Damned Texans

[I_am_not_mafia]

ok. I get that. But you have completely ignored everything I've said, except to surf through it and copy/paste things to show I'm generalizing. Great. EVERYONE generalizes. I'm talking about the liberal situation in the US, which you are not a part of. Although I have spent time in your country, I don't know the politics, particularly. My statements may be way off mark for England, but I think they're spot-on for America. 

Well I've made my point and I won't labour it. I can give my own thoughts about what you have said but it would be off-topic for this thread. Basically I find that explaining things in terms of non-equilibrium thermodynamics to be more enlightening. Central to any form of government is how effectively it uses the available energy in order to maximise entropy. You can't properly compare liberalism, capitalism, communism, feudalism or whatever without taking in account the free energy available and the constraints on natural resources. It's easy to be more liberal when society has tapped a new source of cheap energy and has few demands. Communism lost out to capitalism because it was not able to maximise entropy as effectively in a world of depleting cheap oil. Yet in a world of exponentially depleting resources capitalism will eventually eat itself. We may well end up going back to feudal systems where most of us end up as serfs with no freedom, little wealth and few prospects. Or maybe we will tap a new source of cheap energy with fusion power or by asteroid mining for resources which means that we can do more with the existing energy sources on Earth. In which case over population will require liberal attitudes in order for all of us to get along and not kill each other. Look at how polite people are in Japan and how overcrowded it is.

Basically, when I saw that you folks maintained a royal family for no apparent reason I lost any interest in how you govern.

I'd personally love to put every member of the royal family to the guillotine, face up so they see the blade come down. And I'd like to do it to everyone that publicly acknowledges how far in line to the throne they are. I think of the royal family as parasites and are the human face of the establishment to make it respectable. The establishment is a remanent of the feudal system that has persisted because we have never been conquered or had a proper revolution. The establishment burdens us with a class system that stops any form of social mobility while feeding off the productiveness of the masses and gives away just enough power to stave off the threat of revolution.

On the whole politics is actually quite fun to watch in this country because the established politicians in Westminster are so corrupt, incompetent and greedy, it's like a real life soap opera. But as a way of running the country it's utterly shit. This is why German politics is relatively boring. People just seem to get on and do the jobs that they're supposed to do.

I'm of german descent. I spent every summer in Germany growing up. My family only spoke German on sundays. I have to disagree with you on quality of life. I would MUCH rather live here than in Germany, and I love the German people. The culture is so restrictive, they don't have freedom...I would feel smothered, and would probably wind up in jail.

I understand that and expected this objection when I wrote it. My father is German and he has always preferred living in England for that very reason. I'm half English, half German and I prefer living in either Scotland or Germany. Your own personal values determine whether a particular country works for you or not. For example I never plan on living in England again because my own personal needs and values are fulfilled better in Germany or Scotland.

But as a society I consider quality of life in Germany to be better than in Britain because things generally work more efficiently and smoothly. The cost of that may be too high depending on your own personal situation and needs. For example, I'm a woman who works in a male dominated area and the cost is too high for me because I need to find work and do not want to stay at home having babies.

Your impression of the US is incorrect. We don't have gun battles everywhere and mad-max style wastelands controlled by warlords, lol...in fact, the only places where you have a good chance of being shot are large LIBERAL RUN cities. This is a statistical fact.

I never expressed an impression of the US. I will reveal though that my impression of the US is that it is a very harsh society if you are not rich and that this does not fit in with my own personal values. I do not want to spend my life in pursuit of wealth. It is more important to me to contribute something, which is why I am a scientist.