Defending Assault of Flag Burner (Response)

[aitm]

Like anything that is done to elicit a response. Your right to do that will not necessarily prevent someone from drop kicking your ass. Very much like a restraining order really protects someone.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

I'll never get why people get so offended by flag burning. It's exactly the same thing with muslims being offended by mohammed drawings.

I think if people get offended by people spending their own money on buying a flag and then burning it, they need to sort their priorities out.

Personally I'm not really sure why people get so attached to a flag but I guess it's got something to do with patriotism, which equally I find bizarre. Like nationalists who pander to the lowest common denominator of otherism. It's pathetic, really.

[platatomi]

Do you even realize what we could get done in this country if we just dumped the South altogether?  Of course if we cut all of our carbon emissions it still wouldn't be enough to offest what they would output after they got rid of the EPA and anything else standing in the way of big business.  And there's the fact that their corporate overlords would bankrupt their new country in two decades by filling their own pockets indiscriminately and we'd have to take them back.  But still, those couple of decades where we would have to tune into international news to hear the crazy rantings of high-ranking politicians and up-and-coming political candidates would be magical.

Without the south in the picture, I bet we would be a first-rate, functional democracy at this point. Single-payer healthcare, strict gun control, stellar infrastructure including high-speed rail, strong union membership and labor laws, constitutional guarantees of rights for LGBT individuals, women, minorities, and the right to vote, publicly-funded campaigns, no military industrial complex, presidential election by popular vote, possibly proportional senate repesentation, decriminalized/legal drugs. I could go on and on. Just my little fantasy.

[Shiranu]

You would also lose huge chunks of your infrastructure, your largest provider of oil, your largest military installations, your largest science installations (bye bye, NASA!)... largest sea ports, your border for easy and cheap labour, a large amount of farm land (and lets be honest; the Midwest is as backwards as the South, so you gotta cut out the rest of the bread basket as well if you want to get rid of the crazy)... several of the best tourist locations in the U.S. (so less revenue there), your "American" cars will now have to be imported so drive the price of them up... as well as again the resources to create them so there goes the prices even higher...

I could go on, but the South is a large part of why the United States can at all even try to stay relevant. And sorry, but New England has it's fair-share of bullshit too; or did I miss the memo where asswipes like Chris Christie and Rudy Gulliani were actually elected by Southerners?

[platatomi]

You would also lose huge chunks of your infrastructure, your largest provider of oil, your largest military installations, your largest science installations (bye bye, NASA!)... largest sea ports, your border for easy and cheap labour, a large amount of farm land (and lets be honest; the Midwest is as backwards as the South, so you gotta cut out the rest of the bread basket as well if you want to get rid of the crazy)... several of the best tourist locations in the U.S. (so less revenue there), your "American" cars will now have to be imported so drive the price of them up... as well as again the resources to create them so there goes the prices even higher...

I could go on, but the South is a large part of why the United States can at all even try to stay relevant. And sorry, but New England has it's fair-share of bullshit too; or did I miss the memo where asswipes like Chris Christie and Rudy Gulliani were actually elected by Southerners?

You are correct, splitting up the country now would have major consequences for both, but I believe the south would be much worse off. Above, I was talking about what the country would be like if the south had either never been a part of it, or had seperated a long time ago. The north would then have developed their own space program, etc. in northern teritory.

There are bound to be douchebag politicians whereever you look, but thats nothing compared to the bible-thumping backward culture of the south.

[Shiranu]

You are correct, splitting up the country now would have major consequences for both, but I believe the south would be much worse off. Above, I was talking about what the country would be like if the south had either never been a part of it, or had seperated a long time ago. The north would then have developed their own space program, etc. in northern teritory.

There are bound to be douchebag politicians whereever you look, but thats nothing compared to the bible-thumping backward culture of the south.

Ah, okay.

I know people who honestly believe the South would be better off if it was to leave the Union, so I don't always know if people from the "other" places seriously feel the same way or no.

[peacewithoutgod]

Ah, okay.

I know people who honestly believe the South would be better off if it was to leave the Union, so I don't always know if people from the "other" places seriously feel the same way or no.

I think the problem with the South is that those former states were restored to the Union much too soon after their bloody secession. They should have been made Federal territories indefinitely, so that the cultural powers which influenced them could be taught the true value of inclusion in the US political system through long lessons without it, until they really earned it back.

[jonb]

I know its an American cultural thing to blame all your problems on those living just south of you, but in all honesty I can't see a nice liberal country like Canada ever wanting you back now, however much you try to shift the blame.

[Atheon]

The north would then have developed their own space program, etc. in northern teritory.

The north would still need a launch site, which would have to be as close to the equator as possible within its territory. Maybe Puerto Rico?

[platatomi]

The north would still need a launch site, which would have to be as close to the equator as possible within its territory. Maybe Puerto Rico?

That's a good point, I wasn't aware of the benefits of launching near the equater. However, most soviet and current Russian launches are from Kazakhstan, so it could be done from higher latitudes.

[Mike Cl]

Without the south in the picture, I bet we would be a first-rate, functional democracy at this point. Single-payer healthcare, strict gun control, stellar infrastructure including high-speed rail, strong union membership and labor laws, constitutional guarantees of rights for LGBT individuals, women, minorities, and the right to vote, publicly-funded campaigns, no military industrial complex, presidential election by popular vote, possibly proportional senate repesentation, decriminalized/legal drugs. I could go on and on. Just my little fantasy.

Damn, you may be on to something, there.  Addition by subtraction, eh?  Works for me.

[TomFoolery]

I could go on, but the South is a large part of why the United States can at all even try to stay relevant. And sorry, but New England has it's fair-share of bullshit too; or did I miss the memo where asswipes like Chris Christie and Rudy Gulliani were actually elected by Southerners?

I don't think it gets much more racist than Boston.

But it is a novel concept I've never considered. If the North had just let the South go, it probably could have played out a lot of different ways. But going the way it did caused things like this:

[Solitary]

But, But, statistics don't prove anything, do they? 

[Munch]

I honestly wish there was a way to divide america from north and south. The south can be called something else like Bush'hala, or Nixonville.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

It's pure fantasy to think that the southern states are where all the crazies are at. Several northern states come to mind when I think of crazy. Wisconsin with Scott Walker for one, Michigan with the right wing takeover, Maine with their nutcase governor, Ohio with Kaisich and on and on. Indiana has never been a bastion of left wing progressivism nor has West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Kansas is bankrupt and just reelected their batshit crazy governor.  The flag waving nonsense is about as lame as it gets, but it's beat into kids minds from an early age. Personally I could care less who burns a flag,  but as pointed out assault is a felony.