
When did America become to afraid to explore a frontier? - panarky
http://www.usv.com/posts/when-did-america-become-to-afraid-to-explore-a-frontier
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ryanx435
> Joe Manchin seems to have forgotten who we are. He seems to have forgotten
> that it was not the bankers or the boy scouts who opened the west, it was
> the the entrepreneurs, and yes, the hucksters, and the speculators, and all
> manner of flawed characters looking for a place where they could enjoy the
> relative freedom of the frontier, away from the tentacles of an overreaching
> government.

California was added to the united states by conquest. it was sceded to us
after the Mexican American war in 1848, which was when the gold rush started.
it became a state 2 years later, just long enough for the political process to
work itself out.

the author of this post seems to be ignoring the fact that California was
already a fairly well developed area with a history of native, Spanish,
Mexican, Russian, and American influence in the area. he's right the gold rush
helped it to develop, but it was already occuring before the us stepped in.

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bowlofpetunias
The author conveniently ignores that that frontier mentality resulted in the
massacre of entire civilizations that were already there.

The frontier is a white man's myth. In reality there was only bloody conquest.

So yeah, protecting innocent people from this frontier mentality, might not be
such a bad idea.

This pretty much falls right in line with the "disruption is good" mentality.
Fuck the human costs.

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panarky
"I would be shocked to learn that anyone speculating in bitcoin today has
asked Senator Manchin for help."

~~~
jeffdavis
That is a minor detail. It will not stop the government from cultivating a
sense of fear and dependence, and then passing laws to make us safe -- which
coincidentally happen to remove our freedom and increase government power.

It doesn't matter whether you use bitcoin; it can jump up and take your money
away. Your children might invest in bitcoin because of peer pressure. If
bitcoin falls, it will take your bank with it and it will cause a drought and
your crops will fail because everything is globally interconnected now.
"Online banking" is a euphemism for speculating in digital currency. If the
price of your house falls by more than 20% then you automatically get evicted
--

...Oh, oops, this was about bitcoin. Oh well, doesn't matter. Just as long as
you're afraid enough that you turn in all of your freedom.

~~~
panarky
Is it really just Big Government and tyrannical rulers, grabbing power for the
sake of power?

Or is it about using the state to protect the entrenched interests, the
rentiers, the oligarchs, from anything that would alter the status quo?

~~~
jeffdavis
The state is not doing the bidding of entrenched interests. The state is just
more comfortable with the status quo, and the entrenched interests take
advantage of that.

When ascending in power, people are ambitious, and willing to stir things up.
As soon as they reach a powerful position and don't think they will make it
much further, they get lazy. They can still make and break businesses if they
really wanted to, and they could get new revenue streams (campaign
contributions, nepotism, etc.). But they are comfortable and lazy, so they
won't.

When speaking with politicians, I doubt businesses make many demands.
Politicians have expected contribution levels, etc., which are essentially
demands. But I doubt businesses want make a demand, for fear that the
politician will feel threatened and cease being lazy.

Instead, businesses feed on the laziness of politicians by offering to do all
kinds of things like studies and research and authoring large portions of
bills.

------
debt
Side note: The West by Ken Burns is heartbreaking and super informative about
the United States's expansion into the west. The Mormons and the Indians were
treated very poorly by Americans during that expansion.

~~~
enraged_camel
I think "very poorly" is quite an understatement...

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ajiang
I'm surprised Brad put bankers in one category and speculators in another.
Much of the placement of major capital for growing industries and ventures is
facilitated by financial institutions, hedge funds, private equity funds, and
venture capital funds. Without getting into moral discussions or arguments
about how much value is provided, but it's interesting to reflect on just how
negative the connotation for banker has become, even compared to
"speculators".

