America provides an amazingly good life for the ordinary guy.: Rich people live well everywhere. But what distinguishes
America is that it provides an impressively high standard of living for the "common man." We now live in a country where
construction workers regularly pay $4 for a nonfat latte, where maids drive nice cars, and where plumbers take their families on
vacation to Europe.

Indeed newcomers to the United States are struck by the amenities enjoyed by "poor" people in the United States. This fact was
dramatized in the 1980s when CBS television broadcast a documentary, People Like Us, which was intended to show the miseries of the
poor during an ongoing recession. The Soviet Union also broadcast the documentary, with a view to embarrassing the Reagan
administration. But by the testimony of former Soviet leaders, it had the opposite effect. Ordinary people across the Soviet Union
saw that the poorest Americans have TV sets, microwave ovens, and cars. They arrived at the same perception that I witnessed in an
acquaintance of mine from Bombay who has been unsuccessfully trying to move to the United States. I asked him, "Why are you so eager
to come to America?" He replied, "I really want to live in a country where the poor people are fat."

America offers more opportunity and social mobility than any other country, including the countries of Europe: America is the
only country that has created a population of "self-made tycoons." Only in America could Pierre Omidyar, whose parents are Iranian
and who grew up in Paris, have started a company like eBay. Only in America could Vinod Khosla, the son of an Indian army officer,
become a leading venture capitalist, the shaper of the technology industry, and a billionaire to boot. Admittedly tycoons are not
typical, but no country has created a better ladder than America for people to ascend from modest circumstances to success.

Work and trade are respectable in America, which is not true elsewhe Historically most cultures have despised the merchant
and the laborer, regarding the former as vile and corrupt and the latter as degraded and vulgar. Some cultures, such as that of
ancient Greece and medieval Islam, even held that it is better to acquire things through plunder than through trade or contract
labor. But the American founders altered this moral hierarchy. They established a society in which the life of the businessman, and
of the people who worked for him, would be a noble calling. In the American view, there is nothing vile or degraded about serving
your customers either as a CEO or as a waiter. The ordinary life of production and supporting a family is more highly valued in the
United States than in any other country. Indeed America is the only country in the world where we call the waiter "sir," as if he
were a knight.

America has achieved greater social equality than any other society.: True, there are large inequalities of income and wealth
in America. In purely economic terms, Europe is more egalitarian. But Americans are socially more equal than any other people, and
this is unaffected by economic disparities. Tocqueville noticed this egalitarianism a century and a half ago, but it is if anything
more prevalent today. For all his riches, Bill Gates could not approach the typical American and say, "Here's a $100 bill. I'll give
it to you if you kiss my feet." Most likely the person would tell Gates to go to hell! The American view is that the rich guy may
have more money, but he isn't in any fundamental sense better than anyone else.

People live longer, fuller lives in America.: Although protesters rail against the American version of technological
capitalism at trade meetings around the world, in reality the American system has given citizens many more years of life, and the
means to live more intensely and actively. In 1900, the life expectancy in America was around 50 years; today, it is more than 75
years. Advances in medicine and agriculture are mainly responsible for the change. This extension of the life-span means more years
to enjoy life, more free time to devote to a good cause, and more occasions to do things with the grandchildren. In many countries,
people who are old seem to have nothing to do: They just wait to die. In America the old are incredibly vigorous, and people in
their seventies pursue the pleasures of life, including remarriage and sexual gratification, with a zeal that I find unnerving.

In America the destiny of the young is not given to them but created by them.: Not long ago, I asked myself, "What would my
life have been like if I had never come to the United States?" If I had remained in India, I would probably have lived my whole life
within a five-mile radius of where I was born. I would undoubtedly have married a woman of my identical religious and socioeconomic
background. I would almost certainly have become a medical doctor, or an engineer, or a computer programmer. I would have socialized
entirely within my ethic community. I would have a whole set of opinions that could be predicted in advance; indeed, they would not
be very different from what my father believed, or his father before him. In sum, my destiny would to a large degree have been given
to me.

In America, I have seen my life take a radically different course. In college I became interested in literature and politics,
and I resolved to make a career as a writer. I married a woman whose ancestry is English, French, Scotch-Irish, German, and American
Indian. In my twenties I found myself working as a policy analyst in the White House, even though I was not an American citizen. No
other country, I am sure, would have permitted a foreigner to work in its inner citadel of government.

In most countries in the world, your fate and your identity are handed to you; in America, you determine them for yourself.
America is a country where you get to write the script of your own life. Your life is like a blank sheet of paper, and you are the
artist. This notion of being the architect of your own destiny is the incredibly powerful idea that is behind the worldwide appeal
of America. Young people especially find irresistible the prospect of authoring the narrative of their own lives.

America has gone further than any other society in establishing equality of rights.: There is nothing distinctively American
about slavery or bigotry. Slavery has existed in virtually every culture, and xenophobia, prejudice, and discrimination are
worldwide phenomena. Western civilization is the only civilization to mount a principled campaign against slavery; no country
expended more treasure and blood to get rid of slavery than the United States. While racism remains a problem in America, this
country has made strenuous efforts to eradicate discrimination, even to the extent of enacting policies that give legal preference
in university admissions, jobs, and government contracts to members of minority groups. Such policies remain controversial, but the
point is that it is extremely unlikely that a racist society would have permitted such policies in the first place. And surely
African Americans like Jesse Jackson are vastly better off living in America than they would be if they were to live in, say,
Ethiopia or Somalia.

America has found a solution to the problem of religious and ethnic conflict that continues to divide and terrorize much of
the world.: Visitors to places like New York are amazed to see the way in which Serbs and Croatians, Sikhs and Hindus, Irish
Catholics and Irish Protestants, Jews and Palestinians, all seem to work and live together in harmony. How is this possible when
these same groups are spearing each other and burning each other's homes in so many places in the world?

The American answer is twofold. First, separate the spheres of religion and government so that no religion is given official
preference but all are free to practice their faith as they wish. Second, do not extend rights to racial or ethnic groups but only
to individuals; in this way, all are equal in the eyes of the law, opportunity is open to anyone who can take advantage of it, and
everybody who embraces the American way of life can "become American."

Of course there are exceptions to these core principles, even in America. Racial preferences are one such exception, which
explains why they are controversial. But in general America is the only country in the world that extends full membership to
outsiders. The typical American could come to India, live for 40 years, and take Indian citizenship. But he could not "become
Indian." He wouldn't see himself that way, nor would most Indians see him that way. In America, by contrast, hundreds of millions
have come from far-flung shores and over time they, or at least their children, have in a profound and full sense "become American."

America has the kindest, gentlest foreign policy of any great power in world history.: Critics of the U.S. are likely to react
to this truth with sputtering outrage. They will point to longstanding American support for a Latin or Middle Eastern despot, or the
unjust internment of the Japanese during World War II, or America's reluctance to impose sanctions on South Africa's apartheid
regime. However one feels about these particular cases, let us concede to the critics the point that America is not always in the
right.

