And that's a bad thing?

If it weren't so scary it would be fun to see all the Republicans running around bemoaning the health care reform bill and predicting the end of the world. I heard one of them talking about how we are on our way to becoming like a European country.  He thinks that's a bad thing?  Considering that Europeans are way ahead of us on so many issues I had to go back and re-read his letter to make sure it said R and not D.  I don't know about you but I don't find that notion scary, I find it encouraging.

In European countries when you get sick you don't have to worry about how you will pay for it. How comforting that must be, to concentrate on healing and recovery instead of fighting with insurance companies or wondering how much of your life savings will be eaten up because you were unlucky enough to have an accident or God forbid a serious illness. European countries have true universal healthcare.  Not this cobbled togehter half ass attempt the Democrats are so proud of.  Don't get me wrong, I'll take it.  It's a step in the right direction and who knows maybe once people see that their lives won't end we can actually do this thing right.  

European countries figured out long before we did that global warming and environmental issues jeapordize our future.  They understood that real action was necessary and they took it.  Too bad we're so late to that party. Actually sort of shameful since we are the second biggest producers of CO2 emissions in the world.  We just can't seem to inconvenience ourselves by changing our lifestyles.  

In Europe they know that family and leisure time is what makes life worth living, not the endless pursuit of the mighty dollar or the latest and greatest gadget. Statutory minimum leave from work (otherwise known as vacation) is commonplace in Europe, typically 4 - 6 weeks.  You know how much we have here? NONE, as in ZERO. Hell, even Japan beats us, they have 18 days mandatory vacation and those crazy workaholics actually have a word for when someone works themselves to death.  Paid parental leaves are common, sometimes up to a year.

Go ahead and turn us into a European country. I dare you.

I always liked Jimmy Carter.  I thought he was a man of integrity.  I cast my first vote for him in 1980 at the age of 18.  I'd do it again.  In a 1979 speech about the energy crisis he said the following.

"One is a path I've warned about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure."

Looks like a prophetic genius now doesn't he?   Alas, we weren't ready to hear his message of self sacrifice and his forward thinking ideas of alternative sources of energy.  He lost the 1980 election to Reagan and we got eight more years of "give me mine, you go get your own".  About time we started getting our priorities straight if you ask me before I'm forced to move to Germany.