Zonie63
Posts: 2826
Joined: 4/25/2011
From: The Old Pueblo
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quote:
ORIGINAL: TheHeretic
So I had this show up in my email today. It seems to be making the rounds, and I thought it was an interesting way to look at our sociopolitical times.
Here are six conundrums of life in the United States of America:
1. America is capitalist and greedy - yet half of the population is subsidized.
2. Half of the population is subsidized - yet they think they are victims.
3. They think they are victims - yet their representatives run the government.
4. Their representatives run the government - yet the poor keep getting poorer.
5. The poor keep getting poorer - yet they have things that people in other countries only dream about.
6. They have things that people in other countries only dream about - yet they
want America to be more like those other countries.
Thoughts?
1. I don't think I would agree that "America" is capitalist and greedy, not as a whole. Perhaps at a surface level, perhaps among certain elite, but America is a big and diverse place. Lots of different points of view. As for half of the population being subsidized, that claim would have to be investigated and elaborated on to make any sense. Even assuming that it's true, it wouldn't necessarily conflict with the idea that America is (allegedly) "capitalist and greedy," since there may be very practical reasons for subsidizing a large portion of the population.
2. Whatever percentage of the population is subsidized, I think they would have to be viewed on a case-by-case basis. I don't know that all of them consider themselves victims, although each individual may have certain circumstances in which some might be considered victims. Moreover, a lot of people who aren't subsidized have also expressed that they feel screwed and victimized by the system.
3. Their/Our representatives run the government? What exactly is meant by "run the government"? Like, run it into the ground? Sure, we elect them to office - at least the half of us who bother to vote - although I don't know if that's the "subsidized" half or the "non-subsidized" half.
4. It's not just the poor who are getting poorer. As for the representatives running the government...well, they don't just do it all by themselves. And they don't just represent the poor either, but all the people. But if the politicians, bureaucrats, judges, etc. are screwing things up in the government which has the consequence of making the poor poorer - as well much of the rest of America for that matter, I don't think that can be blamed on the poor. Maybe they are being hoodwinked into voting for bozos, but on that note, we've all been hoodwinked at one time or another.
5. What are the things that the poor have that people in other countries only dream about? It might be a fair statement to say that, on the whole, the poor in America might be better off than the poor in many other countries. There are a number of reasons for this, although it's kind of a false comparison. No doubt there are many countries in this world in which most Americans would probably consider "nightmarish" if they ever had to live there.
6. I think a bit more specificity is needed here. Which countries does this vaguely-defined portion of the population want America to be like? Since American citizens come from all over the world, we might borrow a little or a lot from other countries. We share information, we have cultural exchanges, we study how things are done in other countries, we add their knowledge and experience to our own, and vice versa. If someone in another country has built a better mousetrap, then at least we can have a look at it. It doesn't mean that we become like other countries. We're still our own country, but one aspect of our history is that we're a practical nation overall.
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6 conundrums - 
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