This is reprinted from a diary blog of some new friends from Norway who bicycled across the USA starting right here in S. Florida. They stayed with me on their 1st day of travel and have nearly completed their trip. I hope they don't mind me reprinting this observation.
Metallica on tour? No, it is just two ordinary American RV´s. The first time we saw these enormous buses with a car behind we laughed, but have come to realize that this is what many Americans think of when they say: Let´s go camping! Many times the cars behind (which is often a 4WD and sometimes a pickup truck) have kayaks and bicycles loaded on them too! A equipage like this would probably make the local paper in Norway… It is not hard to see why this country is so energy consuming.
27 comments:
I re-posted this because I had the exact same impression as I rode my bike across the USA. Is this type of extravagance necessary in a time of very limited resources?
Horrors!
How dare people have fun and spend their own money the way they want!
They probably didn't even ask permission from the Government!
Do they have all their permits from the People's Recreational Central Planning Authority? No? Well then off to the the Re-education Camps with them!
Where do they think they are living, anyways? In a free country?
Don't worry, the Left will quickly put a stop to this type of nonsense, just as soon as they gain full control of everybody's lives.
It's only a matter of time.
Andre - you never cease to prove us right. That "I'll do whatever the heck I want regardless of the consequences" attitude is exactly the point of this article.
Selfish
Wasteful
Uncompassionate
Rude
That is how other civilized countries view Americans.
No, that is how America-hating Leftists (both here and abroad) view this nation (come to think of it, I suspect that is how our current President probably views this country too).
Thoughtful, educated people understand the reality that America is one of the most compassionate and generous nations in the world.
That we have also been, until recently, the most economically successful nation in world history may be a cause of some envy to some of our European cousins. Given the astronomical rate of taxation in Norway, it is not at all surprising that certain recreational choices that are available to average middle class Americans may be out of the financial reach of all but the most wealthy Norwegians.
"That "I'll do whatever the heck I want regardless of the consequences" attitude is exactly the point of this article."
How you pull that out of a photo of an American family vacationing in their RV is mind boggling.
"Many times the cars behind (which is often a 4WD and sometimes a pickup truck) have kayaks and bicycles loaded on them too!"
Oh no! 4WD vehicles! Kayaks and bicycles! Those selfish,wasteful, rude, uncompassionate bastards!
They didn't say they couldn't afford such monster vehicles. They said it is easy to see why this country is so energy consuming.
Has he ever been 'out' of this country? Ever?
Anonymous?
Might that be the lovely Lisa?
If so, I'm just curious about your thoughts on the recall-election results from Wisconsin last night.
You must be kind disappointed.
I guess that $30,000,000.00 of Union cash just doesn't buy the votes it used too, huh?
Attribute it to "inflation" (maybe you can blame that on Bush too).
Andre - what does the election in WI have to do with America being an excessive energy consuming nation?
Nothing...just happy about it, that's all!
Just wanted to spread the good news, and this seemed like as good a place as any, especially in memory of all of Lisa's trash talkin' a few months ago about the Republicans having awoken a "sleeping giant" in Wisconsin, and how they were going to get their butts kicked by the voters in the recall elections.
Yes, I'm gloating...that's bad, I know.
Childish. Immature. Obnoxious.
Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.
(Yippie!!!)
OK. I've had my fun. Won't mention it again (even if one of the two Democrats who face a recall vote next week fall too...that will just be icing on the cake).
Since we are (once again) off the topic of the original post - then let's discuss what you want to talk about - again. I'll admit I'm surprised there wasn't a landslide victory for the Dems - but they still ousted a couple of the GOP candidates - one more would have tipped the balance.
And of course there is the whole absentee ballot scandal. Printing error - right. There are already scandals brewing here in Florida as laws are being enacted to keep poor Democrats from being able to vote.
I've already made my tsunami wave prediction for 2012 - I guess we will have to wait and see. At least this election in Wisconsin will keep the Dems from becoming complacent again - which is our biggest fault as a political party.
I was quite surprised too (hence the embarrassingly adolescent giddiness of my post last night).
