Funny thing is, the states that vote Democrat tend to pay more in federal taxes than they receive in federal spending. It is the poor rural red states that are the leaches off of the rich blue states. The Democrats "base" tend to be more educated and affluent than the Republican base. The Republican base are the ones actually receiving entitlements like farm subsidies, and "homeland defense" for small towns of 400 who get more money than New York City.
Read this report on taxes versus spending per state. Note which states receive more federal spending than they pay in taxes, and which pay more than they get. Republicans should stop accusing others of being leaches, when all the evidence shows that they are leaching off of the very people they call leaches. Must be nice living in a Red state, getting all the dirty liberal commies to pay for your farm subsidies and other benefits, and still getting to believe that you are the productive citizen and they are the leaches. Denial is alive and well in America.
Oh, I agree stupid decisions should be painful. Just not fatal, if we can help it. Society should offer its members the most basic pledge of "We won't let you die, no matter what, if it can be helped at all." Stupid decisions should at worst bring you back to square one, not square zero. Everyone should get enough basic food to live on, clean water, a 400 square foot heated and electrified dwelling, basic climate appropriate clothes, clean air, and medical care. If you want more than that, work for it. If you try something risky and lose everything, you will still have that basic standard of living.
I don't think the moral hazard of providing a basic safety net is as big a problem as some make it out to be. Most people want to contribute. They want some status. They want to have standing in their community. They don't want to be seen as helpless, hopeless leaches.
No, sorry, his logic is not fine. He contradicts one of his own premises. The basic premise is that we are good, and being good, we have a responsibility to make the world better.
I'm sorry, but if we use the methods that we do in fact use, we have no moral high ground to stand on and tell anyone anywhere how to be.
He admits we use coercive violence. If we use coercive violence to "make the world better" then we have given up any authority to say what "better" is.
I'm a US citizen. I shall leave it up to the citizens of other countries to call attention to their flaws. I do not measure my progress and achievements by the works of others. I measure myself against my own goals and values. I expect my country to do the same. And if not, I will help it to do so.
You HAD your Empire. You know from experience that it is not all it is cracked up to be. We had our own little corner of the world, and then, WWII. We got to be the world heroes in a fairly cut and dried way, no debate, no need for introspection. One might say it went to our heads.
Absolutely, and now I'm glad I took out most of the snark in my post before posting it. The concept of Justice does not force you to look any further for a root cause than an immediate perpetrator. Mercy forces you to look at the perpetrator as a person, and a link in a chain of cause and effect. It forces you to look further for root causes, and unless one understands root causes of oppression, violence and hatred, simply punishing perpetrators will never remove them.
It's a defense mechanism. You have two choices as a moral individual, acknowledge the injustice of the world and try to do something about it, or deny its existence. I suppose you could choose option three, admit you are not a moral individual, but people like their comforting illusions.
No, those stages are made up. They don't happen in that order.
Lets look at points two and three, shall we? The past is the present. We never stopped abusing other countries. Repressive laws (like discriminatory laws) do get rolled back, and authority relinquishes power when citizens demand it, for instance, COINTELPRO was cancelled and people like my step mother got settlements for the spying the government did on them.
The average American is making less real money, working more jobs and/or longer hours, than they did fifty years ago. They have more debt, on average, and less savings. More are on unemployment, or have given up looking for work.
As for health care, I guess the average American has some sort of health insurance. But our insurance is, on average, terrible, with huge deductibles and many loopholes. Insurance companies act as "death panels" denying coverage any time they think they can get away with it. So, perhaps it is more accurate to say, we have terrible substandard health insurance: while paying twice as much (as a percentage of GDP) as the next most expensive health care system in the world, our health care outcomes rank about 33rd.
In many countries, going to college is a right. A good retirement plan is a right. A social safety net is a right. When people can take risks knowing that they will be able to at least survive should things go wrong, they will try more new things, leading to greater innovation. This is one reason we are slipping as a world leader in innovation.
Success, to me, means having the opportunity to contribute to society in ways that are meaningful and important to the individual.
