Redstate

So that they can have the benefits without the costs.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

I'm becoming slowly convinced that only people who natively speak English have a conception of life as being all about what you make of it. Most other people think that the resources needed for survival and social goods are things that come from the "powers that be."

In the former view, you go out and get the things you need. In the latter view, you trade power away to whomever is going to provide for you, and when things don't work out, you either have an election or a revolution.

That may explain why when Americans talk about the blessings and the responsibilities of freedom, people in other countries (other than Britain, Australia, and to a small extent India) can't even understand the very words we're using.

So I really can't speak from a position of deep knowledge but what you are saying has a certain ring of truth to it.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

I plan to poke my head in a lot of bookstores and see what people are writing about these days, in Italy, France and Germany.

They may throw rocks at you, but they won't charge you 50% more than anyone else.

Speaking French offends the French, if you're not a native speaker of the language. They'll speak to you in execrable English rather than hear you speak even halfway-decent French. (Although I've noticed that younger French people aren't as hung up about this as they used to be.)

As much as I hate to say anything nice about France, you have to admit they have the most beautiful language in the world. (Italian, my native language, is second.)

It was Belgians that threw rocks at me when I spoke German. And to be fair, that was a couple of decades ago. They're probably willing these days to just overcharge like the rest of the French speaking world.

"During my lifetime, all our problems have come from mainland Europe, and all the solutions from the English-speaking nations across the world." - Thatcher

seem to appreciate life and freedom more than many English speakers, and so do many of their neighbors. Even Russian press coverage of political killings is reaching critical mass.

lesterblog.blogspot.com

that understand the benefits and responsibilities of freedom.

I spent a little time in Costa Rica last month and took the oportunity to talk with people there about politics and their world view. One man could have been reciting Milton Friedman, though he said he'd never heard of him when I mentioned it. There is reason to hope, but Costa Rica is a very small country surrounded by rampant socialism. Hopefully, thier strong and growing economy will serve as an example (or at least a contrast) to their neighbors.

Socialism doesn't work. It looks nice on paper, but it's been tried and it's failed miserably every time (usually accompanied by widespread death and suffering).
Proud member of the V.R.W.C.

with only a national police force and their chosen way of life, even as Soviet arms and advice were pouring into Nicaragua and El Salvador. I think they'll be fine for a long time to come.

lesterblog.blogspot.com

I can't wait to go back.

Socialism doesn't work. It looks nice on paper, but it's been tried and it's failed miserably every time (usually accompanied by widespread death and suffering).
Proud member of the V.R.W.C.

---by rampant socialism."Brian, can you please expand a little on your statement? My map show Costa Rica with only two neighbors.

Hugo Chavez not too far to the south. Hardly bastions of free economic thinking.

Socialism doesn't work. It looks nice on paper, but it's been tried and it's failed miserably every time (usually accompanied by widespread death and suffering).
Proud member of the V.R.W.C.

Just wanted to be sure that everyone knew that Panama is not contributing to the socialism problem in the region.
If an American likes Costa Rica, they generally really like Panama. Might want to visit it too, if you can.

While it has worked wonderfully against both Fidel Castro in Cuba and Kim Jong Il in North Korea, might not be the answer in Iran. The Cuban embargo, while it has seen the Castro regime lose World support, is taking a bit to long to achieve our National Interests.

Ditto, North Korea! Although Il with nuclear weapons has made for a much more lively debate in Dem circles (why hasn't President Bush done anything about North Korea), again, a nuclear armed Iran might not be such a good thing for World stability.

Possibly a "Bay of Pigs" moment is needed: sans the lack of military support/bloody massacre thingy.

I think a very substantial subset of today's Americans don't really understand freedom in the traditional American way, Instead, they've become quite comfortable thinking in terms of a European-style social compact in which the power elite are responsible for providing for everyone's needs. The hallmark of this is how important "fairness" (in the sense of roughly equal outcomes) is to so many people. If your basic mindset calls for you to go out and get the things you need for yourself and your family, then "fairness" defined that way is nearly meaningless.

In regard to languages: I realize that my remarks about English will be taken as borderline xenophobic or even racist. To that I say two things: 1) most of you don't know me and I won't accept being called a racist; and 2) language drives understanding, not the other way around. For example, I'm having a very hard time imaging how to make the substance of this comment even intelligible in Italian, French or German.