He among us who is not an "ideologue", cast the first stone:
Have you guys (I wanted to say "y'all" but thought you might not understand)
noticed that the "capitalism vs. communism" (in a general sense) issue is
basically a division between moq members from the US against those from
Europe? Perhaps this is due to a natural tendency to respect the traditions
of our homeland. Regardless, it does appear that we protect that which we
are born into. We are probably all victims of an inability to recognize the
cultural nuances of our brothers across the sea, as it's difficult enough to
grasp the dynamics of one's own cultural economy, let alone that of a foreign
land. What the Europeans perhaps are unaware of is that most
intellectually-minded Americans have a healthy respect for the advantages of
a socialist-oriented agenda in that it was basically the public sector that
built much of the early infrastructure (trains, bridges, many industrial
ventures) of the USA. Not to mention the tremendous government involvement
in current transportation ventures, agricultural programs, and so forth.
What has happened in America over the past forty years is that public
sector/"socialist" programs and "reforms" have come to be represented by one
thing - the Welfare State. What is given away in this nation, to those
associated with poverty, disability, or a variety of other social ailments,
would dwarf the entire economy of most other nations in the world. Here in
New Orleans, for example, there are congressional investigations going on
this week over misappropriation (the money's gone and nobody knows where) of
funds in the local public housing system since 1992. The amount is 800
million dollars!!! Yes, my city alone has squandered 800 million dollars in
less than nine years. I guess my point is that my cultural bias forces me to
think in terms of Socialism=Welfare=Disaster. There are endless examples of
rampant waste and fraud. Regarding the US system of health care - the rise
in health costs in this nation is in direct, empirically-verifiable,
relationship with one thing: the increase in "social health" programs such as
Medicare and Medicaid. While I'm not disputing the need to address the
health concerns of the poor, it still forces my "cultural filter" to think
National Health=Exorbitant Costs=Disaster. The social pathologies of this
nation are simply different from those of Europe, in that what works well in
one nation may not necessarily work well in another,IMO.
Clarke
Marco: thanks for that brief overview of the Italian educational system. I
had no idea it was so diverse.
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