I find myself somewhat disconcerted knowing that millennials in this country want a system of government that I grew up with in Brazil. It’s a bizarre phenomenon. Let me tell you that apart from the utopian sentiments of a government-controlled system and the supposed glories it will bring, the harsh reality is that it produces misery upon misery. My country’s economy forces the general population to have no more than two kids, where both sets of parents must work to make ends meet, depend on an ever-failing public education, suffer under a brutally overwhelmed and incompetent health care system where some patients die waiting for care, and where the vast amount of evangelicals find themselves at the feet of wealth and prosperity Gospel preachers seeking some “grace” to overcome their financial burdens. From Argentina to Venezuela, from Ecuador to Bolivia, the system is virtually the same, yet the people continue to suffer and embolden the same tyrants who enrich themselves and fool the populace under the banner of “fairness,” “equality,” and the “common good.” So, yes, I am befuddled by this phenomenon.
While it hasn’t reached the same degree, it seems to me that this sentence could just as easily describe what America is for many people. Whether the pressure comes from a statist government or from the idolization of the free market that overwhelms and dissolves social bonds, the results aren’t pleasant.
And do you contend that the United States is any different?
Not to the same degree, but we can talk about it tomorrow during coffee.