Wal-Mart Sells Machine Guns!

[Starboard Tack]

133. And I stand by what I said

What we now know as the United States was not a British Colony at the time of independence. France and Spain held more territory and even more was still unclaimed. Yet, after the Revolutionary War, the founding fathers, all of whom were English, btw, based their new country on English Law, government and culture.
The agricultural and industrial revolutions both began in England and continued in the US. Not so much in Europe.

The Agricultural Revolution in Britain proved to be a major turning point in history. The population in 1750 reached the level of 5.7 million. This had happened before: in around 1350 and again in 1650. Each time, either the appropriate agricultural infrastructure to support a population this high was not present or plague or war occurred (which may have been related), a Malthusian catastrophe occurred, and the population fell. However, by 1750, when the population reached this level again, an onset in agricultural technology and new methods without outside disruption, and also the effects of sugar imports, allowed the population growth to be sustained.

The increase in population led to more demand from the people for goods such as clothing. A new class of landless labourers, products of enclosure, provided the basis for cottage industry, a stepping stone to the Industrial Revolution. To supply continually growing demand, shrewd businessmen began to pioneer new technology to meet demand from the people. This led to the first industrial factories. People who once were farmers moved to large cities to get jobs in the factories. The British Agricultural Revolution not only made the population increase possible, but also increased the yield per agricultural worker, meaning that a larger percentage of the population could no longer work in agriculture but could and/or had to work in these new, post–Agricultural Revolution jobs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Agricultural_Revolution

Regarding company towns - yes, I do know what a company town is. As I said, I am in one, where the company owns everything. The land, all housing, all jobs except local government jobs (police, teacher, paramedics). Detroit was probably not a good example, though I mentioned it to show how disastrous it can be to have a handful of companies, all engaged in the same industry, dominate the local economy. But, here is some good info on company towns in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_company_towns_in_the_United_States

Why is El Paso the safest town in the US? Why do you think? Have you been there? It's like asking "why isn't Guantanamo Bay like the rest of Cuba?".
More than 10% of the population works for the federal government, ICE, DEA, CBP, you name it. Unless you want to go to Juarez, there are 3 roads out of town. It's the most protected ungated community in the country.

OK, your uncle spoke German in his home. I'm not saying there aren't any who speak the tongue of their forefathers, just not too many. Chinese and other Asians, yes. Wonder why? They don't assimilate as easily into an Anglo culture, like Europeans do. Immigrant groups who stand out have always been subject to racism, which led to ghettoization and retention of language, like Cantonese or Yiddish. Italians learned to assimilate quickly and they had the best food to offer. I used to teach Italian in NYC and a couple of my students were born in Italy, but had forgotten the language and only remembered a few words of dialect. They, also, had never learned to read or write in their native language, like many immigrants. Spanish happens to be the native language of a huge proportion of our population, in spite of the right wing racists who would love to eliminate it. On that subject, here's a great piece my daughter sent me. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-benefits-of-bilingualism.html?_r=1