So yeah I basically dissed Mao, the party, communism etc in front of actual party members and regional leaders

Pretty much their response was "yeah that era sucked but things have gotten a lot better"

interesting

People are people man

They're not really religious. Some of the cousins visit Buddhist temples on certain days but it's more cultural

My wife however is Catholic and was an active member of the choir of one of the biggest Catholic churches in the world, right there in China

They gave a concert for some Western VIP but I forgot who

Anyway that was a long winded explanation. Point being, for all intents and purposes they are living in a pretty normal and happy society like we are

Some differences and "inconveniences"

We can say we are better because we have free elections and all that, anyone can become president...but is it really true?

Is our democratic process much different than a repressive communist dictatorship?

While it is perverted, It certainly is supposed to be vastly different

Sure, but in reality, it's not

We chose to settle here because I like land, guns, stuff like that

And I can't be a cop in China. Citizens only, and naturalization doesn't really happen there. While my wife can be successful in her profession either way.

This is one of SJW lefties main defenses of communism actually. Look at China. And we do need to look at it.

Monarchies, communist countries, or republics. You can find very modern examples of all three

But with the expiration of our system, the unsustainable size, we are starting to see it decay

A good step back would be the original system of electors. The landowning male.

2% of Americans were eligible to vote for Washington

you and I both know that wouldn't fly, even after the civil war

Sure, but it would be nice

You own a house and live in it, you can vote. Period. No, your 20 year old piece of shit jobless son can't.

There would need to be a modern constitutional convention to work on tweaks and remedies for the known issues to our republic

Yeah

It could last a long time

Really I think this country is almost too big

Unless we decentralize the government more

More power to the states

Most federal laws for example are just backdoor shit

No, that can't function correctly because the states will just refuse to fund the federal government, this was the problem the first time around

Feds can't arrest you for murder? Ok, we will get you for "violating his civil rights"

How much funding do the feds really need?

We're talking about the military, and a few other branches, which chalk up a huge portion of the government, even if we trim down the federal government, which i totally agree on, the states will not fund even whats still needed at the end

states can barely fund themselves, let alone the government

Then the states should have larger armies.

States could raise taxes if the feds lower them

Difference is your dollar is supporting your state, not the one at the other end of the country

The point of the Union was that the Federal Army was to protect everyone

not the army of each state

I'm in favor of keeping a federal army. But not a huge one