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Soupe du jour
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Originally Posted by Soupe du jour
Rosi, I was specifically responding to why the US does not have universal health coverage and why many falsely believe it "bad". I was not comparing Americans and Europeans overall. Certainly I feel all peoples around the world (all) are good.
Catholicism was certainly far from being the primary reason for the majority of immigration to the "New World" or US. That's a huge topic. As for Jan Hus, you're right that many of his followers were forbidden to practice their beliefs, but my husband says he's not aware of any really going to the US. Jan Hus was around only into the early 1400s. There were no major groups of settlers in the US from Europe before the early 1600s (or a few before). In recent centuries, people in Bohemia and Moravia were not pushed away for non-Catholic beliefs. In fact, around the time of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk (early 1900s, before the communist years), Czechoslovakians had a lot of religious freedom and many even fell away from it. Now, Czech Republic is the #1 least religious country in the world. Putting that aside, one might think that all Christians would favor universal coverage, as it would seem the Christian thing to do. Yet some don't. Certainly many people in the US of various faiths (and none) deep down wish there was universal coverage, or don't know it would benefit them. I believe it can and does fit even in an otherwise capitalist society. Many European countries are capitalist, but with good safety nets. No country needs to be a strictly "dog eat dog"/"survival of the fittest" place. That's ruthless! 10% of the US population owns 69% of the country's wealth and they also have extreme control over the majority. Of that 69% of wealth, the top 1% owns about 32% of it. In many cases, the wealthiest pay the least taxes in terms of percentage of their earnings. That's the case because they make it the case.
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I am sorry if I gave the impression that religion was the main cause of emigration from Europe to America. I only used the "Hussits" as one of many examples on what I thought of as psychological causes.
Science has showed that children of survivors of the holocaust is marked by traumas they themselves didn't experience. If that can have happened to Jews born after WWII, that must have happened to other populations as well. To leave relatives and everything to travel on a boat for around eight weeks, sharing the boat with louse and rats, seeing 10-20 % of the people onboard die, must have been a traumatic experience. They even had years of hard times in their home countries before they left. A Swedish movie director, Erik Poppe, has made a film called "The Emigrants" about poor Swedish farmers who left Sweden to try to have a better life in America.
May be it is suspect to think that traumas in the people who left is still working in the American population. When I think along those lines, I of course know that those who stayed have had forefathers and fore-mothers with traumas as well. My thoughts are linked to the leaving of Europe and to the image of America as best (as we learned when we were children). If America is best (in some Americans hearts), then it is not possible (in some Americans hearts) that parts of Europe has better Welfare conditions for their citizens. It was in that way I thought about the Hussits, not because they were from the Czech population.
I like to think "things" over and that was one of many thoughts that passed in my head. There were many and different causes to why the big population left Europe. Some were only curious and full of adventures.
And yes, I agree with you in that all people are valuable whatever nation they come from.
But let us not "quarrel" about that. It is some time since Europeans left for America , and as you have pointed out, there are reasons perhaps linked to the way they think as American citizens. They have become used to the system they have.When it comes to the Christian religion, I don't understand that it can be a Christian idea to not make beneficial rules for all.
I send a link here to those who are interested in why Europeans left Europe for America. One or two of my great grandmother's sisters left Europe for America. My great grandmother married my great grandfather who bought land and build a farm here. So the sisters ended up in differnt living conditions.
Where we come from is one of my intrests. I think it is so wonderful that people have wandered out of Africa at one point in the history and spread all over the globe.
The Homeland of Migrating Groups | Europeana