What the critics leave out is the other side of the ledger. Twice in the 20th century, the United States saved the world:
first from the Nazi threat, then from Soviet totalitarianism. What would have been the world's fate if America had not existed?
After destroying Germany and Japan in World War II, the U.S. proceeded to rebuild both countries, and today they are American
allies. Now we are doing the same thing in Afghanistan and Iraq. Consider, too, how magnanimous the U.S. has been to the former
Soviet Union after its victory in the Cold War. For the most part America is an abstaining superpower: It shows no real interest in
conquering and subjugating the rest of the world. (Imagine how the Soviets would have acted if they had won the Cold War.) On
occasion the America intervenes to overthrow a tyrannical regime or to halt massive human rights abuses in another country, but it
never stays to rule that country. In Grenada, Haiti, and Bosnia, the U.S. got in and then it got out. Moreover, when America does
get into a war, as in Iraq, its troops are supremely careful to avoid targeting civilians and to minimize collateral damage. Even as
America bombed the Taliban infrastructure and hideouts, U.S. planes dropped rations of food to avert hardship and starvation of
Afghan civilians. What other country does these things?

America, the freest nation on earth, is also the most virtuous nation on earth.: This point seems counter-intuitive, given the
amount of conspicuous vulgarity, vice, and immorality in America. Indeed some Islamic fundamentalists argue that their regimes are
morally superior to the United States because they seek to foster virtue among the citizens. Virtue, these fundamentalists argue, is
a higher principle than liberty.

Indeed it is. And let us admit that in a free society, freedom will frequently be used badly. Freedom, by definition, includes
the freedom to do good or evil, to act nobly or basely. But if freedom brings out the worst in people, it also brings out the best.
The millions of Americans who live decent, praiseworthy lives desire our highest admiration because they have opted for the good
when the good is not the only available option. Even amidst the temptations of a rich and free society, they have remained on the
straight path. Their virtue has special luster because it is freely chosen.

By contrast, the societies that many Islamic fundamentalists seek would eliminate the possibility of virtue. If the supply of
virtue is insufficient in a free society like America, it is almost non-existent in an unfree society like Iran. The reason is that
coerced virtues are not virtues at all. Consider the woman who is required to wear a veil. There is no modesty in this, because she
is being compelled Compulsion cannot produce virtue, it can only produce the outward semblance of virtue. Thus a free society like
America is not merely more prosperous, more varied, more peaceful, and more tolerant — it is also morally superior to the theocratic
and authoritarian regimes that America's enemies advocate.

"To make us love our country," Edmund Burke once said, "our country ought to be lovely." Burke's point is that we should love
our country not just because it is ours, but also because it is good. America is far from perfect, and there is lots of room for
improvement. In spite of its flaws, however, the American life as it is lived today is the best life that our world has to offer.
Ultimately America is worthy of our love and sacrifice because, more than any other society, it makes possible the good life, and
the life that is good.

— Dinesh D'Souza's best-selling book What's So Great About America has just been published in paperback by Penguin Books. He
is the Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

I've heard Dinesh D'Souza speak, and I like most of what he says. However,
when he speaks of plumbers and waiters and other such workers, and is in awe
that they have some cash and some rights, he also needs to know that it was
plumbers and waiters construction workers who fought, suffered, and often
died to make America what it is today.

We now live in a country where construction workers regularly pay $4 for a
nonfat latte
where maids drive nice cars, and where plumbers take their families on
vacation to Europe.
- Which is how it should be.

"I really want to live in a country where the poor people are fat."
- this is true

no country has created a better ladder than America for people to ascend
from modest circumstances to success.
- this is true

Work and trade are respectable in America
- They deserve respect, but America still looks down on the tradespeople,
big mistake. This is not true in some other places, like Germany, where the
trades are honored. In America, we send our academically failing students,
behavior problems, malcontents, and social misfits to the Vocational high
schools to learn a trade. It is only the trade unions who are seeing
through this farce, and they recruit new members not from vocational high
schools, but from colleges. Trade Union members are told to not send their
children to vocational high schools. How sad this is that the educational
systems has *******ized an ancient and proven system of apprenticing.

In the American view, there is nothing vile or degraded about serving your
customers either as a CEO or as a waiter.
- Unfortunately, neither is likely to get good service. Try dealing with the
IRS, any insurance agency, any governmental agency, any business with more
than 50 employees. Good luck.

Indeed America is the only country in the world where we call the waiter
"sir," as if he were a knight.
- I was a waiter when I was a young college student, so I can't agree with
this one. People, especially our visiting neighbors from New York, treated
us like ****. Then they typically stiffed us for a tip. Meanwhile, food
workers make less than minimum wage.


For all his riches, Bill Gates could not approach the typical American
and say, "Here's a $100 bill. I'll give
it to you if you kiss my feet." Most likely the person would tell Gates
to go to hell!
- He should visit Times Square, people are doing a lot more than kiss feet
for a lot less money.

Scout

Even lawyers are unemployed.

There's too many. This is a fact not just lawyer bashing. Look at your phone
book. Lawyers probably account for 5% of your phone book. It's the reason for
the increasingly creative law suits.
S/V Express 30 "Ringmaster"
Trains are a winter sport

Watch the housing bubble burst

Yea people have been saying that forever. 50 years ago my father was offered
the chance to buy ocean front property in Ocean City, Md for $100 an acre. He
said someday they will be giving that away. As anyone can probably figure out
that never happened.
S/V Express 30 "Ringmaster"
Trains are a winter sport

Unemployment has skyrocketed lately. I've got lots of friends in
high tech that are really hurting.

"Gilligan" wrote in message
thlink.net...
What you have described here is America of the past.

Let's take a look at the futu

The law of the land, the US Constitution is becoming less and less
relevant.

Spending under the Bush administrations first three years has gone up
13.5%.
The same time duration under Clinton only yielded an increase of 3.3%. Of
the five largest yearly increases in the federal budget in history, three
have occured under Bush. His legacy as governor of Texas confirms he is
all
for big spending and big government. Less than 1/2 of Bush's spending was
for the military, the rest entitlements. He has saddled our future with
big
government and the costs that go along with it.

Today, where is the opportunity? The only engineering and science jobs are
with the military-industrial complex. Even lawyers are unemployed. Health
insurance costs have gone up 30% in the last year for many companies. Look
at the costs businesses are saddled with due to government legislation.
Health care, social security, unemployment, OSHA, etc, etc. That's why
many
jobs are going overseas, it simply costs too much to hire someone here.
It's
the overhead, not the wage.

Why hasn't the economy pulled out of the recession? After all, people
trained in economics have been predicting a pullout for years now. Watch
the
housing bubble burst. All those people with jobs in the trades will be
unemployed. People who have overmortgaged their houses will be paying on
loans worth nothing. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are on real shaky ground.
If
low interest rates spur the economy, and we have the lowest rates since
1958, why isn't the economy booming? Why is there no risk taking in the
economy?

America is loosing good paying jobs rapidly. It's common to hear of
someone
who three years ago was a physicist working on some new amazing technology
making 100K a year, now driving a delivery truck for $12.50 an hour. The
creative edge of our economy is no longer valued. The only job
opportunities
that exist are in services, which are low paying and create no wealth.

The Republicans were our last stand against big, expensive and encroaching
government. They have let us down. We were swindled.

Tax cuts? What good are they when other costs go up because of government?

The best thing one can do is pack up your sailboat and go to a country
where
it costs less to live. Have your stipend checks mailed to you and only
come
back for health care. If you don't get checks from the government to live
on, or don't have the government paying your health care or don't have the
government as an employer, then you are hosed. Get a job in the
underground
economy, because your PhD means nothing when you are pushing a mower. If
you
push the mower legitimately you'll need licenses, permits, compliance
certificates, an accountant, a lawyer, etc. A ten dollar lawn job now must
support 40 dollars in government overhead - if you let it.

