Like so many of the differences between our countries, this can be put down to the founder effect. Our nation was created by people who rebelled against what they saw as an oppressive government. The purpose of our constitution is to limit government. The second amendment exists not to allow hunting or sport shooting; but to facilitate the ability of the people to raise arms against an oppressive government. So it's only natural that such a nation would be leery of giving the power of life and death (by handing over control of healthcare) to the same institution we need to stock up on weapons to protect ourselves against.
Canada has pretty a pretty similar relationship with the U.S, except we've actually had to deal with things like "manifest destiny". Yup it gets taught in our schools. We stand on guard for thee. Australia is damn lucky to be so far away from the U.S
Probably. But that still won't mean that most Americans will be opposed to universal healthcare. The scare campaign is aimed as much at convincing Congressmen that their positions are in danger, as it is convincing your average citizen that universal healthcare is a bad thing. Hell, even the portion of it directed at Joe American doesn't work in those terms. Too easily countered with statistics and human-interest stories, that.
I’ve had this same argument with a conservative American on another forum, I told him I wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for the Australian health care system. The very notion that someone can go bankrupt because of medical bills is an anathema to Australians and most other citizens of first world countries. The job of the government should be to care for the welfare of its citizens, all of its citizens not just the rich. Cuba has a better healthcare system then America! But start talking about health care to a Yank and the old bogeymen “increased taxes and socialized medicine” are trotted out. Pay your dam taxes so that poor people don’t have to line up to get operations in tents in the Deep South! You might be poor someday too with all that sub-prime money you can’t pay back to the rest of the world. And “Socialized Medicine” is not some sort of commie plot to medically resurrect Stalin! And don’t say you know better because you don’t! We Australians live with Medicare and we haven’t all started waving little red books around yet.
Ever seen the Chasers War on Everything?? Note: Americans may be offended, sorry, but trust me- they take a dig at us Aussies, too- all the time. Even if they are Aussies themselves. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
The fact Anthony Australia up until 1945 was a second hand Britian where we mimicked everything British. Since 1945 we have done our best to emulate America, Australians have an inbuilt inferiority complex when it comes to America, everything we have and enjoy in Australia, Rock music, Surfing came from America. Even our political system mimics Americas with senators and states, we even spell defence as 'defense'. Fact is Australians do not have an identity because we are a nation of followers not doers like America. As the joke goes Australia is a nation of 200 million Sheep 20 million of them think they are Human, that sums it up.
I disagree. I think that, in general, Australians are proud of their national identity, particularly in being separate from America. It is not true that everything we enjoy in Australia came from America. Take one example at random: cricket. There are plenty more. Our political system was modelled on the US constitution deliberately; that happened back in 1900, so it is old news. We do not, however, have a Bill of Rights. I have never spelled defence as "defense", and I don't know many Australians who do. Australian spelling is, in general, much closer to British spelling than it is to American spelling. If you think Australia does not have an identity, you've probably never asked anybody from overseas.
Your just not honest. What identity do we have that is unique James? Cricket came from our period when we were dominated by Britain, and now Basketball from America is becoming a mainstay. I have lived overseas for extensive periods James and I have to tell you we dont apart from our accent.
No. We had John Howard.:bawl: Enough said really. I think soccer is more popular than basketball. Maybe you should not impart your personal personality (or lack of) on the whole. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Recently, I was riding my motorcycle through a nearby small town. It was a nice day, a Saturday, and I passed a group of people washing cars to raise money. This is usually done to raise money for a football team, or cheerleaders, something of that nature. But these people were doing it to try to pay for some unfortunate's chemotherapy treatment. Local news stories about serious accidents often have followup stories asking people to donate to charitable funds to pay for a survivor's medical bills. Things like this: For the rest of that night several of Williams’ fellow employees held a vigil outside his hospital room, hoping desperately that he would recover. But he never came out of his coma and died four days later, on Thursday, Dec. 8. The day before he died, the Holiday Inn held a benefit spaghetti feed to help pay for his medical expenses. And on Friday evening, Dec. 9, Chico State hosted a candlelight vigil. Again, hundreds of people came forth to express their sadness and sympathy. http://www.newsreview.com/chico/content?oid=236678 Who needs a nationalized health plan when you can just have spaghetti feeds to pay for medical bills?
