Sacred Cowlike America
A little fodder:
- Private Health Care Through Your Employer. There's nuthin' beddah. God intended it to be this way. Why, the personal care of unsurpassed excellence we all get is all that stands between us and hell.
- Guns are Great. If I can't shoot it, I can't control it.
- American Democracy Is The Only Real Democracy. You can just shut the hell up if you think anything else!
- The Founding Fathers BLAH BLah Blah blah blah. They knew everything. They even know about the magazines in the back of your closet, they invented light bulbs and boxed lunches, and they don't approve of what we're doing. No sir they don't. Follow the recipe.
- Rich People Are Because They Are Just Plain Better People. Luck, hereditary factors, hundreds of years of bia and bullshit, have nothing to do with it. Please ignore the current round of cheatin' and lyin' on Wall Street. Nothing to see here. These are not the crooks you are looking for. Move along.
- Market Uber Alles! All human function can be controlled by markets. All human functions must be controlled by markets. If all human bodily functions were controlled by markets, our toilets would be 3.7% more efficient. This would lead to world peace.
Ah. I feel so much better! Why do I still like it here so much? I don't know! Maybe it's the women. Maybe it's the fact that with a little bending and twisting, this country could be so truly excellent. I have a pipe wrench around here somewhere.
Posted by
Ross
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§ 3 Comments
[ You're too late, comments are closed ]
Ross, you're still here
Ross, you're still here because of the superior quality of our ice cream. Face it, it's true.
Ross, I'm pleased and
Ross, I'm pleased and surprised that you have seen the light.
Ross, what you're annoyed/fed
Ross, what you're annoyed/fed up with seems not to be that these assumptions dominate the discussion in the USA, but rather that there is a relative lack of real dialogue about alternative models. So, does your beef come down mostly to percieved American Arrogance, of which these issues are symptoms?
In some cases (employer-based health care), the lack of serious discussion of alternatives boggles my freaking mind. In others, (USA! USA! Democracy!) it makes sense that Americans would privelige American-style democracy above others. Hell, I consider myself a fairly worldly person compared to most of my countrymen (I've actually lived outside the US for a short time, even!), and I have a hard time getting past the notion that the American way is the best way. I sincerely believe that with all the zeal and complacence of someone who takes it as his birthright.
The reverence for the Founding Fathers is pretty cyclical (or at least episodic), and nobody can debate that we're on a steep uptick right now. Don't worry. In 30 years, nobody will give two shits what Thomas Jefferson would have thought about fusion power.
I'm not going to touch the rest of your assertions, because 1) I debate how much traction those ideas have outside the chattering and academic classes and 2) I need time to think and marshal counter-arguments.