I've done my little happy dance, and am ready to move on.
Thanks.
Living abroad gave me a totally new sense of reduce, reuse, recycle.
In the apartment building I lived in, there were four canisters for the tenants. One for paper, one for plastic, one for trash and one for compost. Yes, compost. You were expected to put your table scraps or vegetable cuttings in a newspaper and put it in the compost bin. I sorted my bins in the apartment and my trash bin was the smallest of the three I used. It still is. Every family was assigned a week of the month to clean the common areas by sweeping and mopping the steps of your floor.
Most of the neighbors had one vehicle per family. Every day, they would take the bus or train to work or school and their vehicles would sit in the parking lot unless they had a job that public transportation didn't go to. There were several families like mine that had NO VEHICLE whatsoever. We used public transportation for every thing. It made grocery shopping more frequent and more fresh, not to mention braving the extreme temperatures and rain was something to get used to.
When we did rent a car to go places, the roads were free of pot holes. Road hazards like trash were not tolerated and cleaned up immediately. Whenever it rained, the street sweepers would come clean up the next day. If it snowed and they used sand or salt, the sweepers were out as soon as it melted. The sidewalks were swept and shoveled by city employees and accidents were held to a minimum.
You could literally walk from one end of that country to another. I would take 3 hour walks on paved pathways between the villages and gaze over the farm fields and wire fenced gardens big enough for a couple of families. It was a joy to see tomatoes, peppers, and all of the other veggies growing during the walks.
Every one had a national ID card and when you moved, you had 10 days to notify the city hall of your new or old address. Taxes were based on what your employer reported so there were no ways to 'cheat' on your taxes. They had an IRS but you had to justify whatever deduction (like schooling) with documentation. If you were religious and belonged to a church, you paid a 10% tax that was deducted from your pay check automatically. If you didn't attend a church, no deduction.
Sundays were noise free days and if you tried to mow the lawn or run your washing machine, the neighbors had reason to call the police who might site you for breaking the noise laws. Once every quarter stores were allowed to be open on Sundays but otherwise, only restaurants were open along with a handful of gas stations for travelers. Sundays were family day. When the weather was nice, you could see families walking between villages to visit one another. Or out riding their bikes on the bike paths. Sidewalks weren't limited to subdivisions. They would tow their red wagon with food and children.
That's just a sample of what a 'socialist' society grants you. Their views on American excesses are familiar to me and frankly, I can't blame them. They live much closer to one another and had to respect their neighbor. Their taxes kept their communities clean and accident free. They respected nature and were helpful to each other.
Frankly, as homesick as I got over there, I miss it now. The problem with Americans is that they sometimes refuse to see the error of their ways and admit that maybe they waste more fuel, pollute more landfills and their corporations don't pay a living wage. It used to be that America would 'borrow' an idea and apply it here but now, it's "socialist" (like it's a dirty word) to do anything like what I described above.
Oh, I know the question burning in your mind is, what did it cost us tax-wise. How about 5% more per year? Too much? I don't think so.
Lisa in Indy
"Sundays were noise free days...only restaurants were open along with a handful of gas stations for travelers. Sundays were family day. When the weather was nice, you could see families walking between villages to visit one another. Or out riding their bikes on the bike paths. Sidewalks weren't limited to subdivisions. They would tow their red wagon with food and children."
Sounds like the America of my childhood, before the Liberals and the ACLU destroyed it all.
"...the liberals and the ACLU destroyed it."
Are you kidding me?
Do you like your 40 hr work week? How about those child labor laws? Or maybe the fact that if you work overtime, you get overtime pay.
Well, maybe you used to until corporations like WalMart came to town. From what I understand they don't hire full time employees because then they'd be obligated to pay for sick time or vacation time too. I'll have to find the study that showed that when WalMart comes to town, the state's social safety net is overwhelmed from the employees that can't afford to feed their families because of their low wages.
As Romney admitted this week, the corporations in this country have started writing the laws. Look no further than the Citizens United ruling from the Supreme Court last summer. "Corporations are people, my friend."
