7 ms·
Happy 4th of July
...from across the pond. We still love the USA!
- sn0w_crash 4y agoThere is so much to love. Happy 4th!
- hprotagonist 4y agothanks. it’s hard to keep the faith, sometimes, but external validation does actually help. Democracy is never a thing done. Democracy is always something that a nation must be doing. What is necessary now is one thing and one thing only ... that democracy become again democracy in action, not democracy accomplished and piled up in goods and gold.
- nine_k 4y agoThe price of liberty is eternal vigilance. The author's identity remains disputed, the idea remains true.
- aaaaaaaaata 4y agoHappy Independence Day! Keep thinking independently, Americans.
- jasoneckert 4y agoHappy Independence Day from the Great White North! In tribute, I hope that 4 of you upvote this comment so that my karma reaches 1776 :-)
- tempestn 4y agoLooks like you overshot. I gave you a downvote to help out.
- jasoneckert 4y agoIt's OK - I saw it reach 1776 and toasted to it!
- birdyrooster 4y ago
- srvmshr 4y ago
- nr2x 4y agoGiven a disproportionate number of HN users are in California, no we don't actually "choose" congress in any reasonable sense. We get to pick 2 people to represent ~40M people in the Senate, whereas the ~500k people of Wyoming get to pick 2 representative as well. Given how our institutions work, the people of Wyoming have vastly more influence on a per capita basis than those in California, which is evidenced in our recent Supreme Court turn to the batshit insane side of reality. WONTFIX: NEEDS REFACTOR
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 4y agoDoesn’t Belgium also have the the same number of UN representatives as India?
- nr2x 4y agoYes, and I can't believe the supreme world court of the UN just removed all countries ability to set gun laws and the world has gone full Alabama overnight. rad.
- Akronymus 4y ago> We get to pick 2 people to represent ~40M people in the Senate, whereas the ~500k people of Wyoming get to pick 2 representative as well. That sounds like it is working as the founding fathers intended. As that gives rural states a voice as well. If that is a good or bad thing is debatable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranny_of_the_majority https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranny_of_the_majority
- Maursault 4y ago> That sounds like it is working as the founding fathers intended. As that gives rural states a voice as well. This is why residents of DC and Puerto Rico should be allowed to choose representation in Congress, because as it is, about 4M US citizens are paying taxes without any voting influence in Congress.
- l8nite 4y ago
- nightski 4y agoSounds like you are projecting your own insecurities honestly.
- birdyrooster 4y ago
- timapplesauce 4y agoI do. It’s a big country so maybe your corner of it is as you describe. I have personally lived in 5 different states and visited most of the rest and never encountered anything like what you describe. Much like all over the world there are lots of bigoted idiots, but they are very much the tiny minority of Americans and they do not represent this country or its values. If this country is so terrible why do we struggle to keep people from coming here to live illegally, or “undocumented” if you prefer that term?
- ilrwbwrkhv 4y agoYears of poor education and dark money being invested in the system. People like Peter Thiel who love America already have their plans to escape to New Zealand. We are one of the only developed countries where we still argue about teaching evolution AND biblical myths like Afghanistan. We could have been one of the best countries in the world. If we had stayed honest and hardworking.
- jollybean 4y agoThe 'unsafe feeling' you have is a function of bigotry and misinformation. Small town America is very safe. If you take away the 50 most violent 'urban hot zones' in the US, national crime rates actually start to look like something a bit more normal. Suburbs, exurbs, small towns and rural areas are about the same level of gun violence, which is less than urban areas, that said, the more 'remote' people are, the more likely they are to use guns to commit suicide. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1448529/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1448529/
- birdyrooster 4y ago[flagged]
- pepperonipizza 4y agoMost of the shootings in US towns seem to be gang related.
- birdyrooster 4y agoThose aren’t the shootings I am worried about, I’m not the target
- timapplesauce 4y ago
- makk 4y agoAnd what if they are? What difference would that make?
- moomoo11 4y agoThe gangsters aren’t affected by gun control laws.
- timeon 4y agoIs this true? I imagine that if there is easier access to guns in general then there are more sources for criminals as well. Gangs usually do not us guns were I am from.
- timapplesauce 4y agoIt’s pretty easy for gangs to acquire cocaine and that’s illegal pretty much everywhere. Even if you could wave a magic wand and disarm the American populace gangs would still be able to get guns from dirty cops, military arms dealers, or just get them from war zones. There’s virtually no accountability of the military aid that we send overseas to support our side in proxy wars.
- sdflhasjd 4y agoHappy Good Riddance Day ;p
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- aquadoggy 4y agoThis is truly an amazing country and I am so happy to be here. Happy 4th to everyone!
- bjourne 4y agoHappy July 4th. Let's declare this day a declaration of independence against the alien force trying to exterminate us! https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1543915790226825216 https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/154391579022682521...
- nunez 4y agoWhile I am not proud of some of the decisions our government has made, I am very proud to be born an American and still believe in the American ideal. That said, I fired up my grill one day too early lol