I used to live in Orange County, or rather, I was a registered voter in Orange County, as I travelled around the world.
Then I moved to Lowell, MA. But, I still pay attention from time to time to what is happening in the Southland.
Here is an OpEd in the OC Register from Mark Steyn, on Health Care. Mr Steyn lives in New Hampshire, but has a Canadian passport.
Regards — Cliff
Aside from Steyn's rhetorical diarrhea, his assertion is what? That "Obamacare" will make America a Europe-lite nation, center-left in perpetuity from the day it passes?
ReplyDeleteIs this the main objection? Because the rest of the article is just teabagger porn.
Jack
ReplyDeleteI think it is. And, it bothers him.
As for the rest of the article, I suspect he is supposed to fill up 600 to 800 words, which is more than the few it takes to say "'Obamacare' will make America like Europe, left in perpetuity from the day it passes".
Regards — Cliff
Europe really looks nice on the Travel Channel. And don't even get me started about what the Food Channel teases me with.
ReplyDeleteAll I see are nations that broke under feudal systems, but have climbed from the wreckage of gluttony and injustice.
Here in America, we don't have feudalism based on bloodline, but let's not turn a blind eye.
Europe has learned many lessons in the centuries they have existed before us. Let's not be so arrogant to presume we have nothing to learn from them.
You've spent time in Europe, I have not. Please break it down. What sucks about Europe?
In a word, "Yes."
ReplyDeleteWhat intrigues me is that when it is a comment or opinion offered up by a conservative or (God forbid) a Republican, it is labeled "teabag porn." When a liberal or Democrat speaks, it is pure truth and divinely inspired. "Of course the right is wrong, because we are right!!!"
And that folks is why there is waning to no bipartisanship in the Congress....or country for that matter.
And lets not even get into "truth." That term has been so badly abused of late that to even claim it is an obscenity of the first order. TRUTH....is what the occupier of the bully pulpit proclaims it to be.....and in a democracy.....what the majority claims.
OH......BTW......America is NOT a democracy.....it is a republic. HUGE difference....or used to be.
Neal
"climbed from gluttony and injustice?????" Feudal?? And what have Italians endured for decades and decades....and lets talk a moment about the Slavic nations......and Germany......and France before the current leadership. And the Europe of today bears little relationship other than that of birth relations with the Europe of the Dark Ages...and for many, many reasons....not the least of which is the decline of religion as the mainstay of governance......and the downfall of mmonarchies. But, into the vacuum has leaped fascist entities of perhaps different flavors, but domination none-the-less. And why do some of Europe's countries have such generous holiday schedules for its workers? Too many workers and too little production. And as of last week, a story that ran on most of the major news networks revealed a German family in which the state moved in and took the children away from the parents. Why? Because the parents were homeschooling their children, but not using "state approved" textbooks and lesson plans.
ReplyDeleteWe are not THAT far away from the same thing in the US.
So...before we lift Europe up to iconic status for successful socialist programs, one needs to examine the "inconvenient truths" of their implementation. Like HUGE taxes each year...of every flavor and variety.....VAT being a favored one.
Neal
Steyn's piece is an aggregate of hyped up talking points, framed to make the readers mouth foam.
ReplyDeleteThe Nationalist's cry was blatant as Europe was held aloft for scorn. Put the continent, and its bohemian ways, on the same gallows as "illegal immigrants" & "teh gays."
Its not only stupid, it is boring.
Not all of the ideas coming from the right are wrong. It does, however, seem that as the loudest voices in the GOP belong to a mob; that only the worst ideas are being promoted.
For me the real difference between the US and Europe is a subtle one. At some philosophical level, in Europe the state provides the freedom for the citizens, whereas in the US, the individual citizens are free and provide their authority to the Government.
ReplyDeleteNow I guess I have to go find a citation somewhere ... thinking ...
Regards — Cliff
Yes Cliff.....a citation...without which, journalistic endeavors are just babel......alphabet soup without validity. And speaking of alphabet soup without validity, oh.....and the GOP mob....by which I assume is meant...the teabaggers.....Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer have stated publicly that the Democrats and the teabaggers have much in common, a real kindred spirit......so I guess the GOP is out and the DNC is in when it comes to the "astroturf" and the "rag tag rabble rousers." Does that mean that the Democrats are subscribing now to "teabagger porn."
ReplyDeleteBTW, many of the Republican folks in Congress are offended by the RNC and its "platform."
OH....one last comment...without any citation to back it up......my wife and I have been to Provence a number of times....even headed back there in the fall.....and we find it terribly splendid.....and the people refreshingly copacetic.....a rare thing in the US.
Of the few negatives that I have heard drummed up, Cliff, about Medicare, Medicaid & SS; I haven't heard that they are a threat to the US Constitution.
ReplyDeleteThe mandate imposed in HCR will be challenged for its constutionality. That is what SCOTUS is for. But passing HCR will not change our national charter.
What may happen, is that Americans may develop a healthy skepticism for blind belief in the healing powers of the free market.
The sky will not fall, as Steyn's flails would divine.
Neal
ReplyDelete"copacetic". Very Nice.
Jack
Maybe or maybe not. The Weimar Constitution remained, but was pretty warped in execution by the time Mr Hitler became Chancellor.
I hope you are correct, because if we had to put the toothpaste back in the tube, it would be very hard.
Regards — Cliff
Cliff,
ReplyDeleteRegardless of the TPs that spill out of McConnell & Boehner, this reform is pinned to the private insurance industry.
Many, many liberals are furious.
Stumbled across this...from Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteQUOTE
In France, Eric Hobsbawm argues the French state preceded the formation of the French people. Hobsbawm considers that the state made the French nation, and not French nationalism, which emerged at the end of the 19th century, the time of the Dreyfus Affair. At the time of the 1789 French Revolution, only half of the French people spoke some French, and between 12 percent to 13 percent spoke it "fairly", according to Hobsbawm. During Italian unification, the number of people speaking the Italian language was even lower. The French state promoted the unification of various dialects and languages into the French language. The introduction of conscription and the Third Republic's 1880s laws on public instruction, facilitated the creation of a national identity, under this theory.
UNQUOTE
There you have the "state" preceding the People. I don't see it that way and I don't think the Declaration of Independence does either.
What can I say, except, "Europeans".
Regards — Cliff
A wistful, but terribly accurate rejoinder:
ReplyDelete"Obviously there is no need of fighting to overcome this single tyrant, for he is automatically defeated if the country refuses consent to its own enslavement: it is not necessary to deprive him of anything, but simply to give him nothing; there is no need that the country make an effort to do anything for itself provided it does nothing against itself. It is therefore the inhabitants themselves who permit, or, rather, bring about, their own subjection, since by ceasing to submit they would put an end to their servitude. A people enslaves itself, cuts its own throat, when, having a choice between being vassals and being free men, it deserts its liberties and takes on the yoke, gives consent to its own misery, or, rather, apparently welcomes it." --French judge, writer, political philosopher Etienne de la Boetie (1530-1563)