Look at Canada, Denmark, Sweden. and Norway, to name a few. They all have much higher standards of living than we do.

 And they all have HUGE military budgets to protect themselves TOO just like us.

"Look at Canada, Denmark, Sweden. and Norway, to name a few. They all have much higher standards of living than we do."

What is the causal relationship between higher standards of living and government control of private industry?

Mark 

What is their higher standard of living--higher taxes to support govt. rationed services?  And, they are much closer to total govt. control  Personally, I will take the freedom to succeed and the freedom to fail, without govt. interference from a nanny state.  My brothers and sisters and I were members of a very poor family in the 30's 40's and 50's; however, we did not snivel for "nanny" to save us.  All of us dug in, got good educations, and prospered.  This type of hard work is sneered at by the far left because, as people prosper, they become dependent on their own skills, rather than handouts from the nannies.

The slogan, "Annoy a liberal-- work hard, prosper and be happy", has a lot of truth to it.  I once worked with a far left guy who did not understand why I did not accept his philosophy of "the government can do more for you than you can do for yourself".  I never could understand how he ever got a security clearance, because he was a Commie through and through

Unike.
 

Unlike, i couldnt agree with you more.  Though i grew up in a completely different age than you, my parents (one of which was an immigrant) were very hardworking people.  My father came from Sicily when he was 26 to practice medicine.  His main reason for coming here was the mentality of the people in Italy.  They are socialists to the bone and everything has to be done bureaucratically.  He hated that.  He hated the work ethic as well.  He said, during his internship, that the interns there would show up late, leave early, and not learn a thing.  Something, if it occurred here, would mean immediate dismissal. 

That ethic was passed to me as i continually try to work hard and educate myself to be the best employee i can be.  

Today, the mentality is one of "i deserve it".  There is no work ethic anymore.  At my last employer, i was there only 8 months when a senior position opened up in my team.  Though, i was the youngest on the team, i was awarded the position.  The VP said that I worked the hardest, knew the most, and complained the least (never). 

This is something we need to get back to.  The "rights" that people feel they are entitled to in this country have accumulated and accelerated in recent years.  The latest being, cheap gas.  (its more expensive in Canada which exports tons of the stuff!)