this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2026
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Memes of Production
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Countries didn't need standing armies until they came up against countries with standing armies. Rome is the best example I can think of. If your society is instantly subjugated by another country it doesn't work in practice.
US Wild West was like that. I was called the wild west because many successfully raped and killed their way across the country without ever being caught because of uncoordinated community response. There was also slavery supported by local communities so no one local was going to change it.
Expecting people to be generally good in the absence of enforced regulation through the state's monopoly on violence is the same claim libertarians make.
Rome was defeated by "other standing armies". So no, that's nothing to do with anything..
Also who the fuck cares about recent US history and the wild west. You sound like a dumb ass who knows very little about the scope of politics, history, and the topics being discussed.
Don't rant as cover when you could entertain the possible truths others are telling you: Community policing was the longest form of stable communities.
Not enforced centralized or uniformed violence.
Yeah and there definitely hasn't been any advances in communication, education, coordination, or political understanding since the days of the wild west...
Expecting the state to be generally good through its monopoly of violence is what we're witnessing right now and have witnessed many, many times previously. And it has shown itself to not be.
Coordination requires a professional policing force. Trump's Gestapo has taken over cities and despite everyone having Internet connectivity on them at all times there has been no country wide general strike.
It's because of bad actors. Those same people are around all the time. It is bad because there are so few good people. Reducing the friction of the state apparatus only allows bad actors to be worse.