And back to the original message here, thank you. Visitors to this country see why America's demand for fuel is so high when they see extravagances like massive RV's and SUVs all over the country. That's just one example.
Labor Unions in Europe fight for the employee to make sure that they are paid a fair wage which will not overwhelm the safety net provided by the gov't. One example is the food industry. Tipping in those countries is not required because they pay their staff livable wages. Unlike the US, wait staff make more than 2.01 an hour.
The USA has proven that capitalism can make you rich, very rich. It's also proven that if you don't have strong regulations and a strong labor union, struggling families have to rely on the welfare system in order to survive.
So which system is better? I think Europe has proven that over and over again. The USA just needs to get off their high horse and see the forest for the trees. The folks living in the poverty level here has steadily risen for the last decade.
Lisa in Indy
Just about 70 years ago, trapped between the twin evils of Hitler's National Socialism and Stalin's equally murderous and barbaric Communism, European civilization stood on the brink of annihilation.
The United States of America, through the sweat and blood of it's people, liberated Europe from the Nazi threat, rebuilt Europe from the devastation of war, and then for three generations accepted the overwhelming share of the task of defending Europe from Communism.
Freed from the bulk of the financial responsibility of having to defend themselves against the Soviet Union (a task which had they had to attempt it all by themselves, would have bankrupted most of Europe, but which as it happened, again thanks to the efforts of the USA, ended up bankrupting the Communist nations instead), the European nations opted to pursue the creation of an ambitious, but ultimately unsustainable and self destructive Welfare State. We are witnessing the logical outcome and economic unraveling of that project in the current economic crisis in Europe today.
Far, far worse than the economic consequences of the Entitlement State, is the devastating human and social consequences, most prominently on display just over this last week in the UK.
The senseless and nihilistic destruction is the inevitable fruit of creating a permanently despondent and perpetually envious dependent underclass. An underclass that has been systematically robbed of all sense of self-worth, self dignity, and spiritual purpose by atheistic, socialist, materialistic Statism.
Europe is also committing demographic suicide, most European nations are reproducing well below replacement level. In addition to the additional strain this puts on their ability to sustain their massive Welfare programs, it is also creating an opening for an additional existential threat to the maintenance of European Civilization, which is the phenomenal growth and expansion of the Islamic population in Europe. This is a population which shares none of the liberal values of European culture, but which instead wishes to install Sharia Law everywhere it can, and will do so, as soon as it is able.
Islam views Europe as a decadent and dying culture. It sees it as the low hanging fruit, ripe for the plucking.
I am not that pessimistic, but I also believe that Europe's best hope is a return to the Christian roots which created and formed it's great civilization in the first place.
"...when WalMart comes to town, the state's social safety net is overwhelmed from the employees that can't afford to feed their families because of their low wages."
Yet, somehow they were better able to feed their families when they were unemployed? Before Wal-mart created a job for them (and presumably somehow forced them to take it)?
That doesn't make any sense.
Apparently, all the "poor folk" completely disagree with you about the value of Wal-mart and the service it provides to their communities by conveniently offering them the products that they most need and desire at a low price that they all can afford, because whenever a new Wal-Mart opens up in their town they vote with their feet and flock to it in droves.
I suppose the natural Liberal response would be that low income people are just too stupid to know what's best for them. That's why they need enlightened Liberals in charge to take control of their lives for them and show them the way.
Hitler was a Catholic that wanted to punish and wipe out the Jews for murdering Christ. Everybody knows that! Funny how Germans got their s*&t together since and are the strongest country in Europe and are holding the purse strings to bailing out not only Greece, but Italy. And why is that? Because they still 'make things'. They refused to send their manufacturing jobs to China. Their liberal and socialist views of preserving their own citizenry is what keeps them out of the recession. The only bail out they needed was buying the junk bonds that the US Stock Market sold them prior to '08. They've set up regulations and stopped short sales to prevent another meltdown like '08. And that's what Denbec is pointing out in his most recent post. Regulations are our friend, my friend.
