Comments by "buddermonger2000" (@buddermonger2000) on "Possible History"
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@gifs_for_the_peasantry The thing I'd respond to with this is to say these states don't actually spend very much on their militaries. None of the states you mentioned spend very much either. Switzerland has a relatively large army due to universal conscription, but it itself is far below the European norm with regards to defense budgets (0.68% of GDP). France is also under 2% of GDP (1.9%) and it has an expeditionary force meant to perform operations around the world with an emphasis on Africa. Even the Finns for their very large army (relative to their size) don't spend much on their armed forces either having only now pushed just below the 2% mark from a 1.2% low in the last decade. I think it's important to make a distinction between a large army and well funded one with the large part coming exclusively from conscription.
Frankly, only Poland, Romania, and the UK have actually kept up in terms of percentage of GDP on military spending for the last 5 years, with Poland hitting an all-time high of 4.2% (larger than the USA). In real terms, most of Europe has been slacking for more than a decade while Poland is picking it all up basically by itself as it is completely transforming its military into the largest tank army in Europe.
Edit: as an addendum, besides the armies on the eastern flank of NATO, no-one is increasing their military budgets by significant amounts and a few countries have gone down in spending, including ironically, the US and thus total NATO spending has decreased in the wake of the invasion.
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@BasicallyBaconSandvichIV Yeah everything you've said at the beginning indicates you don't actually have those things. Part of that freedom means saying things that people don't like and regulation means you don't have that right. Rights can't be regulated. You are free to be racist that's absolutely the case. That's the downside of it. However, it means you are free to do anything besides hurting others. You have freedom of association and assembly. You have freedom to petition the government (and they the freedom to ignore you). And you have freedom of the press. You're not allowed to lie (that's simply a lawsuit though) and you're not allowed to call people to do a crime and thus implicate yourself in that crime. Those are your only limitations.
Also, no, the only ones with a right to bear arms are the Czechs with a system much more similar to the US than the rest of Europe while also being very in line with the European average.
Most crime in the US is very disorganized and the largest cohort of people in the US dying by firearm are the owners themselves turning it on themselves (2/3 it's a very large problem). The biggest problem is the US murder rate which is depending on the source 2.5x to 5x higher with Iraq having a lower death rate than Chicago. It's also a very interesting point that some of the highest murder areas of the world aren't actually on the very low income bracket as you'd expect and is simply concentrated mostly in the new world.
As for "more freedom" to move around, that's also very very silly. It's trying to say people are more free because they can get to places without a car, even though instead they're simply paying for other services to get them to a place. It's not being more free, it's simply a different lifestyle.
Finally, a lot of countries used to salute their flags, but because of Germany people got scared of any form of nationalism even though it's what actually binds people together through shared beliefs. For the Americans with largely different blood, it's much more important to have that civic nationalism in order to foster the national project and integrate immigrants. Not to mention, you don't actually have to pledge allegiance to the flag (at least in school) since you really won't be stopped. It's by no means a requirement (unless you're swearing in as a naturalized US citizen), but it's certainly a mark of American culture and pride to do so.
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@xenotypos So, what happens is that wars are a temporary decrease. The birthrates recover after the war almost every time until the sustained decrease of the industrial era declines. Even then it usually gets a bump up depending on how many people they lost (eastern Europe never REALLY recovered that rate after WW2, and Germany only got a small recovery bump, compared to the West's baby boom). So wars are ultimately a temporary decrease, but the time of war would, of course, increase the amount of time of that decrease. Also... while you're right about them being better in 1789 at the time of the revolution, however it's about perceptions in many ways.
Even more relevant, the French revolution was an elite led phenomenon just like every revolution. I don't think the enlightenment had as much to do with the revolution so much as France being broke and the nobility having declined in ability in France due to centuries of centralization and neutering. Thus, the most relevant factor was about having a new elite formed outside of the nobility. This phenomenon happened in Britain and the Netherlands, roughly a century beforehand and produced enlightenment thinkers as a result.
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