Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Liberals tend to think if you just pay more taxes and spend more money, it will fix everything. Maybe if they focused more on making the welfare state we already have actually work well, more conservative leaning folks would support it.
Norway & the Scandinavian countries have welfare states that actually work well. America's welfare state is skimpier, but what we do have is inefficient and corrupt. But liberals will not admit that.
I'm a liberal, and I'm in full agreement with this.
The question then is, WHY is America so corrupt compared to other first world countries? Does it boil down to a different set of deep-seated values?
It seems to be an issue shared by many countries in the Americas, tbh.
What puzzles me is why Americans who oppose universal healthcare dismiss the systems of the countries who have this as socialised.
I will tell you why.
In one word: Corruption and inefficiency. That's why I don't want more government involvement in health care.
What America spends on Medicare/Medicaid alone should be enough money to cover the entire population without spending another dime on health care (either private or public). If you look at the numbers on per capita public spending on health care, you'll see that this is true.
Unfortunately, many liberal Americans seem to be blind to the corruption and inefficiency. Fix the corruption, and more people will support the welfare state.
You are partially right about there were no quantitative restrictions on latin America but qualitative ones or merit based and low immigration from there. .
Lower immigration levels from Latin America were for reasons that had nothing to do with US policy and everything to do with events in those countries. The rise in Mexican immigration beginning in the late '60s had more to do with events in Mexico than any US policy
I'm a liberal, and I'm in full agreement with this.
Yay. That's a start.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ohhwanderlust
The question then is, WHY is America so corrupt compared to other first world countries? Does it boil down to a different set of deep-seated values?
It's a good question. I can only speculate on the answer. I would say that low corruption and high trust cultures tend to be small and culturally homogenous. I know American liberals hate to hear that since "diversity" is one of their sacred cows. The problem is, once you make something a sacred cow is you never admit that there's a dark side. Not saying diversity is all bad, but it's clearly not all good. The left can't/won't admit this.
I think the other part of it is we really are a greedy culture. Liberals are quick to point out greed in business--and often rightly so. But they are blind to greed and complacency in government--for the same reason they are loathe to admit diversity isn't always a positive thing. The welfare state to liberals is considered automatically good. They can't admit that it has flaws--so they deny or minimize them.
So I would say America has a culture of greed. Liberals make a mistake by thinking it's only people in the private sector who are greedy. I work in the public sector. Public sector unions are just as greedy and selfish as any other interest group.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ohhwanderlust
It seems to be an issue shared by many countries in the Americas, tbh.
Agreed. I can't speak for Latin America. But in America, it's all about I, Me, and Mine, as others have already said. But liberals only apply that to big business, and ignore the greed and complacency in the public sector. That's partly because they're blind to it, but also because it takes a slightly different form. In government, it's often more in the form of complacency, and the spoils are somewhat more evenly doled out among the rank and file--so it makes the selfishness a bit more garden variety, but spread among more people. It's less noticeable and doesn't generate as many news headlines, but that doesn't mean it's not damaging. In the private sector, the spoils of greed are doled out among those at the very top--so it's more obvious.
In one word: Corruption and inefficiency. That's why I don't want more government involvement in health care.
What America spends on Medicare/Medicaid alone should be enough money to cover the entire population without spending another dime on health care (either private or public). If you look at the numbers on per capita public spending on health care, you'll see that this is true.
Unfortunately, many liberal Americans seem to be blind to the corruption and inefficiency. Fix the corruption, and more people will support the welfare state.
Actually, Medicare itself is run very well and is quite efficient. It is also very good health insurance.
I repeat Norway has a higher percentage of foreign born population than the US.
I checked it out and according to the stats, they're true. But I wonder if those stats include all of our illegal immigrants. Somehow I doubt it.
Then if you look at the breakdown of immigrants to Norway, you'll see most of them are from 1st world or nearly 1st world countries.
I also think the real goal behind all of this mass migration from one country to another is to completely dilute the sovereignty of nation states. They want every Western Country to look like a mini-United Nations. Once every Western country looks like every other, it will make people more open to supporting a global government. And you can be sure that the global government will be a dictatorship in disguise (well, at first it will be in disguise), just like the United States is becoming. It will just be so much more corrupt because it will be that much further removed from the people.
I checked it out and according to the stats, they're true. But I wonder if those stats include all of our illegal immigrants. Somehow I doubt it.
Then if you look at the breakdown of immigrants to Norway, you'll see most of them are from 1st world or nearly 1st world countries.
I also think the real goal behind all of this mass migration from one country to another is to completely dilute the sovereignty of nation states. They want every Western Country to look like a mini-United Nations. Once every Western country looks like every other, it will make people more open to supporting a global government. And you can be sure that the global government will be a dictatorship in disguise (well, at first it will be in disguise), just like the United States is becoming. It will just be so much more corrupt because it will be that much further removed from the people.
I have heard of this theory. I think there is something to turning America into a diverse, dystopian latin Americanish country that can't be democratic and could only be ruled through authoritarianism. Diversity overwhelmingly votes for democrats and democrats are authoritarian and dictatorial and globalist. All the evidence points that way.
I repeat Norway has a higher percentage of foreign born population than the US.
51% of Norways immigrant population is from other Western countries , in America Western immigration is in the single digits.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
