This is a video from The New York Times Opinion:
Americans have grown accustomed to the exorbitant costs of basic human services, the absence of parental leave protection and the unregulated presence of chemicals in food — things that would “cause riots” in Europe. https://t.co/szkcSXfEZn pic.twitter.com/zWJImdGOId
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) November 2, 2019
How nice, young Europeans are shocked that Americans pay for healthcare and college, are allowed to own guns, and don’t get carried away with junk science.
First and most importantly, Europeans are fundamentally different than real Americans.
Europeans are subjects, they think like subjects, they still act like subjects. For almost two millennia, Europeans were feudal. The feudal system is easy to understand. The majority of the population were peasants. They did the manual, economic labor of society. The grew and harvested the food, they dug and processed the raw materials of the earth, they made things by hand.
They then gave some, most, or nearly all of the fruits of their labor to the nobility in exchange for the nobility to handle the administrative duties of society and to defend the peasants.
This model still exists today in Europe, which is why I call their system “democratic feudalism.” It is now bureaucrats from a self-selected, entrenched elite that run the nations, but the system is pretty much the same.
Europeans work, pay between 40% and 65.9% of their income in taxes, and pay between 7.7% and 24% extra on the cost of goods in a VAT (value added tax).
That is where they get their “free” college and “free” healthcare.
By comparison, Americans pay between 10% and 37% in taxes, with the average being about 24%.
If you want to know why so many Europeans don’t drive and take public transportation, and so many who do drive own small economy cars. It is because the cost of taxes on buying a car can nearly double the price of the car.
What American would stand for that?
Like European subjects of yore, they are disarmed and do not believe in self-defense.
Our national conscience was not just formed in revolution, but from carving civilization from the wilderness. Guns are part of that history and national consciences.
I do not care that Europeans who get in trouble for defending themselves from home invaders and even have to pay damages to those who attempt to rob them, or worse, go to jail for pepper-spraying attempted rapists have a problem with my owning a gun for self-defense.
There is a reason that places like London and Sweden are suffering from epidemics of rape, assault with corrosive chemicals, stabbings, and moped robberies.
Also, for all the gun control they have in Europe, that hasn’t stopped Sweden from having more bombings now than it had during WWII. Gangs are feuding with grenades.
As per the effect of paid family leave, despite the generous policies of Europe, their birth rates are lower than ours. Maybe they can afford to give away great family leave when nobody is having kids.
It’s funny when the one guy said: “What surprises me is that people are not rioting on the streets of America.”
I guess his state-run media didn’t cover the Yellow Vest protests in France, or the Brexit protests in the UK, or the near civil war they had in Greece a few years ago, or any of the other social disruptions of young Europeans who are angry that their systems are bankrupt.
And of course, the NYT Opinion didn’t remind them of that.
As for the Azodicarbonamide, or as Leftist in the US call it “the yoga mat chemical.” The study that linked it with maybe causing cancer was with workers in chemical plants and flour mills who were inhaling the stuff every day. Not people who were eating bread baked with flour bleached with it.
I guess when your goal is to turn America into a European type quasi-Socialist neo-Feudal state where you are at the top and everyone else is a subject, you will sell only a whitewashed version of the good parts and leave out all of the bad.
“…unregulated presence of chemicals in food…”
Ya know, maybe we need one of ’em Food and Drug Administration thingies.
Or, mebbe, Congress oughta pass a statute, oh, hell, less call it, hmmm…
How about “The Food, Drug, And Cosmetic act!
And, THEY are our self appointed overlords. And WE are the deplorable yokels.
As y’all have phrased it in the past, “layers, and layers, of editorial oversight”!
I hear the ban on chemicals in the food in Europe is a sham. It’s still packed with acids and carbohydrates, the bulk of their food is dihydrogen monoxide, and even their so-called “organic” apples contain cyanide!
Arrogant, AND ignorant, all in one package.
Gotta sorta admire that sort of efficiency!
I think the solution is evident – it’s time we eject NYC from the union and give it back to the UK.
It’s propaganda. Most youths in europe are not that stupid.
I mean, we all know that they cherry-picked the people for this.
But sadly there is a large percentage that believes such nonsens.
Thankfully my ancestors decided, in the mid to late 19th century, that living in the UK sucked and that if they wanted an opportunity to improve their lot in life, they had to get to America.
Let me throw in a few more small points from my perspective as a former Dutchman.
When I was in high school, selective admission to universities was abolished on the grounds that admitting based on ability is “not democratic”. Instead, universities had to admit all with a high school diploma. When there were more applicants than openings, the “democratic” way to pick the students who’d get to study at the university was, I kid you not, a LOTTERY.
Holland has a document it calls a “constitution”. You can find it on-line, including a good English translation. It has nice stuff like protection of freedom of speech “subject to everyone’s responsibility under the law”. I guess that’s lawyer-speak for “void where prohibited”. But the real winner is article 121, which says that the courts have no authority to enforce the “constitution”. So remember all those right that perhaps might be somewhat protected? If the government decides to violate them, you have absolutely no recourse.
I’m happy to be an American (and a gun owner).