The state of America's "Great Experiment". A sobering article.

[Twilight Hue]

The American Constitution and the Death of the “Great Experiment”

Winner of the Fall 2018 StMU History Media Award for Best Article in the Category of “United States History” What, exactly, makes the United States of America so unique? Is it our food, our inventions, our skyscrapers, or our fancy cars? Could the answer to this fundamental question lie within...

stmuscholars.org

I personally think it's too late now. We are now beyond the point of no return and it's our own collective fault.

The Great Experiment is now dead , and isn't coming back anytime soon, if at all.

In fact, I don't think the Great Experiment was even a thing to begin with although as a philosophy, it should have had substantial merit for all Americans to embrace and consider.

So was the Great Experiment a thing or not?

 

[icehorse]

It's eroded for sure. But I think we can and should reverse this erosion.

 

[Stevicus]

The American Constitution and the Death of the “Great Experiment”

Winner of the Fall 2018 StMU History Media Award for Best Article in the Category of “United States History” What, exactly, makes the United States of America so unique? Is it our food, our inventions, our skyscrapers, or our fancy cars? Could the answer to this fundamental question lie within...

stmuscholars.org

I personally think it's too late now. We are now beyond the point of no return and it's our own collective fault.

The Great Experiment is now dead , and isn't coming back anytime soon, if at all.

In fact, I don't think the Great Experiment was even a thing to begin with although as a philosophy, it should have had substantial merit for all Americans to embrace and consider.

So was the Great Experiment a thing or not?

Some things to consider about the early beginnings of this Republic was that the Constitution and other Founding documents and ideals were forged in a time before industrialism. It was easier to live off the grid back in the days when there was no grid. An agrarian economy rooted in plantations, farms, forestry, furs, mining, etc. could operate relatively decentralized and under local control. Industry required more investment, a greater marshaling of resources over wide areas, which entailed greater centralization, both politically and economically, as banks and other corporate entities got bigger and more centralized.

The Great Experiment, if it ever was a thing, probably fell apart around the time of the Civil War, at which point America 2.0 was released, which made the Great Experiment all but irrelevant, yet still a source of sentimental pride and patriotism which proved to be necessary in unifying the Several States into a singular Nation-State with its own unique identity and place in the world. However, we had also reached a point where we were on par with the major powers of Europe and forming closer economic and geopolitical partnerships which would also complicate our foreign affairs and relationships in the 20th century.

We were no longer a loose collection of disparate and distant farming communities operating relatively autonomously. The mechanisms of industrialized society and the state became far too intricate and complex.

Of course, the downside of over-centralization is that the state (and even some corporations) can become too big and slow to move, resistant to change, and with a tendency towards bureaucratic entrenchment. It becomes a slow, lumbering giant which can only move after long discussion in committees, debates, elections, and other democratic and parliamentary processes which take a lot of time, with everyone having a say and an opinion. It's still democratic. Yet, because of this, there can be great frustration and impatience with governmental and political inflexibility and inability to adjust to changing circumstances. Not everything can be decided by committee. (For example, if there's a nuclear attack on the U.S., the President has to make a quick decision. They can't run opinion polls or hold a debate in Congress or "leave the matter to the states" to figure out. We don't live in that kind of world anymore.)

 

[icehorse]

Some things to consider about the early beginnings of this Republic was that the Constitution and other Founding documents and ideals were forged in a time before industrialism. It was easier to live off the grid back in the days when there was no grid. An agrarian economy rooted in plantations, farms, forestry, furs, mining, etc. could operate relatively decentralized and under local control. Industry required more investment, a greater marshaling of resources over wide areas, which entailed greater centralization, both politically and economically, as banks and other corporate entities got bigger and more centralized.

Mostly agreed, but..

Some degree of centralization is essential - for example safety, mechanical, and engineering standards. But some of our current centralization could be undone, and if we undid it, we'd have a more flexible, anti-fragile system.

 

[sun rise]

To me that article utterly misses the point about why the USA was created to be exceptional.

To me, that are the ideals the USA was founded on. Those are the "self-evident truths" in the Declaration of Independence, what is represented on the Great Seal and what Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Thomas Paine to me identified those who are the current "Torries" in Common Sense: And what is a Tory? Good God! What is he? I should not be afraid to go with a hundred Whigs against a thousand Tories, were they to attempt to get into arms. Every Tory is a coward; for servile, slavish, self-interested fear is the foundation of Toryism; and a man under such influence, though he may be cruel, never can be brave.

