| NJC: Freedom - Financial opportunity or reduced responsibility? | |
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Posted by: |
JimmyG 01:20 am UTC 04/21/09 |
| This is a loose reply on John Galt's post below. There is a lot of good things that can be said about America w.r.t financial opportunity etc. However, these things may not necessarily correlate with "freedom", which is a very vague word with a million nuances except for its opposite - slavery. Anything in between is diffuse. For example - most citizens of a country belong to the "working class", which may also include parts of the middle class according to the American definition. The net salaries for the "working class" in (northern) Europe and America are comparable after substracting taxes, costs of living etc. However, European workers (at least in northern Europe) generally have better benefits than American workers - more vacation days, better healthcare coverage etc. All of these things correlate with certain aspects of "quality of life", which includes reduced responsibility. As far as I recall, Denmark now has the highest taxes in the world (even higher than those in Sweden since a couple of years back), but a large survey still found that Danes are the happiest people in the world. This could probably partially be attributed to the Danish welfare system in combination with an overall more easy-going attitude towards towards life than, say, the Swedes, which enjoy similar welfare benefits but seems to be less happy. This reduced responsibility may be one of the explanations why the Danes are the most free people in the world, at least if happiness is an indicator of freedom. On the other hand, Americans are probably the most free people in the world with regards to "pursuit of happiness", since society promotes endless new opportunities as a way of life (and for some people it is also a fact). I'm not saying that one system is better than the other, just that the word "freedom" is misused. Once basic human rights have been fulfilled, it is no longer clear whether freedom should be universally correlated with materialistic/career success or "peace of mind" - these two factors may or may not be counterparts. It is true that America was originally "Land of the free, home of the brave", and it may still be "Home of the brave" (fighting two wars etc) but the freedom part is less clear. (Northern) Europe today is very different from the Europe that many American ancestors once left, and many Europeans enjoy priviliges which make them - in some ways - more free than Americans living similar lives. Although there will always be a lot of anti-Americanism in Europe despite the tone of the presidential rhetoric, I do think that this non-universal notion of "freedom" is out of place and has nothing to do with the 21st century, at least with regards to America vs. (Northern) Europe. /Jimmy G. | |
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| Next: | re: NJC: Freedom - Financial opportunity or reduced responsibility? - John_Galt 09:29 pm UTC 04/21/09 |
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