A lurker's comments on the NAC

Hi Folks, If in 1740 someone would say that USA would even exist never the
less be large global spanning power, they would probably be laughed out of the
room. I agree that canon history seems unlikely in many places but stranger
things have had in real life. Like the internet, like the automotive, for
example. Be True, Rick.

> On Tue, 4 Dec 2001, thurvin wrote:

> Hi Folks,

Thank you for a badly need shot of historical perspective for this whole
sorry, overblown arguement.

Heck, 20 years ago everyone was saying the USSR was a huge, implacable, and
eternal threat to the universe at large. Most 'experts' were caught
pretty flatfooted by the events of 1989/90/91...

Give the Yanks 50 years, and who knows where they'll be? Or forget the US; the
rest of the world will be even more different.

Providing you keep people fed, clothed and generally equiped with creature
comforts, you can spin nearly any broadly fair system to them. Especially if
the previous system has just blown apart messily and had been noticably
uncomfortable or unfair before. If you keep it fair and comfortable people
will keep going along with it, until you get people howling on mailing lists
that the present system is 'the only natural order of the universe' and
declaring it sacorsanct & immune to change...

It's a bit cynical, maybe, but workable. Especially to explain the
NAC...