4 ms·

In order to understand the US, you have to go back to the formation of the country. The US was started because of distrust in the British government. The cons

In order to understand the US, you have to go back to the formation of the country. The US was started because of distrust in the British government. The constitution was setup on a system of distrust, not trust. As such, mistrust of social systems and government is deeply ingrained in US culture. Contrast this to Scandinavian countries or European countries who fundamentally trust the government.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
georgemcbay 12y ago
I'm a leftie socialist tree-hugger American who thinks taxes (on the wealthy and corporations) need to go up quite a bit... but I still think a system of distrust is the way to go, because humans, while generally more good than evil, are inherently selfish and flawed and can too easily rationalize injustice in the face of personal gain and that makes them worthy of distrust, especially when organized. The problem, IMO, isn't that we set up a system of distrust, but rather that we allowed the checks and balances (originally placed in the system to keep balance) to erode over time so now we have a negative feedback loop where our distrust of our own government is growing ever stronger, but for pretty good reasons (regardless of which "side of the aisle" you are on) -- unrestricted lobbying, mostly unrestricted campaign finance and lack of meaningful term limits on too much of our government increases power imbalance and thus distrust with no counterbalances to allow people to take back any power from the system that is now spinning out of control. At this point the game is basically lost, I think, and we're just stuck sitting back and watching what happens as the system collapses over the next couple of decades. Hopefully it'll go a bit better than that "Collapse Gap" analysis suggested it will.
- lutusp 12y ago
  > I'm a leftie socialist tree-hugger American who thinks taxes (on the wealthy and corporations) need to go up quite a bit... I agree with that idea, but guess who also agrees ... billionaire Warren Buffet. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-... Quote: "My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice." And even among billionaires, Buffet isn't alone. Buffet, Bill Gates and other billionaires have agreed to leave most of their fortunes to charitable foundations instead of allowing their children to inherit it.
  - busyant 12y ago
    Well, Buffet is in the process of engineering movement of Burger King to Canada in part b/c of tax considerations. > who thinks taxes (on ... corporations) need to go up quite a bit... Many US-based organizations are trying to establish HQ in places like England and Ireland b/c of tax advantages. e.g., Pfizer tried recently and AbbVie (another pharmaceutical giant) is in the process of doing so.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

georgemcbay 12y ago

I'm a leftie socialist tree-hugger American who thinks taxes (on the wealthy and corporations) need to go up quite a bit... but I still think a system of distrust is the way to go, because humans, while generally more good than evil, are inherently selfish and flawed and can too easily rationalize injustice in the face of personal gain and that makes them worthy of distrust, especially when organized. The problem, IMO, isn't that we set up a system of distrust, but rather that we allowed the checks and balances (originally placed in the system to keep balance) to erode over time so now we have a negative feedback loop where our distrust of our own government is growing ever stronger, but for pretty good reasons (regardless of which "side of the aisle" you are on) -- unrestricted lobbying, mostly unrestricted campaign finance and lack of meaningful term limits on too much of our government increases power imbalance and thus distrust with no counterbalances to allow people to take back any power from the system that is now spinning out of control. At this point the game is basically lost, I think, and we're just stuck sitting back and watching what happens as the system collapses over the next couple of decades. Hopefully it'll go a bit better than that "Collapse Gap" analysis suggested it will.

lutusp 12y ago
> I'm a leftie socialist tree-hugger American who thinks taxes (on the wealthy and corporations) need to go up quite a bit... I agree with that idea, but guess who also agrees ... billionaire Warren Buffet. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-... Quote: "My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice." And even among billionaires, Buffet isn't alone. Buffet, Bill Gates and other billionaires have agreed to leave most of their fortunes to charitable foundations instead of allowing their children to inherit it.
- busyant 12y ago
  Well, Buffet is in the process of engineering movement of Burger King to Canada in part b/c of tax considerations. > who thinks taxes (on ... corporations) need to go up quite a bit... Many US-based organizations are trying to establish HQ in places like England and Ireland b/c of tax advantages. e.g., Pfizer tried recently and AbbVie (another pharmaceutical giant) is in the process of doing so.