Hi everyone, it is Melissa again. I feel like I have so much to say, but have no idea where to begin. So I guess I will begin with my job. I started with the York City Council 2 weeks ago and I am really liking it. The Coucil is basically the local government, made up of many different agencies. I am an administrative assistant for Family Learning, a subset of Adult Education. We provide free education and free childcare for adults that do not have the basics. We provide english, math, and parenting classes and also fun classes that help you spend more constructive time with your children. We also teach computing skills and language to English Speakers of Foreign Languages. I am learning so much about their programmes and about the Council as a whole. My main duties are just keeping the office running and providing the tutors with supplies and course forms. Because we are funded by the government we have a lot of record keeping to do and I am involved with most of that.
England is more of a socialist country than America. When I first got here I didn't know exactly what that meant, but it means that the government provides many public services. Many people reading this blog probably dislike the idea of "big government," but I am here to try to rock the boat a bit. America has so many poor and uneducated people and the Republicans don't really care about that. They are more interested in the rich staying rich, and on cutting what little social programmes America has left. Granted, England also has many that are poor and uneducated, but the government is trying to raise the nation's education level and they are planning on doing this no matter what it takes. Unfortunately, the government has cut the amount of funding to each county this year, and in response the county might have to raise their own taxes, but they are trying to cut the more frivilous things in the budget so that they won't have to.
In the three months I have been here I have experienced that a more socialist government isn't necessarily bad. The 17% tax that comes out of my paycheck pays for healthcare for both of us, and pays for free courses and childcare if I meet certain qualifications; it also pays for everything else that the city provides: fire, police, trash, waste. In America 17% only paid my standard taxes, I also had to pay extra money on top of that for healthcare which took another big chunk from my pay. I think we can learn that welfare is good as long as we are providing a service that allows the poor to get a job and to continue to learn. That is what happens here: we provide education that will help these people be better parents, workers and people and that is what matters.
On a lighter note Chris and I saw the Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Which and the Wardrobe a whole day earlier than it came out there. HA HA have to brag!! I think we both agreed that it was worth seeing and being able to experience Narnia on film was really amazing!
I have experienced this really weird phenomemon here that maybe you can relate to. Chris and I have met many people in these last three months, and some of them are like clones of people we were friends with at home. The first person is this really sweet lady from church, she has us over for lunch and tea and has really welcomed us into York. She reminds us of Chris' aunt Sally. She looks like her and has the same sort of soft sweet way about her. I thought it was weird and then it started happening all the time. My boss at work reminds me of Michele DeHaas. They don't look the same per se, but they both have blond hair and have similar complexions and the personality and the way we exist as friends/collegues is just like Michele. It is really weird. The weirdest of them all is this guy from the university who is Drew DeHaas all over. Except for one thing: he is French-Canadian-Japanese and speaks all three languages. He is Japanese by birth and culture but has lived in Canada his whole life. Now he is getting his doctorate in York. He is the same height has Drew, same voice timbre, and same body movements. When I closed my eyes it was Drew!!! It was really starting to creep me out. It is kind of cool though, people we are close to and care about can be experienced by us through these other people.
Finally the last of my ramblings - church! We have settled in at St. Oswald's in Fulford and we are really enjoying the Chirch of England Liturgy more than we expected to. We are involved in an advent house group called Promises, focusing on the promises of God in the Old Testament. We are really enjoying that as well. In January we will be doing a 9 week study on Prayer based on the teachings of Ignatious of Loyola. You can read more about that here.
That's all for now!
[Postscript from Chris]
Yeah, you knew I couldn't go a whole week without saying anything.
Melissa might have stolen my thunder a little with the Socialism bit; I'd like to return to that at some point. But if you're interested, you can start the ball rolling now by contributing your thoughts or asking questions about American-style government vs. European, or Capitalism vs. Socialism in the more general sense. What I'd like to know is, 1) How capitalist is America, and how socialist is the U.K.? 2) Is hard-core socialism really dead? and the all-important question, 3) How do the respective economic systems relate to your moral/spiritual/religious sense? i.e. is one or the other more or less "Christian" or "moral."
