[Nerissa]

Marvin!  Again you twist my words, I am not anti immigration.  This is why I cannot discuss this with you.  We are not speaking the same language.  We do not understand where the other is coming from. Thank you.

I’m sorry but  he is right.  A number of your facts about other countries and your own are simply erroneous.  I’ve lived in Washington DC by the way and loved it, and in countries in other continents - all have strengths and weaknesses and we can all
Learn from difference without becoming over invested . 

It is just silly to tell people to ‘go home’. That’s what the protesting woman in the car being held up by a nurse shouted.: ‘Go to China’ .im sure you don’t mean it and I’m  sure it doesn’t chime with your Christian beliefs, or your approach to your profession as a teacher.

[Milly]

Hi Nas, lovely to hear from you. I, like many others I'm sure, have missed hearing from you on the forum. Glad you are safe.

If anyone doesn't know yet, I'm from Italy.

I believe in public schools in general. That means my tax money, too, being used for public education.  I don't consider my tax money to be mine personally. When we live in a society we must contribute. As far as I'm concerned, the taxes I pay are for my society in general, including me, and then the government currently democratically voted in, will decide what is best for the common good.

In Italy we have the opposite situation to the US. State schools, with their old computers, old desks, blotched walls, have higher academic standards than private schools. Here, private schools are considered to be for people who have 'stupid' kids who are no good at school and need extra help to make it. Wealthy people with clever kids, send them to the public schools.

However, for discussion sake, I'm going to talk about private institutions versus public ones. I realize that public funding won't be able to provide the kind of facilities that private schools will, whether it be equipped labs, or the amount of attention the staff can provide. However, I still feel that education should be free (just my opinion here) right through university. The way I see it, intelligence is a gift that covers all races and classes. Intelligence is something you are born with. The cure to cancer could come from the poorest public housing estate. If we don't provide the opportunity for the talented person to develop their skills, we will be doing all of us a disservice. I do believe that the strength of a country is in the education of its population. 

I am not left or right wing. I have some principles, some rights I believe everyone should have and that is that in the western world, with all our money, our claimed culture, the least we can do is provide for our fellow men at least as far as education and health care goes. For me these are the two number 1 musts if I were to vote for a certain political party. In Europe, both the right and the left believe in these two rights so I'm lucky. I can then look at the other policies and vote according to my needs.

I have well off friends and family who say that anyone can gain privileges such as private schools, etc if only they worked hard. As if they did something better than the rest who struggle to reach the end of the month, who can't sleep at night because they don't know how to tell their gifted child that there is no money to send them to university. Pretty much everyone works hard. A builder works really hard, a nurse works really hard but still these people struggle to pay their bills, and are not privy to the options that people with means have. I don't like it when I hear successful people speak as if  there was something wiser about them or that they were more responsible. This insinuates that those who struggle financially are lazy. I'm a capitalist at heart; I want to know that I can chase a dream if I should want to. When I see my very wealthy friends, I am not jealous, I'm happy for them and it gives me drive. However, there are plenty of times that I have struggled financially and that is not because I didn't work hard, didn't try, bought Gucci handbags with my salary instead of paying my bills, or that there is anything lesser about me.

In fact what I can't understand, with all the wealth there is in the world, is that we can't take care of people with no food or water or basic medicine that we do have cures for simply because they can't afford it. When I hear of billionaires who divorce and share net worths of 100s of billions between spouses, I think what have we become? How much does one person really need? Don't tell me these people make many charitable contributions, because those are usually tax right offs, so they would have had to have spent the money anyway, just that donating feels better.

Sorry, I'm getting off topic and I don't want to offend anyone personally. I'm just speaking about my own values and my own feelings. It's easy in a personal crisis to lash out and find the bad guy that way we can fix the situation. I feel we must unite, strength in numbers as the saying goes. I feel that if our states/governments had had extra money to have had enough hospital beds, ICU units, staff, protective equipment, buy covid tests, money to help people forced at home, to help businesses forced to stop, then facing an unforeseen world crisis would be doable. I guess it's similar to a family putting away some money for a rainy day. That means taking away some of the family's fun money for the unforeseen.

