Trump! The Neo what?

[Lune]

Originally Posted by Raev [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I don't think this statement is factually correct (the German government is currently fucking over its citizens by inviting millions of Syrians in and paying for their food and lodging), enlightening (if the Germans have more control over their government, it's probably because Germany is smaller and, until recently, more culturally homogeneous), or grammatically correct (it's a runon sentence) but it is completely coherent.

As much as I disagree with the policy, I'm not sure I'd agree that Germany inviting in what amounts to 1.25% of its population completely fucks over the country to the extent that it's suddenly not "happier and healthier" than the US. It's still a drop in the bucket compared to the parallel societies we have going here in the US. Yes, 'happier' isn't a rigorous term, I'm only using it as a synthesis of all the various metrics for human welfare in which Germany surpasses the USA (HDI, GINI, life expectancy, education, corruption, social mobility, etc).

With regard to differences between the political systems of USA and Germany... it's complicated. Our problems date back to the 1700's and profound cultural and ideological differences between segments of our population, and it's an oversimplification of me to say "If we want to improve our political process, we should just copy Germany!". It's apples and oranges. But I do believe we have good options on the table, stuff like WolfPAC and real campaign finance / gerrymandering reform, and when I say we should be more like Germany, I mean we should fix our system so it works as well as theirs, not emulate their political process. I'm not convinced representative democracy can't work with 300 million people but can with 80 or 127 million. Heterogeneity is a real problem though.

That said, Germany is by no means perfect, and I think I use European systems too much as a way to demonstrate more leftist policies producing better outcomes. It's obviously a flawed and tired approach and there are dozens of things you can justifiably nitpick about it. It's just lazy.