RedsHappy
Tony Shaw (54)
Other than that, it comes down to the very reasonable argument between a social-democratic system and a free-market system. For me, the evidence is overwhelming that a social-democratic system will produce a better society than a free-market one. I've been to America quite a lot and I regard it as a failed society. Anyway, this is a pretty fundamental disagreement, and I'm not about to budge and no doubt neither are you.
Scarf - very interesting and relevant set of points IMO. I agree 100% re America, and I've been there over 300 times. BUT, and I offer this, a real complexity of the whole American situation is that a lot of Americans of all incomes kind of want it that way in that their core cultural foundation contains a strong social Darwinian streak that it's somehow right that the strong compete hard and (theoretically) become rich and and the weak and ill-motivated will remain so (as they're not striving or able to strive well enough) and should not be much indulged by a social-democratic mindset. My point is that we cannot detach the whole issue of 'better' governmental model from the cultural foundations that drive preferences and social ideologies within the country whose government format and ways we are assessing.
Australian cultural and social evolution, being hugely different from America's, has never possessed a strong underlying faith in social Darwinism. In fact, most Australians distrust such a notion. IMO, thank goodness, as that's one of the core reasons we've developed a better system of government in this country and, inter alia, why we have a greater degree of social cohesion and harmony than exists today in America.