[lawprofessor]

Oh!  Washington DC!  I've lived all over including the Middle East, Russia, Europe, and Africa (Egypt).  When still married we spent 6 weeks a year in DC and I lived it, some of my fondest memories of my marriage were in DC.  But, if I had to pick a state to live in, hands down, I'd move back to Alabama in a second.  Well, if I had a job there, naturally.  The weather, the landscape, the people, the history, the life style, and I mustn't forget the food.  Ex and I were very happy there.  Fond memories, even when I was told often, Bless your heart, girl.  🙄

Now as to Covid, each day my state and my county prints various number totals.  Our totals are running higher in younger people than older.  And the illness is seeming to last about 5 days, most not being terribly sick, most not hospitalized.  Does this mean anything particular?  I doubt it.  Our recovered 93 year old said she just kept moving so her lungs stayed clearer and she sat out in the sun in her yard.  I'm not sure that means anything either, but she's become quite the local celebrity. 

I'm willing to openly state my family is from Russia.  I spoke Russian before I learned English. Russia offers a vast array of openings for bashing being a country lacking adequate rule of law, transparency, xenophobia, generally poor and at best uneven medical services, high crime, not exactly a democratic government, and lacks many rights.  It's also a country of deep history, brilliant art, beautiful museums, rich in natural resources, and promotes education particularly science and mathematics as well as music, ballet, art, and literature.  Sports, of course.  Good and bad. 

All counties have positives and some negatives. Regionally this country is so divided.  As well as rural vs urban, income, education.  I had to laugh at Treasur note about Ames, Iowa.  Quite familiar I became living here with brands of seed corn and the logo of the ear of corn with wings.

I wonder if the divide has become too big to bridge.  Is it true that all parties are speaking different languages?  When a pandemic can't unify people, it boggles the mind what it would take to create unity. 

Lp

[Finding Joy]

XYZ, When you insinuate we now have a dictatorship I disagree about that being polite.  Also, we have amazing immigrants that help us in many ways!  I have many immigrant friends and people who did our lawn, housework etc.

That said, we ourselves are in a crises(the US).  Our economy is crashing.  So It’s at least understandable to me that we don’t want more people coming in until we get the people here back to work, school, fed, well.

It’s like being in ICU and adopting someone.  Just not the right timing.

This kind of thing hits a nerve because we are a military family.  In other words, my husband went over and fought for your right to bash a country that took you in.  That is when he lost it and broke.  I lost my husband, even if he comes home, the man I knew is gone.

So you have a right, I just personally do not believe complaining or calling our President a dictator on an international forum is very loyal to those who fought for your right to say anything you want.

You are free.  You can say anything and it came at a high price to people like me, my kids, my husband.

[xyzcf]

Well FJ that is one thing we have in common for I too come from a military family and I totally understand their sacrifice as they fought for my freedom.

Once again, you throw at me something that you think makes you "better" without having a clue what my family's background is.

[Finding Joy]

Nerissa,

Actually, I do mean what I say, if you are an immigrant and want to come to this nation and then get on international forum and bash it by calling our president a dictator and/or saying we should run our country differently.  Then I prefer you make room for someone who actually does want to live in this country.  Perhaps some persecuted Jews, Christians or Chinese Muslims!

People want to come over and fundamentally remake the country into a more government centered one.  No thank you.  I don’t like the way they run what they already run!

All I have really said is I believe in small government and individual responsibility and have not stopped being attacked for supporting my country.

Though the people who have bashed my home country have not even gotten a blink!

[Finding Joy]

Xyz, I don’t understand.  Actually I was explaining why you bashing my home country that you chose to live in offensive.

[xyzcf]

I will reiiterate what I wrote previously:

"It is not bashing to seriously look at the inadequacies of a country. To consider ways to make this society a better place.

A term that is used in the medical world and elsewhere is "best practices". It means that you look at the research from around the world on various treatments and ideas and apply those best practices to create a better outcome for patients.

It is not bashing to express different view points, in a respectful and polite manner."

[Finding Joy]

Milly!
Hi!  Thank you for keeping the conversation civil!  I do feel very attacked. 

I understand your sentiments.  Everyone should have the right to an education!  School vouchers would just assign the tax dollars to the individual child.  So then schools compete for those tax dollars.

Actually it would benefit the poor the most and those of us who pay taxes and then pay for a decent school could just pay once.

I personally believe in keeping taxes low and keeping the government small because they are ineffective in my view on most things.

[Finding Joy]

XYZ, Have a good evening!