A republic without the rule of law is not a republic anymore.

JumpCrisscross 15 hours ago | parent [-]

> republic without the rule of law is not a republic anymore

An observation one can make when comparing a republic with the rule of law to one that ain’t, whether across time or geography. There is a real benefit to having the American experiment prominent and continuing.

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BoredPositron 15 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Is there actually a benefit? Or are we just watching the slow motion collapse of another empire convinced of its own immortality? History is a graveyard of experiments that thought they were the exception to the rule.

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JumpCrisscross 14 hours ago | parent [-]

> Is there actually a benefit? Or are we just watching the slow motion collapse of another empire convinced of its own immortality?

These aren’t mutually exclusive. The world is better off for Athens and the Roman and Harrapan and Haudenosaunee republics. (Book request: history of the republic. I’ve struggled to find one.)

The CCP with internal elections was interesting and a genuine riposte to broadly-enfranchised republics. Xi as a dictator is not, not.

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BoredPositron 14 hours ago | parent [-]

But we are not talking about china.

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JumpCrisscross 13 hours ago | parent [-]

> But we are not talking about china

Author literally is.

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BoredPositron 13 hours ago | parent [-]

And in this subthread we are talking about republics which you are keen to mention china isn't.

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JumpCrisscross 13 hours ago | parent [-]

> in this subthread we are talking about republics which you are keen to mention china isn't

This subthread is part of the broader discussion. There are lots of Reddit corners for debating whether America is a republic. I haven’t seen any novel arguments in a while. The argument for whether an American AI is useful out of an American republic, its dying republic or even its embers is the germane one here, and I think it speaks decisively in favor against the one that’s proudly autocratic without organized dissent.

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BoredPositron 17 minutes ago | parent [-]

You are just sidestepping the discussion.

	▲	JumpCrisscross 8 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> You are just sidestepping the discussion I'm avoiding an irrelevant sideline. Big difference.

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ang_cire 15 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> There is a real benefit to having the American experiment prominent and continuing.

The American 'experiment' is one long history of the US doing really horrible things, but giving ourselves a pass because we dress it up in the name of freedom and self-determination.

If you ignore our slavery and the genocide of Native Americans, it's easy to paint China's slavery and genocide as evils that are unique somehow.

The real experiment of America is in seeing how self-deluded we can become if we continuously reinforce the false premise that our institutions are intrinsically good (or at least, nebulously "better").

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	▲	kelnos 14 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		The difference is that China's slavery and genocide is happening today, within its own borders. Is that true of the US? Is there state-sanctioned/supported slavery in the US? Is the US committing genocide within its own borders? Arguably not? This doesn't make the US perfect or wonderful. We've been politically and militarily supporting a genocide in Gaza, as a stark example. But "the US did slavery and genocide in the past" and "China is doing slavery and genocide now" doesn't make the US and China equivalent today. And on top of that, I can go out and protest my country supporting Israel's garbage in Gaza. If I were a Chinese citizen and tried to do something like that in China, I'd be jailed.
	▲	JumpCrisscross 13 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> real experiment of America is in seeing how self-deluded we can become How would you contrast the responses to the Tiananmen Square Massacre [1] and that of Pretti’s shooting? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests...