NorthernGent
Posts: 8730
Joined: 7/10/2006 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: celticlord2112 quote:
Does this mean the US has spent its way to totalitarianism? Six months ago I would have said no, not yet. Six months from now I might say yes. Today I say God I hope not. From what I can gather, the US government has invested heavily in the military for quite some time. This suggests that government spending does not equate to 'totalitarianism', unless of course the US has operated a totalitarian regime for quite some time. Governments do not spend their way to totalitarianism. There has to be a underlying desire for extremist politics - see Germany in 1932 where the Communist and Nazi parties gained the majority of the votes, or Russia during and after WW1. You have to understand the culture and history of a nation to understand why totalitarianism takes root - Germany and Russia had a history of authoritarian rule (among other things). I'd argue that England, and I'd guess the United States is similar in this regard, has a history that does not lend toward totalitarianism; it's a history of a commercial people, which demands certain freedoms such as the freedom to chase individual business initiatives. England is a nation that would infinitely rather be tending to its gardens and making a few quid here and there, than running 'round taking on board big ideas and simplistic solutions.
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I have the courage to be a coward - but not beyond my limits. Sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.
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