Conversation

The best theory I've seen of problems with policing is the overuse of policing as a governance mechanism: "don't solve problems until they become bad enough to be policing problems"
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This is a general pattern with the US: the most extreme escalation level becomes default escalation level. - Private insurance to pay $100 for band-aids - Courts and litigation for every small argument - Policing to enforce what should be soft social norms turned into laws
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And naturally Trumpism's solution is to escalate to an even more extreme thing: active-duty military and prison riot control guards for largely law-abiding civilians
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Interesting how between Tocqueville and today, one of the highest-trust societies in the world turned into one of the lowest. Absolutely no tolerance for conflict or friction. Everything is either picket-fences norman rockwell painting or a crisis that calls for maximal response
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The weird American love for libertarianism is I suspect more a rational reaction to this perception of "trust won't work here" than any actual psychological or ideological preference for radical individualism a la Sovereign Individual.
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Yes, extremely low-trust, which is why there is a desire to make everything outside immediate family be based on market mechanisms. Money-based stakes become a substitute for communal trust. Contracts replace relationships and handshakes.