My ancestors—Hans Gruber, Wilhelm Belsnickel, John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, et al.—immigrated to the U.S. in the 1870s. They were part of a major wave of German immigrants who settled in Wisconsin and surrounding states, ensuring that my bloodstream would absorb more alcohol before my 40th birthday than the Milwaukee Summerfest grounds.
It’s a good thing they left the country when they did, because being raised by former Hitler Youth members would have been even worse than adopting my entire Weltanschauung from Hogan’s Heroes. But at some point Germany became a far more civilized and compassionate country than the United States—and we’ve been trying to catch up ever since.
Whenever anyone suggests we spend more of our nation’s outsized wealth on things like health care, day care, and paid parental leave than on scrotum-bedazzling kits for billionaire space trekkers, Republicans scream about our ineluctable descent into Venezuela-style socialism. But what progressives really want is something more akin to a Western European-style social democracy—where the economy continues to thrive but more people benefit.
Joe Biden's Build Back Better agenda—which is being held up by one dude who thinks women simply can’t wait to fill their fallow uteri so they can go on an endless series of crack-fueled duck hunting trips—would bring us far closer to the impossible dream of being mere decades behind everyone else in the industrialized world.
But don’t take my word for it. Just listen to this expat American who is just fine with staying in Germany, which provides the kind of safety net for its citizens that we could only dream of.
QUESTION: “If you’re an American living abroad, please tell me why you would never go back.”
MOTHER: “Because I don’t have to worry about affording my health insurance. … Because my kids can go outside and play without me having to worry because the crime rates are so much lower. … Public transportation. … Thirty-plus vacation days per year. … So much paid paternal leave. … Because my son is now bilingual and working on becoming trilingual. … Because I’ll save $100,000 in my son’s paid university tuition. … Because I no longer have to worry about my own student loans. … Because even though I live in the most religious state, I’m not shamed for being atheist. … Because I can actually afford day care. … Because my kids don’t have to worry about being un-alived at school. … And because my taxes actually go toward helping other families.”
Hmm. Good list. Also, soft pretzels with hot mustard. And I can only assume Bud Light is illegal there. (Or at the very least frowned upon.)
For the record, Democrats as a group are far more interested than that other party in providing affordable health care, controlling guns, funding public transportation, providing paid parental leave, helping with college tuition, paying down student debt, providing money for day care, and, yes, “helping other families.” And Joe Biden’s stalled Build Back Better bill would provide many of these quality of life improvements, and more.
So the choice is easy. Do we want more frazzled mothers, desperate fathers, impoverished children, and sick citizens—or do we want a more just and compassionate society?
The answer is obvious, and dozens of countries have already showed us the way. All it takes to get there is more and better Democrats. You know who they are. Make it so.
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