If you love America, read and know the Constitution. Look at what our
government has become. Is this what the Constitution intended?

If you want to see our economic future, look to Europe. In the past
America
has pulled out of economic slumps. But no administration in peacetime
history has grown the Leviathen as the current administration, supposed
defenders of liberty. Next election get out and vote. Vote for gridlock,
it's our only hope until another Goldwater or Reagan comes along.

Gilligan







"jlrogers" wrote in message
.. .
America provides an amazingly good life for the ordinary guy.:
Rich
people live well everywhere. But what distinguishes
America is that it provides an impressively high standard of living for
the "common man." We now live in a country where
construction workers regularly pay $4 for a nonfat latte, where maids
drive nice cars, and where plumbers take their families on
vacation to Europe.

Indeed newcomers to the United States are struck by the amenities
enjoyed by "poor" people in the United States. This fact was
dramatized in the 1980s when CBS television broadcast a documentary,
People Like Us, which was intended to show the miseries of the
poor during an ongoing recession. The Soviet Union also broadcast the
documentary, with a view to embarrassing the Reagan
administration. But by the testimony of former Soviet leaders, it had
the
opposite effect. Ordinary people across the Soviet Union
saw that the poorest Americans have TV sets, microwave ovens, and cars.
They arrived at the same perception that I witnessed in an
acquaintance of mine from Bombay who has been unsuccessfully trying to
move to the United States. I asked him, "Why are you so eager
to come to America?" He replied, "I really want to live in a country
where
the poor people are fat."

America offers more opportunity and social mobility than any other
country, including the countries of Europe: America is the
only country that has created a population of "self-made tycoons." Only
in
America could Pierre Omidyar, whose parents are Iranian
and who grew up in Paris, have started a company like eBay. Only in
America could Vinod Khosla, the son of an Indian army officer,
become a leading venture capitalist, the shaper of the technology
industry, and a billionaire to boot. Admittedly tycoons are not
typical, but no country has created a better ladder than America for
people to ascend from modest circumstances to success.

Work and trade are respectable in America, which is not true
elsewhe Historically most cultures have despised the merchant
and the laborer, regarding the former as vile and corrupt and the latter
as degraded and vulgar. Some cultures, such as that of
ancient Greece and medieval Islam, even held that it is better to
acquire
things through plunder than through trade or contract
labor. But the American founders altered this moral hierarchy. They
established a society in which the life of the businessman, and
of the people who worked for him, would be a noble calling. In the
American view, there is nothing vile or degraded about serving
your customers either as a CEO or as a waiter. The ordinary life of
production and supporting a family is more highly valued in the
United States than in any other country. Indeed America is the only
country in the world where we call the waiter "sir," as if he
were a knight.

America has achieved greater social equality than any other
society.: True, there are large inequalities of income and wealth
in America. In purely economic terms, Europe is more egalitarian. But
Americans are socially more equal than any other people, and
this is unaffected by economic disparities. Tocqueville noticed this
egalitarianism a century and a half ago, but it is if anything
more prevalent today. For all his riches, Bill Gates could not approach
the typical American and say, "Here's a $100 bill. I'll give
it to you if you kiss my feet." Most likely the person would tell Gates
to
go to hell! The American view is that the rich guy may
have more money, but he isn't in any fundamental sense better than
anyone
else.

People live longer, fuller lives in America.: Although protesters
rail against the American version of technological
capitalism at trade meetings around the world, in reality the American
system has given citizens many more years of life, and the
means to live more intensely and actively. In 1900, the life expectancy
in
America was around 50 years; today, it is more than 75
years. Advances in medicine and agriculture are mainly responsible for
the
change. This extension of the life-span means more years
to enjoy life, more free time to devote to a good cause, and more
occasions to do things with the grandchildren. In many countries,
people who are old seem to have nothing to do: They just wait to die. In
America the old are incredibly vigorous, and people in
their seventies pursue the pleasures of life, including remarriage and
sexual gratification, with a zeal that I find unnerving.

In America the destiny of the young is not given to them but
created
by them.: Not long ago, I asked myself, "What would my
life have been like if I had never come to the United States?" If I had
remained in India, I would probably have lived my whole life
within a five-mile radius of where I was born. I would undoubtedly have
married a woman of my identical religious and socioeconomic
background. I would almost certainly have become a medical doctor, or an
engineer, or a computer programmer. I would have socialized
entirely within my ethic community. I would have a whole set of opinions
that could be predicted in advance; indeed, they would not
be very different from what my father believed, or his father before
him.
In sum, my destiny would to a large degree have been given
to me.

In America, I have seen my life take a radically different course.
In college I became interested in literature and politics,
and I resolved to make a career as a writer. I married a woman whose
ancestry is English, French, Scotch-Irish, German, and American
Indian. In my twenties I found myself working as a policy analyst in the
White House, even though I was not an American citizen. No
other country, I am sure, would have permitted a foreigner to work in
its
inner citadel of government.

In most countries in the world, your fate and your identity are
handed to you; in America, you determine them for yourself.
America is a country where you get to write the script of your own life.
Your life is like a blank sheet of paper, and you are the
artist. This notion of being the architect of your own destiny is the
incredibly powerful idea that is behind the worldwide appeal
of America. Young people especially find irresistible the prospect of
authoring the narrative of their own lives.

America has gone further than any other society in establishing
equality of rights.: There is nothing distinctively American
about slavery or bigotry. Slavery has existed in virtually every
culture,
and xenophobia, prejudice, and discrimination are
worldwide phenomena. Western civilization is the only civilization to
mount a principled campaign against slavery; no country
expended more treasure and blood to get rid of slavery than the United
States. While racism remains a problem in America, this
country has made strenuous efforts to eradicate discrimination, even to
the extent of enacting policies that give legal preference
in university admissions, jobs, and government contracts to members of
minority groups. Such policies remain controversial, but the
point is that it is extremely unlikely that a racist society would have
permitted such policies in the first place. And surely
African Americans like Jesse Jackson are vastly better off living in
America than they would be if they were to live in, say,
Ethiopia or Somalia.

America has found a solution to the problem of religious and
ethnic
conflict that continues to divide and terrorize much of
the world.: Visitors to places like New York are amazed to see the way
in
which Serbs and Croatians, Sikhs and Hindus, Irish
Catholics and Irish Protestants, Jews and Palestinians, all seem to work
and live together in harmony. How is this possible when
these same groups are spearing each other and burning each other's homes
in so many places in the world?

The American answer is twofold. First, separate the spheres of
religion and government so that no religion is given official
preference but all are free to practice their faith as they wish.
Second,
do not extend rights to racial or ethnic groups but only
to individuals; in this way, all are equal in the eyes of the law,
opportunity is open to anyone who can take advantage of it, and
everybody who embraces the American way of life can "become American."

Of course there are exceptions to these core principles, even in
America. Racial preferences are one such exception, which
explains why they are controversial. But in general America is the only
country in the world that extends full membership to
outsiders. The typical American could come to India, live for 40 years,
and take Indian citizenship. But he could not "become
Indian." He wouldn't see himself that way, nor would most Indians see
him
that way. In America, by contrast, hundreds of millions
have come from far-flung shores and over time they, or at least their
children, have in a profound and full sense "become American."

