Truth Warrior
Banned
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2007
- Messages
- 18,789
I'd have chosen and pulled a "Jeremiah Johnson".



We had an argument about the use of force in my English/Philosophy course this semester. It was about 60% against force and maybe 40% that said force was necessary. The point that I made against people who thought force shouldn't be used is that in many of the cases where non violent resistance worked the country it was used in generally was founded on principles of democracy or equality of some sort. In America supposedly land of the free seeing us sick dogs on civil rights marchers pointed out the obvious inconsistencies in our policies of equal rights. Similarly in the Raj, Ghandi was attempting to gain political freedom from a country that ostensibly believed in human rights and political freedom.
The flip side of that coin is, try using non violent resistance against Stalinist Russia or Nazi Germany. All you would do is bring the attention of the secret police to you for a quick execution. In some cases force can be the only option for recourse. Just as it was for the founding fathers in the Revolutionary war.
I like some of the books but their publisher is biased towards bible thumpers.
That is a good and valid debate, and your points are good, but it is a debate between a nonviolent response to violence, or a violent response to violence. That is, the debate is between two forms of self defense. In no case is it acceptable to initiate violence.
The tide of history was already moving in a moral direction. It would have taken time, perhaps a long time, but slavery would have ended before the turn of the 20th century. When major social change occur voluntarily through the legal process, then the social fabric is not torn. Slavery was ended by war and we had segregation until the 60's. It's now almost 150 years and our society is still rippling under the effects of Lincoln's ill-advised war.
1- How so?
and
2- And if so, how exactly does that invalidate everything that the publisher puts out?![]()
Thats only if it remains peaceful competition, there are no guarantees it would be that way at all. German states in the Middle Ages fought brutal wars against each other numerous times, and lots of small ones and they were the same people speaking the same language. Europe is a good example of the outcome of competing states. I personally think competition in the long run strengthens, but it is definately rarely peaceful.
Neither. The North was protectionist, hawkish, and authoritarian. The South was collectivist (racist). Both sides printed money to pay for the war.
That is why the federal Constitution outlawed states keeping troops in times of peace. They didn't want states to battle eachother. They also added the commerce clause to keep the states from taxing products from other states and crippling the economy like they did during the Articles time.
True, but as soon as secessions begin the rules can change from state to state. Each state would at least maintain their equivalent of a National Guard, it would also depend on how the splits started to occur. One of the reasons NA is pretty free of violence is because there are pretty much only 3 countries on the continent. If you split yourself up into a bunch of enclaves you just have to open a history book and see what the end result will probably be given enough time.
We would live on a continent of Republics. The people of America don't have much desire for war with each other, they tend to like peace and freedom much more. We have no princes to send us to war to increase their tiny dominions. On the contrary, since we live in republics, our power would be decreased if we conquered more people and territories.