Is America a well oiled machine or is it a series of mouse traps and no one really understands why it's still around?
Is America a well oiled machine or is it a series of mouse traps and no one really understands why it's still around?
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America is a rather young country compared to others. The others have gone through these issues already.
...or disppeared. Lots and lots have disappeared.
The US has been around for less than 250 years. That's less than four times as long as the Soviet union, which didn't even last a lifetime.
And America's issues are uniquely American. It has similarities to feudalism in France, but it is not at all the same.
It's not, though. America is young as a nation, but as a country with a set political system it's one of, if not the oldest in the world.
And that's a problem. Other countries modernize and improve their political systems. The US clings to archaic institutions like the electoral college.
I'd say it's a testament to the stability of the US political system, which is related to but not the same thing as their political establishment's resistance to change. When I said "a set political system", I meant more as opposed to France's two kingdoms and five republics, the Ottoman Empire's transition to modern Turkey or the Russian empire becoming the USSR. I don't think not going through that kind of transformation can be called stagnation, though the US definitely suffers from that too.
France invented constitutionalism and you were the first to adapt it after them. That's important political history, but don't overestimate yourselves.
England has been the same kingdom since the early 10th century.
England has been the same kingdom since the early 10th century.
It hasn't, though. The modern UK is a union of England, Scotland and Ireland and was created by the Act of Union in 1800, and if you don't count that then you go back to the Treaty of Union in 1707. That's definitely older than the US so good point there, but either way modern Britain is hardly the same political entity as Norman England.
England is England. They have laws going back until before any of that. There's continuity all the way. Joining a union does not mean your country stops existing.
It does in the sense that it stops being a country and becomes a part of a country. There's no country called England today.
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom.
According to Wikipedia, anyway. I'm not sure what you think England is.
That is... Fair enough. I guess I don't understand the UK political system. Anyway that pushes us back to the mid-17th century when they tried their hand at being a Republic for a while.
Since the mid 17th century, really. And does not currently exist as an independent nation. Which is exactly the point, they were making.
The US is certainly not the oldest institution in the world. And as a people, as a culture, yes, the US is rather young. But the US is relatively mature as far as continuous national governments go, and the oldest surviving democracy.
Part of a political system is that it changes, but the House of Lords for example has roots back to the 11th century. Sure, things change through the centuries, but it's wrong to say they are not the same. The US has gained states and amended the constitution as well.