America has the kindest, gentlest foreign policy of any great
power
in world history.: Critics of the U.S. are likely to react
to this truth with sputtering outrage. They will point to longstanding
American support for a Latin or Middle Eastern despot, or the
unjust internment of the Japanese during World War II, or America's
reluctance to impose sanctions on South Africa's apartheid
regime. However one feels about these particular cases, let us concede
to
the critics the point that America is not always in the
right.

What the critics leave out is the other side of the ledger. Twice
in
the 20th century, the United States saved the world:
first from the Nazi threat, then from Soviet totalitarianism. What would
have been the world's fate if America had not existed?
After destroying Germany and Japan in World War II, the U.S. proceeded
to
rebuild both countries, and today they are American
allies. Now we are doing the same thing in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Consider,
too, how magnanimous the U.S. has been to the former
Soviet Union after its victory in the Cold War. For the most part
America
is an abstaining superpower: It shows no real interest in
conquering and subjugating the rest of the world. (Imagine how the
Soviets
would have acted if they had won the Cold War.) On
occasion the America intervenes to overthrow a tyrannical regime or to
halt massive human rights abuses in another country, but it
never stays to rule that country. In Grenada, Haiti, and Bosnia, the
U.S.
got in and then it got out. Moreover, when America does
get into a war, as in Iraq, its troops are supremely careful to avoid
targeting civilians and to minimize collateral damage. Even as
America bombed the Taliban infrastructure and hideouts, U.S. planes
dropped rations of food to avert hardship and starvation of
Afghan civilians. What other country does these things?

America, the freest nation on earth, is also the most virtuous
nation on earth.: This point seems counter-intuitive, given the
amount of conspicuous vulgarity, vice, and immorality in America. Indeed
some Islamic fundamentalists argue that their regimes are
morally superior to the United States because they seek to foster virtue
among the citizens. Virtue, these fundamentalists argue, is
a higher principle than liberty.

Indeed it is. And let us admit that in a free society, freedom
will
frequently be used badly. Freedom, by definition, includes
the freedom to do good or evil, to act nobly or basely. But if freedom
brings out the worst in people, it also brings out the best.
The millions of Americans who live decent, praiseworthy lives desire our
highest admiration because they have opted for the good
when the good is not the only available option. Even amidst the
temptations of a rich and free society, they have remained on the
straight path. Their virtue has special luster because it is freely
chosen.

By contrast, the societies that many Islamic fundamentalists seek
would eliminate the possibility of virtue. If the supply of
virtue is insufficient in a free society like America, it is almost
non-existent in an unfree society like Iran. The reason is that
coerced virtues are not virtues at all. Consider the woman who is
required
to wear a veil. There is no modesty in this, because she
is being compelled Compulsion cannot produce virtue, it can only produce
the outward semblance of virtue. Thus a free society like
America is not merely more prosperous, more varied, more peaceful, and
more tolerant - it is also morally superior to the theocratic
and authoritarian regimes that America's enemies advocate.

"To make us love our country," Edmund Burke once said, "our
country
ought to be lovely." Burke's point is that we should love
our country not just because it is ours, but also because it is good.
America is far from perfect, and there is lots of room for
improvement. In spite of its flaws, however, the American life as it is
lived today is the best life that our world has to offer.
Ultimately America is worthy of our love and sacrifice because, more
than
any other society, it makes possible the good life, and
the life that is good.

- Dinesh D'Souza's best-selling book What's So Great About America
has just been published in paperback by Penguin Books. He
is the Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Housing prices have been dropping in Japan and Germany for the last ten
years.
New Jersey had a housing bust about ten years ago.
Los Angeles has had a recent housing bust.
In the US 1930-1940 had a housing bust.

On the long term average housing prices do rise. The question is, how long
are you willing to wait for return on investment? What is that return?

"SAIL LOCO" wrote in message
...
Watch the housing bubble burst

Yea people have been saying that forever. 50 years ago my father was
offered
the chance to buy ocean front property in Ocean City, Md for $100 an acre.
He
said someday they will be giving that away. As anyone can probably figure
out
that never happened.
S/V Express 30 "Ringmaster"
Trains are a winter sport

I am so sick and tired of gloom and doomers.

Either lead, follow or get the **** out of the way, Gilligan!
For pity's sake but you sound like the typical liberal wimp.
Why is it that every generation feels they are the most important
generation? How come every generation predicts the end only
to have generations that follow engage in the same nonsense?
Whatever happened to the ability of a species to learn a thing
or two from past experience? Thousands upon thousands of
generations and humans are still around and still improving
their lot. How can this be?

Any man with half a brain would soon figure out that crying
like a bunch of babies, no matter how hard or how long, has
always failed to counteract the creativity of those who refuse
to forever stay in the womb; the creativity which, even if
embodied in the soul of one man in a million, is great enough
to negate the inferior, genetic, dead-end millions who whine,
caterwauler and fully intend to cast their personal failure to
work for a better future upon the entire body of humankind.

How inferior is an intellect that uses gloom and doom as a
method and then complains that things are not going his way?
How maladjusted is any individual who considers he even
HAS an intellect when he uses his paltry and defective gray
matter as a means to destroy that which he claims to wish
for. You whiners are so transparent and so self-defeating.
You make me sick with your constant complaining. If things
are so bad for you why not jump off a cliff or something and
end your miserable existence? At least allow those of us
who enjoy life to enjoy it in peace without having to smell
the stench of your self-centered negativism.

Gilligan, you disappoint me greatly. Just because your
failed libertarian ideas are proven to be failures you wish
failure to every other system of thought. This alone is
enough to prove your philosophy is as useless and impotent
as it has proven to be. A real man would recognize this
fact and get over it or shut up about it.

But, keep it up. Keep proclaiming your impotence
from the highest hilltop. You serve a purpose. You and
your like are good examples of a bad example. Those
of us who can see clearly need such reminders once
in a while of how NOT to act.


"Gilligan" wrote in message thlink.net...
What you have described here is America of the past.

Let's take a look at the futu

The law of the land, the US Constitution is becoming less and less relevant.

Spending under the Bush administrations first three years has gone up 13.5%.
The same time duration under Clinton only yielded an increase of 3.3%. Of
the five largest yearly increases in the federal budget in history, three
have occured under Bush. His legacy as governor of Texas confirms he is all
for big spending and big government. Less than 1/2 of Bush's spending was
for the military, the rest entitlements. He has saddled our future with big
government and the costs that go along with it.

Today, where is the opportunity? The only engineering and science jobs are
with the military-industrial complex. Even lawyers are unemployed. Health
insurance costs have gone up 30% in the last year for many companies. Look
at the costs businesses are saddled with due to government legislation.
Health care, social security, unemployment, OSHA, etc, etc. That's why many
jobs are going overseas, it simply costs too much to hire someone here. It's
the overhead, not the wage.

Why hasn't the economy pulled out of the recession? After all, people
trained in economics have been predicting a pullout for years now. Watch the
housing bubble burst. All those people with jobs in the trades will be
unemployed. People who have overmortgaged their houses will be paying on
loans worth nothing. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are on real shaky ground. If
low interest rates spur the economy, and we have the lowest rates since
1958, why isn't the economy booming? Why is there no risk taking in the
economy?

