[secstate]

Well, I wrote my congressmen. What else can we possibly do? This is, however, a fucking travesty of justice. How can you possibly be caught committing a crime and have the higher-ups formally apologize, and say they wont do it again?

This is high treason against the United States Senate. What the hell is wrong with this country? I feel like the US is one big democratic tease, pretending to be a bastion of free thought and high ideals. When in reality it's no different than any other relatively peaceful, horribly corrupt government that has ever existed.

Reading a history of the Roman Republic and eventual Empire recently, I have a suspicion we're headed down pretty much the same path, simply with better access to current information. That could change everything. But it probably wont change anything.

[poof131]

I sometimes wonder if we are in the mid to late republic. [1] I want to believe in the progress of the country, but sometimes it seems like stagnation since the 70s and that post WW2 may have been the zenith of the American Rebublic. The divide between military and civilian, the Tammany hall nature of D.C., the bread and circuses all around, our country has issues to fix.

But, I believe that we are moving forward, the world more than just the US, by many measures: mortality [2], poverty [3], violence [4]. So, I hope that we are something different than the Roman Republic and can last longer as a republic. My greatest fear is a 1984 style of perpetual surveillance, doublethink and corporate slavery. Oh wait, we are already there ;)

[1] - http://www.roman-empire.net/republic/laterep-index.html [2] - http://www.nber.org/digest/mar02/w8556.html [3] - http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2013/04/17/re... [4] - http://reason.com/archives/2012/01/11/the-decline-of-violenc...

[aaronblohowiak]

> relatively peaceful

[citation needed]

The US has seldom had a decade of peace in its history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_United_...

[poof131]

The US Military has seldom had a decade of peace, New York and San Francisco have had centuries.

[sp332]

Well, SF has had about 1 century.

[barce]

There are bullet-ridden and blood-stained flags in San Francisco's City Hall that beg to differ and were carried by this city's sons to different wars and conflicts. I cried when I first saw them.

[simoncion]

This is a gentle reminder that when someone says "Place X has known peace for period Y" they mean "There has been no significant military action in Place X for period Y.". People from Place X can engage in military action in other places during period Y, but Place X is still in a period of peace.

[sp332]

Well my City Hall has blood-stained flags too, they're from the Civil War http://www.unionleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201312... which didn't happen anywhere around here. I wouldn't say NH was "at peace" during the civil war though.

[secstate]

Hah, well I did qualify it with a weasel word, so I didn't think I needed an example.

But I would note that we're likely at least as peaceful as the ancient empires of Greece and Rome, and probably "relatively" more peaceful than either.

Civilian police forces are born out of a commercialization of violence and an overseer to curb abuse. While there are rampant examples of the oversight failing (L.A. in the 90s, Seattle drones, or good old fashioned SWAT team overuse), by and large, I'd argue I'm living a pretty privileged and safe life here in the U.S. right now.

[josho]

What Americans don't understand is that their democracy is a joke.

-Real democracies don't suffer from gerrymandering. -Real democracies have a free media that will challenge their government (the US news agencies are controlled by large corporations, the corporations are fine to challenge the government on a range of issues, but nothing truly substantive). -Real democracies have elections with choice, not two parties that differ only by shades of grey.