The talk in the “Remember Elian Gonzalez?” thread made me think of a few comments some left wing radio talk show host made the other day. I honestly don’t remember who it was.

Basically a caller dissed the US government for not taking better care of its people and that the US should be more communist or at least more like the Scandinavian countries with a higher quality of living for everyone not just the ones who can afford it.

I can see benefits to incorporating some socialist ideas (is socialist the correct term?) like our Scandinavian friends so the callers comment was not very surprising (the caller even saying “communist” was like cursing to most people thou) but what really caught me off guard was the host’s response. I was expecting a, your right our government should provide more bla bla bla.

Second hand paraphrasing alert – but he basically said that these countries are lazy global freeloaders who don’t add anything to the bettering of the world and that they sit back and live comfortable while taking advantage of other countries advancements while providing nothing in return. He went on to note that he wasn’t just talking about the Scandinavian countries but all the welfare countries out there, pointing at Canada but not saying the name. He was pretty loud about it and it turned into quite a rant. He sounded like a southern preacher talking about the devil, it was kind of amusing.

It’s certainly his opinion , but what do you think of the idea that countries that provide more for their people are not as ambitious when it comes to participating globally? And are people that are provided with more, less ambitious?