Well, and guns! We got guns! Not all God's chillin's got guns!
There's a popular meme showing a school teacher in Denmark who makes $61,000 a year. She (and they) get free education and healthcare. Yes, it's paid for with higher taxes but, getting sick there won't ruin you. Neither will a college education start you off a hundred grand in irrevocable debt. Danes get 6 weeks of vacation, maternity leave for women- and men- and everyone gets a pension at 65. In between, they get what used to be the American dream here of home and car ownership.
That's pretty basic stuff but it is out of reach for a couple hundred million Americans. It's basic stuff for the Scandinavian, socialist countries. Just not us. The Danes and Swedes seem to be enjoying the American Dream we knew here in America back in the 50's and 60's. It's Beaver Cleaver but with personal computers and HDTV.
Their minimum wage is higher and- again- yep, they pay more in taxes. Taxes finance the free education, healthcare, roads, bridges etc. They don't get as much bang for their buck there because they don't blow the budget on the bang of war. They don't fuck with anybody, foreign or domestic. They don't use war as a moneymaker like we do. Our military budget is nearly $600 billion this year, more than half of the budget of the government. That's more than all our allies- combined! Story for another day. Just interesting that the same people who think that that's not enough are the same people who think a handful of good ol' boys from Texas can and should take over the gubmint by force.
That's part of the problem. I don't think Denmark has any obnoxious assholes like that. If they do, no one pays them any attention. Europe survived Hitler and Mussolini. We struggle with Cruz and yet another Bush. The Danes walk the walk and talk the talk of socialism while they live it. Evidently there is no FOX *news* there telling them that "You're neighbor has what YOU have and he doesn't deserve it!" That's America at this moment and the American Nightmare that we might try to export but, no one is buying. Only in America can you feel less free as more people get freedom. Too many people here fear socialism because politicians and other idiots on the internet have told them it's the same communism. Well now, if it was the same, there wouldn't be two separate systems now, would there? It's like humans. You've got men and women and they're the same, right? Nooooo. Socialism is kind of a blend of capitalism and communism. In human sexuality terms, it'd be like bi-sexuality. In economic terms, it'd be like Eisenhower era and into the 60's where we had a very high tax rate on millionaires and corporations and used it to build infrastructure, schools and healthy Americans. Even conservative republicans supported unions then and no one thought we needed all (white) Americans roaming the streets of Anytown, USA with semi-automatic rifles and handguns.
We are less free than Denmark and many other countries but it's not because of literally exporting our freedom. We are less free as they've gotten freer with our dream but they didn't take it from us. We didn't even give it away. We just put a price on the American Dream so that fewer Americans could afford it. That wasn't very smart. However, it turned out to be a very American thing to do.
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