What kind of country does the right want? Can they point to one?

[Hamlette]

And why won't anyone ask them?

Does a country exist anywhere in the world that fits their mold?

If you were to ask me I'd say "Many countries have better health care than ours, we should maybe study and adopt one. I'd not look to Switzerland as the culture there is pretty restrictive. I'd look at things that other countries have tried that didn't work out so well and see what went wrong, recently I heard Amsterdam is not happy with the new pot laws. Why not? Why is decriminalization of drugs working, apparently, in Portugal? Should we take a look to see the good and the bad?" I could go on and on.

But the GOP? In their minds, does any country do anything right? Wouldn't it be better to look to other countries to see what they have tried to see if they work before lowering taxes to near zero? Has that worked anywhere? I know Mexico's tax rate is about 10% less than ours. Is that the country they want to emulate?

If they say, as I suspect they would, "America is unique, we should do it all without a model" isn't that revolutionary? Isn't that reckless? Aren't they really the ones who are doing it without a net, to keep advocating lower taxes in light of what that has done the last 10 years?

If I could host a Sunday morning show I'd want to ask them that every week.

Or is the answer obvious and I'm missing it?

[stevedeshazer]

1. Somalia.

No taxes, no regulation.

[Hamlette]

2. I think that's what they'd have to say, which is why I want someone to ask.

Rachel, Keith, anyone?

[MannyGoldstein]

4. +1

My thought, exactly.

[Avalux]

3. They want the kind of country that they think our forefathers created...

....trouble is, what this think is all wrong and doesn't make any sense.

[Hamlette]

8. but if that had been the best model, can't they point to one other country that stayed that way?

And I'd make them pick a date, if they want to go back in time.

And then I'd ask them what to do about stuff that wasn't around then. If they pick the 50s I'd say great, I'd agree with a 90% tax rate on the rich. It would be a fascinating debate.

Who can we get to ask?

[Avalux]

14. The problem is, they don't know history and don't have rational thoughts.

It's impossible to have a conversation as you suggest, they simply won't be able to understand.

[brewens]

5. Rush dreams of an American where he can have a harem of peasant

houseboys. No more traveling to The Dominican republic for sex.

[Initech]

27. Like this?

[brewens]

30. Just get someone to photoshop Paul Ryan's face ove Carrie Fisher's

and I think you've got it!

[baldguy]

6. One without non-Christians, without gays, without blacks or other non-whites

Where women & the poor "know their place", and where govt of the people, by the people and for the people doesn't exist and has no power over corporate interests.

In other words, hell.

[Hamlette]

10. if that is such a good model, why hasn't another country tried it?

oh, maybe Germany did. That's right.

[FarLeftFist]

7. Afghanistan.

Low tax rate and less business regulations. Plus, and this is their favorite part, they can pay the workers 40 cents an hour!

[Hamlette]

12. I want them to tell me where a country exists that most closely matches their ideal.

not just say what their ideal is.

[FarLeftFist]

42. Conservatsm is a myth that can't be perpetuated on a National scale

Because not everything the Govt does is supposed to make money. They are looking for a fantasy land that can't exist without mass suffering.

[BuelahWitch]

40. And the women wear burkas and don't leave the house

without the man's permission...

edited for spelling

[Lint Head]

9. A fascist government. It's obvious.

[rufus dog]

11. I asked my asshole Brother in Law this exact question recently

As he was going off on an unprovoked rant against Teachers and Unions.

His response, after a brief delay because he was taken aback by a logical question, the United States!

So when I explained to him that decently paid Teachers and Unions were a large part of the growth of the U.S., he just mumbled a bit, to which I responded, "dude you are a fucking idiot!"

[Hamlette]

13. good for you, I'll have to start asking although I don't really know many nuts

[LadyHawkAZ]

15. Courtesy of Nicholas Kristof:

Pakistan.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/51952765-82/budget-taxes-pakistan-countries.html.csp

With tea party conservatives and many Republicans balking at raising the debt ceiling, let me offer them an example of a nation that lives up to their ideals.

It has among the lowest tax burdens of any major country: Fewer than 2 percent of the people pay any taxes. Government is limited, so that burdensome regulations never kill jobs.

This society embraces traditional religious values and a conservative sensibility. Nobody minds school prayer, same-sex marriage isn’t imaginable, and criminals are never coddled.

The budget priority is a strong military, the nation’s most respected institution. When generals decide on a policy for, say, Afghanistan, politicians defer to them. Citizens are deeply patriotic, and nobody burns flags.

