From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Wed Jan 22 2003 - 18:44:13 MST
Kai Becker writes
> [The U.S.] First world? Maybe by some technology and financial power, but
> neither by political standards, nor by credibility of its government. A
> president not elected by the majority of the voters, the voting system
> faultier than once in east Germany, power-shortages like in Siberia,
> human rights non-existent if you unfortunately become suspect of certain
> crimes, big brother around the corner and in the sky, ... I'd rather
> say: A threshold country on its way back into the middle ages - only
> with TV.
I think that you are exaggerating, perhaps deliberately for
effect. What mainly distinguishes so called "first world"
countries is rule of law. Second is economic and technical
progress, and a close third is form of government (where
this is independent of the most important "rule of law").
California had some severe power outages six months or 18
months ago (I forget). On exactly one (1) day my company
had to be shut down mid-day because of it. I didn't happen
to be affected by it at all at home. Quite a number of
people suddenly had to pay much higher utility bills (i.e.,
as if suddenly the power plants were being run on European
gasoline rather than the American priced stuff).
"Human [legal] rights" are still fully protected for all
citizens, except for statistically insignificant cases
that definitely occur in large ( >100M ) countries.
"Big Brother" happened in Orwell's book, and occurs in
North Korea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, and a few other countries,
but no longer occurs even in Russia or China---China is
too big, for one reason. So is the U.S. I have heard
more serious allegations per capita about Norway than
about the U.S., and even there, your statements are
greatly exaggerated.
(I used to object to those who claimed that the Soviet
Union was in reality a third-world country. Those anti-
communists simply failed to consider the tremendous
cultural and technological achievements of that so-called
"third world" country. Their ideology also impaired their
thinking, evidently.)
A country going back to the middle ages? The intensity
of your feelings is interfering with your perception of
reality, big-time. Perhaps you need a vacation. In
California.
Lee
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