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The United States is a unique country in the sense that it was carefully designed from the ground up, in accordance with the latest scientific and philosophical

by kijin 13y ago

The United States is a unique country in the sense that it was carefully designed from the ground up, in accordance with the latest scientific and philosophical theories of the time, in opposition to the political systems of the old world, and most importantly with a healthy dose of skepticism about all those romantic ideals of the state. See Thomas Paine's Common Sense [1] for a good example. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5964665 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5964665 Sadly, much of it has been forgotten.

dk 13y ago
You mean Thomas Paine. See also The Declaration of Independence for a great example (which Paine very much inspired).
- kijin 13y ago
  Thanks, fixed.
dragonwriter 13y ago
> The United States is a unique country in the sense that it was carefully designed from the ground up, in accordance with the latest scientific and philosophical theories of the time, in opposition to the political systems of the old world, and most importantly with a healthy dose of skepticism about all those romantic ideals of the state. This is wrong on a number of levels; the US wasn't designed from the ground up -- at the ground level, and the whole way up to the level of the States, it was a pretty direct carry over from the pre-revolutionary structure under British colonial rule, with the "colonies" renamed "states". And, while it certainly was inspired by a particular strain of philosophy, this was neither scientific (empirical political/social science, wasn't even a thing) nor is it even remotely unique for revolutionary regimes to create regimes based on currently-popular trends in political philosophy in opposition to the contemporary dominant models, its also not uncommon for them to fall apart rather quickly, as the US revolutionary regime under the Articles of Confederation did, and be replaced by one that (while it may retain some of its revolutionary flavor) hews a lot closer to the previously dominant models (as the US system under the Constitution -- which borrowed heavily from the system in Britain and those in many of the colonies-that-became-states -- did.)

by kijin 13y ago

dk 13y ago

You mean Thomas Paine. See also The Declaration of Independence for a great example (which Paine very much inspired).

kijin 13y ago
Thanks, fixed.

dragonwriter 13y ago

> The United States is a unique country in the sense that it was carefully designed from the ground up, in accordance with the latest scientific and philosophical theories of the time, in opposition to the political systems of the old world, and most importantly with a healthy dose of skepticism about all those romantic ideals of the state. This is wrong on a number of levels; the US wasn't designed from the ground up -- at the ground level, and the whole way up to the level of the States, it was a pretty direct carry over from the pre-revolutionary structure under British colonial rule, with the "colonies" renamed "states". And, while it certainly was inspired by a particular strain of philosophy, this was neither scientific (empirical political/social science, wasn't even a thing) nor is it even remotely unique for revolutionary regimes to create regimes based on currently-popular trends in political philosophy in opposition to the contemporary dominant models, its also not uncommon for them to fall apart rather quickly, as the US revolutionary regime under the Articles of Confederation did, and be replaced by one that (while it may retain some of its revolutionary flavor) hews a lot closer to the previously dominant models (as the US system under the Constitution -- which borrowed heavily from the system in Britain and those in many of the colonies-that-became-states -- did.)