Posted on 02/07/2005 2:29:08 AM PST by An.American.Expatriate
"The American people would therefore not only be in charge of their own retirement accounts, they would also personally live with the risk."
Breathe deep the gathering gloom...
I had heard that as well Michael. My only question is how this can be? I thought the AOK was required to insure everybody!
I hope that sometime soon, the German people awaken and realize just how bad off they have become over the last 10 years or so and begin to make REAL improvements.
The real animus behind all of this is to create a "Euro-citizen consciousness." It is no different than the anti-american propaganda we heard out of the Nazis or the Soviets; it merely has a different locus. It is a false consciousness really - there as yet is not really a political creature that can be called a "European."
The house of cards may well come down as the EU is tested internally. The EUrocrats like to boast of how they have overcome the old animosities and adversities of Europe though their various treaties, regulations and "arrangements," but really they have just papered those over or, at best, merely postponed them.
A nation cannot be created by fiat or through the mechanizations of elites, nor are a people created from the rules of a customs house. If the history of the last 200 years of Europe proves anything, it is this clear and pregnant truth that is laid bare.
A "people" - and the nation they inhabit - is a thing much deeper and closer to the bone, and as real as a head or a hand. It is not an abstraction. This itellectualisation of nations sates and their citizens is one of the signal errors of international socialists. Underneath it all is the delusion that somehow the clock can be set back ot the 19th century, that the great, golden Bella epoch of the last 50 years of the 19th century can somehow be recreated and so then will return the great creative, cultural and political achievements and prestige that characterized the Europe of that age. But that time was a culmination of great current is European history: It was an apogee, a zenith. The subsequent years saw the Europeans destroy their civilizations on the killing fields of the Somme and Verdun. Europe is still in the crisis that gripped it immediately prior to, during and after ww1. It is the post ww2 years that are the anomaly.
The creatures that inhabit Europe today are not of the same sort that filled Europe during that lustrous apogee. Not at all. The ironic (and iconic) aspect of it all is the bald fact that much of the structures and plans behind the EU actually mimic American institutions, plans, policies and approaches of the early and mid Cold war years. The list goes on and on: The Euro, the creation of institutions like DARPA for military R & D, the Science and Technology "national labs," "Frameworks" and "Programmes" (often, btw, with conspicuous 5 - sometimes 6 - year plans,) the ECB, etc.
But the implementation is a parody of the USA, and a grim one at that. This all results from decades of envious and bitter elites dissecting American achievement over the last 70 years in an efforts to understand what caused it. - the "root causes" as it were.
SO of course we get all sorts of confusions of cause and effect, policy and polity, and society and the state.
IT has been said that the EU is a 1970's solution to a 1950's problem. This rings true.
I have said it before and I will say it again: The EU is a Cargo Cult. The Great White Gods, however, are not returning.
And as their dreams slips from their hands they can pose a real danger to America.
ANY? In Hamburg alone we have probably HUNDREDS of Schumachers. I can´t tell whether they are originally from Hamburg or if they moved here.
Great analysis.
That will not happen. I have been stationed in Germany for the better part of the last 7 years and doesn't look like people here are going to change their attitudes any time soon. From my experience, people here are so convinced of the infallibility of their socialist welfare state that they have decided that the problems they are having are caused by some sinister outside force (such as America and free market capitalism). There are indications that the government is beginning to realize that their socialized everything philosophy is a one way road to ruin but most of the people here have gotten so used to getting everything for free that there is alot of resistance to any kind of real reform. Even though there are signs that they realize that they must de-socialize things, Herr Schröder's government, like any other government, wants to stay in power and therefore will not come clean and admit that their socialist party platform is garbage. But, they have to come up with a villan for the people to focus their anger on. Guess who the villan is?
Since my wife is German, and my children are "dual-citizens", I still like to hope that the Germans will wake up.
What you say is very true. The social system in Germany has become a behemoth that can not be easily defeated. Even the opposition parties (CDU/CSU & FDP) offer only "cosmetic" differences in opinion to the problems.
Blaming America for the ill's of Europe though, does seem to be a favorite passtime among the "elites" in Germany (and Europe) though.
Upon further analysis...OUTSTANDING analysis!
FReedom of speech at its finest.
A person usually gets paid writing something this good.
As is the case with many FReeRepublic posters, the best I can do at this time is say thanks.
Michael, I'm not baiting you! Can you explain how that happens that so many are now without insurance? I was of the opinion that the AOK was required to ensure "everybody" . . .
And I am not ignoring you. It´s just that I can watch Carnival on TV. :-) According to FOCUS people who lose their insurance after the age of 55 can´t get admission to legal insurances and insurances can refuse applicants who have too risky illnesses. E.g. you are a family insurance member and get divorced after the age of 55 you lose your insurance - or you fail to pay two times for your private insurance and you lose the protection.
Okay - glad of that. I know we often disagree and I was hoping I wasn't on the "ignore list" :-))
Nasty stuff. But, wasn't it true that the AOK insured "everybody" - or is this part of the changes with Hartz IV??
lastly, your at home on TV and FR during CARNIVAL?? Are you REALLY German or is that just an act??
In Hamburg there´s no Carnival, except on TV.
I don´t know whether we had the Pflichtversicherung, but some politicians want to introduce it (again?) - mostly those from the FDP. For me, an adequate health supply is the most important element of our "social state". Nobody shall suffer from diseases because of a lack of money, IMO.
Hamburg?? Dann, Moin Moin.
They sound like the New York Times.
Good post. Interesting.
Good job! You've helped me understand the Euro-mess better than I ever have before.
Peepee envy.
I think it funny how people describe conservative BBs as forums catering to a bunch of fringe, nut job, ignorant hicks when in reality the people on FR are a pretty demanding and challenging group. I live in NYC so I have to struggle to find an informal venue in which I can freely let loose my thoughts.
But thanks for the compliment.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.