There is a song that expresses what we're going through now.

The wars are long, the peace is frail, the madmen come again.
There is no freedom in a land where fear and hate prevail.

Isn't this a time, isn't this a time?
A time to try the soul of men,
Isn't this a terrible time?

 

[Estro Felino]

Of course, the downside of over-centralization is that the state (and even some corporations) can become too big and slow to move, resistant to change, and with a tendency towards bureaucratic entrenchment. It becomes a slow, lumbering giant which can only move after long discussion in committees, debates, elections, and other democratic and parliamentary processes which take a lot of time, with everyone having a say and an opinion. It's still democratic. Yet, because of this, there can be great frustration and impatience with governmental and political inflexibility and inability to adjust to changing circumstances. Not everything can be decided by committee. (For example, if there's a nuclear attack on the U.S., the President has to make a quick decision. They can't run opinion polls or hold a debate in Congress or "leave the matter to the states" to figure out. We don't live in that kind of world anymore.)

I think that Americans repel Europeans' lifestyle. Americans are terrified of becoming like Europe.
Or of embracing European values system.
Which is based upon social equality, and that is guaranteed through the over-centralization of the State.


As long as the US population was small...the unbridled laissez-faire didn't produce so many damages.
Now the social inequalities are really horrific...and shock us Europeans.

Billionaires living in luxurious mansions and homeless people in most big cities.

And Americans are okay with that.

 

[Revoltingest]

I think that Americans repel Europeans' lifestyle.

And your love of speech regulation.

Americans are terrified of becoming like Europe.
Or of embracing European values system.
Which is based upon social equality....

Unless one is a Mid-East immigrant.

, and that is guaranteed through the over-centralization of the State.

Another bad thing.

As long as the US population was small...the unbridled laissez-faire didn't produce so many damages.
Now the social inequalities are really horrific...and shock us Europeans.

Billionaires living in luxurious mansions and homeless people in most big cities.

And Americans are okay with that.

It's not the billionaires' fault. They just have
oodles of money...which is a good thing.
Both Dems & Pubs harm the poor with barriers
to enter the work force, restrictive housing codes,
meager assistance, & persecution by police.

 

[Estro Felino]

It's not the billionaires' fault.

It's the banking system that is rotten to the core. So it's some billionaires' fault.

They just have
oodles of money...which is a good thing.

Very spiritual thought.

Both Dems & Pubs harm the poor with barriers
to enter the work force, restrictive housing codes,
meager assistance, & persecution by police.

The old story of the taxation?
But Americans pay zero taxes, compared to Europeans...and still complain.

The problem is that the State should be present, to guarantee an equitable distribution of wealth.

Like the expropriation of the unused lands....for example.

 

[Revoltingest]

But Americans pay zero taxes, compared to Europeans...and still complain.

You'd be surprised.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I think that Americans repel Europeans' lifestyle. Americans are terrified of becoming like Europe.
Or of embracing European values system.
Which is based upon social equality, and that is guaranteed through the over-centralization of the State.


As long as the US population was small...the unbridled laissez-faire didn't produce so many damages.
Now the social inequalities are really horrific...and shock us Europeans.

Billionaires living in luxurious mansions and homeless people in most big cities.

And Americans are okay with that.

Well it was America that pulled away from Europe in the first place.

Americans shouldn't aspire to be like Europeans.

 

[Estro Felino]

Well it was America that pulled away from Europe in the first place.

Americans shouldn't aspire to be like Europeans.

A very successful political narrative in the EU is that there are diabolical US élites who are doing anything to destroy Old Europe...
things like the administration apparatus, free university in most countries, free universal healthcare and so on...
This works like a charm.
So it's America that wants us to become like them. Not the other way around. I guess.

 

[wellwisher]

The American Constitution and the Death of the “Great Experiment”

Winner of the Fall 2018 StMU History Media Award for Best Article in the Category of “United States History” What, exactly, makes the United States of America so unique? Is it our food, our inventions, our skyscrapers, or our fancy cars? Could the answer to this fundamental question lie within...

stmuscholars.org

I personally think it's too late now. We are now beyond the point of no return and it's our own collective fault.

The Great Experiment is now dead , and isn't coming back anytime soon, if at all.

In fact, I don't think the Great Experiment was even a thing to begin with although as a philosophy, it should have had substantial merit for all Americans to embrace and consider.

