# Republican local NC office firebombed **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 17, 2016, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808 "2016-10-17T05:49:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808/61 "2016-10-18T12:51:29Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > No, I used up all my patience for explaining the phrase the first time I did it, when I explained it to you in [post #7.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19706917&postcount=7) You didn’t explain jack, you just made a bald assertion and didn’t back it up. And one explanation? You have very little patience at all. > [@](#): > > Having to explain it again to the second non-American who thought it would be oh so clever to take the exact same lameass cheap shot in a thread about a sickening act of political terrorism means I don’t give a rat’s ass about your poor, sad, invective. Like I give a shit what you do or don’t consider a “cheap shot” > [@](#): > > This is not a thread about non-American misconceptions about American English. You keep saying this particular phrase is some fixed expression that isn’t used (by Americans) in a more general sense. Still got to see any backing for that. Not disposed to taking one American’s word on what a political term of Art means - just look at **Liberal** … > [@](#): > > You are, of course, free to keep shitting it up, but if we’re going to compare acts of sanctimony, you’re the one who dropped the ball in the first place. You can stick that logic where **Guin** keeps her cactus. I responded to the content of your post, and asked for explanation, the very opposite of sanctimony. I started with an admittedly non-election-related example, but you’re a hopeless naif if you think the larger point wasn’t on target - even with your narrower view of “American Experiment”, there has been plenty of election-related violence in America’ s past. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808/62 "2016-10-18T13:10:41Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Yes. But that’s not what the phrase the “American Experiment” refers to. > > The phrase, “The American Experiment” is a colloquial American-English expression referring to the system of government in which power is shared and passed around peacefully among democratically elected officials on a regular, recurring, basis. It is not a synonym for “The United States of America”. It is not an oblique way of saying, “our country”. I hesitate getting involved in this, but what is America but our system of government? That’s the thing that bound us together in the beginning, and it’s what binds us today. Our system of government is synonymous with ourselves, and thus ‘The American Experiment’ is most definitely a phrase that means ‘The United States of America,’ though it refers not to the geography but to the society itself. In other words, ‘The American Experiment’ is not external to us, but in fact springs forth from us as we commit and work towards fair and representative governance of ourselves and our neighbors. The Experiment is E Plebnista, it is not amber waves of grain or purple mountain majesties (if it were those things, you’d be right). ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808/63 "2016-10-18T13:54:52Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > You do realize that this “American Experiment” is how it works in every Western country, and many beyond, then ? You miiiight just be taking this whole American exceptionalism thing a bit too far :dubious:. How many of them have been doing it since 1797, when George Washington got on his horse and rode back to Mount Vernon? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808/64 "2016-10-18T14:19:38Z")
Where did **Kobal** say anything about “as long as you”? His argument stand whether every other Western democracy sprung newborn in 1950 or no. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808/65 "2016-10-18T14:29:19Z")
I think we’re all agree that if the firebombing, and this subsequent thread, allows even one perpetually angry foreigner to remind even one American that there’s nothing special about his big-shot Mr. Fancy Pants country that thinks it’s so big, it will all have been worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808/66 "2016-10-18T14:32:49Z")
I’m thinking school kids wanted to fuck shit up. “Or else”? _Really?_ ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808/67 "2016-10-18T14:39:29Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > You do realize that this “American Experiment” is how it works in every Western country, and many beyond, then ? You miiiight just be taking this whole American exceptionalism thing a bit too far :dubious:. The words are de Tocqueville’s, not an American’s. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808/68 "2016-10-18T14:48:08Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I think we’re all agree that if the firebombing, and this subsequent thread, allows even one perpetually angry foreigner to remind even one American that there’s nothing special about his big-shot Mr. Fancy Pants country that thinks it’s so big, it will all have been worth it. Naah, it’s only _really_ worth it when pointing out to Americans that American politics has often been violent provokes a completely pavlovian jingoistic response. Somehow the non-American-ness of critical posters becomes an issue as soon as the slightest disagreement is broached. That drooling dog in the corner? That’s the Defensive American. Fuck, yeah! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808/69 "2016-10-18T14:53:30Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The words are de Tocqueville’s, not an American’s. You know, I’ve been looking and I can’t find an actual quote from de Tocqueville that uses the phrasing. There’s the false quote attributed to him (amongst others) about the people voting themselves into emptying the treasury, but that’s all I can find. He does say this: > [@](#): > > In that land the great experiment was to be made, by civilized man, of the attempt to construct society upon a new basis I can find both Washington and Jefferson referring to the new nation or its government as “[an/this] experiment”, but not that precise phrasing. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808/70 "2016-10-18T15:04:03Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Naah, it’s only _really_ worth it when pointing out to Americans that American politics has often been violent provokes a completely pavlovian jingoistic response. Somehow the non-American-ness of critical posters becomes an issue as soon as the slightest disagreement is broached. > > That drooling dog in the corner? That’s the Defensive American. Fuck, yeah! As I see it, the problem lies much less with your nationality, **Dibble** , than with the fact that you’re a colossal fucking asshole most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808/71 "2016-10-18T16:28:39Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > To be fair, that “civil war thing” did indeed almost mean the end of the experiment. Certainly it was as close as we’ve come. No, I don’t think it did - the US continued to hold elections throughout the war, and while detractors called Lincoln a dictator, I’ve never seen any credible evidence that he considered trying to abolish elections and turn the US to another government form. The Confederacy similarly kept holding elections, and their unwillingness to centralize government actually hampered their war effort significantly. Sure, they didn’t let slaves vote, but the original “American Experiment” didn’t either. I can’t think of any plausible end to the Civil War that would result in America abandoning elected government, so I don’t think it was especially close. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808/72 "2016-10-18T19:25:35Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > As I see it, the problem lies much less with your nationality, **Dibble** , than with the fact that you’re a colossal fucking asshole most of the time. I don’t give much mind to who a dribbling diarrheaic dog’s bunghole does or does not consider to be an asshole, thanks all the same, **Neep**. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808/73 "2016-10-18T22:44:21Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > No, I don’t think it did - the US continued to hold elections throughout the war, and while detractors called Lincoln a dictator, I’ve never seen any credible evidence that he considered trying to abolish elections and turn the US to another government form. The Confederacy similarly kept holding elections, and their unwillingness to centralize government actually hampered their war effort significantly. Sure, they didn’t let slaves vote, but the original “American Experiment” didn’t either. I can’t think of any plausible end to the Civil War that would result in America abandoning elected government, so I don’t think it was especially close. I think the idea on why the Civil War threatened the democratic(ish) experiment is that if the Confederates could pick up their marbles and go home when the federal elections didn’t go the way they wanted, what’s to stop the same thing happening at the next levels down (counties seceding from a state, etc.) so that nothing controversial could be decided by election for fear of further disintegration/balkanization. As was said, the experiment is a **peaceful transfer of power** after an election. While violence or refusing to vacate office are the usual opposites of peaceful-transfer (“I’m/He’s still President, damn the election!”), so is leaving the body politic to create your own (“He’s not our president, damn the election!”). ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808/74 "2016-10-19T01:16:35Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > We don’t know anything yet, nothing, _nada_ damn thing. But one of these dumb-ass Bozos will shoot his mouth off and be arrested by close of business tomorrow. Bet me. Dammit. I _KNEW_ I should’ve taken that bet. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808/75 "2016-10-19T01:43:58Z")
Maybe that’s what they _want_ you to think. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-local-nc-office-firebombed/768808.md?page=3)