[Felix]

The last time the South wanted to secede, ya'll whined and cried "Don' break up the Union", blah, blah. Ya'll shudda shut the fuck up and left better alone. Whiners. Can't pleas'em even when they get what they want.

Good point; there's just no pleasing some people. Apply for secession again; this time there won't be a fight, and everyone will be happy. Might be some population movement, but I guess that'll smooth things long term.
Only question is, who gets DC? It's on the border. Toss a coin maybe, and the loser gets all the politicians?

[Chicagoan]

^Let DC decide.

[Felix]

What is the United States of Canada going to eat?

Canadian beef
Canadian wheat
Canadian salmon
Canadian pork
Canadian dairy products
Californian fruit/vegetables
New England fish
Wisconsin beer.
Canadian whiskey

And whatever they import from overseas; economics can be a wonderful thing. I don't think the USC will starve anytime soon.

[lostech]

As Lincoln realized, the principle of succession is really anarchy. Divisions will pop up again in any subdivided area, which would then seek to subdivide even further. The only answers are constitutional democracy, where you learn to live with the will of the majority, totalitarianism where all must tow the same line, or anarchy where life is "nasty, brutal, and short" (Hobbes). I can't stand that Bush won, and intend to do all I can in future elections to see that candidates that I support are elected, but all this succession nonsense is just sour grapes.

Well taken to its logical conclusion this would indicate we should have a world government. It seems to be a matter of degree, and the US is a very big country.. maybe too big.

[Guest]

Answer to pip:
There are tons of far-right Christians out there who do want to force everyone to go to church, follow all Biblical edicts, and want to eliminate the US Constitution and change the US into a theocracy. So it is not entirely hogwash to be afraid of the Christian right attaining power.

[BastardSquad]

Answer to pip:
There are tons of far-right Christians out there who do want to force everyone to go to church, follow all Biblical edicts, and want to eliminate the US Constitution and change the US into a theocracy. So it is not entirely hogwash to be afraid of the Christian right attaining power.

DUDE!!!!!You're so full of $hit!

[BastardSquad]

You guys need to do an internet search on "John Titor".

Dude, I happened to have seen a play based on the John Titor predictions called time traveler 00.

http://www.johntitor.com/ is the website where you can find most of the prophet Titor's rantings.

Who knows if it will come true or not. If so, get your guns and head to the hills fellas, because there will be nukes going off in the cities!

Like I said,I mostly think it's crap,but reading this thread really gives me the creeps.

I wander if any of these people will ever actually take the time to check out your link and read his posts?Probably not,they'll just keep whining and bitching till they make his predictions come true.

[scrod]

The electoral college gives a false impression and poorly represents political affiliation as a function of geographic location. The following map makes all those 51% victories far more obvious:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/

[CommunistAnarchist]

I say ship'm to France if they love communism and oppression so much.

Yeah.... and send that Statue of Liberty back to them. Damn communist symbol.

First - Communism does not equal oppression - you are talking about the State
Beauracratic Capitalist "Soviet" Union. Capitalism is the reason why we are even
in this rut. And the Satute of Liberty symbolizes France's relationship and history
with Capitalist America. I Don't think the capitalists in Washington D.C would want
to do that.

[backstop]

CommunistAnarchist - if more people had any knowledge of what was done by Stalin in the name of communism to the anarchists of the Ukraine, fewer would see the two creeds as being anything other than diametrically opposed.

regards,

Backstop

[bart]

if more people had any knowledge of what was done by Stalin in the name of communism to the anarchists of the Ukraine, fewer would see the two creeds as being anything other than diametrically opposed.

Stalinism does not equal communism. Many communists fought against Stalin and were persecuted by him. The most incisive critiques of Stalinism were written by Communists. Communism is an incredibly complex historical phenomenon and does not lend itself to easy generalizations.

As anti-capitalist feelings pick up, due to PO and economic problems, there will probably be a resurgence of anarchism, socialsm and communism. It would be wonderful if we could learn from the past rather than repeating the same mistakes. The first step is to go beyond black/white judgments.

