hglindquist - 9:00 AM ET July 29, 2005 (#42725)
Re: French Family Values
I appreciate Paul Krugman writing about other possibilities for arranging the way we live.
As a person of Scandinavian descent I have long held the view that we are far too concerned about "socialism" and not concerned enough about "fascism" creeping into our systems.
When I reflect on the manner in which communities came together in the formation of our great nation to develop political and economic systems to meet the common needs, we didn't seem to be so encumbered with mental blinders against cooperative efforts in laying out our towns and villages, building water systems for instance, establishing the "rules of the commons".
People seemed to understand that some things are best sorted out in open debate between all the stakeholders in an issue. We knew that some issues left to the vagaries of "The Invisible Hand", could be irrationally distorted by the accumulation of economic power in the hands of a few, and monopolism could supplant capitalism under the guise of a free market.
Maybe I am being too idealistic in my hindsight; however, I find it somewhat humorous to read denunciation of ideas for ostensibly valid reasons which on closer examination are revealed to be chauvinistic responses to a foreign source ... as if most of what we now call the United States didn't stem from foreign sources.
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