Where did you copy and paste that load of crap you posted Andre? You didn't post your link which is why I ask. It was written in a dialog format that is recognizable and most definitely not something you wrote. Fess up man and post your link when you do that.
On that note, have a nice day.
Lisa
" low income people are just too stupid to know what's best for them'
Not really - Rather those that choose to only watch Fox News are being played like puppets by Corporations. Puppets that vote against their very own interests because they haven't taken the time to evaluate the validity of the content presented to them. One example - most Fox News peeps are vehemently against nationalized health care. Ask them why and they really don't know - they were just told its really bad. They heard on Fox News that Obamacare kills babies! Meanwhile they vote in favor of run-away health care costs and insurance companies that make getting health care totally unaffordable for their very own lives.
They are not stupid - they are just uninformed.
Actually, Lisa, that entire post came extemporaneously off the top of my head in about five minutes.
But thank you for the unintended compliment.
(Rereading it now, it strikes me as very clunky and full of awkward transitions. It stands in definite need of a major rewrite; but such is the nature of first drafts, especially in the informality of a blog commbox, where brevity is paramount ). I think I managed to get some main point across, even if only in the most minimal and sketchy form.
I notice, but am hardly surprised, that you completely fail to address, let alone refute, a single one of those points.
Have an awesome day!
"Hitler was a Catholic..."
Right, and Fidel Castro was baptized and schooled by Jesuits;so ipso facto.....
"So which system is better? I think Europe has proven that over and over again."
I couldn't agree with you more. Here's another example of "what a 'socialist' society grants you.":
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/274492/new-britannia-mark-steyn
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/274492/new-britannia-mark-steyn - ha ha ha
Yep, that's painting the horror of England with one broad stroke. Come on! Even my British husband didn't recognize those thugs burning down their own neighborhoods.
I'm not even going to try to argue your point. I have more important things to do these days than type my disagreement to you point-by-point.
Lisa
BTW, thanks for the laughs. Do you get paid by the letter or paragraph?
Yes indeed - life seems to be what lies in the minds of those living it. Depending on what you read our own great nation is either thriving or on a death spiral. this happens because people tend to twist the truth to make a point or gain political power. It's up to all of us to seek the real truth by doing research from multiple sources - and not just read articles that agree with our already formed opinion.
Andre - regarding the "Gay Gene" question - I've already answered that many times in this blog. I am pro-life with the understanding that there are sometimes tragic circumstances that people deal with. I do not believe in abortion as a means of birth control - but I also believe it is not the governments place to tell people what they do with their own bodies. So I would find it offensive if someone decided to abort their child because it was gay - the same way I am offended when someone like Mathew Sheppard is killed for being gay. I do realize, of course, that in both cases a life would be taken without consent. That's why this issue is so controversial. There is no easy answer.
"It's up to all of us to seek the real truth by doing research from multiple sources - and not just read articles that agree with our already formed opinion."
Excellent advice.
Just one question: where exactly would one look to find all these theoretical articles lauding all the wonderful progress the English dependent class has made over the last two generations, and how unprecedented levels of dramatically increased crime, drug abuse, violence, teen pregnancy, and fatherless children, and welfare dependency, are actually highly positive indicators of social well-being?
I'v looked, and all I keep finding is articles like this:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903918104576504033881168802.html
And books like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Our-Culture-Whats-Left-Mandarins/dp/156663721X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267652577&sr=1-1
"Germans got their s*&t together"
I see in today's news that the Germans and French are proposing that all countries that use the Euro should have mandatory balanced budgets.
What an interesting idea. We should try to pass something like that here. Oh, wait a minute, the Tea-Party Republican House already has!
Harry Reid killed it the instant it got to the Senate (although the final Deficit Ceiling compromise will now, finally, at least allow it to be voted on in the Senate...where the Democrats are likely to defeat it). Maybe they could learn something from the Europeans.
Balancing a budget should always be mandatory. Do we really need bigger government committees to accomplish that?! The concept seems very anti-Tea Party.
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