The people of the USA are exceptional in that they cling so doggedly to the idea that their country is measurably “number one.” They really have difficulty in accepting it where they might not be “number one.” They so easily gloss over realities, or make selective measurement, or simply ignore the value of difference, just so that they can maintain this ideology of “number one.”
As one example, you’ll find that most people in the US think that their country has the fastest wireless infrastructure, and no clue as to which country in fact does have it.
People in other countries aren’t obsessed with this so much. They will say, “[my country] isn’t number one, but [my country] is the best all the same.” They don’t need the ideology of “number one” to love their country.
It’s not so much a deliberate restriction as it is that the previous laws did favor European immigrants, until 1965 when the quotas were changed to more or less agree with proportionate global populations. Which, in effect, does mean that nearly everyone now comes from the Third World, because that’s what most of the world basically is.
We enjoyed a non-bombed environment for sure. But it’s amazing to think how, after we beat the Germans into surrendering by largely destroying their cities, we proceeded to destroy most of our own by our collective choices–enter suburbia. Meanwhile, the Germans speedily rebuilt theirs and they are now vibrant, comfortable places to live in.
I have to agree with this. Over recent years, I’m getting the impression that many more “average” Europeans travel here or to other overseas countries. By contrast, most of us don’t dare take such long, expensive trips to faraway places. For one thing the dollar is perennially too weak, and for another, we might lose our health insurance or find we’ve become redundant at the office when we get back.
Believe me, the people who insist this is true are:
(1) the actual winners, who have achieved unassailable security and success, and therefore, it is true for them.
(2) the millions and millions of strugglers and strivers who believe everything that the people identified above say.
That’s not all of us by any means. The broad brush gets a little tiring; it’s like the times during the Bush years when it frequently seemed as if I, personally, was being accused of re-electing GWB.
The Constitution is simply an anti-democratic document.
As Madison roughly put it, the govt’s purpose is to protect the property of the “opulent” from the, as Hamilton put it, the “Beast”.
The Senate was appointed by the state oligarchies. The House offered “representation” to the masses on a “divide and conquer” (Madison, again) agenda. The electorate was grudgingly extended over the next two centuries as it became economically advisable and politically necessary. Better a mass of (more or less) of contented consumers than armed anarchists.
Capitalism arrived with agriculture about 10k years ago. Historically since, 90% of the population have toiled to benefit 10%. Marx merely took note of the fact.
They out compete us mostly by having still, for the most part, cheap exploited labor to drive their exports, and also support a comfortable, middle class lifestyle for perhaps 10% of their population. Which is, basically, where we’ll end up metaphorically speaking, unless social democracy ever gains political traction here. Jobs get outsourced and off-shored in Europe too, but not as much. European governments don’t want to be on the hook for all those unemployment and welfare benefits, nor can they fund their UHC programs if unemployment is too high, so they institute policies that make outsourcing less attractive.
I actually think it’s quite relevant. The argument can be made that the whole Calvinist-Protestant-work-ethic thing has been absorbed into the very fabric of society, so that personal misfortune or poverty is almost always blamed on laziness or poor morals. If personal responsibility is the be all and end all of personal success and security, then the need to skew the system for more equitable income distribution is perceived as negligible or non-existent.
Que eff tee, Ess of Pee. And the rules of our political discourse say we can’t even bring it up 'cause the Calvinist Protestants will get all butthurt. Like they’re not now.
Second, here’s my passport photo, of course with my RL identity covered up, but you can see it’s a U.S. passport.
In case it wasn’t clear, my intention was not to extol the role of Calvinism or the Protestant work ethic in American political and social life, but the opposite. I think it’s excessive.
