Caledonian2 comments on Rationality Quotes 13 - Less Wrong

7 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 02 September 2008 04:00PM

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Comment author: Caledonian2 04 September 2008 12:23:26AM 1 point [-]

Robin, the underlying point of the soldier quote (and others like it) is that the liberal society we enjoy comes at a (military) cost.

Except that it doesn't. Without a military, we could be taken over by a 'liberal' nation as easily as an illiberal one. We did not become a 'liberal' nation through the actions of soldiers.

The quote is just an extention of the secular religion particular to the American nation, one of the many religions began to provide a focus for the meme of Nationalism.