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Friday 11 September 2009
Something I don't Understand About Conservatives

… is their constant refrain to ‘small town American values.’ You know what I’m talking about, Mom, little league baseball, apple pie, families out walking their babies, safe streets, community, friends helping out and the like.

But we never get any of that real community in America. One of the main reasons is that there is no safety net in America. Sure, conservatives love to call the European safety net ‘the welfare state’ and all the negative bogey-men and women, like welfare queens, that it conjures up. But it’s a lie. Here in Denmark for example, there is an extensive safety net. And one of the main results of that safety net is that people feel, wait for it, it’s coming: safe. They spend time engaged in their communities, they walk the streets at night, they greet each other, even as strangers, they have community festivals that all participate in and there are tons of mothers with newborns walking their strollers in the streets. (Look, Denmark does have its share of problems, but not on an American scale, not by a long-shot.)

But in America it is literally every man and woman for him or herself. We are taught, indoctrinated, that at 18 you leave home, go to college (if you are lucky enough) and then when you graduate you make your own life. You don’t borrow money from your family, because you have a career, no matter how empty or hollow it is. You don’t, or can’t rely on friends, and of course you cannot rely on government.

It’s sad. No wonder Americans are so lonely, so many of us are in therapy, on anti-depressants, and or abusing prescription medications. Life in America is devoid of all those things that make life worth living: family, friends, and community engagement. Aren’t those the values conservatives espouse?

63 notes

  1. littletinyfish reblogged this from notemily and added:
    a very European way of looking at things. Has this person ever been...small town, not...
  2. wooliebear reblogged this from greaterthanlapsed and added:
    Thanks for the thoughtful response. It made me a bit sad. The negatives you wrote about are not the way I view the world...
  3. greaterthanlapsed reblogged this from wooliebear and added:
    That mythical idyll of life as a continuous episode of Leave it to Beaver has never actually existed, and I think that...
  4. minou reblogged this from wooliebear and added:
    I AM a bitter, frigid old WASP. Trust me, one’s political bent has very little to do with it.
  5. kidskiddingkittens reblogged this from wooliebear and added:
    My father. I avoid talking about politics at home. Altruism’s...pretty nice thing, guys.
  6. thedisgruntledgradstudent reblogged this from librarianpirate and added:
    I know quite a few, actually.
  7. brosephstalin reblogged this from swagonthedeep and added:
    That’s why I’m against healthcare companies since they’re for profit, while the government at least has a chance at...
  8. librarianpirate reblogged this from wooliebear
  9. swagonthedeep reblogged this from brosephstalin and added:
    Frankly, Sammy Bentley, I’m conservative when it comes to a lot of things. Look up libertarian—that’s me. And I *don’t*...
  10. socratesthebear reblogged this from nerd-gasms and added:
    Living in AL, oh yes. And I mean they just want “their” America back. Really though it’s hard being liberal down here...
  11. nerd-gasms reblogged this from greaterthanlapsed and added:
    I know many. Many many many. Went to school with many. Live amongst many. They are legion, one might say. That said, I...
  12. iambal reblogged this from wooliebear and added:
    they don’t want to Woolie. It’s easier to make us out to be whatever current evil incarnate so they have something to...
  13. asakite reblogged this from tea-and-misanthropy
  14. tea-and-misanthropy reblogged this from think4yourself
  15. think4yourself reblogged this from azspot
  16. adailyriot reblogged this from azspot and added:
    Not to mention, it’s not that America has more crime than other nations (on the contrary, I believe it is in England...
  17. azspot posted this

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