I used to dismiss "monoculture!" arguments as thinly veiled racism, since they never seemed to get into the nitty gritty of how and why a single culture or ethnicity is better at a welfare state than a mixed ethnic populace would be, without presupposing that some of the hypothetical ethnicities are just inferior.
But lately I've been re-thinking.
Specifically, even if a certain system (welfare state in this case) serves the interests of a majority, ethnic divisions within that majority can be exploited by the minority who oppose such a system, so that the majority's interests are not as strongly expressed as they would otherwise be in actual governance. There are many wedges that the minority might bring to bear, but lack of ethnic divisions means one less at least.
Ethnic Consciousness throws class consciousness out the window, and now the broad majority interest is subdivided into mutually antagonistic sub groups that cannot organize effectively.
It can be like that, but it doesn't have to be. If the political classes decide not to use racism to get votes then the population drops it pretty quickly.
I'm in general suspicious of any proposed solution that depends on people being better people :)
I mean, if people would just stop robbing banks, then banks wouldn't have to spend money on really expensive vaults... then using the bank would be cheaper for us all!
But people do rob banks, because there's incentive to do so. And so we need vaults.
I have a feeling Jeff would bring up this hilarious article. ;)
Seriously though, culture probably has a lot to do with the rankings. (and in top rated Latin American countries, climate probably does a lot to add to the happiness.)
Well, let's understand what we mean by Danish food. I can go a smørrebrød, and like I said, the pork and dairy are *amazing*, but in terms of having to live there and cook at home, finding fresh produce was not fun, even in the summer.
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Typing that was painful. Seriously painful. Knowing there are people who actually think that way is even more painful.
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But lately I've been re-thinking.
Specifically, even if a certain system (welfare state in this case) serves the interests of a majority, ethnic divisions within that majority can be exploited by the minority who oppose such a system, so that the majority's interests are not as strongly expressed as they would otherwise be in actual governance. There are many wedges that the minority might bring to bear, but lack of ethnic divisions means one less at least.
Ethnic Consciousness throws class consciousness out the window, and now the broad majority interest is subdivided into mutually antagonistic sub groups that cannot organize effectively.
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I mean, if people would just stop robbing banks, then banks wouldn't have to spend money on really expensive vaults... then using the bank would be cheaper for us all!
But people do rob banks, because there's incentive to do so. And so we need vaults.
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Seriously though, culture probably has a lot to do with the rankings. (and in top rated Latin American countries, climate probably does a lot to add to the happiness.)
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