America is loosing good paying jobs rapidly. It's common to hear of someone
who three years ago was a physicist working on some new amazing technology
making 100K a year, now driving a delivery truck for $12.50 an hour. The
creative edge of our economy is no longer valued. The only job opportunities
that exist are in services, which are low paying and create no wealth.

The Republicans were our last stand against big, expensive and encroaching
government. They have let us down. We were swindled.

Tax cuts? What good are they when other costs go up because of government?

The best thing one can do is pack up your sailboat and go to a country where
it costs less to live. Have your stipend checks mailed to you and only come
back for health care. If you don't get checks from the government to live
on, or don't have the government paying your health care or don't have the
government as an employer, then you are hosed. Get a job in the underground
economy, because your PhD means nothing when you are pushing a mower. If you
push the mower legitimately you'll need licenses, permits, compliance
certificates, an accountant, a lawyer, etc. A ten dollar lawn job now must
support 40 dollars in government overhead - if you let it.

If you love America, read and know the Constitution. Look at what our
government has become. Is this what the Constitution intended?

If you want to see our economic future, look to Europe. In the past America
has pulled out of economic slumps. But no administration in peacetime
history has grown the Leviathen as the current administration, supposed
defenders of liberty. Next election get out and vote. Vote for gridlock,
it's our only hope until another Goldwater or Reagan comes along.

Gilligan







"jlrogers" wrote in message
.. .
America provides an amazingly good life for the ordinary guy.: Rich
people live well everywhere. But what distinguishes
America is that it provides an impressively high standard of living for
the "common man." We now live in a country where
construction workers regularly pay $4 for a nonfat latte, where maids
drive nice cars, and where plumbers take their families on
vacation to Europe.

Indeed newcomers to the United States are struck by the amenities
enjoyed by "poor" people in the United States. This fact was
dramatized in the 1980s when CBS television broadcast a documentary,
People Like Us, which was intended to show the miseries of the
poor during an ongoing recession. The Soviet Union also broadcast the
documentary, with a view to embarrassing the Reagan
administration. But by the testimony of former Soviet leaders, it had the
opposite effect. Ordinary people across the Soviet Union
saw that the poorest Americans have TV sets, microwave ovens, and cars.
They arrived at the same perception that I witnessed in an
acquaintance of mine from Bombay who has been unsuccessfully trying to
move to the United States. I asked him, "Why are you so eager
to come to America?" He replied, "I really want to live in a country where
the poor people are fat."

America offers more opportunity and social mobility than any other
country, including the countries of Europe: America is the
only country that has created a population of "self-made tycoons." Only in
America could Pierre Omidyar, whose parents are Iranian
and who grew up in Paris, have started a company like eBay. Only in
America could Vinod Khosla, the son of an Indian army officer,
become a leading venture capitalist, the shaper of the technology
industry, and a billionaire to boot. Admittedly tycoons are not
typical, but no country has created a better ladder than America for
people to ascend from modest circumstances to success.

Work and trade are respectable in America, which is not true
elsewhe Historically most cultures have despised the merchant
and the laborer, regarding the former as vile and corrupt and the latter
as degraded and vulgar. Some cultures, such as that of
ancient Greece and medieval Islam, even held that it is better to acquire
things through plunder than through trade or contract
labor. But the American founders altered this moral hierarchy. They
established a society in which the life of the businessman, and
of the people who worked for him, would be a noble calling. In the
American view, there is nothing vile or degraded about serving
your customers either as a CEO or as a waiter. The ordinary life of
production and supporting a family is more highly valued in the
United States than in any other country. Indeed America is the only
country in the world where we call the waiter "sir," as if he
were a knight.

America has achieved greater social equality than any other
society.: True, there are large inequalities of income and wealth
in America. In purely economic terms, Europe is more egalitarian. But
Americans are socially more equal than any other people, and
this is unaffected by economic disparities. Tocqueville noticed this
egalitarianism a century and a half ago, but it is if anything
more prevalent today. For all his riches, Bill Gates could not approach
the typical American and say, "Here's a $100 bill. I'll give
it to you if you kiss my feet." Most likely the person would tell Gates to
go to hell! The American view is that the rich guy may
have more money, but he isn't in any fundamental sense better than anyone
else.

People live longer, fuller lives in America.: Although protesters
rail against the American version of technological
capitalism at trade meetings around the world, in reality the American
system has given citizens many more years of life, and the
means to live more intensely and actively. In 1900, the life expectancy in
America was around 50 years; today, it is more than 75
years. Advances in medicine and agriculture are mainly responsible for the
change. This extension of the life-span means more years
to enjoy life, more free time to devote to a good cause, and more
occasions to do things with the grandchildren. In many countries,
people who are old seem to have nothing to do: They just wait to die. In
America the old are incredibly vigorous, and people in
their seventies pursue the pleasures of life, including remarriage and
sexual gratification, with a zeal that I find unnerving.

In America the destiny of the young is not given to them but created
by them.: Not long ago, I asked myself, "What would my
life have been like if I had never come to the United States?" If I had
remained in India, I would probably have lived my whole life
within a five-mile radius of where I was born. I would undoubtedly have
married a woman of my identical religious and socioeconomic
background. I would almost certainly have become a medical doctor, or an
engineer, or a computer programmer. I would have socialized
entirely within my ethic community. I would have a whole set of opinions
that could be predicted in advance; indeed, they would not
be very different from what my father believed, or his father before him.
In sum, my destiny would to a large degree have been given
to me.

In America, I have seen my life take a radically different course.
In college I became interested in literature and politics,
and I resolved to make a career as a writer. I married a woman whose
ancestry is English, French, Scotch-Irish, German, and American
Indian. In my twenties I found myself working as a policy analyst in the
White House, even though I was not an American citizen. No
other country, I am sure, would have permitted a foreigner to work in its
inner citadel of government.

In most countries in the world, your fate and your identity are
handed to you; in America, you determine them for yourself.
America is a country where you get to write the script of your own life.
Your life is like a blank sheet of paper, and you are the
artist. This notion of being the architect of your own destiny is the
incredibly powerful idea that is behind the worldwide appeal
of America. Young people especially find irresistible the prospect of
authoring the narrative of their own lives.

America has gone further than any other society in establishing
equality of rights.: There is nothing distinctively American
about slavery or bigotry. Slavery has existed in virtually every culture,
and xenophobia, prejudice, and discrimination are
worldwide phenomena. Western civilization is the only civilization to
mount a principled campaign against slavery; no country
expended more treasure and blood to get rid of slavery than the United
States. While racism remains a problem in America, this
country has made strenuous efforts to eradicate discrimination, even to
the extent of enacting policies that give legal preference
in university admissions, jobs, and government contracts to members of
minority groups. Such policies remain controversial, but the
point is that it is extremely unlikely that a racist society would have
permitted such policies in the first place. And surely
African Americans like Jesse Jackson are vastly better off living in
America than they would be if they were to live in, say,
Ethiopia or Somalia.

America has found a solution to the problem of religious and ethnic
conflict that continues to divide and terrorize much of
the world.: Visitors to places like New York are amazed to see the way in
which Serbs and Croatians, Sikhs and Hindus, Irish
Catholics and Irish Protestants, Jews and Palestinians, all seem to work
and live together in harmony. How is this possible when
these same groups are spearing each other and burning each other's homes
in so many places in the world?

