@CyonoticWasp, I DON’T live in Germany. And I pay less in tax than you do (supposing you have a job, where as I don’t, I’m self employed and can’t pay myself anything yet) but my healthcare is still free. I’m glad I live in a country where people look after each other by choosing, DEMOCRATICALLY, to do so with no ‘government guns pointed at our heads’. Of course health care is paid for, but in our system, it doesn’t have to support billions of dollars of fat cat middlemen in their tall glass insurance buildings.
@primigravida I was born in the US and lived there for half of my life. I think I can speak with some credibility on the subject. I’m glad that your life is what you want it to be, but we’re not talking about you specifically. We’re talking about generalities. And we’re talking about regulations, not standards of living (which, btw, is a matter of fact based on this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index) I believe I live in the first country on this list and you live in the 13th. If we’re speaking PERSONALLY, I personally, had a higher standard of living when I was living in the country ranked 20 on this list… so you see… I’m not talking about personal experience, just general.
@primobabe I’m one of those American’s to which you speak, BUT my point was that the value placed on ‘NO RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOMS’ ends up being reflected in strange ways. To me, having fewer hang-ups about an exposed breast but being more restrictive about where alcohol can be purchased makes more sense in a regulatory way than what currently exist in the US. It’s no panacea where I live. I wish I could buy wine at my grocery store, but I can’t.