[NMC EXP]

Is the United States broken?

This should read "ARE the United States Broken". This is not a semantic exercise. It represents the erosion of state's powers and the growth of leviathan.

Regards

J.R.

[sixmil]

This should read "ARE the United States Broken". This is not a semantic exercise. It represents the erosion of state's powers and the growth of leviathan.

Both of those thoughts have gone through my mind many times, but I never drew the link. Pretty insightful. How about the people who misuse the words democracy and republic? Do they deserve either?

[Twodees]

Good point, but it may be lost on some.

"The war was a conflict over grammar- whether the proper grammar was 'the united States are' or 'The United States is'."

Basil Gildersleeve

[billbears]

I feel shamed that I did not catch that myself. Thank you for the correction

[antidisestablishment]

Ah, but it has become a semantic exercise indicative of the true state of our union. On a practical level, we are no longer states, just servants of the federal aristocracy. But, government is just a symptom, not the disease (or the cure).

However, we are truly living in the greatest period the world has ever known: peace (despite terrorism), prosperity (despite growing economic pain) and freedom (unlike the world has known). So what's really the problem?