The American answer is twofold. First, separate the spheres of
religion and government so that no religion is given official
preference but all are free to practice their faith as they wish. Second,
do not extend rights to racial or ethnic groups but only
to individuals; in this way, all are equal in the eyes of the law,
opportunity is open to anyone who can take advantage of it, and
everybody who embraces the American way of life can "become American."

Of course there are exceptions to these core principles, even in
America. Racial preferences are one such exception, which
explains why they are controversial. But in general America is the only
country in the world that extends full membership to
outsiders. The typical American could come to India, live for 40 years,
and take Indian citizenship. But he could not "become
Indian." He wouldn't see himself that way, nor would most Indians see him
that way. In America, by contrast, hundreds of millions
have come from far-flung shores and over time they, or at least their
children, have in a profound and full sense "become American."

America has the kindest, gentlest foreign policy of any great power
in world history.: Critics of the U.S. are likely to react
to this truth with sputtering outrage. They will point to longstanding
American support for a Latin or Middle Eastern despot, or the
unjust internment of the Japanese during World War II, or America's
reluctance to impose sanctions on South Africa's apartheid
regime. However one feels about these particular cases, let us concede to
the critics the point that America is not always in the
right.

What the critics leave out is the other side of the ledger. Twice in
the 20th century, the United States saved the world:
first from the Nazi threat, then from Soviet totalitarianism. What would
have been the world's fate if America had not existed?
After destroying Germany and Japan in World War II, the U.S. proceeded to
rebuild both countries, and today they are American
allies. Now we are doing the same thing in Afghanistan and Iraq. Consider,
too, how magnanimous the U.S. has been to the former
Soviet Union after its victory in the Cold War. For the most part America
is an abstaining superpower: It shows no real interest in
conquering and subjugating the rest of the world. (Imagine how the Soviets
would have acted if they had won the Cold War.) On
occasion the America intervenes to overthrow a tyrannical regime or to
halt massive human rights abuses in another country, but it
never stays to rule that country. In Grenada, Haiti, and Bosnia, the U.S.
got in and then it got out. Moreover, when America does
get into a war, as in Iraq, its troops are supremely careful to avoid
targeting civilians and to minimize collateral damage. Even as
America bombed the Taliban infrastructure and hideouts, U.S. planes
dropped rations of food to avert hardship and starvation of
Afghan civilians. What other country does these things?

America, the freest nation on earth, is also the most virtuous
nation on earth.: This point seems counter-intuitive, given the
amount of conspicuous vulgarity, vice, and immorality in America. Indeed
some Islamic fundamentalists argue that their regimes are
morally superior to the United States because they seek to foster virtue
among the citizens. Virtue, these fundamentalists argue, is
a higher principle than liberty.

Indeed it is. And let us admit that in a free society, freedom will
frequently be used badly. Freedom, by definition, includes
the freedom to do good or evil, to act nobly or basely. But if freedom
brings out the worst in people, it also brings out the best.
The millions of Americans who live decent, praiseworthy lives desire our
highest admiration because they have opted for the good
when the good is not the only available option. Even amidst the
temptations of a rich and free society, they have remained on the
straight path. Their virtue has special luster because it is freely
chosen.

By contrast, the societies that many Islamic fundamentalists seek
would eliminate the possibility of virtue. If the supply of
virtue is insufficient in a free society like America, it is almost
non-existent in an unfree society like Iran. The reason is that
coerced virtues are not virtues at all. Consider the woman who is required
to wear a veil. There is no modesty in this, because she
is being compelled Compulsion cannot produce virtue, it can only produce
the outward semblance of virtue. Thus a free society like
America is not merely more prosperous, more varied, more peaceful, and
more tolerant - it is also morally superior to the theocratic
and authoritarian regimes that America's enemies advocate.

"To make us love our country," Edmund Burke once said, "our country
ought to be lovely." Burke's point is that we should love
our country not just because it is ours, but also because it is good.
America is far from perfect, and there is lots of room for
improvement. In spite of its flaws, however, the American life as it is
lived today is the best life that our world has to offer.
Ultimately America is worthy of our love and sacrifice because, more than
any other society, it makes possible the good life, and
the life that is good.

- Dinesh D'Souza's best-selling book What's So Great About America
has just been published in paperback by Penguin Books. He
is the Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Do you buy your crack from Moroon?


"Gilligan" wrote in message thlink.net...
What you have described here is America of the past.

Let's take a look at the futu

The law of the land, the US Constitution is becoming less and less relevant.

Spending under the Bush administrations first three years has gone up 13.5%.
The same time duration under Clinton only yielded an increase of 3.3%. Of
the five largest yearly increases in the federal budget in history, three
have occured under Bush. His legacy as governor of Texas confirms he is all
for big spending and big government. Less than 1/2 of Bush's spending was
for the military, the rest entitlements. He has saddled our future with big
government and the costs that go along with it.

Today, where is the opportunity? The only engineering and science jobs are
with the military-industrial complex. Even lawyers are unemployed. Health
insurance costs have gone up 30% in the last year for many companies. Look
at the costs businesses are saddled with due to government legislation.
Health care, social security, unemployment, OSHA, etc, etc. That's why many
jobs are going overseas, it simply costs too much to hire someone here. It's
the overhead, not the wage.

Why hasn't the economy pulled out of the recession? After all, people
trained in economics have been predicting a pullout for years now. Watch the
housing bubble burst. All those people with jobs in the trades will be
unemployed. People who have overmortgaged their houses will be paying on
loans worth nothing. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are on real shaky ground. If
low interest rates spur the economy, and we have the lowest rates since
1958, why isn't the economy booming? Why is there no risk taking in the
economy?

America is loosing good paying jobs rapidly. It's common to hear of someone
who three years ago was a physicist working on some new amazing technology
making 100K a year, now driving a delivery truck for $12.50 an hour. The
creative edge of our economy is no longer valued. The only job opportunities
that exist are in services, which are low paying and create no wealth.

The Republicans were our last stand against big, expensive and encroaching
government. They have let us down. We were swindled.

Tax cuts? What good are they when other costs go up because of government?

The best thing one can do is pack up your sailboat and go to a country where
it costs less to live. Have your stipend checks mailed to you and only come
back for health care. If you don't get checks from the government to live
on, or don't have the government paying your health care or don't have the
government as an employer, then you are hosed. Get a job in the underground
economy, because your PhD means nothing when you are pushing a mower. If you
push the mower legitimately you'll need licenses, permits, compliance
certificates, an accountant, a lawyer, etc. A ten dollar lawn job now must
support 40 dollars in government overhead - if you let it.

If you love America, read and know the Constitution. Look at what our
government has become. Is this what the Constitution intended?

If you want to see our economic future, look to Europe. In the past America
has pulled out of economic slumps. But no administration in peacetime
history has grown the Leviathen as the current administration, supposed
defenders of liberty. Next election get out and vote. Vote for gridlock,
it's our only hope until another Goldwater or Reagan comes along.

Gilligan







"jlrogers" wrote in message
.. .
America provides an amazingly good life for the ordinary guy.: Rich
people live well everywhere. But what distinguishes
America is that it provides an impressively high standard of living for
the "common man." We now live in a country where
construction workers regularly pay $4 for a nonfat latte, where maids
drive nice cars, and where plumbers take their families on
vacation to Europe.

