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March 23, 2026 at 7:05 AM

USS Titanic?

Rodin
@Rodin

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My thought of the morning as I doom scroll centered on how resilient America is and whether the progressive project has succeeded in dooming the American Experiment.

The famed HMS Titanic was billed as unsinkable, and yet it sank. Its design involved sixteen watertight compartments in the hull divided by fifteen transverse bulkheads. As many as four compartments could be breached while the ship could remain afloat. Six compartments were breached, and the ship went down.

What are America’s watertight compartments? How many have been breached? My list (and it’s just a starter list for stimulating discussion):

1. Consent of the governed (election integrity)

2. Freedom of speech

3. Equal justice under law

4. Domestic free markets

5. Separation of powers

6. A literate public

7. Federalism and subsidiarity

8. Religious pluralism

9, Citizen soldiers and civilian control of the military

10. Undeveloped, but exploitable land

How many of these (or others) can be breached while the American Experiment survives? How many of these (or others) have already been breached?

This post was promoted to the Main Feed at the recommendation of Ricochet's members.

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    RufusRJones@RufusRJones·29w
    Rodin (View Post):

    4. Domestic free markets

    The Federal reserve forces interest rate rates around too much for us to say that we have free markets. I realize nobody agrees with me, but that's the way I always think about it. Nobody can afford anything.

    Rodin (View Post):

    6. A literate public

    Get rid of government schools. These are not actual public goods and it shows. Government schools are a racket for the teacher unions to steal from us. Collect the taxes and send a check to the parents. 80% of the students would instantly get a better deal.

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    RufusRJones@RufusRJones·29w
    Rodin (View Post):

    1. Consent of the govern (election integrity)

    We are a joke in this sense. Nobody cares about ballot controls or voter ID. Not even close enough to be reasonable.

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    RufusRJones@RufusRJones·29w
    Rodin (View Post):

    3. Equal justice under law

    Does anybody know how much money the government has spent on political persecutions on Trump? Does anybody know how much he spent to defend himself? The whole thing makes me want to throw up.

    After that, in general, I think people do things like join unions or keep corporate jobs so they are always protected in the sense that they don't have to pay for lawyers. I mean, you really have to think about that if you don't have a lot of money and can't get it covered under insurance.

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    Rodin@Rodin·29w
    ReplyingtoRufusRJones
    Rodin (View Post):

    1. Consent of the govern (election integrity)

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    We are a joke in this sense. Nobody cares about ballot controls or voter ID. Not even close enough to be reasonable.

    Fair comment but it implicates the “separation of powers” compartment. That is, if 80 % of Anericans want secure elections and the President is prepared, if empowered to do so, to secure the elections process but Congress doesn’t empower him, then both compartments have been breached.

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    RufusRJones@RufusRJones·29w
    ReplyingtoRodin
    Rodin (View Post):

    1. Consent of the govern (election integrity)

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    We are a joke in this sense. Nobody cares about ballot controls or voter ID. Not even close enough to be reasonable.

    Rodin (View Comment):

    Fair comment but it implicates the “separation of powers” compartment. That is, if 80 % of Anericans want secure elections and the President is prepared, if empowered to do so, to secure the elections process but Congress doesn’t empower him, then both compartments have been breached.

    Well done.

    This is a really good exercise.

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