Thanks to Will Baude for pointing out this weird argument from Matthew Yglesias suggesting we would somehow have been better off without the American Revolution (and all the various amused and amusing responses). Color me completely indoctrinated, because for me the American system of government at the moment it appeared was absolutely crucial for both this country and the world, whatever sad state of affairs we happen to be in today notwithstanding. The main hypothetical Yglesias is looking at -- the idea that somehow being minions of the great British Empire would have led us, like Canada and Australia, to enter WW2 sooner and saved everybody the trouble -- is totally bizarre... in that event, wouldn't this country have looked a lot like Canada and Australia, and had a somewhat lesser impact on the course of that war?
I also don't see what's so interesting or suggestive about the fact that we're allies with the British today. After all, we share with them language, culture (!), and their most singular achivement, the common law legal system, which determines those crucial commerical similarities, among other things. The Irish "whip up anti-English sentiment" not because they were once subjects of the British, but rather because some of them still are.
Post a comment