(no subject)

[unnamed525.livejournal.com]

Comments

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

They also don't pretend there's no federal government when it's convenient.

[unnamed525.livejournal.com]

[oslo.livejournal.com]

Hm. I'm not sure I can endorse the appeal to nationalism, even if it's only about showing how self-styled "patriots" are contradicting themselves by fetishizing the government's overthrow. It's like criticizing the authors of the Left Behind series for failing to fetishize the suffering of enough sinners.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

Is any sort of pride or support of one's country at all considered dangerous nationalism or do you have a specific line?

[telemann.livejournal.com]

It's like criticizing the authors of the Left Behind series

That reminded me, there is a HBO series based on those books I need to watch (the HBO series strips a lot of the religious themes, and only makes a fleeting reference to the Rapture).

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

I think you're confusing it with The Leftovers, which was an excellent book and the series starts this summer.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Well, no true Scotsman puts sugar on his porridge.

[unnamed525.livejournal.com]

Wishing for the government to better itself is not wishing for it to fail.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

A revolutionary perspective would argue that some governments are fundamentally flawed and cannot be successfully reformed.

(FWIW, I don't think the US is in this case, and in no way am I a patriot for any country)

[brother-dour.livejournal.com]

I would agree with that perspective.

Do I believe that the United States is one of those countries? Well, let me just ask you this: in a plutocracy such as the U.S. is, how does one fix that problem? You can't legislate against it- the legislators are owned by the plutocrats. We're told armed insurrection will never work. And when was the last time a wide-scale grassroots movement changed any policies significantly? How many times has that happened in the nation's entire history?

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

In a nominal democracy where there is an inbalance of power (such as a plutocracy), the people must lead and the politicians will follow; they are timid creatures by nature.

And when was the last time a wide-scale grassroots movement changed any policies significantly?

The anti-war protests against Vietnam and Iraq in the U.S., along with the civil rights movement, are held in deep respect by many.

Of course, grassroots protests have to be effective - and the most effective weapon is strike action. That makes the plutocrats panic.