The Future of America
I often wonder what the (political) future of America will be. It seems to me that every Western country moves in the direction of a big welfare state; it’s only a matter of time before every single Western country takes care of everyone, and that on an unprecedented level. The richer countries become, it seems, the more the voters believe that the government is capable of doing everything, and solving every problem.
Of course, there is a problem, as European countries have experienced: a welfare state is expensive. A gigantic welfare state is a huge drain on the economy.
But still; when the economy is in trouble, we reform the welfare state a bit, wait until the economy is healthy once again, and then continue to make the welfare state bigger than it was (certainly in some ways at least). That’s how it is, that’s how it will always be.
America was different; for decades, America showed that rich and modern governments do not necessarily have to develop into paternalistic powers. The government, America proved, does not have to be your father and mother.
That’s changing however; slowly but surely America is moving into the direction of Western Europe. Slowly but surely, Americans are making themselves dependent on their government. Slowly but surely, Americans are looking at their government first when a problem arises, not last as they used to.
The above leads me to believe that America will follow in Europe’s footsteps. Technology has made the country ’smaller’: it’s easier to travel from one state to another, it’s easier to understand what’s going on in a completely different state, in a completely different part of the country. That means that people will be more aware of the problems in other states and that they will try to influence what happens in states not their own. It’s human nature.
But it’s also anathema to America’s founding principle: in essence, you could say, the idea was that what happened in one state, was no concern of people in a completely different state.
As said, this is changing; it won’t be long before - or so I believe - Americans will have a big welfare state, similar to that of Canada and Western Europe.
Is that a good or a bad thing? Well, I’m not here to cast judgment; I’m simply trying to understand this gigantic country and predict its future.
Interesting question. But it’s missing something: the moral/social dimension of change.
In addition to becoming more of a welfare state, the industrialized nations also tend to become more lax in their moral standards as time passes. America has experienced this, like economic change, more slowly than European countries. Interesting (or disturbing) to consider where this might lead…
Connor; that is actually a good question. And yes, certainly something to take into consideration. Less religious is part of it as well.
Sorry what? Oh THAT old nugget; less religious = less moral. It’s always interesting to see this tie, despite there being zero evidence for it being at all true. If higher levels of religion lead to more morality, then explain the sky high murder level of the US to ANY country in secular Western Europe.
When Conner talks about "less morality" Michael, I’m pretty certain he’s not thinking about more murder, but in fact things like abortion or gays being considered (yikes!) normal. In fact to many people, "less moral" and "less religious" are synonims.
ANYWAY getting back to the actual subject, the fact is that the level to which government should have a role in people’s lives is going to be different depending on who you talk to. Almost no American is going to think that universal public schooling is overly-invasive. On the other hand many do think universal healthcare is, but I think you disagree on that point no?
There is a bit of damned if you do, damned if you don’t in this as well. In a country where everything basic is taken care of, there is less incentive to get ahead, to innovate and fight BUT everyone has their basic needs covered. On the other hand in a country where you are basically on your own innovation and hard work are encouraged, but if you fall through the cracks you are on your own, so many people end up in misery and poverty, and not all because they are "lazy", many are born into poverty, or have a disability etc.
The trick (and not an easy one) is to see at what middle ground you work. I suspect that no matter what point you pick, there will be literally millions of people who vehemently disagree with you.
1. It’s "synonyms", not "synonims"
2. Yes, I am considering things like murder…which, along with other crimes, began to rise in the early 60’s, which is roughly the same time that Americans began to become more religious and embrace some of the ideals of the counterculture.
3. I don’t blame the lack of morality completely for our murder rate. I suspect part of the reason we see this difference between the US and Europe is because Americans are more aggressive than Europeans.