Actually, America was AWESOME for a long time before it began "going to shit" and even after that it took a century or so to get to where we are now. That's not to say the country hasn't had problems, but compared to the rest of the world, America had real freedom for citizens (not so much for Indians and Blacks of the time, yes) with unprecedented rights not only enumerated in the Bill of Rights but often LIVED UP TO in the courts and in daily life.
The burning ember of coercive Power that the Constitution gave to our central government was fanned by every power-seeking group and by wealthy power-seeking individuals, gradually turning the ember into a roaring inferno of tyranny. We still have the word Liberty embossed on our coinage but we're morphing into a Communist tyranny, where the State is used to harass and imprison (and worse) political opponents of the State and of dissidents who want less tyranny.
After the post-Awakening Reset, I hope we'll douse that ember of consequence-free initiated coercion and embrace an actual civil society with strong safeguards against re-igniting it.
Nearly everyone, including on this board, thinks that's impossible. They're wrong.
The Market for Liberty is an excellent introduction to the idea of a highly workable society run by market forces rather than top-down coercion.
Actually, America was AWESOME for a long time before it began "going to shit" and even after that it took a century or so to get to where we are now. That's not to say the country hasn't had problems, but compared to the rest of the world, America had real freedom for citizens (not so much for Indians and Blacks of the time, yes) with unprecedented rights not only enumerated in the Bill of Rights but often LIVED UP TO in the courts and in daily life.
The burning ember of coercive Power that the Constitution gave to our central government was fanned by every power-seeking group and by wealthy power-seeking individuals, gradually turning the ember into a roaring inferno of tyranny. We still have the word Liberty embossed on our coinage but we're morphing into a Communist tyranny, where the State is used to harass and imprison (and worse) political opponents of the State and of dissidents who want less tyranny.
After the post-Awakening Reset, I hope we'll douse that ember of consequence-free initiated coercion and embrace an actual civil society with strong safeguards against re-igniting it.
Nearly everyone, including on this board, thinks that's impossible. They're wrong.
The Market for Liberty is an excellent introduction to the idea of a highly workable society run by market forces rather than top-down coercion.