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Opinion #1
Debater: The Wild Goose
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Why on Earth must we be a "strong nation"?
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The preceding argument seems mostly concerned with showing the world our "strength". It is often argued that demonstrating our "strength" doesn't do much good for the rest of the world, but let me propose something else: our "strength" doesn't do any good for the American people. In addition to sucking us into "police actions" the world over, our "national strength" is just a euphemism for government strength. Soviet Russia was a "strong nation", but that certainly didn't benefit the Russian people. Let me also state that America is not like a family. It is a nation. Our families are all "like a family". What we need is a government that recognizes the institutions that precede it and, ultimately, are more important than it- institutions like families, states, counties, businesses, churches, and charities. These are the real "strength" of our nation, and it is through secession and nullification that they gain their voices.
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Opinion #2
Debater: interested
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Divided how? What strengths?
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The argument supposes division as jurisdictional and strength as coercive capacity. America is divided as is any nation into philosophical diversities. That is healthy. Diversity is the foundation for benign human interaction.
Juridicial differences are not healthy and would support a difference in rights and duties from one jurisdiction to another. An American could not move from one state to another without having his status as a citizen changed.
That would be unhealthy for any society and would be a de facto condition of an Alliance, not a nation.
Institutions, families. etc. develop, change and evolve. American institutions have done this effectively since the founding of the country. To go back would be reactionary and not conservative. The trick is to maintain a balance. The Soviet Union was a uniform society lacking the diversity of expressed opinion.
A unified nation with the checks that encourage diversity has both physical and moral strength.
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