Your writing really makes me think. I'm going to go out and feed the cows and think about what you've written and then come back in and read it again. But the thought that came to me is one I've never had before and I'll write it down here before I get distracted. What if the whole westward expansion was just to get away from Eastern authority? Like the Pilgrims getting away from the king. Our myth of the cowboy free on the open range. And now in the Panopticon there's really nowhere to run, the mountains and forests are full, even the cybersphere. One's neighbours and colleagues are listening. And so the pressure builds and lashes out or is being directed by Google against a poor welfare lady instead of themselves or Goldman or Pfizer. I truly believe that the lesson of America up to now is that people want to be free. The lesson of Europe is that people want order. Order vs. freedom's priority might be a function of time and population density and experience of atrocity.
The whole "the south gets more federal money than they pay" disregards the distribution of that money. There are a lot more working/middle class folks in the south that don't see a penny of that money than those who do. They don't generally earn as much as the northerners so they don't pay as much in taxes but that serves to skew the pay/receive dynamic all the more.
I think much of this confusion is due to the above as well as the live free or die ethos. But some of it is due to manipulation of decent people to obfuscate high-level power arrangements. People have been propagandized against the lower level "takers" but they are waking up, finally, to the high level takers who are responsible for the destruction of our industry and high inflation.
It's all rather complicated and simple explanations are propounded by people in the pundit class like Richardson.
I think there WAS a lot of interest in getting away from authorities. Also in just having enough room to start a farm or just get away from people. I think I mentioned Patricia Limerick as well. She had some really interesting things to say about the west (especially mining) and corporations.
Your writing really makes me think. I'm going to go out and feed the cows and think about what you've written and then come back in and read it again. But the thought that came to me is one I've never had before and I'll write it down here before I get distracted. What if the whole westward expansion was just to get away from Eastern authority? Like the Pilgrims getting away from the king. Our myth of the cowboy free on the open range. And now in the Panopticon there's really nowhere to run, the mountains and forests are full, even the cybersphere. One's neighbours and colleagues are listening. And so the pressure builds and lashes out or is being directed by Google against a poor welfare lady instead of themselves or Goldman or Pfizer. I truly believe that the lesson of America up to now is that people want to be free. The lesson of Europe is that people want order. Order vs. freedom's priority might be a function of time and population density and experience of atrocity.
The whole "the south gets more federal money than they pay" disregards the distribution of that money. There are a lot more working/middle class folks in the south that don't see a penny of that money than those who do. They don't generally earn as much as the northerners so they don't pay as much in taxes but that serves to skew the pay/receive dynamic all the more.
I think much of this confusion is due to the above as well as the live free or die ethos. But some of it is due to manipulation of decent people to obfuscate high-level power arrangements. People have been propagandized against the lower level "takers" but they are waking up, finally, to the high level takers who are responsible for the destruction of our industry and high inflation.
It's all rather complicated and simple explanations are propounded by people in the pundit class like Richardson.
I think there WAS a lot of interest in getting away from authorities. Also in just having enough room to start a farm or just get away from people. I think I mentioned Patricia Limerick as well. She had some really interesting things to say about the west (especially mining) and corporations.