DGS49
Diamond Member
As a frequent traveler to Europe, on both business and pleasure, I occasionally get into conversations about the basics of the relationship between the Self and the Government.
A waitress in Copenhagen a few weeks ago mildly complained to me about paying 40% in income tax and a 24% VAT, as well as [in effect] $9 per gallon of gas. But she was happy, she said, to live in a society where healthcare, education, and old age security are guaranteed. She used the word, "free," which I thought was criminally ironic and perverse, but she was physically attractive, so I let it slide.
She lives in a society where being unemployed is rare and inconvenient, but not seriously threatening to quality of life. It is a society where the infrastructure is constructed and maintained in a manner that is the OPPOSITE of our "buy from the lowest bidder" approach. Roads, subways, bridges, and other infrastructure is all in first-class condition. Architecture is both visually pleasing and built to last, essentially, forever.
Public servants and service workers (like waitresses, for example) are competent and professional, and do not appear to be resentful of others who may be more prosperous. Maybe it's the knowledge that her economic "betters" are probably paying well over half of their gross incomes in national income tax.
As a bicyclist, I love Copenhagen, where I could (if I could afford actually to live there) do everything I ever want to do within riding or walking distance from home, not even owning a carbon-fueled transportation machine.
By contrast, Americans, by our Constitution and our constitution, are unwilling to sacrifice more than half of our earnings to ensure cradle-to-grave comfort and security. Indeed, we lack the work ethic that allows this tradeoff in Western Europe, and would soon experience even more massive suckling at our Government's teats if the provisions for idleness were as generous as in Western Europe. Further, we would not tolerate our higher education system being doled out - freely - to only those who perform at the highest academic levels in preparatory school.
A pox on those who seek to demand similar kinds of protections from our government (e.g., socialized medicine) without admitting that our level of taxation would have to double to pay for it.
A waitress in Copenhagen a few weeks ago mildly complained to me about paying 40% in income tax and a 24% VAT, as well as [in effect] $9 per gallon of gas. But she was happy, she said, to live in a society where healthcare, education, and old age security are guaranteed. She used the word, "free," which I thought was criminally ironic and perverse, but she was physically attractive, so I let it slide.
She lives in a society where being unemployed is rare and inconvenient, but not seriously threatening to quality of life. It is a society where the infrastructure is constructed and maintained in a manner that is the OPPOSITE of our "buy from the lowest bidder" approach. Roads, subways, bridges, and other infrastructure is all in first-class condition. Architecture is both visually pleasing and built to last, essentially, forever.
Public servants and service workers (like waitresses, for example) are competent and professional, and do not appear to be resentful of others who may be more prosperous. Maybe it's the knowledge that her economic "betters" are probably paying well over half of their gross incomes in national income tax.
As a bicyclist, I love Copenhagen, where I could (if I could afford actually to live there) do everything I ever want to do within riding or walking distance from home, not even owning a carbon-fueled transportation machine.
By contrast, Americans, by our Constitution and our constitution, are unwilling to sacrifice more than half of our earnings to ensure cradle-to-grave comfort and security. Indeed, we lack the work ethic that allows this tradeoff in Western Europe, and would soon experience even more massive suckling at our Government's teats if the provisions for idleness were as generous as in Western Europe. Further, we would not tolerate our higher education system being doled out - freely - to only those who perform at the highest academic levels in preparatory school.
A pox on those who seek to demand similar kinds of protections from our government (e.g., socialized medicine) without admitting that our level of taxation would have to double to pay for it.
