Random thoughts post 'em

[amatscintilla]

But that's tossing out the best comparison. When you talk about something that's a literary classic, people will always draw comparisons to it. I hate Tolkien, but even I describe my favorite fantasy author as "Tolkien lite." And that happens all of the time, every fantasy book is compared, at some point, to Lord of the Rings. Does that mean we should stop comparing everything to the largest event in fantasy in several decades? Probably not. Do all of these comparisons suddenly lose impact because they're being held to an often used standard? Not at all.

Who is your favorite fantasy author?

And there have been some modern day asshats talking secession, too. During, coincidentally I'm sure, the administration of our first black president.

I don't want to believe that a lot of southern Americans are racist shitheads, but a lot of southern Americans are racist shitheads. That's what I associate the confederate flag with, and I'm not the only one who makes that connection.

I'm a yank who grew up in the north, lived quite a while out west, and now live in a southern state which is largely populated by northerners (Florida, where the further south you go the more northern it gets). I also am lucky enough to have spent considerable time visiting every state in the contiguous US (as well as all the Canadian provinces). I used to hold the traditional Northern image of the south as an enclave full of racists, sort of as you describe it. But living here now for 12 years has taught me how wrong I was. Sure, there are racists here, there are racists everywhere. But what I see everyday in the South are people from various backgrounds living together, getting along, and being a community. Not racism. Now, maybe my "white privilege" is getting in the way of me seeing the racism, but I hope that's not the case.

I also happen to support secession. Mostly on an argument of scope. The scope of our current federal government is astronomical and untenable. It simply doesn't make a whole lot of historical sense to manage a country of this size from one central location. Dividing the nation up would allow better representation, improve the accountability of government to the people, and move the power that controls so much of our everyday lives closer to us.

To illustrate, in 1793 the population of the US was 3.9 million and our House of Representatives contained 31 seats for an average of 125,806 people per Representative. Today, our population is 319,000,000 and the House of Representatives contains 435 seats, for an average of 733,333 people per Representative. That means, individually, our power in influencing our representatives today is 1/6 what it was when the country was founded.

In a system such as this, it is no wonder the true influence comes from corporations and the like.

The most logical solution is to divide the country up into smaller segments, maintaining a loose federation along the lines of the European Union, primarily to ensure mutual defense and free trade between the new nations.

I can't believe I'm posting this stuff in the waifu community lol.