JMU DJ wrote:CID1990 wrote:
I haven't spent much time in France, but if you ever wanted to find yourself a nanny state to live in, go check out Germany and Great Britain. I have spent lots of time in those places and believe me, the only real freedom you have there is when you take a sh!t.
I can give you the addresses and phone numbers to the French and British Consulates General if you'd like to immigrate on over there and see for yourself.
Look about the same to me... but yeah, I've been thinking about doing a post doc over there, that info would be greatly appreciated
When I consider personal freedoms, I include not having to pay exorbitant costs for that freedom. In other words, I don't think the government should be taking care of my every want, and I should not be paying for that same government to be taking care of everybody else's wants.
I see that Germany is "more free" than the U.S. according to your map. However, I would argue that your map does not take oppressive taxation into account. Otherwise, the Scandinavian countries like Norway would drop down quite a bit.
I would also question the map's criteria in terms of freedom of speech. Germany and France proscribe certain kinds of speech. For instance, denying any aspect of the Holocaust will land you in jail in Germany. So will the open display of Nazi insignia. Granted, those things are despicable, but at least in this country we can be as nutty as we want to be without fear of incarceration. They don't have that in the most "progressive" European countries. Perhaps some people in this country agree with this mindset.
Part of what led to the kinds of taxation we see in places like Norway is the result of snowballing entitlements. It is so bad in some of those countries that some incomes are taxed as high as 70%. What does this money pay for? Consider for a moment that if you are farmer in Sweden, the government considers it an entitlement for you to take vacation. Therefore, when you take vacation, farm workers will be paid to tend your farm for a couple weeks a year while you go hump reindeer or whatever. Entitlements like that started with the notion that government should supply every want, such as vacation. Once the mandate extended to the private sector, it was an unstoppable train.
This is one of the reasons that I normally oppose social spending that on its face appears to be completely rational and compassionate. Once you extend largesse to one group, you eventually have no choice but to continue extending it.
BTW- If you want a student visa to Germany you can apply online at
http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/ ... ation.html.
If you want to study in France-
http://www.consulfrance-washington.org/.
If you want to immigrate to one of those countries, you can apply at either place for an immigrant visa. If you are useful to either country, say, as a climatologist or a tax collector, then once you get your visa you can renounce your U.S. citizenship at any of the U.S. Consulates in Germany (3 of them, I believe) or France (about 4 or 5 of them).
Germany and France are both visa waiver countries, so you do not need a visa to visit as a tourist, but then you won't get the full utopian view in just 60 days.
), its time to spread more of the truth around here, too. 