Who said we can do no right? That is ludicrous, no one said it. Perhaps you missed the part where I said I am an American, and that I love our country, that I am a patriot, and that we as a nation can be truly great once more?
God damn all knee jerk defensive excuses. America, please, fucking sit down, shut up, and take a little constructive criticism without being a whining baby about it. Face up to your imperfections like an adult. Learn to say "I'm sorry" and "I'll do better next time."
You know who latches on to the idea that America is the greatest nation? Tiny little frightened people with no self esteem. People who do things, people who are secure, people who know what and who they are DO NOT NEED to feel that their country is the bestest everest.
I mean, seriously, who gives a fuck if it is or isn't the best country ever? How does that impact you? If it is a suck-ass country, does that make you a suck-ass person? If it is an awesome country, does that mean you are awesome? How immature, who bases their self esteem on what they think of their country?
You don't need to explain yourself. I know you well enough to know that, coming from you, "Other countries do it" is obviously not a set up for "So shut up about the US doing it!"
Ah, holy fuck your logic makes my eyes bleed. We're better than everyone else and that means we should meddle but the fact that we are using coercive violence to meddle is wrong, yet not wrong enough to mean that we are less than the best, and we should still be meddling, only not so violently? Really? Fucking really, that is your argument? We're the best except when we're coercive, evil and violent?
Most Americans are slightly worse off than they were, better off than most of the world, but not nearly as (self reportedly) happy and fulfilled as the rest of the first world.
There is no hope of justice in this world because we believe "justice" means "equality for everyone," instead of "equality for equals."
Is that what we believe? It is not what I believe.
Do you not believe we should try to solve problems? What should we do about them, ignore them? Simply let people suffer so that some other people may have more freedom to profit from their misery? Should we simply kill off the unproductive and the sick, because it sounds like that is your "solution" to the problem of suffering and injustice in the world: let the "weak" perish so the strong may be free.
When we lived as hunter gatherers, everyone was taught all the skills they needed to survive, without the help of others, and everyone had access to the resources to do so. Once we started fencing off land and saying "You can't hunt and gather here," we made that impossible. We are interdependent now, we can't go back to independence unless we off 99% of the population.
Most people I know are not lazy. Given the choice of subsisting on a hand out or contributing to society, most would choose to contribute. But then, I don't know any rich people, only poor and middle class people.
I think that people who say that everyone is lazy and seeking to take advantage of others are actually saying more about their own character and making excuses for their own behavior.
I was raised on "Free to Be, You and Me" by college hippie radicals. You have freaking idea what a let down it was finding out that the real world is not like "Free to Be, You and Me." Finding out my country is not like what is described in civics class was chump change compared to that...
Stimpy: Remeber the royal anthem of the kilted yaksmen!
Our country reeks of trees Our yaks are really large And they smell like rotting beef carcasses... And we have to clean-up after them And our saddle sores are the best. We proudly wear women's clothing. And searing sand blows up our skirts. Ren & Stimpy: And buzzards, they soar overhead. And poisonous snakes will devour us whole. And our bones will bleach in the sun. Stimpy: That's it Ren & Stimpy: And we will probably go to ****. And that is our great reward For being the - uh - roy-yal Canadian kilted yaksmen Stimpy: Come on everybody Our country reeks of trees Our yaks are really large And they smell like rotting beef carcasses And we have to clean-up after them And our saddle sores are the best We proudly wear women's clothing And searing sand blows up our skirts And buzzards, they soar overhead And poisonous snakes will devour us whole And our bones will bleach in the sun And we will probably go to **** And that is our great reward For being the - uh - roy-yal Canadian kilted yaksmen
Flamebait? This is a great example of what I mean. Even suggesting that we are less than the best nation that is now, was, and ever could be is met with outright hostility and suppression.
Slashdot Mirror
Funny thing is, the states that vote Democrat tend to pay more in federal taxes than they receive in federal spending. It is the poor rural red states that are the leaches off of the rich blue states. The Democrats "base" tend to be more educated and affluent than the Republican base. The Republican base are the ones actually receiving entitlements like farm subsidies, and "homeland defense" for small towns of 400 who get more money than New York City.
