"Freedom" thread or something

I have traveled to Europe a few times and nothing I've seen has made me think any less of America. The opposite, actually. (Not trying to put down Europe. It's lovely, but I like my own country better.)

I have traveled to Europe twice (having a sister that lives there helps make it quite more afffordable). I love Germany and its culture. I love Switzerland. I think France is pretty, as are other countries in the continent. I love many things about those countries, especifically the first two. I would love if, in a cultural (artistic, better said) sense, the US would be closer to Germany; I'd love if other cultural aspects in general would be more similar. But I wouldn't like to make the US a copy of Europe. What makes the US what it is, and so attractive to millions living outside of it, especially in less developed countries, is unique to it. America is great, and of course could be better. Europe is far from perfect. Far far far from it. 

I like western Pennsylvania.

They are insane.  Makes me glad I don't drink.

thellama73 wrote: Dean wrote: thellama73 wrote: I have traveled to Europe a few times and nothing I've seen has made me think any less of America. The opposite, actually. (Not trying to put down Europe. It's lovely, but I like my own country better.) Seen one MacDonalds/Starbucks/Walmart you've seen them all, but it's always easier when you can understand the menu and the ¢urren¢y eh?.   I've been offered employment positions in the USA and turned them down - an okay place to visit (briefly) but I really don't want to live there. Most of us really are content in our native countries, I'll have you know, good sir, that I always make a point of learning at least enough to get by of the language of any country I visit. It's just good manners, I think. Also, I would move to England as well because I really like it. Especially if this country continues to elect presidents like Obama.

See, that's why I am not really critical of England's laws.  That people here use the NHS for evidence the US should adopt such a thing moves me none.  Ditto gun laws.  The English are a different culture from us.  What works for them, let them have it.  It'll be useless here.

But we have a Constitution, and that should direct or dismiss any laws Congress puts up.  Unfortunately, we have lawmakers who are ignorant of the Constitution.

Dean wrote: thellama73 wrote: Also, I would move to England as well because I really like it. Especially if this country continues to elect presidents like Obama. Our Prime Ministers past and present (Blair, Brown and Call-me-Dave and his glove-puppet Clegg) like Obama. Our Conservatives are closer to your Democrats than they are to your Republicans.

I'm aware of that. I'm just saying that I like a lot of things about England and if our politicians start to become similar to yours, then there's no reason why I wouldn't enjoy living there.

Logan, I responded to you in The Christian Thread if you wanted to respond yourself.  Didn't know if you saw it.

manofmystery wrote: I like western Pennsylvania.

I've read sovietic things about PA. 

But in the US all these cultures have to coexist under a single system. In Europe, yes, if you at it as the European Union, of course you have multiculturalism rampant. But when you look countries just as countries (which is how they operate in many levels) you see more homogeneous results. Yes, there is multiculturalism in Spain, Switzerland, etc, but even there you see a sort of territorial division on pair to the cultural one (current waves of migration notwithstanding). The two world wars had a lot to owe to ethnic chaos and their results are basically territories more or less homogeneous (more or less). In the US things are different. You are trying to apply a big gigantic government to a fully heterogeneous population. It's different from the European Union, a somewhat economical but never cultural union really. Or am I terribly wrong? (as always)

Epignosis wrote: Violence has been a tangent of my career.  In this county, we have a (pathetic) feud between blacks and American Indians.  In Florida, the thuggery was more organized and sophisticated.  Our neighborhood here is rife with break-ins.  The police even advise residents to arm themselves. (The blacks that fight the Indians call themselves the S.O.D.  I wish I could sit them all down an explain what a sod is.) Then again, wasn't what happened in Norway culturally motivated?

Right, so nowhere is immune from racially motivated hate crime. Nowhere is immune from any crime. That changes nothing. I'm making no claims of cause and effect, just making the observation that what works for us is not limited by any of the justifications you've presented - we are not so different in terms of multiculturalism, urban population density or total land area, we're not that different culturally, socially or economically, the difference is gun control and gun violence. The question then is not whether gun control does or can work, but what causes the marked difference in gun related violence statistics when we're not so different.