Posted on 12/06/2004 8:33:36 AM PST by dukeman
"Unless you are an American Indian I'm not sure what you would consider our National Culture. We are a nation of immigrants and I'm very proud of that. Everyone has something to offer and I recognize that there are other cultures that I can learn from. I judge people as individuals, fortunately our constitution supports this."
I agree with everything you say except the premise for your comments, which appears to be that we have no national culture. We do -- it is unique in that it is a civic culture rather than a religious or ethnic culture. Yes, all immigrants have something to offer, but the national culture of the United States offers something to them, too. The most successful immigrants, and those who have contributed the most to our national cultural fabric, are those who have embraced our national civic culture and added to it. Assimilation does not require eradication of immigrant cultural roots, but productive addition of immigrant cultural roots to U.S. culture, IMHO, does require assimilation.
Your snapshot of Sweden and their socialist mindset 7 years ago up to about 2.5/3 years was right on target.
Their tax and spend/anti capitalism behavior was incredibly bad.
Lets hope that some of the individual Euro countries like Austria, Sweden, Italy and even the PIA country Belgium continue to move to free markets, less government restrictions on business, less taxes and a capitalist behavior.
Then our leaders can use them as examples of what not to do re socialism and what to do re returning to pro business/capitalism behavior for the USA and our allies and potential allies.
"First off, most Europeans don't know that they're poorer than Americans are. Their media, which is largely anti-capitalist, and people like Michael Moore, tell them that the quality of life in America is awful."
The USSR's media was exactly the same way.
Yes, but things are looking up.
40 bucks would buy you a 100 lbs. each of rice and beans and could feed even a large family for over a month. And that's not even with the Food Stamps, the rent help and other govt help.
Booking flight to Stockholm ping
And How!
Nice, succinct and well put.
When you hire a kid straight out of university in Sweden...and you count in all of the extras you have to pay for him...the total package is well over $50k. Alot of this is simply medical coverage, state taxes, unemployment compensation, etc. You can understand why Europe can't compete now against the US...with the Euro rate dropping. You can manufacture a typical European vehicle cheaper in the US, and ship it to Europe than manufucture it there in the first place.
Sorry, but American Indians were immigrants as well. Further, the differences between their tribal cultures make the red state/blue state rift look like a brotherhood.
We DO have a national culture, based on freedom, opportunity, self-reliance, and responsibility. You can find examples of it in the films of Frank Capra, the illustrations of Norman Rockwell, among many others. American culture expands and evolves organically, as it did with the arrival of the Irish and Italians in the 19th and early 20th centuries, through immigrants coming here and ASSIMILATING, which is the antithesis of "diversity". I certainly feel sorry for you if you refuse to "judge" whether or not a cetain cultural value is good or bad, worthy or unworthy of adoption.
Thanks!
Silicon (rhymes with "lawn"), the element used to create semiconductors, is not the same as silicone (rhymes with "loan"), the thick, clear, squishy stuff used for breast implants and bathroom caulking.
A truckload of breast implants isn't going to help you make any computers.
Welcome to FR. See post #41.
Yeah, like one of the world's highest suicide rates and alcholism.
An American at the poverty level has about the same standard of living as the average citizen of Greece or Portugal. (Indeed, according to a recent study by the Swedish Trade Research Institute, Swedes have a slightly lower standard of living than black Americans—a devastating statistic for Scandinavians, for whom both the unparalleled success of their own welfare economies and the pitiable poverty of blacks in the racist U.S. are articles of faith.)
http://hudsonreview.com/BawerSp04.html
"A truckload of breast implants isn't going to help you make any computers."
But it couldn't hurt!
Genetic self-selection has made the United States the place where people who get off their duffers and get to work at making a better life for themselves.
So, who is left in Europe? The lazy, good for nothing, little brother who sat around the house and played idiot,(or at least his great grandson). So you say you want a United States of Europe? Ok, first thing, get the industrious, motivated Europeans who have been coming here for the past 300 years to change their mind and go back home. Good luck...
I doubt that very many of us with Euro ancestry would want to go back to Europe, home of our ancestors.
The European Fabian Socialist Model: Sucks!
Thanks for the welcome. I saw your post, but wanted to amplify your point and add the examples of American culture, and emphasize the "diversity" of Indian cultures. Anybody who lumps the Iroquois in with the Flatheads doesn't know his history.
Correct Grampa. The Swedes have come a long way over the past few years.
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