So was the Great Experiment a thing or not?

The Great Experiment was a movement away from Big Government Monarchy, in favor of a free country based on human rights and individual liberties. What put this experiment in motion was taxation without representation. The British Colonies in America wanted a voice in Parliament, since they collectively paid taxes. However, they were treated like there were slaves and serfs to the King. The colonists decided they did not need a King, but rather they could manage as free people. Shot heard around the world.

In Monarchies, everyone but the king and his court, was stuck at the bottom of the social ladder with little upward mobility. The monarchy controlled all phases of life and death, and could retain power through birth right, instead of wisdom or skill. The idea of Individual liberties would break this classic model, and allow upward mobility and the formation of a middle class. America was wide open land, making this ideal easier, since Government control was limited by default during the country's inception and early growth.

To avoid going backwards, the Founding Fathers set up a central government with limited power and checks and balances. We were not to become a Democracy, but a Representative Republic; trickle up. They also gave more rights to the states. The original Federal Government did not collect income taxes, thereby limiting how big it could get, except in times of war. Most Federal taxes were user taxes, such as the Government would build a road and users would pay a toll; balanced. The income tax change of 1913, would start to create a movement away from previous liberty in favor of an over bearing pseudo-monarchy government that just keeps growing and smothering freedom. The national debt goes beyond income taxes and now enslaves the next generation to all the limitation that will be imposed by the debt.

To jump start the experiment, again, we need 2/3 of the states to have a convention. The problem is the two political parties work together to split the vote 50/50, so neither party leaders will lose their roles in the King's Court, since 2/3 vote will always be avoided until the regression to monarchy is complete. COVID was a good experiment to see the main culprit in terms of monarchy thinking lording over free citizen when given the chance. Socialism is one step away from monarchy control.

 

[Stevicus]

I think that Americans repel Europeans' lifestyle. Americans are terrified of becoming like Europe.
Or of embracing European values system.
Which is based upon social equality, and that is guaranteed through the over-centralization of the State.

Americans have been afraid of a lot of different things, although America's values and perceptions of Europe were formed at a time when Europe itself was quite different from what it is now. On a practical level, when America had become newly independent, we were still relatively small and weak, so our main fear was the threat of falling under the thumb of a more powerful European power. That fear subsided as we became stronger, but it never really went away entirely.

Overall, Americans' attitudes towards Europe have been somewhat odd and inconsistent - and very often rooted in stereotypes.

For example, I've heard many Americans extol the greatness of French wine, French cuisine, French fashion - as being the pinnacle of sophistication and refinement. High-class luxury and elegance. On the other hand, Americans wantonly reject a French system of measurement which has become the standard the world over, just because we don't like the metric system.

So, when it comes to becoming like Europe, we like the things about Europe we like - and discard the things we don't like. Of course, don't all have the same tastes or agree on everything, so it's not all that cut-and-dried. The general fear of socialism and communism in America is not because those ideas originated in Europe, but because generations were raised to believe them to be grave ideological threats to the American way of life, both in terms of a threat to religion ("godless communists") and a viable foreign threat as the USSR became more powerful.

Within that geopolitical framework, America's perceptions of Europe was that they were weaker than the USSR and potentially threatened with being overrun. Essentially, they were viewed as a kind of "damsel in distress" being threatened by a terrible dragon. This was also the idea forged in Americans' minds regarding our involvement in the World Wars. Most of the countries of Europe were seen as too weak to be able to withstand or defend against German aggression, so they needed the manly power of the U.S. to come and rescue them.

Americans tend to fear anything that might be perceived as weakness. A lot of Americans might see Europe as weak, and we don't want to be weak like they are. That's why Americans support a Second Amendment over gun control. I think it also relates to Americans' resistance to socialized medicine, since it seems to go against the idea that "only the strong shall survive." They see government intervention and helping people with social programs somehow violates some laws of nature they adhere to.

As long as the US population was small...the unbridled laissez-faire didn't produce so many damages.
Now the social inequalities are really horrific...and shock us Europeans.

Billionaires living in luxurious mansions and homeless people in most big cities.

And Americans are okay with that.

Yes, although not all Americans have been okay with it. I've heard some Americans warning against the fiscal irresponsibility and geopolitical recklessness for as long as I've been alive. But many more Americans just didn't seem to care, or they thought it was all too negative or gloom-and-doom, so they didn't listen.