Indeed newcomers to the United States are struck by the amenities
enjoyed by "poor" people in the United States. This fact was
dramatized in the 1980s when CBS television broadcast a documentary,
People Like Us, which was intended to show the miseries of the
poor during an ongoing recession. The Soviet Union also broadcast the
documentary, with a view to embarrassing the Reagan
administration. But by the testimony of former Soviet leaders, it had the
opposite effect. Ordinary people across the Soviet Union
saw that the poorest Americans have TV sets, microwave ovens, and cars.
They arrived at the same perception that I witnessed in an
acquaintance of mine from Bombay who has been unsuccessfully trying to
move to the United States. I asked him, "Why are you so eager
to come to America?" He replied, "I really want to live in a country where
the poor people are fat."

America offers more opportunity and social mobility than any other
country, including the countries of Europe: America is the
only country that has created a population of "self-made tycoons." Only in
America could Pierre Omidyar, whose parents are Iranian
and who grew up in Paris, have started a company like eBay. Only in
America could Vinod Khosla, the son of an Indian army officer,
become a leading venture capitalist, the shaper of the technology
industry, and a billionaire to boot. Admittedly tycoons are not
typical, but no country has created a better ladder than America for
people to ascend from modest circumstances to success.

Work and trade are respectable in America, which is not true
elsewhe Historically most cultures have despised the merchant
and the laborer, regarding the former as vile and corrupt and the latter
as degraded and vulgar. Some cultures, such as that of
ancient Greece and medieval Islam, even held that it is better to acquire
things through plunder than through trade or contract
labor. But the American founders altered this moral hierarchy. They
established a society in which the life of the businessman, and
of the people who worked for him, would be a noble calling. In the
American view, there is nothing vile or degraded about serving
your customers either as a CEO or as a waiter. The ordinary life of
production and supporting a family is more highly valued in the
United States than in any other country. Indeed America is the only
country in the world where we call the waiter "sir," as if he
were a knight.

America has achieved greater social equality than any other
society.: True, there are large inequalities of income and wealth
in America. In purely economic terms, Europe is more egalitarian. But
Americans are socially more equal than any other people, and
this is unaffected by economic disparities. Tocqueville noticed this
egalitarianism a century and a half ago, but it is if anything
more prevalent today. For all his riches, Bill Gates could not approach
the typical American and say, "Here's a $100 bill. I'll give
it to you if you kiss my feet." Most likely the person would tell Gates to
go to hell! The American view is that the rich guy may
have more money, but he isn't in any fundamental sense better than anyone
else.

People live longer, fuller lives in America.: Although protesters
rail against the American version of technological
capitalism at trade meetings around the world, in reality the American
system has given citizens many more years of life, and the
means to live more intensely and actively. In 1900, the life expectancy in
America was around 50 years; today, it is more than 75
years. Advances in medicine and agriculture are mainly responsible for the
change. This extension of the life-span means more years
to enjoy life, more free time to devote to a good cause, and more
occasions to do things with the grandchildren. In many countries,
people who are old seem to have nothing to do: They just wait to die. In
America the old are incredibly vigorous, and people in
their seventies pursue the pleasures of life, including remarriage and
sexual gratification, with a zeal that I find unnerving.

In America the destiny of the young is not given to them but created
by them.: Not long ago, I asked myself, "What would my
life have been like if I had never come to the United States?" If I had
remained in India, I would probably have lived my whole life
within a five-mile radius of where I was born. I would undoubtedly have
married a woman of my identical religious and socioeconomic
background. I would almost certainly have become a medical doctor, or an
engineer, or a computer programmer. I would have socialized
entirely within my ethic community. I would have a whole set of opinions
that could be predicted in advance; indeed, they would not
be very different from what my father believed, or his father before him.
In sum, my destiny would to a large degree have been given
to me.

In America, I have seen my life take a radically different course.
In college I became interested in literature and politics,
and I resolved to make a career as a writer. I married a woman whose
ancestry is English, French, Scotch-Irish, German, and American
Indian. In my twenties I found myself working as a policy analyst in the
White House, even though I was not an American citizen. No
other country, I am sure, would have permitted a foreigner to work in its
inner citadel of government.

In most countries in the world, your fate and your identity are
handed to you; in America, you determine them for yourself.
America is a country where you get to write the script of your own life.
Your life is like a blank sheet of paper, and you are the
artist. This notion of being the architect of your own destiny is the
incredibly powerful idea that is behind the worldwide appeal
of America. Young people especially find irresistible the prospect of
authoring the narrative of their own lives.

America has gone further than any other society in establishing
equality of rights.: There is nothing distinctively American
about slavery or bigotry. Slavery has existed in virtually every culture,
and xenophobia, prejudice, and discrimination are
worldwide phenomena. Western civilization is the only civilization to
mount a principled campaign against slavery; no country
expended more treasure and blood to get rid of slavery than the United
States. While racism remains a problem in America, this
country has made strenuous efforts to eradicate discrimination, even to
the extent of enacting policies that give legal preference
in university admissions, jobs, and government contracts to members of
minority groups. Such policies remain controversial, but the
point is that it is extremely unlikely that a racist society would have
permitted such policies in the first place. And surely
African Americans like Jesse Jackson are vastly better off living in
America than they would be if they were to live in, say,
Ethiopia or Somalia.

America has found a solution to the problem of religious and ethnic
conflict that continues to divide and terrorize much of
the world.: Visitors to places like New York are amazed to see the way in
which Serbs and Croatians, Sikhs and Hindus, Irish
Catholics and Irish Protestants, Jews and Palestinians, all seem to work
and live together in harmony. How is this possible when
these same groups are spearing each other and burning each other's homes
in so many places in the world?

The American answer is twofold. First, separate the spheres of
religion and government so that no religion is given official
preference but all are free to practice their faith as they wish. Second,
do not extend rights to racial or ethnic groups but only
to individuals; in this way, all are equal in the eyes of the law,
opportunity is open to anyone who can take advantage of it, and
everybody who embraces the American way of life can "become American."

Of course there are exceptions to these core principles, even in
America. Racial preferences are one such exception, which
explains why they are controversial. But in general America is the only
country in the world that extends full membership to
outsiders. The typical American could come to India, live for 40 years,
and take Indian citizenship. But he could not "become
Indian." He wouldn't see himself that way, nor would most Indians see him
that way. In America, by contrast, hundreds of millions
have come from far-flung shores and over time they, or at least their
children, have in a profound and full sense "become American."

America has the kindest, gentlest foreign policy of any great power
in world history.: Critics of the U.S. are likely to react
to this truth with sputtering outrage. They will point to longstanding
American support for a Latin or Middle Eastern despot, or the
unjust internment of the Japanese during World War II, or America's
reluctance to impose sanctions on South Africa's apartheid
regime. However one feels about these particular cases, let us concede to
the critics the point that America is not always in the
right.

