JohnRoberts said:
Seriously? While it may not seem that way I try to soft pedal criticism of other countries because I know how angry it makes me to hear cheap shots about America. I suspect parroting a snarky media that trys to make their audience feel better about themselves by showing embarrassing stories about America. No doubt we provide an endless supply of embarrassing news stories
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I mentioned in passing that Angela Merkel stepped down as her party leader, no doubt payback for her not very discriminating immigration expansion. On paper the German factories need affordable workers, but she did not prepare the country for the cultural difficulties absorbing all these new migrants.
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Energy policy? Shutting down nuclear power plants forcing reliance on coal fired plants, when the wind is not blowing or the sun shining does not seem very wise. German electricity prices are well above the EU average.
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I applaud the recent shift toward accommodating importing LNG to reduce dependance on Russian gas.
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What about the german car makers and diesel emissions? What started out as one bad actor (VW) screwing up, turns out to be an industry wide conspiracy to thwart diesel emissions regulations world wide. I guess the air is clean on paper. :
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I do not enjoy criticizing other countries when we have so much to fix right here.... I expect my critique to be as unappreciated as yours are. 8)
JR
PS: The US has a long history with the old world that we broke away from for good reasons (Hessian mercenaries fought for Great Britain during our revolutionary war). Since then much history has transpired (at the moment I am reading a book about fighter aviation history and learning stuff about WWI I didn't know or remember learning). Our histories have long been intertwined and will remain that way as the future world keeps getting smaller.
I do not want to go ping pong on arguments, but the list you made is interesting
We certainly have issues on making the multi cultural civilization work, and that is a work in progress. I myself are more on the right of center on the political spectrum, and I think if people are coming here they should abide by our rules, as we need to do when visiting their countries, I feel that "the left" sometimes is lax about this. At the same time, if someones house is burning, you help them.
The energy policy is a very good example of a government taking direction by it's boss, the people. The people have chosen to no longer accept nuclear energy, and not go back an use coal. Higher energy cost is simply a result of that decision, it is not the task of the government to make everything cheaper for the people, it's task is to govern, sustainability is simply one of the constraints.
Gas is something that is very actual in the Netherlands as well, we had a lot of it, and it has brought us prosperity (and warmth). But as we are facing problems related to gas production (small earthquakes, causing houses to crack), the government is turning off the tap, yes that is a painful decision, and yes it is going to cost money. Again, it is about doing the right thing, not about making things cheap at all cost.
German carmakers is another very good example of big corporations being made accountable for their actions, no lobbying, bribes, attack ads, climate change denial, no. A CEO going to jail. As an engineer, I say somebody designed a blunt spec, and car manufacturers designed their cars to perform well in that test, the public sees it differently, and car manufacturers are held accountable.
There is always something to fix, and the question is not who to blame, but to fix it. I am not saying the Republicans are better or worse than the Democrats, I am saying that the public should call out when politicians are not getting it right, the public is their boss, not corporations and think tanks and those type of groups.