Odd, that most Americans I know hold Australians in the highest regard. How high? Just talk to any teenage boy. Australians represent the exotic, but not too exotic, who live in near paradise. You'll almost never hear an American "ooh" and "aah" at the thought of living in Canada, South Africa or Great Britain; but I guarantee you that's almost always the response when an Aussie comes to town. My high school had a peppering of Ozzies as exchange students and they were instantly the most popular kids in school. We also had numerous other exchange students who went just plain unrecognized. We love the accents, the coastline, the animals, the attitude. It's the only nation that Americans really envy. None of us Anglo-Saxons have truly have our own "distinct" identity. We are all land-owners of, what is essentially, a British identity. What is wrong with that? How do you define culture and identity? Are we less entitled to our British identity because we don't live in the homeland anymore? Do I have any less right to my father's last name, despite the fact that I don't live near him anymore, while my other siblings do? No. Being, culturally, British along with places like New Zealand, Canada (well, 4/5 of Canada), the USA, Great Britain, Scotland and Ireland is what we are. It's our identity. What do people want, for us to change our culture into something else; change our language into something else; alter our national consciousness just so we can say, "See: We are different." I've never been to Australia, much to my dismay, but I've never forgotten a single Aussie that I've met. And so what if people confuse some of us for others. Canadians get confused for Americans. New Zealanders get confused for Aussies. South Africans get confused with Brits. So what? If you're Anglo-Saxon by race, or culturally British by choice or birth, then that is who you are. Your identity, OUR IDENTITY, is greater than any one nation. Trying to isolate what is just Australian, just British or just American is idiotic, because we all share commonalities which just don't require national isolation or differentiation. Yeah, I guess as an American (the big sibling of the Anglo-Saxon family), I don't have to fret about this. People watch our TV shows & movies, buy our products, sing our songs and whatnot. But even these things aren't truly just ours. A good percentage of the actors in "our" movies are from Canada, Australia and the UK. Even rock n' roll is just as much British as it is American. Culturally, we aren't a national identity. Being British is super-national and I never stop for a minute and think, "Gosh, I wish we had a just an American identity." I'm quite content to share as much of it as possible with Oz, NZ, Britain, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, South Africa and any other nation that has it or desires it. ~String
my america is so much more inclusive that string's. a bigger and better one, i think i got bob dylan, einstein, east and southern europeans, irish and african, the hispanics and chinese, the star spangled banner, jazz, blues, whatnot ja these anglo saxons.. They used to paint their bodies blue, A couple of them might be distantly related to you. According to Caesar they shaved their entire bodies, Except for the upper lip and the head. Yeah, the Anglo-Saxons! Yeah, the Anglo-Saxons! A sub-literate bunch of guys, Though some sources say otherwise. Yeah, the Anglo-Saxons! Yeah, they were men on a mission, Preserving their poetry by oral tradition. Yeah, oral tradition is all you get Until Saint Augustine brought in the alphabet. Yeah, the Anglo-Saxons! Yeah, the Anglo-Saxons! In 1065 they were ragin', But 1066 brought the Norman Invasion. Yeah, the Anglo-Saxons! mmhmm if not for the non anglo-saxon contribution, america probably would have turned out just like s.a, new zealand and australia, a piddling outpost of brittania, going nowhere in particular. string's fawning sycophancy is typical and symptomatic of the cultural inferiority we americans usually feel when encountering colonials from other anglo settlements it is how a working class stiff with his cockney accent from london gets feted and toasted at string's b'day bash. the best thing since sliced bread i tell ya! have some real pride, boy!
So we evidence our disdain for individualism by becoming fat? Because...fat people are innately collectivist? I do agree that the expanding waistline is an unfortunate trend, but I don't see that it relates at all to one's philosophical views on individualism. Imagine if I were to assert: "Hey! Fat people! You need to show your support for individualism by losing weight! You cannot claim to be true individualists unless you are willing to do as I say!"
Clearly you are not familiar with the "willnever" system of analysis. In his view, physical appearance and the validity of ones ideas are intricately linked.
Your ignorance, lack of understanding and fragmented rhetoric is symptomatic of someone who simply doesn't understand and can't understand what I'm talking about. Choice? Or product of environment? At no point did I mention "loving" or "adoring" my culture (though I do like it), I was, however, stating that there is no need to obsess ourselves with creating some distinct version of it for each British diaspora. Those of us who are of mixed descent (I'm Irish, French, German, Portuguese, English and Iroquois) and I've lived off the coast of Africa (the Canary Island) with a mix of Spanish, Black and Berbers, and in Madrid, with a mix of. . . well, everybody. That foreign exposure gave me a perspective that I doubt most people on this forum have. I learned first hand the pointlessness of flag-waving patriotism, centered on race or national identity. It is, at best, misguided and at worst, extraordinarily destructive to both the host nation and those nations around it. "Identity Pride" usually serves no purpose and almost always distracts energy away from things on which the time would be better spent. But embarrassment of race or culture because it lacks a specific regional identity, or isn't rooted in some ancient country but in some new land descended from an ancient country, is equally moronic. I'm a British-American by heritage. I don't feel bad for not having a single, national, American identity distinct from all other Brits. Their culture is mine. Mine is theirs. It's big enough for everybody who wants to be a part of it. Maybe that's too complex, so here I'll make it simple: We all share the culture. It belongs to no one. There's no shame in that. In fact, it should be a point of pride. Anglo-Saxon culture, is after all, an amalgam of many. That's what makes it work, that's what makes it successful. There. Get it, boy? ~String
I never left. Nor did I backtrack, and I doubt you could find any statement that contradicts the previous one or which "back tracked" to alter its meaning. Desperate much? ~String
