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This makes me wonder if the domination of two monolithic political parties in the United States, well-represented in geographically disparate areas, is actually
by btown 12y ago
This makes me wonder if the domination of two monolithic political parties in the United States, well-represented in geographically disparate areas, is actually a force for the cohesion of the U.S.A. as a country. For instance, since there are large numbers of G.O.P. supporters in, say, Idaho, there's a lot less credence to a group of, say, southern red states considering secession due to fundamentally different policy preferences.
It does still baffle me, though, that economic conservatism is seen as a force for the poor in America, whereas elsewhere in the world, in this article's words, evoking "socialist utopia... [is] an effort to stave off the spiraling growth of inequality."
- crusso 12y agoSome network technologies solve problems client-server, some network technologies solve problems peer-to-peer. Different approaches, different philosophies. Historically, Americans have been more fiercely independent and valued bottom up approaches to resolving their problems. A lot of the rest of the world is more hive-minded and looking for top-down solutions.
- chc 12y agoSurely there's a better way to describe a preference for coordination and planning than "hive-minded."
- crusso 12y agoI was wondering where the downvotes were coming from. I meant to be accurate, not insulting. I thought that hive-minded accurately described the seeming desire to centralize authority and form a collective, trusting that those in charge had the best interests of society in mind.
- chc 12y agoThe term "hive mind" has connotations of lack of independent thought and disregard for the well-being of individuals. It's the sort of thing you'd use to describe an alien insect species psychically controlled by a central queen in a sci-fi novel. A functioning representative democracy is not the sort of image it evokes.