Interesting Clip US Greatest Country in the World?

biochem wrote:
In the case of the US, locals which are more socialist (California for example) also tend to be economic trainwrecks with a lot more similarities to Greece than to Sweden. So while small government isn't perfect, as a practical matter it really works a lot better for the USA.

One of the reasons smaller government works better goes all the way back to the Greeks of Athens. In Montana, if I do not like a particular piece of legislation at the city, county or state level I can get in my iron horse, go to where whichever particular legislative body meets and stand up on my hind legs to get up on my high horse. I can have a direct impact on the legislative process as it happens. This is not true in all the states of the United States. In some of them, you must be a registered lobbyist to speak to a committee.

The more direct input to the process from the people it will affect, the more likely it is to be acceptable to those people. One of the reasons that the US Congress currently has such a poor rating is that the people do not believe their voice is being heard. Until the US has some way to monitor the opinions of the people on a country wide basis in nearly real time and get those results to the pertinent Congressmen in a timely fashion as well as being shown to the people as a whole, that opinion will continue.

The differing paradigms here can be illustrated by the responses to my comment that kept using the word socialist. From my view point I wouldn't call any of the Scandinavian countries socialist, just well governed with a welfare net. For socialism go to PRC or Vietnam. I fully agree with Pokermind about corrupt politicians, the one law for the power elite, and the fear that our children will inherit a worse world. It is interesting that in Australia a big survey this week indicated that a trend towards low wages and working poor like the US is by far the biggest single fear of people for their children's future (more than half say it is the major fear).
I don't advocate taking more taxes from the lower and middle classes so "government steals your wealth to distribute to the bureaucrats things will get better". I do advocate greatly increasing the effective taxes on the power elites, and increasing government control over their obscene excesses. We don't have much difficulty in getting our voices heard here. I have met or known a number of federal politicians, including several PMs and State Premiers. If anything the difficulty is that they don't get enough feedback and solicit it. I have direct email access (& web page forums) to all of our major party's policy think tanks and they respond back.

Daryl wrote:We don't have much difficulty in getting our voices heard here. I have met or known a number of federal politicians, including several PMs and State Premiers. If anything the difficulty is that they don't get enough feedback and solicit it. I have direct email access (& web page forums) to all of our major party's policy think tanks and they respond back.

Here in the UK, I sent an email to my local MP a few years ago about an issue that was coming up for a vote. He responded with a very earnest message, thanking me for my views, and saying he felt very strongly about the issue. According to the public record, when the vote came around, he didn't even bother to turn up...

rmsgrey wrote:

Daryl wrote:We don't have much difficulty in getting our voices heard here. I have met or known a number of federal politicians, including several PMs and State Premiers. If anything the difficulty is that they don't get enough feedback and solicit it. I have direct email access (& web page forums) to all of our major party's policy think tanks and they respond back.

Here in the UK, I sent an email to my local MP a few years ago about an issue that was coming up for a vote. He responded with a very earnest message, thanking me for my views, and saying he felt very strongly about the issue. According to the public record, when the vote came around, he didn't even bother to turn up...

And once more we see the truth: politicians are slackers and liars. at least here only 2 people refused to vote as they noted that at the stage the bill was at, they had reservations about it, but not enough to vote against it.

biochem wrote:It's all in the examples you choose. Socialism seems to work reasonably well for Scandinavia but it's not worked nearly as well elsewhere. France is in real trouble, far worse than the USA and Greece is a disaster! So what are the cultural differences which allows it to work better in Scandinavia than Greece? And are those cultural differences strong enough to keep it working in Scandinavia or will those countries slowly start to look more like Greece?

In the case of the US, locals which are more socialist (California for example) also tend to be economic trainwrecks with a lot more similarities to Greece than to Sweden. So while small government isn't perfect, as a practical matter it really works a lot better for the USA.

California socialist? Say what?

And really, how do you know that "small govt" works better for USA? The alternative have never been tried.

And i´ll add that during my lifetime, my own country has greatly reduced the public sector. And the result is VERY negative. Less quality/service at a higher pricetag is the common result.

Interesting Clip US Greatest Country in the World?

I don´t think it´s even possible to say that any country is "Greatest country in the world"...
But i can certainly say that there´s probably somewhere between one and two dozen which i personally would rather live in than USA.
And that´s when i´m being picky. Like leaving Australia out just because i dont like some of the creepy crawlies there.

Tenshinai, just because we have the ten deadliest snakes, the deadliest spider, deadliest jelly fish, biggest great white sharks, and the biggest crocodile in captivity is no reason to not visit.
While I've worked with many good Americans and visited many countries of the world, I too am probably unlikely to visit the US. Countries that have death penalties, lots of organized religion, and big armies tend to worry me. Pity, because it appears to have lots of scenic countryside. The notion of California being socialist caused me to do a double take as well.

Hi guys

I don't know if the US is the greatest country in the World.

However, I do believe that it is the most powerful country in the World, and as such i think it is worth visiting.

Besides, it does have some pretty spectacular scenery !!

R

Daryl wrote:Tenshinai, just because we have the ten deadliest snakes, the deadliest spider, deadliest jelly fish, biggest great white sharks, and the biggest crocodile in captivity is no reason to not visit.
While I've worked with many good Americans and visited many countries of the world, I too am probably unlikely to visit the US. Countries that have death penalties, lots of organized religion, and big armies tend to worry me. Pity, because it appears to have lots of scenic countryside. The notion of California being socialist caused me to do a double take as well.

Heh. I like Terry Pratchetts view, although I would like to visit Aus; "the only non Poisonous creatures are 'some' of the sheep"......


Even TVtropes thinks the same..... XD

Tenshinai, just because we have the ten deadliest snakes, the deadliest spider, deadliest jelly fish, biggest great white sharks, and the biggest crocodile in captivity is no reason to not visit.

Are you trying to convince me to visit or to NOT visit?

However, I do believe that it is the most powerful country in the World, and as such i think it is worth visiting.

That´s more like a reason to NOT visit...

I don't know if the US is the greatest country in the World.

Probably Norway or something...

Heh. I like Terry Pratchetts view, although I would like to visit Aus; "the only non Poisonous creatures are 'some' of the sheep"......

Hah, i bet those sheeps are just hiding their poison stingers or something! Or maybe they just have fangs?
Sheep are sneaky you know!
The most dangerous of animals, clever sheep:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkw2DdoskPY

Tenshinai, I grew up on an Australian Outback sheep station with many thousands of sheep. There is no such thing as a clever sheep. I recently reread Elizabeth Moon's Gird/Pak stories and the quote "sheep are born looking for a place to die" is very apt.
Despite all of our deadly creatures we have one of the highest life expectancies in the world, so even Scandinavians should be confident enough to visit. A funny advertisement here has Aussie blokes scaring Swedish female backpackers into sharing their tent because of the threat from "Drop bears", koalas.

Back on topic, if you define greatest as the most powerful, then the US is the greatest by far. If you define greatest as the best place to live and bring up a family then a few other places come up for consideration.