Read this report on taxes versus spending per state. Note which states receive more federal spending than they pay in taxes, and which pay more than they get. Republicans should stop accusing others of being leaches, when all the evidence shows that they are leaching off of the very people they call leaches. Must be nice living in a Red state, getting all the dirty liberal commies to pay for your farm subsidies and other benefits, and still getting to believe that you are the productive citizen and they are the leaches. Denial is alive and well in America.
Oh, I agree stupid decisions should be painful. Just not fatal, if we can help it. Society should offer its members the most basic pledge of "We won't let you die, no matter what, if it can be helped at all." Stupid decisions should at worst bring you back to square one, not square zero. Everyone should get enough basic food to live on, clean water, a 400 square foot heated and electrified dwelling, basic climate appropriate clothes, clean air, and medical care. If you want more than that, work for it. If you try something risky and lose everything, you will still have that basic standard of living.
I don't think the moral hazard of providing a basic safety net is as big a problem as some make it out to be. Most people want to contribute. They want some status. They want to have standing in their community. They don't want to be seen as helpless, hopeless leaches.
No, sorry, his logic is not fine. He contradicts one of his own premises. The basic premise is that we are good, and being good, we have a responsibility to make the world better.
I'm sorry, but if we use the methods that we do in fact use, we have no moral high ground to stand on and tell anyone anywhere how to be.
He admits we use coercive violence. If we use coercive violence to "make the world better" then we have given up any authority to say what "better" is.
Like I said, we are God's chosen...
Your welcome. ;)
I'm a US citizen. I shall leave it up to the citizens of other countries to call attention to their flaws. I do not measure my progress and achievements by the works of others. I measure myself against my own goals and values. I expect my country to do the same. And if not, I will help it to do so.
You HAD your Empire. You know from experience that it is not all it is cracked up to be. We had our own little corner of the world, and then, WWII. We got to be the world heroes in a fairly cut and dried way, no debate, no need for introspection. One might say it went to our heads.
Absolutely, and now I'm glad I took out most of the snark in my post before posting it. The concept of Justice does not force you to look any further for a root cause than an immediate perpetrator. Mercy forces you to look at the perpetrator as a person, and a link in a chain of cause and effect. It forces you to look further for root causes, and unless one understands root causes of oppression, violence and hatred, simply punishing perpetrators will never remove them.
It's a defense mechanism. You have two choices as a moral individual, acknowledge the injustice of the world and try to do something about it, or deny its existence. I suppose you could choose option three, admit you are not a moral individual, but people like their comforting illusions.
Reservations are concentration camps. Read about the trail of tears, asshole.
Socialist Europe comes out ahead in self reported happiness, as well.
No, those stages are made up. They don't happen in that order.
Lets look at points two and three, shall we? The past is the present. We never stopped abusing other countries. Repressive laws (like discriminatory laws) do get rolled back, and authority relinquishes power when citizens demand it, for instance, COINTELPRO was cancelled and people like my step mother got settlements for the spying the government did on them.
The average American is making less real money, working more jobs and/or longer hours, than they did fifty years ago. They have more debt, on average, and less savings. More are on unemployment, or have given up looking for work.
As for health care, I guess the average American has some sort of health insurance. But our insurance is, on average, terrible, with huge deductibles and many loopholes. Insurance companies act as "death panels" denying coverage any time they think they can get away with it. So, perhaps it is more accurate to say, we have terrible substandard health insurance: while paying twice as much (as a percentage of GDP) as the next most expensive health care system in the world, our health care outcomes rank about 33rd.
In many countries, going to college is a right. A good retirement plan is a right. A social safety net is a right. When people can take risks knowing that they will be able to at least survive should things go wrong, they will try more new things, leading to greater innovation. This is one reason we are slipping as a world leader in innovation.
Success, to me, means having the opportunity to contribute to society in ways that are meaningful and important to the individual.
If you count reservations as a reparation, you and I have nothing to discuss. Good day sir.
