[Yeul]

Before things like the FBI and the telegraph it was quite common for Americans to find a new life in another state. You could be married in New York but nobody in Montana would know unless they actively started an investigation. The world has become a village.

[ddingus]

True story:

In the late 70's my Uncle had a run of bad luck and a dubious business partner basically sink him financially. After some discussion, he made a plan. It was simple:

Uncle goes back to Virginia to lay low in one of the back hollers.

My mom gets his mail, due to him living with us for a while[1], and writes "Deceased" on it, and "Return to Sender"

5 years pass. Maybe 4, I can't remember.

Uncle shows up, everything is fine, and he and my aunt live out the rest of their days in a small comfy trailer no worries.

[1] Living and other time with this Uncle was a great time in my life.

Edit due to device change: My uncle had one eye, the other lost when he was young and unlucky in the woods. He read everything and acquired a great many skills which he proceeded to pass along to me: lock picking, electronics, engine rebuilding and a ton about autos, working with wood, metals, tools... He is probably still doing that in his afterlife. Good soul who I treasure having known.

[adriand]

Why did he feel he had to run? Did he owe people money?

[ddingus]

Yes. It was to shake off debt. Records were far from unified back then.

So, he took advantage of that by essentially living out of range. Once all the companies charged him off and basically moved on, he was free to come back and pick up where he left off with few worries.

[_DeadFred_]

The US used to believe in second chances. Now it believes in maximum retribution. Unless you are big business. Then not only will you get a second chance, but the government will fund it.

[MattGaiser]

Did it ever believe in second chances or was it just a reality of distances and poor communications technology?

[engineer_22]

I don't believe that's true

[Dylan16807]

You need to be more specific about which parts are wrong and in what way. They made a claim about the past, a claim about the present, and a couple claims about businesses. I have no idea which ones you're reacting to.

[engineer_22]

You need to be more specific

[jackstraw14]

it was the main selling point of the US for quite a while.

[HPsquared]

It's one of those feudal villages you can't leave.

[nine_k]

It's not because we're indentured, but because we're on an island, and now most of the island is as transparent as a village.

[o11c]

The advantage of the world being a village is that you no longer have to have extreme paranoia over everyone who isn't from your village.

It turns out that in a world of "people forced to leave the village to live a new life free from the consequences of their prior deeds", the main reason people would try to start living in a new village was because they had done something that made them no longer welcome with all the people they knew before.

One oft-understated advantage of an explicit noble class is that it provides a medium for verifying "this person really is traveling for legitimate reasons".