So what is this Republican Eden, this Utopia? Why, it’s Pakistan.

[CBHagman]

18. Great minds with but a single thought.

I was going to post the link to that!

[myrna minx]

38. Thanks for posting this article.

:hi:

[LiberalLoner]

16. I asked a right-winger once. Asked if he'd rather have our nation be more like Canada or the

Netherlands, or more like Mexico or Haiti or Somalia. He answered that he didn't want to be like any of those countries - he wanted to be just America but a perfect America like the founding fathers created.

When you ask hard questions like that, they won't be pinned down. They aren't really able to give an answer. They just don't think like that, they don't think in the same ways we do.

[rufus dog]

17. That is the key

"They just don't think like that"

Although in many cases I think there are two too many words in that quote.

[Hamlette]

19. lol indeed

[jwirr]

20. Sure they can - Argentina, Chili, Brazil, Modern Poland - all after the

powers that be have sold everything to the rich and forgotten about the poor. Since 1950s we have been creating this kind of countries all over the world. Now they want to do it to us.

[Dan]

21. Actually they tried to setup IRAQ

to be the perfect model of a capitalistic nation with their Commission (post invasion)... not sure how that has worked out, but maybe it's was their best way of stealing the natural resources of the nation.

[Hugabear]

22. Iran, but substitute fundamentalist Christians for fundamentalist Muslims

Everything else the same.

[JoePhilly]

34. Agree.

[krabigirl]

23. sadly, I think the Democratic and Republican parties want a corporo-fascist state.

[Historic NY]

24. They want the 1950's I like Ike, cocktails @ 6, golf & a very white America...

[Motown_Johnny]

31. except the tax rates of the 50s are unacceptable to them

they want what has never existed


Low taxes, huge military spending and a balanced budget under a Republican President.


Never happened, never will.

[The Doctor.]

25. What you suggest requires the use of 'Reason'.

That has been entirely abandoned by the 'right'.

[Kablooie]

26. The Duchy of Grand Fenwick

[hobbit709]

33. But their system worked for them.

I doubt that the Republican ideal would last as long.

[Initech]

28. I think India's caste system is their ideal form of government.

You're born in privilege or you're not. And if you're not? Fuck you, you're on your own. No free handouts from the government.

[Spider Jerusalem]

29. Iran

a theocratic state with severely restricted women's rights where homosexuality is illegal.

[JoePhilly]

32. A Fundementalist Evangelical Baptist Theocracy.

There is no country of that nature today. But that is their goal for her.

[pampango]

35. Another good question: What country would the left point to?

Canada? Germany? Sweden? The UK? They are all much better than the US in terms of income equality, safety net, health care, unions, etc.

But many on the left (not to mention most on the right) would not like those countries' commitment (at least in Europe) to open borders with their neighbors (the right may solve that "problem" by weakening/eliminating Schengen), to international trade (a much larger part of GDP in all those countries than it is here), and, at least since WWII, to immigration with a percentage of the population that is foreign-born that equals or exceeds the US (again the right may solve that "problem" too if the National Front, Swedish Democrats, Northern League, etc. have their way).

[starroute]

36. Even Newt Gingrich recognized this as "right-wing social engineering"

When I was a kid, one of the legitimate criticisms that conservatives raised about liberals was their willingness to dive into completely untried schemes that some theory or other suggested ought to work. In contrast, conservatives presented themselves as the exponents of incremental, organic change.

There was a certain amount of hypocrisy on the conservative side even then -- since in real-world terms it often came down to an argument for doing nothing the the face of serious problems. But somehow along the way the Republicans abandoned this measure-twice-cut-once approach entirely in favor of proposals so radical and sweeping they would make a Stalinist blush.

The real explanation is probably that if you don't believe government can do anything right, than you don't need an excuse for dismantling it. The destruction of government programs and government regulations becomes a sufficient end in itself -- and pesky questions like "will this totally fuck up our entire way of life?" become irrelevant.

[Octafish]

37. Haiti

One-percent own 99-percent. The generals protect the drug-runners. Democracy and Justice are alien concepts.

[kctim]

39. The rank and file Republican

wants a country where the government does not dictate how they live. IF Democrats take that out of the equation when governing, we would be the majority party more times than not.

[dynasaw]

41. Maybe Not a Country But the 11th Century

a few overlord with all the rights of the seigneurial system. The rest of the populace reduced to groveling serfs, and peasants living in mud huts trying to survive
hunger, plagues and the onslaught of wars.

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. Somalia, Haiti, Fascist as in 1930s Italy

Chile...

The list is long and SCARY.