[Magdalen] More Like Canada?

[Sally Davies]

I'm a thousand miles away geographically, not quite so far
socio-politically, but to me it sounds like my Mom on one of her
what's-wrong-with-society rants. At least those are free.

Surely the USA including "the South" whatever that means, is more complex
than this?

Aspects I see that seem to have some commonality with Southern Africa,
aside from a painful history of slavery, racism and civil war, include a
"frontier mentality" (guns and anti-Government interference), tremendous
pressure from porous borders with an unstable rest-of-the-Continent, and an
uneasy mix of dependency on agriculture (family farms of all sizes and some
commercial operations going to the wall economically), scarce resources
(water, electricity), inadequate social welfare and education systems in
some places, environmental damage from mining and industry, and a host of
factors underming grass-roots democracy, from corrruption to lack of
education,  especially at local levels.

Ongoing militarisation, abuse of security forces and the constant invoking
of fear ("gevaar") which feeds xenophobia is another common pattern.

How somehow separating North and South (or maybe West as well?) would
resolve these issues is beyond me but maybe the fourth-generation Texan has
some solution that doesn't sound like Donald Trump taking his latest show
on the road.

Sally D

On Monday, July 13, 2015, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:

> We have to remain with them to save them from themselves.
>
> James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
> *“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
> except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy
>
> On Sun, Jul 12, 2015 at 5:30 PM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen <
> magdalen at herberthouse.org <javascript:;>> wrote:
>
> > This is excerpted in The Week, a magazine I read regularly.
> > Lind is a 4th generation southerner from Texas himself.  He  brings
> > up some food for thought.  There have been some strong  commentary
> > disputing his views, as might be expected.
> >
> >
> >
> > <<<On  Friday, "Politco" contributing editor, Michael Lind postulated
> that:
> > “The  United States would be much less exceptional in general, and in
> > particular more  like other English-speaking democracies such as Britain,
> > Canada,
> > Australia and  New Zealand were it not for the effects on U.S. politics
> and
> > culture of the  American South.  I don’t mean this in a good way. A lot
> of
> > the traits that  make the United States exceptional these days are
> > undesirable, like higher  violence and less social mobility. Many of
> these
> > differences can be attributed  largely to the South.”
> > Lind  goes on:
> > “Some  deluded Southerners still pine for secession from the Union. Yet
> no
> > doubt there  are also more than a few liberal Northerners who would be
> > happy
> > to see them go.  Minus the South, the rest of the U.S. probably would be
> > more like Canada  or Australia or Britain or New Zealand—more secular,
> more
> > socially liberal, more  moderate in the tone of its politics and somewhat
> > more
> > generous in social  policy.”>>>>
> > David S.
> >
>