Posted by J.H. on March 21, 1999 at 11:36:49 {MWKQmDRkic4cM}:
In Reply to: ****Realization posted by Conservative Ideas? on March 21, 1999 at 11:01:10:
WW again,
I see you still don't understand. You still see everything in black and white. If I criticize one aspect of the USA, then you pretend I demonize the country and the people completely. If I set Western Europe as an example you should consider in one aspect, you think I say Europe is heaven. It just isn't so. It's just that you've gotten some things right we should learn from you, and the other way around.
We were discussing issues, not who or where is best. And the whole idea that "permissiveness" and "breaking families" caused the American surge in crime in the early 70s and especially 80s, is totally unsupported by facts. That these events somewhat coincides doesn't support the idea that one caused the other, since it did not happen in other countries that went far further in "permissiveness". There is a correlation between child births and number of storks, you know. It's a fact. But storks still don't bring the children; it's a bit more messy than that as you may be aware.
Abortion: many difficult questions, like in most real-life issue. The ostrich approach doesn't help much.
: Consistent morality indeed ruled this country since it's inception, regarding family and puritan lifestyles.
That is true, if you replace "morals" with "moralism". You may not have invented double standards, but you did bring it to perfection.
If you think the 1980s crime rate was bad, compare it to anywhere in the US up to around 1910. The surge from the 1970s, reversed from around 1990, was nothing compared to the crime rate in the last century. That alone debunks your totally ahistorical claim. The lowcrime rates of the 50s and 60s are totally exceptional in recorded history (we had the same development in Europe, but mostly without the extreme increase in the 70s and 80s). What has happened after that is more a return to "normal" rates.
: I would suspect that in a smaller country, one has less urban problems to start with. We are comparing apples and oranges to a certain extent.
Paris is comparable in size and role as Washington D.C. Go ahead and compare those cities. In
fact, CNN did this a year or two ago, and you might find something on their site still.