tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8546852745854877350.post6379514254716744346..comments2024-02-07T07:13:51.150-05:00Comments on The Daily Irritant: America Can Never be Honest With HerselfProfessor Chaoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07983291640844939759noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8546852745854877350.post-56355331963722108652018-07-12T09:15:53.293-04:002018-07-12T09:15:53.293-04:00I think every country wears rose-coloured glasses ...I think every country wears rose-coloured glasses about itself and its past. I know Canada does too.Debra She Who Seekshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01845703092794695023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8546852745854877350.post-79027845479817020702018-07-10T19:33:24.310-04:002018-07-10T19:33:24.310-04:00I don't know how many people in the UK do volu...I don't know how many people in the UK do volunteer work, but it may well be higher in the US because the US government does so much less for its people than the governments of most civilized countries do, so there's much more need for it here.<br /><br />Last I heard, US foreign aid as a percentage of GDP is among the <i>lowest</i> in the developed world (I think Norway is highest). A huge part of our foreign aid consists of military aid to Egypt and Israel as, basically, a bribe to stick with the Begin-Sadat peace treaty. Also, the Trump regime threatened Ecuador with loss of aid to force it to abandon sponsorship of the recent breast-feeding resolution at the UN, so even aid is turning into another implement for bullying.<br /><br />The US is just slightly over 4% of the world's population, so if 39% of the world's people live in free societies, the US isn't a very big part of that. Being free is not so unusual. Anyway, Trump is trashing our relationships with other democracies to cozy up to mafia regimes like Russia and North Korea. Clearly he doesn't respect freedom.<br /><br />The US is distinctive in one way -- it's the only developed country that doesn't have universal health coverage -- the only one where people can die or suffer bankruptcy due to lack of insurance. It's not money. <i>Iran</i> has government-guaranteed universal coverage, for crying out loud. Our infrastructure is deteriorating because Republicans don't want to spend money on anything. France, Italy, and Japan have high-speed rail networks beyond anything we can build here. If we can't save net neutrality, our internet will turn to crap compared with everybody else's. We still put electric power lines overhead in our cities instead of underground.<br /><br />This rah-rah nonsense reminds me of Britain around 1900. Technologically and economically they were falling behind the new rising powers, Germany and the US, but they'd been the world's dominant power for so long they simply could not wrap their heads around the concept that they might not be Number One forever, or that they might have things to learn from others. It's starting to feel like that here.Infidel753https://www.blogger.com/profile/10965786814334886696noreply@blogger.com