Yesterday I was talking to an American. He says going to college there (Maryland uni) costs him about 30 000 USD. In Belgium, you will have to pay 1000 EUR, the rest will be paid by our gov’t. Same with medical treatment. According to this guy, visiting a doctor is about 150 USD. Here, it’ll cost you 18 EUR’s, but the social service will pay you back most of it (15 EUR). At least people who don’t have the money can pay a doctor and go to college, be honest, SOC and ELP, unless you are a rich ass’s son, going to college, was way too expensive.

And the terror of capitalists. Well, how about the insurance companies in the US. Isn’t it a task of the gov’t to actually help people getting their money. Or is the gov’t helping to find a job for people? I also think that a job is better than recieving money from the social service, but during an economic crisis, there are just not much jobs around.

Hmm, explosives are no WMD’s. In fact, name me one country which does not have explosives. And the fact that he broke his promise, com’on on what would you expect. The guy (1) is a dictator, like he would care about that. Seems like nobody has an answer to my question, only Vortex sarcastic smile can replace a thousand words. It’s says “OK, we were wrong, but what r ya (2) gonna do about that? We are the strongest, so it doesn’t matter anymore who was right or wrong!”.

And for the last time, Eric. I am no lefty. If everyone who doesn’t like the US politics would be a “lefty” as you point out, then there must be like 5 billion socialists/communists (3) on this planet. Have reasons to feel unsafe at night, Eric, because one day, the 5 billion of us are going to take over your country, burn down your house and eat your children, to quote an Italian PM. (4) :rolleyes:

__________________________

(1) Saddam Hussein, if you have already forgotten him.
(2) Sorry for the Spelling 😉
(3) You know, there is a difference between these two words, but it seems like for most of you, it would be too much asked to actually see the difference. Is it stupidity or just laziness?
(4) Silvio Berlusconi

Godverdekkie krijg toch de pleuris man 😉

You still use this in Holland? I should update my Northern Dutch :D.

Thanks Arthur,

I don’t expect people to write in Shakespearean English, but if people want English to become a lingua franca, at least the native speakers should put some efforts in it. Non-native speakers have to think twice before posting something, maybe that is one of the reasons that we make less spelling mistakes, or at least, we try to make as few as possible. It’s also a form of respect in a conversation. Even flaming seems much more polite if it’s written correctly ;).

Even if you can not find the right words (which happens a lot to me), at least putting the few words you do know in a sentence can help a lot. As you pointed out already, interpunction can help a lot, much like using capital letters at the beginning of a sentence. It seems like some want to save their keyboard.

The SMS-language is indeed a problem, not only in English but in any language. Sometimes, it’s hard to find out if one is speaking Dutch or English, because these SMS’s look the same. Main problem is that the media teaches us the wrong ‘English’. When I watch the Ozbournes, I don’t expect them to talk good English, but many national and international newsprograms don’t care about good English either.

role of the STATE

The gov’t should not FORCE people to get children, they should REWARD people. There’s a big difference between these two words. So people who don’t want children should contribute to the state financially. I think that’s a fair deal. This is not at all like the “Leviathan” you just described. A state should not interfere in people’s private life, I agree, but somehow, I should still be able to influence individuals. Otherwise, what’s the use of a state. Do you want the American system, where the gov’t is a mere bureaucratic service who decides when to go to war or not, but during peacetime, doesn’t protect its citizens against the terror of capitalists? I think many Americans suffer more from poverty than from terrorism. But to defeat poverty, buying more tanks, F-16’s and NMD’s won’t help. And to keep the public quiet, an occasional war is necessairy to justify the huge military spendings.

And these actions are not “against” the liberal state. There are differences between the Anglo-Saxon and the Continental approach to liberalism. On the continent, the national constitutions put limits on individualism, unlike the Anglo-Saxon world. Continental Europe is economically as liberal as America or Britain (free trade), but politically and constitutionally there are big differences, which does not mean that the continent is less democratic. In fact, Britain is constitutionally not democratic because there’s no seperation between the legislative and juridicary tranch. The “common law” system lets the judges decide what’s right or wrong instead of the elected parliament.

Originally posted by SOC
The Vietnamese didn’t, Saddam didn’t, so that really isn’t a good argument. Now, knowing that they already don’t, why should we ourselves be bound by the rules they already ignore when dealing with them?

Ohh, but the US likes to see itself as a state keen on human rights, freedom and democracy. I never heard Saddam, Ho Chi Minh or OBL saying he wants to restore “freedom and democracy”. I think a fair trial is the first step to “freedom and democracy”.

Alex

Alex, as much as I would like to see the US losing some of its might, that isn’t gonna happen, not now, tomorrow or in the next 100 years! If current events go on like this, a selfish Europe, a divided Arab world (or maybe a divided Europe and a selfish Arab world) and India and China growing economically a lot, but militarilly, way behind the US, I don’t see it happen. The US just started their trip to global leadership. The fact that they even admit they don’t need reasons anymore to go to war (WMD’s) proves again these b#st#rds are so sure about themselves, nobody can stop them, not the UN, China, Europe or Al Quaida. People who think 9/11 was the end of US hegemony are BS’ing, it was just the beginning. The Romans also had to be humiliated and almost defeated by Hannibal before their empire started to grow.

DO THE SAME PEOPLE REALISE THAT A LARGE PORTION OF THE WORLDS POPULATION TRUSTS CHINA AND RUSSIA WITH THEIR NUKES MORE THAN THE USA?

Well, to be honest, I don’t! I don’t trust Russia, China or the US of A having nukes. Especially Russia scares the **** out of me because at least in the US, missiles won’t be fired “by accident”. And the US is also not going to fire missiles at us, because they still need cute little puppy Europe to buy the crap they produce. 😀

“Oh, i see i’m going to get cut on my state support. Better get pregnant again!”

Exactly, Arthur. That’s the whole issue. Now, people from a lower social class (I hope I can use this word without anyone accusing me of Marxism :)) get many benefits from the gov’t. People from the middle class, the one on which every western civilisation is build, don’t get the same benefits, in fact, these people are discouraged to get children because their jobs can be endangered. But its’ exactly these people who should get children, because they have the necessairy funds AND education to give a future to their offspring, while the “lowlifes” just get enough children because that’s the only way to survive, and it’s easier to have a child than to look for a job. So the state should give money to these folks instead of the lower social classes.

So now the state is going to decide how people should run their lives.

Jonathan, I don’t see what “giving money” has to do with “gov’t controlling your life”. Isn’t that the reason why people chose to live in nation-states instead of tribes? There should be an interaction between the state and it’s population (the “civil society” to quote Spencer).

I’d rather adopt

And Arthur, very noble of you that you would go for an adoption. But most people want to see a part of themselves in their offspring. Education can do a lot, but most folks are just no ready for adoption.