SB: Re: Not quite (OT, still)

["Bill Hunt" <billhunt@redrock.net>]

Just interested in SB? The delete key is your friend :-).  (Free clue: the
title says OT, as in Off Topic ;-).

> Sorry, but I would guess that most Americans, exposed to the
> socialist politics, excuciatingly PC thought, exhorbitantly high tax
> rates, and shocking limits on personal freedom allowed in the
> EU...would go running home singing "God Bless America" at the top of
> their lungs.

Oh, no, socialist politics- sounds worse than "liberals"!

A friend of mine moved to Switzerland recently, he loves it so much over
there.  The strong level of environmental awareness there has resulted in
much better protected canyons where some of the prettiest ski areas are.
For example, mass transit trains run up some canyons, not roads.  You can't
drive up some of the canyons! But you can drive an electric car to the train
station in the valley, and plug it in at the train station. You get on the
ski lifts right out of the train station at the top. Here in Utah, we have
bumper to bumper traffic up the canyons during much of the ski season, in a
parade of huge sport utility vehicles, and tour buses belching foul diesel
smoke (which seem to be immune from emissions regs.  I don't understand how
some buses and trucks are allowed to be so dirty)  Clueless drivers
constantly burn their brakes on the way down in the summer, resulting in a
constant "burned brake" smell, and some bad crashes.   "Personal freedoms"
are very different, clearly.  It would be extremely difficult to get
Americans to give up their cars, for a mass transit system that pollutes
less, and uses energy more efficiently.   Above a certian density of
people/cars,  the train moves people up the canyon faster than a V-8 SUV can
in bumper to bumper traffic.

On the other hand, the tendency to sue people here in the US has greatly
reduced the freedom to ski extreme terrain, in and out of bounds.  In
Europe, you are free to seek out the steepest terrain you can find.  I
suppose this is not a personal freedom many people think about, but here in
the Wasatch, its quite important ;-).   As you can tell, there's *a lot* of
serious political debate here on the high peaks.  (Is it supposed to snow
tomorrow? How about the day after?)  Ski area restrictions are very limiting
here, and are driven by the sue-happy legal system, as well as a tendency
for authorities to want to control what others do.  While I'm ranting here,
helmet laws are rediculous.  So are seatbelt laws.   They should outlaw
high-cholesterol hamburgers, and not brushing your teeth, if they want to
tell everyone whats good for them.  I like the Autobahn concept, too.  Speed
limits are often unrealisticly low, so they can set speed traps, and take
your money.

Yes, taxes are very high over there.  But they do take care of all their
citizens.  Noone is homeless.   Noone is hungry.  Here in the United States,
many of our fellow human beings live on the streets, or in overcrowded
shelters, often while working a low wage job.  Homelessness is a threat to
many working class Americans.  Many working Americans do not have health
insurance.  An injury can be devastating, especially off the job, when you
aren't covered by Workers Comp.

I think we can learn alot from other countries, in Europe and elsewhere.
And I'm sure they can learn something from us. A visitor in Salt Lake from
Tokyo gave me a very interesting perspective recently.  On what looked like
a busy street to me, she said: "Where are all the people? Where are the
buses? Where are the trains?  In Tokyo, there is a bus every 3 minutes, a
train every 3 minutes."  She couldn't believe you would have to wait 30 to
60 minutes for a bus.  "How do you get around this town?" I'm not about to
move to Japan, or anywhere else, but it is interesting to contemplate a
society with a comprehensive mass transit system, especially as our
population continues to rise rapidly (in Utah anyway).

Cheers- WasatchBill




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