I always have a swell time in Ireland. There is much to like about the City of Dublin, Irish/European culture, and -- if Johngalt will forgive me a little relativism -- I point out that the Irish are the least socialist of the old EU nations. The ROI has cut taxes as an incentive to business activity, and their total taxation as a percentage of GDP is low for a European country.
Sunday night, I was at a small dinner party at the home of an associate. As one of three Americans, the election came up. "So," the cousin of my associate asked, "will George Bush be reelected to another term?"
I sat silently for a few seconds, then realized everybody who knows me was expecting me to field the question. "Yes," sez I, "it looks very close but I still believe that he will win. Great is the power of Incumbency and Senator Kerry has not been a great candidate, bla, bla, bla..."
"Well it doesn't matter at all who gets elected," I am then informed by another guest, "the buttons are all pushed by people behind the scenes and it doesn't matter one whit who sits in the desk." General murmurs of agreement follow this. Then, one chorus of "I sure hope we can get rid of that guy anyway!"
Then a woman says how terrible she found the beheading of the most recent hostage. Isn't that barbarity? Bad enough to shoot or harm them, but these beheadings...
I took my move. "Yes, that is the enemy we face," I said, "and that is why, I'm sorry but, that is why I am voting for President Bush." I don't think I converted anybody, but I will credit them with seriously considering that. The topic shifted soon.
-- but then, later, we did economics. A young doctor was attending and was asked if it were true that patients were stacked up in the hallway. He said there was some overcrowding but that it wasn't as bad as it looked in the papers, that serious cases were being treated."
"Why can't we be like Sweden?" asks his uncle. "They have free health care like us and you never hear about their not having enough beds." I am silent -- stunned I suppose -- when somebody rides to my aid. "But they pay 80% taxes in Sweden!, surely we don't want that!"
But the uncle is undaunted and says (sit down Johngalt!) "who cares? You get everything you want, the health care is free --what do you need the money for?"
"The trouble is marginal rates," pontificates jk. "If you have a job that pays 40,000 Euros, and you get all the services from the government, why would you work harder, assume risk, or pursue extra training to earn 60,000? You'll only get 4000 of the increase?"
Well, friends, my winning streak ended there. Nobody could see or admit that 80%, 90% was confiscatory taxation -- as long as the government provides for you.
Once again, my favorite whine: my liberal friends can move to Canada, Ireland, Sweden, or many nice places to get the collectivism they crave; But there is no place I can go if EU-style socialism takes hold here. Senator Kerry and a large part of the electorate would like to bring it here but we are the last hope, the final shining star of personal achievement and responsibility.
The last hope.
Welcome back, JK. I haven't had time for blogging lately either (new job!) but I still check in often looking for items to comment on. (A new posting from me is in the works too, for whoever longs for that sort of thing.)
I have no complaint about 'relativism,' where the relative merits of specific things are compared against concrete standards of 'good' or 'bad' or 'somewhere in the middle.' My vitreol is reserved for "Relativism," where there are no such ideas as 'good' or 'bad,' only individual preferences - (see Libertarian Party). The relativity is applied not to the ideas, but to those who hold them.
The correct response in the confiscatory taxation argument is "if you get everything you want, and the healthcare is free, then you certainly won't object to 100 percent taxation. Now, since I can afford to quit my job I'd like my free healthcare delivered by beautiful princesses at thirty-thousand feet as I commute between Hawaii and Key West - on Concorde!"
Nice work talking sense to the illuminati, JK. But you know as soon as you left they all tsk, tsk'd you, right?
That last paragraph of yours was sublime. You sounded just like Rand. NED bless you!
Posted by: johngalt at October 27, 2004 01:37 PMThanks for the kind words.
No, I don't expect I made any lasting impression. I posted this as an amazing reminder that a crowd who probably define themselves as conservative in Europe believe in a foreign policy of appeasement, an economic policy of socialism -- AND -- a refusal to believe in leadership or the importance of individual contribution.
We need to send the Rand books over there!
Along those lines, I'm contributing six copies of Heinlein's 'Starship Troopers' for a co-worker's Xmas gift boxes to her son and five other regular army soldiers. If I had read that book when I was in high school I might well have taken the same course they did.
Posted by: johngalt at October 27, 2004 10:42 PMVery cool. Everybody should check out booksforsoldiers.com (available on the Berkeley Square Blogroll). Riza and I have enjoyed assembling small care packages.
I have concentrated on some of the musicians, but it is a cool site -- you can find need and common interest. For all they do for us...
Posted by: jk at October 28, 2004 09:56 AM