DesideriScuri
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quote:
ORIGINAL: calamitysandra
Now, I am from Germany, not one of your target countries, but here are my 2cent anyway.
I truly believe that there is a huge mentality gap. While we often believe that western nations should not be that different from another, in truth there are certain points on which the cultural differences are huge.
Guns are one of those points. Even if I have learned to understand a lot of it over the years, thanks to, among others, some posters on here, I am still not, and will most likely never be, able to truly get it.
I have a friend who is working for an American company in German. He's been there 4 years now, I think. I have learned an awful lot about the German culture from him. But, I know him well and, while we have our political differences, I trust his opinion and have much respect for him. A native German can tell me everything about their culture, but he can relate it to ours in a way that few non-Americans could. It's just a symptom of what you were raised in. Amazingly interesting, though.
quote:
Many of the opinions voiced on the pro gun side of the argument are absolutely, completely alien to me. I can not comprehend that they could be a popular, accepted stand.
If I read that there is serious consideration given to having armed guards in schools, it is even difficult for me to form a response, aside from "what the fuck?". It does not compute.
Trust me when I say this: there are Americans that respond, "WTF?!?" when there are people considering armed guards at schools. Then again, when I moved from my hometown (small city) to my current area (10x larger than my hometown), I responded, "WTF?!?" when I found out many of the local high schools had metal detectors at every building entrance. That was foreign to me. I know the city school in my hometown has a metal detector at their entrances, but my suburban school, or the parochial school? No idea.
quote:
USAmerican gun culture is so far removed from my personal frame of reference, and I suspect from that of most Europeans and Australians, that I am simply unable to properly fit it into my cultural horizon.
I would guess that the same in reverse is true for many in the US.
That makes a discussion about this point extremely difficult, because both sided can not understand the other, which leads to some of the nastiness we have seen ensuring.
I believe that we could compare regulations and purposes weapons have in different countries till we are blue in the face, but it will not enable us to close that gap.
late edit to add:
There is another such point of cultural difference wrapped up in the gun debate.
The Constitution, maybe not so much the reverence it is afforded, but the suggestion that it can and should be used as the end-all still today without accounting for societal changes that have come to pass.
Yes, it is a very important, historic document. Something to be proud of, to be sure. Even something that still has relevance and can be used as a guide.
But also: historic!
Something that needs to be seen in the context of its time.
The strict adherence to its every letter? The use as a kind of trumps all in discussion?
Totally alien.
When you hear about "American Exceptionalism," don't take that to mean that we think we are exceptional simply because of where we happened to be born. There isn't anything exceptional about the part of the continent that inherently makes us any different from anyone else. Do, however, take "exceptionalism" to mean we were the exceptions at our Country's birth. Most areas were monarchies and/or dictatorships, with very few republics. Our Declaration of Independence was a document that set the stage for our split from England at that time. But, it also put forth several "universal truths" that could very easily be applied to everyone, everywhere.
The US Constitution is nothing more than a pact among the States and the Citizens, that creates the Federal Government. This pact is, essentially, the basics of what powers the Federal Government is allowed to have, based on what it is being given. It's a "bottom up" sort of structure. In the absence of any government, people have the authority to do whatever they want, as long as they don't infringe on someone else's rights to do whatever they want. Individuals give up some of their authority to the lowest level of Government to more efficiently protect those rights. But, all the authorities at that level originate from the governed. The next governmental level up gets it's authorities from the levels below it.
In practice, all authorities any government that has jurisdiction over me has, comes from the people in that jurisdiction. I live in a township, and that is the lowest level of government. They have authorities to govern the township. There is a "County" level of Government which is a more regional level that governs over all that fall within that region, cities, townships, etc. There are 88 Counties in the State of Ohio, so Ohio has some governing authorities over all 88 Counties. The, there is the Federal Government that has some governing authority over the 50 States (+ some Districts and Territories, etc.). In theory, each level of Government governs the level below it and has less and less impact on the further levels as they get further away. Thus, the Ohio State level has less individual impact on me than my County and Township levels. The Townships and Cities deal with their members. The County deals with the Townships and Cities within their boundaries, and less dealings with each individual, as an individual. The State governs mainly the Counties, with less direct impact on the Cities and Townships, and even less impact on the individuals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Germany#Administrative_divisionsquote:
Germany comprises sixteen states that are collectively referred to as Länder.[17] Due to differences in size and population the subdivision of these states varies, especially between city states (Stadtstaaten) and states with larger territories (Flächenländer). For regional administrative purposes five states, namely Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony, consist of a total of 22 Government Districts (Regierungsbezirke). As of 2009 Germany is divided into 403 districts (Kreise) on municipal level, these consist of 301 rural districts and 102 urban districts.[18]
Assuming this is accurate, the best way to relate the political structures between America and Germany would be the 403 "Districts" would be the "local" governments here (cities, townships, etc.). The 22 "Government Districts" would be the "County" governments here. The 16 "States" there would be akin to our 50 "States." The Federal Republic of German would be the same level as our United States of America.
If our US Constitution were to vanish, we'd not be a massive territory of lawlessness. We'd be 50 distinct nation-states.
Edited to fix a formatting mistake.
_____________________________
What I support:
- A Conservative interpretation of the US Constitution
- Personal Responsibility
- Help for the truly needy
- Limited Government
- Consumption Tax (non-profit charities and food exempt)
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