there is literally a handful of countries your average HN-er would rather live in than the U.S., and before the economic liberalization of Europe in the 1990's, it was probably less than that. Our prosperity has been supported by an incredibly stable government, one that is, 224 years after its founding, freer than it ever has been (read up on the Alien and Sedition Acts).
It's easy to take what we have for granted, but it's important to maintain perspective. The cause of the republic is not served by those who declare it hopelessly broken and disengage. In the light of historical perspective, you realize that there have been many times in the past when the government was more corrupt than it is now, when society was less free than it is now, and that's a liberating thought because it means that the trend of government does not point inevitably towards corruption and repression.
As a European, I'm pretty impressed by it and the rest of the US legal system, notwithstanding its numerous faults. The US has been through a lot worse than this efore, and emerged better as a society; the NSA processing data in bulk in nothing compared to, say, McCarthyism and the Red Scare.
rayiner|12 years ago
It's easy to take what we have for granted, but it's important to maintain perspective. The cause of the republic is not served by those who declare it hopelessly broken and disengage. In the light of historical perspective, you realize that there have been many times in the past when the government was more corrupt than it is now, when society was less free than it is now, and that's a liberating thought because it means that the trend of government does not point inevitably towards corruption and repression.
anigbrowl|12 years ago
mpyne|12 years ago