[Olaf]

I went and looked at the link for John Titor. I would have to say I also find it HIGHLY unlikley to be legitimate, however, after reading some of the posts, it does seem fairly indicative of current events (including this discussion). If nothing else it brings to mind the very real POSSIBILITIES of things such as government upheaval, war, starvation, etc.

I don't think I want to live in interesting times anymore.

Please put me somewhere nice and dull...

Olaf

[gg3]

Re. communism: I'll go so far as to agree that it's one of the natural modes humans go to in order to deal with crisis. For example in natural disasters or public health emergencies, certain resources get collectivized and distributed according to need rather than according to ability to pay.

So if nothing else, objectivity compels us to look at the ways in which demands for communistic or socialsitic measures may come into play in the coming crises, and look at the outcomes without prejudice.

[BastardSquad]

I went and looked at the link for John Titor. I would have to say I also find it HIGHLY unlikley to be legitimate, however, after reading some of the posts, it does seem fairly indicative of current events (including this discussion). If nothing else it brings to mind the very real POSSIBILITIES of things such as government upheaval, war, starvation, etc.

I don't think I want to live in interesting times anymore.

Please put me somewhere nice and dull...

Olaf

If my understanding of physics is correct, the extreme amount of mass needed to displace time would be so great it would destroy the entire planet and anything around it. Even if this were not the case, I still don't see where we would come up with an energy source to power it. If we had an energy source capable of generating that much mass then PO would no longer be an issue.

Most likely whoever wrote those posts was someone who pays extremely close attention to world events and the way society reacts to them and then attempted to make predictions based on those observations.

It is not entirely out of the question to beleive that someone with an extreme leftist ideology(marxists) might react to the last election with an act of extremism. In this case the government would have no choice but to react accordingly, which would of course mean infringing on more civil liberties. This in turn could lead to more acts of insurrection in which case the situation snowballs out of control.

I hope and pray everyone on the political spectrum remains sane and exercises common sense.

If it ever reaches a point where his predictions do look like they are coming to pass, I'm gonna hightail it outta this country as quick as I can,probably to Mexico. I want no part of such an event where Americans slaughter one another en masse.

[Freud]

If it ever reaches a point where his predictions do look like they are coming to pass, I'm gonna hightail it outta this country as quick as I can,probably to Mexico. I want no part of such an event where Americans slaughter one another en masse.

those countries would kill or detain us trying to get across their borders....

the irony of it all, really.

[Hboy]

Red states will have to get off of the blue state tit ...

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/writing/2 ... _feed.html

[Guest]

I think the key word to be used is 'partition' rather than 'secession',bcos secession implies a decision by a group of states to leave without consent from the remainder of the country.Partition is a form of separation agreed upon (explicitly or implicitly)by both sides,as in the case of India/Pakistan or Czech Rep/Slovakia,just to name two examples.The red states and blue states are fundamentally different in too many ways and are no longer compatible in the long term.The politicians won't touch it though until it seems an unstoppable movement.The one thing that red states and blue states should work together on is ca grassroots movement on both sides to separate from each other.'Irreconcilable differences' leading to an 'amicable divorce'.It's the only way forward really.

[Cool Hand Linc]

This is really interesting!

The problem I see is that the edges color doesn't match the centers color. The center is not divided the outside is!

Divide and conquer!

[Guest]

As Lincoln realized, the principle of succession is really anarchy. Divisions will pop up again in any subdivided area, which would then seek to subdivide even further. The only answers are constitutional democracy, where you learn to live with the will of the majority, totalitarianism where all must tow the same line, or anarchy where life is "nasty, brutal, and short" (Hobbes). I can't stand that Bush won, and intend to do all I can in future elections to see that candidates that I support are elected, but all this succession nonsense is just sour grapes.

Speaking of Lincoln,he'd roll over in his proverbial grave if he could see what has happened to his Republican Party.He'd recognise it as the Democratic Party of his day. What Lincoln culd not have foreseen was that the South would grow larger and more powerful until it took over the country's institutions.

[Cool Hand Linc]

What? I guess I didn't understand what you were trying to say. Did you mean he would not recognize the Republican party and would then even furthur have difficulty with the Democratic party?

Guest?