--- cornel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Mario, > > I have not followed the 'economic migrant' debate > closely for lack of time. > Mario responds: Cornel, thanks for the kind of sane logic you are capable of. Let me start by saying that no migrant is superior to any other migrant, and it is no one's business why someone migrates.
This all started with a misguided attempt by Gabe to insult me by calling me an economic migrant, little realizing that he was of quintessential economic migrant stock, and was himself an economic migrant. I don't think he had any cogent point in the context of his failed attempt at insulting me, because his very premise was flawed to begin with. > Cornel writes: >..the USA too capitalist/consumerist for my tastes > and was lacking in a community ethos. I was not > happy with American individualism, the gun > culture and the absence of a welfare state which I > believe the UK has as an outstanding achievement > notwithstanding many criticisms of it. > Mario replies: I respect your opinion, and appreciate the fact that the UK has ALWAYS stood by us along with the Aussies, but disagree strongly with most of your points, other than the fact that rugged individualism works best in the US, and the US is not a welfare state - obviously not your cup of tea, which is fine. Capitalism has created an economy in the US where the unemployment rate is 5% and most of whom we consider "poor" in Toledo, where I live, live better than the middle-class in most of Europe. No other country with our size and diversity even comes close, and we continue to be a magnet for enterprising immigrants from all over the world. The insinuation that American individualism is a questionable trait and the US is lacking in community ethos is about as false a reading of America and Americans as one can make. Americans as a whole are the most generous people on earth, and their personal charity is legendary, even towards their enemy states as the Russians, Iranians and Indonesians would attest to after the natural disasters they face from time to time. 60% of worldwide disaster aid in 2004 came from the US. They are usually first on the scene after any major natural disaster, and the last to leave. With the Aussies and the traditional Brits, these are the only people who voluntarily and routinely risk their lives on behalf of others, notwithstanding the feckless and impotent cynics, mostly in the Old Europe, who try to negate this by assigning false motives, which can be easily debunked. By contrast I cannot help be amazed by the left-wingers with their self-image of being on the side of the downtrodden. First of all, this almost always comes at the expense of others whose assets are confiscated by high taxes by left-wing governments, administered by bureaucrats who have no personal stake in any solution. Secondly, the entire left-wing, on Goanet and elsewhere, while living themselves in freedom and democracy, is solidly against the US-led coalition which is seeking to give the downtrodden Muslims in brutal Islamic dictatorships an opportunity to experience freedom and democracy. The left wing has shown no sympathy for the downtrodden and beleagured in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in fact tried their darndest to prolong the most brutal regime in modern times in Iraq. I have experienced American "community ethos" personally as a student years ago and continue to experience this as the volunteer Treasurer in a private program that helps people in need, no questions asked. If you gage charity by government programs alone, your analysis of the US will be completely misguided.