Who said we can do no right? That is ludicrous, no one said it. Perhaps you missed the part where I said I am an American, and that I love our country, that I am a patriot, and that we as a nation can be truly great once more?
God damn all knee jerk defensive excuses. America, please, fucking sit down, shut up, and take a little constructive criticism without being a whining baby about it. Face up to your imperfections like an adult. Learn to say "I'm sorry" and "I'll do better next time."
You know who latches on to the idea that America is the greatest nation? Tiny little frightened people with no self esteem. People who do things, people who are secure, people who know what and who they are DO NOT NEED to feel that their country is the bestest everest.
I mean, seriously, who gives a fuck if it is or isn't the best country ever? How does that impact you? If it is a suck-ass country, does that make you a suck-ass person? If it is an awesome country, does that mean you are awesome? How immature, who bases their self esteem on what they think of their country?
You don't need to explain yourself. I know you well enough to know that, coming from you, "Other countries do it" is obviously not a set up for "So shut up about the US doing it!"
Ah, holy fuck your logic makes my eyes bleed. We're better than everyone else and that means we should meddle but the fact that we are using coercive violence to meddle is wrong, yet not wrong enough to mean that we are less than the best, and we should still be meddling, only not so violently? Really? Fucking really, that is your argument? We're the best except when we're coercive, evil and violent?
Ah, so the fact that the other children are doing it makes it okay? I see. Yes, please stop. You have made your point crystal clear.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
Get it right.
What do you suggest, swishing it around in your mouth and then spitting it out, like a wine tasting?
Wait, what the hell are we talking about?
Most Americans are slightly worse off than they were, better off than most of the world, but not nearly as (self reportedly) happy and fulfilled as the rest of the first world.
There is no hope of justice in this world because we believe "justice" means "equality for everyone," instead of "equality for equals."
Is that what we believe? It is not what I believe.
Do you not believe we should try to solve problems? What should we do about them, ignore them? Simply let people suffer so that some other people may have more freedom to profit from their misery? Should we simply kill off the unproductive and the sick, because it sounds like that is your "solution" to the problem of suffering and injustice in the world: let the "weak" perish so the strong may be free.
When we lived as hunter gatherers, everyone was taught all the skills they needed to survive, without the help of others, and everyone had access to the resources to do so. Once we started fencing off land and saying "You can't hunt and gather here," we made that impossible. We are interdependent now, we can't go back to independence unless we off 99% of the population.
Most people I know are not lazy. Given the choice of subsisting on a hand out or contributing to society, most would choose to contribute. But then, I don't know any rich people, only poor and middle class people.
I think that people who say that everyone is lazy and seeking to take advantage of others are actually saying more about their own character and making excuses for their own behavior.
I was raised on "Free to Be, You and Me" by college hippie radicals. You have freaking idea what a let down it was finding out that the real world is not like "Free to Be, You and Me." Finding out my country is not like what is described in civics class was chump change compared to that...
Stimpy: Remeber the royal anthem of the kilted yaksmen!
Our country reeks of trees
Our yaks are really large
And they smell like rotting beef
carcasses...
And we have to clean-up
after them
And our saddle sores are
the best.
We proudly wear women's
clothing.
And searing sand blows up
our skirts.
Ren & Stimpy: And buzzards,
they soar overhead.
And poisonous snakes will devour
us whole.
And our bones will bleach in
the sun.
Stimpy: That's it
Ren & Stimpy: And we will
probably go to ****.
And that is our great reward
For being the - uh - roy-yal
Canadian kilted yaksmen
Stimpy: Come on everybody
Our country reeks of trees
Our yaks are really large
And they smell like rotting
beef carcasses
And we have to clean-up
after them
And our saddle sores are
the best
We proudly wear women's
clothing
And searing sand blows up
our skirts
And buzzards, they soar
overhead
And poisonous snakes will devour
us whole
And our bones will bleach in the sun
And we will probably go to ****
And that is our great reward
For being the - uh - roy-yal
Canadian kilted yaksmen
Flamebait? This is a great example of what I mean. Even suggesting that we are less than the best nation that is now, was, and ever could be is met with outright hostility and suppression.