My problem with young American socialists is the flip side of my problem with Donald J Trump. Both don't know what they don't know, the former because of the structural limitations of youth, the latter because he's been a blowhard for decades.
Western European countries undeniably provide a more generous safety net than we do. Put to the side for the moment whether or not this is bad for the economy and human flourishing.
Put to the side the enormous trade-offs that must be made for subsidized health care for aging populations.
They are able to do this because we underwrite basically their entire defense infrastructure.
They are able to do this because they trade under the incredibly free, standardized, and well-maintained international trade system We inherited from the British and improved to our specifications.
Ignorant children look at this arrangement and say, "Why can't we have this too?"
An ignorant old man looks and says, "No fair! We're doing all the work!"
We did all the work, and we can't have it too, because we built the system to work to our advantage, an advantage we all enjoy today.
Supply and information chains stretch across the world, touching every corner, because we built them, designed them, and protect them.
Food, clothing, fuel, luxuries, everything is cheaper because of those chains.
We built a system designed to keep Europe from going to Continental war by making them fat, gray, and happy.
It infected us too btw
It infected us too btw
