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In reply to the discussion: So really ... what is wrong with redistributing wealth? [View all]pampango
(24,692 posts)Mitt Romney, in the wake of his "47%" comments, told Fox News that government redistribution of wealth is an "entirely foreign concept" to Americans. Despite being factually wrong, he has hit upon a central reason why American politics can seem so very different to what happens in Europe, including in Britain. Specifically, conservatism here is very different from conservatism there.
There is a large section of the American right, indeed of the American people, which does not accept the grand central bargain of post-war politics across the other side of the Atlantic.
This is in contrast to Europe, where both main political traditions after World War II seemed to broadly agree that while Soviet Union-style socialism didn't work, capitalism if left to its own devices produced inequalities which if not softened could prove dangerous.
There has never really been the equivalent in the United States. While America certainly does have some redistribution of wealth via taxation, many on the right have always been vehemently opposed. Until a few months ago it was a core part of Mitt Romney's argument that President Barack Obama was leading the US towards a "European-style entitlement society".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19656323
Romney and others in the 1% would like for "government redistribution of wealth is an "entirely foreign concept" to Americans". Historically, they are "factually wrong". (I know. "We don't need no stinking fact-checkers here." )
I did not realize that romney was no longer using the "Obama is leading the US towards a "European-style entitlement society". We should be so lucky.