Item — HN Reader

> We don't have a great democracy. But it's a democracy.

"Democracy" is not binary. You can embody the idea of "democracy" to various degrees. For example, the US is certainly _more_ of a democracy now that African Americans and women can vote. In the future, it may become even more of a democracy if every adult can cast a meaningful vote regardless of what state they're resident in.

> (If you can realistically discuss seceding, you're in a free country.)

I'm not sure this has anything to do with democracy. Canada peacefully seceded from the [non-democractic] Commonwealth in 1867.

2 comments

> I'm not sure this has anything to do with democracy. Canada peacefully seceded from the [non-democractic] Commonwealth in 1867.

Canada was still part of the Empire until 1982, and remains part of the Commonwealth of Nations. It absolutely did not secede from the Commonwealth in 1867 (which would have been difficult, since the Commonwealth wasn't officially established until 1931, and the Dominion of Canada was itself established from the unification of three separate British colonies—Canada, which became Quebec and Ontario; Nova Scotia; and New Brunswick—in 1867.)

Think about it, what about all blue states secede from the red country while all the red counties secede from blue states? Or even blue neighborhoods can recede from red counties even?

If you only allow the same color in a country, then what do you need democracy for? And how can you blame people for being intolerant towards diversity?

IMHO, US is still too young a country, you need more time to and experiences.