wakalix

The United States is not a democracy

I’ve heard enough of this. Last week I was on a couple of local televised talk shows, and the democracy worship was rampant. The link above lists many articles about the why the United States are not a democracy. I use the plural form to further emphasize the power the Federal Gov’t has. Before the Civil War, people refered to the U.S. as a plural noun, as I did, above.

In other news, a student in my graduate program told me about a trip to a few African countries he took after college. He’d walk from town to town, meet someone who knew someone in the next town, and stay in that person’s home for the night if he could not find a hotel. People would walk with him for miles; “They had nothing else to do.” What he described reminded me of the levels of social organization described in Guns, Germs, and Steel. It’s nice to be reminded of how different other people’s lives are, and just how much of the world I don’t know about.

• A have a one in my car!
• Behind the Pittsburgh Steelers logo
• Swarthmore College Class of ‘97 5-year Reunion
• In Defense of the Electoral College
• more random thoughts