What the critics leave out is the other side of the ledger. Twice in
the 20th century, the United States saved the world:
first from the Nazi threat, then from Soviet totalitarianism. What would
have been the world's fate if America had not existed?
After destroying Germany and Japan in World War II, the U.S. proceeded to
rebuild both countries, and today they are American
allies. Now we are doing the same thing in Afghanistan and Iraq. Consider,
too, how magnanimous the U.S. has been to the former
Soviet Union after its victory in the Cold War. For the most part America
is an abstaining superpower: It shows no real interest in
conquering and subjugating the rest of the world. (Imagine how the Soviets
would have acted if they had won the Cold War.) On
occasion the America intervenes to overthrow a tyrannical regime or to
halt massive human rights abuses in another country, but it
never stays to rule that country. In Grenada, Haiti, and Bosnia, the U.S.
got in and then it got out. Moreover, when America does
get into a war, as in Iraq, its troops are supremely careful to avoid
targeting civilians and to minimize collateral damage. Even as
America bombed the Taliban infrastructure and hideouts, U.S. planes
dropped rations of food to avert hardship and starvation of
Afghan civilians. What other country does these things?

America, the freest nation on earth, is also the most virtuous
nation on earth.: This point seems counter-intuitive, given the
amount of conspicuous vulgarity, vice, and immorality in America. Indeed
some Islamic fundamentalists argue that their regimes are
morally superior to the United States because they seek to foster virtue
among the citizens. Virtue, these fundamentalists argue, is
a higher principle than liberty.

Indeed it is. And let us admit that in a free society, freedom will
frequently be used badly. Freedom, by definition, includes
the freedom to do good or evil, to act nobly or basely. But if freedom
brings out the worst in people, it also brings out the best.
The millions of Americans who live decent, praiseworthy lives desire our
highest admiration because they have opted for the good
when the good is not the only available option. Even amidst the
temptations of a rich and free society, they have remained on the
straight path. Their virtue has special luster because it is freely
chosen.

By contrast, the societies that many Islamic fundamentalists seek
would eliminate the possibility of virtue. If the supply of
virtue is insufficient in a free society like America, it is almost
non-existent in an unfree society like Iran. The reason is that
coerced virtues are not virtues at all. Consider the woman who is required
to wear a veil. There is no modesty in this, because she
is being compelled Compulsion cannot produce virtue, it can only produce
the outward semblance of virtue. Thus a free society like
America is not merely more prosperous, more varied, more peaceful, and
more tolerant — it is also morally superior to the theocratic
and authoritarian regimes that America's enemies advocate.

"To make us love our country," Edmund Burke once said, "our country
ought to be lovely." Burke's point is that we should love
our country not just because it is ours, but also because it is good.
America is far from perfect, and there is lots of room for
improvement. In spite of its flaws, however, the American life as it is
lived today is the best life that our world has to offer.
Ultimately America is worthy of our love and sacrifice because, more than
any other society, it makes possible the good life, and
the life that is good.

— Dinesh D'Souza's best-selling book What's So Great About America
has just been published in paperback by Penguin Books. He
is the Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

I've seen you miss the point before, but this time you missed it while simultaneously surrounding it with your ass. It must 'ave
slipped 'tween your cheeks and tickled your splinter.


"Scout" wrote in message ...
I've heard Dinesh D'Souza speak, and I like most of what he says. However,
when he speaks of plumbers and waiters and other such workers, and is in awe
that they have some cash and some rights, he also needs to know that it was
plumbers and waiters construction workers who fought, suffered, and often
died to make America what it is today.

We now live in a country where construction workers regularly pay $4 for a
nonfat latte
where maids drive nice cars, and where plumbers take their families on
vacation to Europe.
- Which is how it should be.

"I really want to live in a country where the poor people are fat."
- this is true

no country has created a better ladder than America for people to ascend
from modest circumstances to success.
- this is true

Work and trade are respectable in America
- They deserve respect, but America still looks down on the tradespeople,
big mistake. This is not true in some other places, like Germany, where the
trades are honored. In America, we send our academically failing students,
behavior problems, malcontents, and social misfits to the Vocational high
schools to learn a trade. It is only the trade unions who are seeing
through this farce, and they recruit new members not from vocational high
schools, but from colleges. Trade Union members are told to not send their
children to vocational high schools. How sad this is that the educational
systems has *******ized an ancient and proven system of apprenticing.

In the American view, there is nothing vile or degraded about serving your
customers either as a CEO or as a waiter.
- Unfortunately, neither is likely to get good service. Try dealing with the
IRS, any insurance agency, any governmental agency, any business with more
than 50 employees. Good luck.

Indeed America is the only country in the world where we call the waiter
"sir," as if he were a knight.
- I was a waiter when I was a young college student, so I can't agree with
this one. People, especially our visiting neighbors from New York, treated
us like ****. Then they typically stiffed us for a tip. Meanwhile, food
workers make less than minimum wage.


For all his riches, Bill Gates could not approach the typical American
and say, "Here's a $100 bill. I'll give
it to you if you kiss my feet." Most likely the person would tell Gates
to go to hell!
- He should visit Times Square, people are doing a lot more than kiss feet
for a lot less money.

Scout

My splinter? hahaha!
Oh Please! Maybe I should just copy and paste someone else's opinion and
call it my own. As you do, for example. Your MO seems to consist mainly of
piggy-backing on what others are saying. This is America pal, surely you
can afford your own thoughts. I've read your work too, and no offense, but I
don't think I'll be worrying about your opinion anytime soon.
Ironically, I agreed with many of D'Souza's points. Still, you are saying I
must agree with everything he says, or risk your reprisals? Are you one of
those folks who cannot even be agreed with? Well, such is life (at least, in
America).
Scout


"jlrogers" wrote
I've seen you miss the point before, but this time you missed it while
simultaneously surrounding it with your ass. It must 'ave
slipped 'tween your cheeks and tickled your splinter.


"Scout" wrote in message
...
I've heard Dinesh D'Souza speak, and I like most of what he says.
However,
when he speaks of plumbers and waiters and other such workers, and is in
awe
that they have some cash and some rights, he also needs to know that it
was
plumbers and waiters construction workers who fought, suffered, and
often
died to make America what it is today.

We now live in a country where construction workers regularly pay $4
for a
nonfat latte
where maids drive nice cars, and where plumbers take their families on
vacation to Europe.
- Which is how it should be.

"I really want to live in a country where the poor people are fat."
- this is true

no country has created a better ladder than America for people to
ascend
from modest circumstances to success.
- this is true

Work and trade are respectable in America
- They deserve respect, but America still looks down on the
tradespeople,
big mistake. This is not true in some other places, like Germany, where
the
trades are honored. In America, we send our academically failing
students,
behavior problems, malcontents, and social misfits to the Vocational
high
schools to learn a trade. It is only the trade unions who are seeing
through this farce, and they recruit new members not from vocational
high
schools, but from colleges. Trade Union members are told to not send
their
children to vocational high schools. How sad this is that the
educational
systems has *******ized an ancient and proven system of apprenticing.

In the American view, there is nothing vile or degraded about serving
your
customers either as a CEO or as a waiter.
- Unfortunately, neither is likely to get good service. Try dealing with
the
IRS, any insurance agency, any governmental agency, any business with
more
than 50 employees. Good luck.

Indeed America is the only country in the world where we call the
waiter
"sir," as if he were a knight.
- I was a waiter when I was a young college student, so I can't agree
with
this one. People, especially our visiting neighbors from New York,
treated
us like ****. Then they typically stiffed us for a tip. Meanwhile, food
workers make less than minimum wage.


For all his riches, Bill Gates could not approach the typical
American
and say, "Here's a $100 bill. I'll give
it to you if you kiss my feet." Most likely the person would tell
Gates
to go to hell!
- He should visit Times Square, people are doing a lot more than kiss
feet
for a lot less money.

Scout