Whether you know everything or nothing, post your thesis or your bewilderment as a comment and I'll try to incorporate it into a later post. C'mon, you Libertarians, I know who you are!
Bye for now...
4 comments:
Just a couple of things to mention:
I think that the taxes and health care in the USA (please don't say 'America' - that's the self-centered United States citizen terminology which excludes Central America, South America, and the rest of North America...) are already screwed up - as evidenced by the system in England. Now - i am sure it has its problems, but when the US tried to implement national healthcare, they simply ended up raising prices on the rest of us (by underpaying the big health insurance companies). The taxes have gotten out of control. Europe's "cradle-to-grave" insurance systems seem to be much more cost-effective.
On to socialism, i actually don't know if i believe it should be the government's job to take care of people like you had mentioned. I guess it depends - the phrase "good enough for government work" illustrates my point. The government tends to do things halfway, or poorly, because they don't have to compete with anyone else (one of the positives of capitalism). I'm not sure how your local government works (the local ones are generally better at those things), but i think that things like that should be left to the private organizations (specifically churches, charity orgs and individuals).
-Brad
"I think that the taxes and health care in the USA (please don't say 'America' - that's the self-centered United States citizen terminology which excludes Central America, South America, and the rest of North America...) are already screwed up - as evidenced by the system in England. Now - i am sure it has its problems, but when the US tried to implement national healthcare, they simply ended up raising prices on the rest of us (by underpaying the big health insurance companies)."
The US (thanks for the terminology correction) had national healthcare? I wasn't under the impression that we had any kind of national system. Also, I would assume that any national system would raise the cost for people who would be able to afford it anyway, because they're supporting those who wouldn't. Does that rule the idea out from the start?
"Europe's 'cradle-to-grave' insurance systems seem to be much more cost-effective."
I'm not familiar. Could you explain?
"... i think that things like that should be left to the private organizations (specifically churches, charity orgs and individuals)."
Do those organizations benefit from capitalist competition?
Speaking of using government as a slur, I'd also like to know how much of that anti-government mentality is common sense, and how much is the result of propaganda from the Reagan era that nobody's bothered to question.
The anti-government mentality is common sense. You can find plenty of examples where government if wasteful and slower. The recent hurricane in New Orleans is a good example. When people from various fire companies around the country volunteered to help, FEMA sent these people off to sensitity classses. Companies like Wal-Mart and private charities were there with supplies to help.
Another thing, its not fair to say republicans do not care about the poor. I know plenty of people who are for lower taxes and less government but volunteer at things like good works and donate to charities. Jon
Ok so I make a lot of big comments and can't always back them up very well but I try sometimes.
Brad - I disagree with your quote "(please don't say 'America' - that's the self-centered United States citizen terminology which excludes Central America, South America, and the rest of North America...)" It took me all week to think of this reasoning but here goes:
America is short for 'The United states of America,' right? In saying America I am not excluding North, South, or Central America. North, South and Central America are Continents, right? They refer to the land mass as a whole. If I was from Mexico I wouldn't say I am from N.A. I would say I am Mexican. If I was from Peru I wouldn't say I am from S.A. I would say I am Peruvian. If I was from Nicuraga I wouldn't say I am from C.A. I would say I am Nicuragan. So if I say I'm American or from America, it's obvious that it's a shortening of U.S.A., because no one else would use the word in any other context.
If people are talking about the continent they specifically say the full name.
So anyway that is my reasoning. and I didn't want you to think I was a self-centered citizen :)
Jon -
I agree with most of what you say and you are right I shouldn't just single out Republicans - sorry. But I have to say that doing charity work is great but I feel like it is sometimes a token gesture that only makes the rich feel good about themselves. Does it really make a difference?
Melissa
[from Chris]:
Jon's criticism of government aid is certainly valid, at least in part. What if we turned the same scrutiny to private charity? Are there cons to that as well? Can we honestly hand over all aid to private endeavors? If you were a senator faced with a bill that would cut Medicaid, welfare, food stamps et al., would you vote for it?
Is "charity" enough?
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