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I'd argue that there's also the possibility that it becomes common knowledge that courts don't provide any level of fair trial or value even in victory, and the Red Tribe and Blue Tribe both simply ignore their outputs. Yes, then the Red Tribe gets to ignore due process for immigrants and the Blue Tribe gets to keep Heller from registering his gun, but if that's the BATNA it looks very much to the Red Tribe like an active improvement to negotiating.
That'd actually suck for me personally -- I moved to a Red Tribe space to avoid a lot of the worst of Blue Tribe excesses, but I've got a number of traits that the Red Tribe doesn't like, too, and those are at least getting some protection today -- but the
niceterrible thing about national politics is that it doesnt care what is convenient for persons.FCfromSSC has been promoting a national divorce, which would look somewhat like a slightly more official version of that. I'm not as optimistic it will be allowed; if we can't get an informal version that works, there's no way formal admission of the problem will leave anywhere near enough systems interface to not collapse in contradictions.
It's not a stable equilibrium. At some point, someone will find A Just Cause that demands rolling out the military door-to-door again; I wouldn't be surprised if it happens in my lifetime, and I wouldn't be that surprised if it happens in the next twenty years.
But nothing ever really ends. You don't have to think that hard, for that long, for it to still be one of the least bad options.
Tell that to the Tanguts, the Jangil, the Dorset, Homo floresiensis, or the dodos.
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