A lesson in factual assesments.

Submitted by McCutcheon Pinckney (United States), Oct 6, 2006 at 23:34

Oh, this is a sad sight to behold. An Australian telling Americans what to do. Do I have a lesson for you today.

I don't know where to begin, so I'll just randomly start. If you must know, the speed limit on most American highways is 70 mph. Out in Arizona, or other such open country, the speed limits are higher because, "drum roll....." there aren't many cars on the road. You must be thinking about Germany, where they go over 100mph on the autoban as the norm. Speed limits within city limits usually ranges from 35 to 45, maybe up to 65 if it is a four lane road.

You talk about America's medical system. If our doctors are so terrible, why is our life expectancy rate one of the highest in the world? Why do most medical breakthroughs occur in the United States? Oh, I don't know, it must be our terrible doctors and researchers who come up with these breakthroughs. I'm not saying it couldn't be better. For one, they could stop charging so damn much. Another thing is that lawyers could stop suing doctors for malpractice when the actual rate is quite low. That causes doctors to increase their fees for service.

I agree, fast food has become a problem in the United States. Now, I don't think that there is anything wrong with getting Wendy's, Mcdonalds, or Burgerking 2 or 3 times a week. But many people go there 5-7 times a week instead of cooking at home. Now that is wrong. I don't think that you hit on the many great aspects of American foods. Come on, southern food is absolutely amazing. Granted, I am a son of the south, so I am biased, but you can't beat southern food. The yankees have good stuff too. We have Italian, French, English, Chinese, Thai, Spanish, Mexican, etc, etc, etc, food. We have foods from every culture on the planet. So don't tell me our food is crap, because you just insulted the foods of every nation on the earth.

What else did you talk about. Oh ya, employment. Yes, I guess our pay is horrible. That is why the United States has the largest number of Immigrants (legal and illegal) of any nation. Why would these people come if our wages and working conditions are so horrible? Granted, you are from Australia. Australia is not exactly known for its back-breaking work. 80% of your population lives within 20 miles of the coast. Your population isn't very large. What is it now, 38 million? A large amount of your income comes from tourism. Not exactly the same as Johny workin in the field is it? The United States leads the world in manufacturing. We have the worlds largest agriculture output. These are labor jobs. They get payed labor wages. I know there is exploitation of migrant workers, hell it goes on in my county. But on the grand scale, the United States has wages and working conditions that far exceed the world's averages. That is why people come to the United States to seek a better life.

You talked about our cars. I agree that we need to find an alternative source of energy for our cars. Electric/gas hybrids cost much more that purely gasoline driven cars. People would rather pay the lower price. Our dependence on foreign oil is frightening. One problem is that the United States has enough domestic oil to suffice our need. We could expand drilling in Alaska, in the Gulf of Mexico, etc. However, enviromentalist wackos constantly block the way. Don't get me wrong, the environment is one of, if not the most important, things on this planet. However, with todays technology and oil drilling/transport safety measures, the environment would not be impacted. Since the incidents in Alaska what, 10 years ago, safety and durability have been greatly improved. There is a misconception about oil. We will always need oil. Do people forget that oil is used to make plastics? Plastic is the miracle substance of today and tomorrow. Think of all the things that are made from plastic. The list goes on and on. Sure, eventually we will run out of oil, but plastics are a major by-product of oil.

I kinda went astray there. About the cars. There is a distinctly American idea of the big flashy car. We like big flashy cars. So what? Not everyone drives them. The #1 selling sedan in America is the Toyota Camry. The Camry is not big and flashy, and it isn't a gas guzzler. It gets between 24 miles per gallon city, and 33 miles per gallon highway. That is pretty good. It is still in the American psyche to want a big flashy car. Do you foreigners feel inadequate or something? Why are you so offended about our cars?

Oh, I forgot about your comment on the "70 ingredients." Check your Australian foods. You will find the same thing, :(

If you don't like America so much, why come here in the first place. A lot of people complain about the United States. But that doesn't stop them from accepting our foreign aid( the United States provides the largest amount, per capita, of foreign aid than any other nation by the way), asking for military assistance, etc, etc, etc. If you don't like us, don't ask for our help. Go about your lives, and deal with the problems in your own country, by yourselves. You obviously don't need American help. Just ask the French, English, South Koreans, and basically the rest of the free world, if they needed our help in their time of need. (It's a little thing we call WW1, WW2, and Korea.)

Good luck people, Keyes out.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".