People from Finland, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Norway, etc...please chime in
Do you view yourselves as lacking freedom? Do you believe that you are the victims of an oppressive and tyrannical government? Do you feel that your government is taking away your rights, and that you are slaves to their whims? Do you envy us Americans and our freedoms? Do you envy our medical system, and do you wish you could exchange yours for ours?
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Avoid the base hypocrisy of condemning in one man what you pass over in silence when committed by another.
– Theodore Roosevelt
Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way...he's a mile away and barefoot.
- Anonymous
As I posted in another thread, according to the 2009 CIA World Factbook, the life expectancy of the average Canadian (81.13 years) exceeds his/her American counterpart (78.11 years) by 3.12 years.
Given that the current US population is approximately 306 800 000, that translates into a loss of 957 216 000 years in the lifespan of American citizens.
When those 957 216 000 lost years are divided by the current average US lifespan (78.11 years), that equals the loss of 1 225 471.7 American livespans.
(957 216 000 divided by 78.11 = 1 225 471.7 American livespans)
Current criticisms of a Canadian style "universal 1 payer healthcare system" (waiting times, government control, etc.) PALE IN COMPARISON to the loss of 1 225 471.1 American lifespans.
If the loss of only 2,988 lives (2,974 dead, 24 missing) during 9/11 warranted a national response that included 2 wars - why does an American life expectancy that ranks only 50th in the world (3.12 years behind her neighbor to the north that ranks 8th) go unnoticed?
I'm not from the UK but seeing as I've been over here for several years I'll engage in self-flattery by considering myself qualified to answer these questions.
Do you view yourselves as lacking freedom?
I'll let you know if I ever want to do something over here that I can't.
Do you believe that you are the victims of an oppressive and tyrannical government?
Only when the Tories get in
Do you feel that your government is taking away your rights, and that you are slaves to their whims?
No more so than if I lived in the US. I will say that political correctness is sometimes a problem over here, but I fear that I am using an unrealistic stereotype of the American who is unfraid to speak his mind regardless of the consequences as a benchmark.
Do you envy us Americans and our freedoms?
Well given that I am American this is somewhat difficult to answer. If I was looking at it objectively, from a Brit's point of view, I'd have to say no. Big issues regarding 'freedom' that arise in America (state and religion comes to mind) are just non-issues over here. Conventions and traditions are, in many cases, as strong here as the legalistic tendency is in the US.We have a monarchy that could technically veto legislation for crying out loud, and yet, guess what, it hasn't happened in nearly 400 years. I wouldn't give it a day before a similar unwritten rulebook would be abused for political gain in America.
So do people over here envy America? No, if they're honest about it. Oh you get some who rant that we need a codified and written constitution and others that complain that the HRA has taken away more rights than it has added and so on and so forth, but the comparison is rarely with America, and when it is it is never fawning. Unlike many within the bubble, when you look at the situation through the lens of a different society you see that America carries with it many problems that many dismiss as part of its character. Unapologetically unbridled and merciless capitalism; polarisation of the populace; seeming apathy to one of the worst education systems in the western world. The list goes on.
And when many here see the things that are argued over in America, such as the constant furore over homosexual marriage, they laugh, to be quite honest. Freedom this and freedom that, but there seems to be a current within American society, and I'm neither arguing for or against any position here, that actively seeks to limit and cap certain behaviours that are permissable elsewhere. And somehow this behaviour is frequently correlated with the belief that Europe is a socialist dictatorship where we peons toil away in slavery with our rights curtailed where America is the land of ultimate freedom. Peculiar.
Do you envy our medical system, and do you wish you could exchange yours for ours?
NO in the strongest possible terms. Knowing several people whose relatives and friends have been hit hard by this recession, a few of whom have needed treatment for varying levels of illness or injury during this period, I can unequivocally say that the NHS is worth every penny.
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"I am an eye. I am a mechanical eye. I, a machine, I am showing you a world, the likes of which only I can see"
-Dziga Vertov
"If a person possesses any tolerable amount of common sense and experience, his own mode of laying out his existence is the best, not because it is the best in itself, but because it is his own mode. Human beings are not like sheep; and even sheep are not undistinguishably alike. A man cannot get a coat or a pair of boots to fit him, unless they are either made to his measure, or he has a whole warehouseful to choose from: and is it easier to fit him with a life than with a coat, or are human beings more like one another in their whole physical and spiritual conformation than in the shape of their feet?"
I'm sure this will be totally scientific.....might even show up on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, the NY Times, WA Post, LA Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, etc. ad naseum.
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I'm sure this will be totally scientific.....might even show up on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, the NY Times, WA Post, LA Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, etc. ad naseum.
...what?
I don't think the OP made a claim for scientific results. He asked peoples' opinions.
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"I am an eye. I am a mechanical eye. I, a machine, I am showing you a world, the likes of which only I can see"
-Dziga Vertov
"If a person possesses any tolerable amount of common sense and experience, his own mode of laying out his existence is the best, not because it is the best in itself, but because it is his own mode. Human beings are not like sheep; and even sheep are not undistinguishably alike. A man cannot get a coat or a pair of boots to fit him, unless they are either made to his measure, or he has a whole warehouseful to choose from: and is it easier to fit him with a life than with a coat, or are human beings more like one another in their whole physical and spiritual conformation than in the shape of their feet?"
I'm sure this will be totally scientific.....might even show up on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, the NY Times, WA Post, LA Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, etc. ad naseum.
Just as speculating about how others feel without actually asking them is worthwhile
Kind of reminds me of the old story about philosophers trying to guess how many teeth are in a horse's mouth...without actually counting them.
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Avoid the base hypocrisy of condemning in one man what you pass over in silence when committed by another.
– Theodore Roosevelt
Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way...he's a mile away and barefoot.
- Anonymous
Personally I'd have to say "no" on all accounts, no matter how many newspapers in the UK try to convince me otherwise. I especially agree with other people who have posted about the NHS being a good thing since it gives people care whatever their financial background.
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As I posted in another thread, according to the 2009 CIA World Factbook, the life expectancy of the average Canadian (81.13 years) exceeds his/her American counterpart (78.11 years) by 3.12 years.
Got any evidence that that life expectancy difference is primarily atributable to health care differences?
Could the fact that Canada has a far lower population density and therefore much less city associated violent crime have anything at all to do with it?
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