One day Soviet press agency will report that Polish geophysicists invaded Russia’s consulate in Spitsbergen.
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So is America still the best place to live?
If this was different there would not be so many who would want to emigrate to the States not to mention illegally. By comparison, in the other direction from America, a mere 40-50 thousand left citing dissatisfaction with their lives for example. America is still the place that excites so many around the world. It’s a place that gives people a second or even third chance to start all over again. Their history or practical achievements have no say. What matters is what the individual does there and then. It opens a career path to those who have been hurt by their experiences or their own incompetence. You can start afresh at any given moment. No other country proposes this to people. No other culture forgets human frailties as easily as America.
Why are Americans reluctant to accept changes in their status quo such as worker’s rights orgeneral access to medical insurance? Does that arise from their individualism?
Why should they want to accept such changes? That’s because the welfare state should be ideal and the American system, that the government is the best which governs the least, is worse? The Scandinavian system of social welfare is starting to decay. As president Eisenhower said if you want to feel safe and comfortable then go to prison.Ther you can get medical help, food and lodging etc. But this is not freedom
So how do Americans view freedom?
They believe in freedom in the fullest sense. I am the person I want to be. The state has no right to prevent me. Naturally I agree to pay taxes although even a fraction of Americans disagree but these are extremists. In our culture the government governs. In American culture this organisation is known as the
administration a management. They are chosen to manage the national resources and foreign policy. Not much more lies within their purview. You surely cannot expect the chairman of the Polish petrol company Orlen to tell you how to live. They too do not expect this from the administration. If you buy car insurance, all well and good. If not, and someone throws a stone at your car then that’s too bad, you must accept the consequences. American freedom is deep and impressive. In Europe we find this difficult to understand as we have come to accept that the state will guarantee us welfare and medical support. A lesser matter is its quality. We accept that the state will care for us but does this with our money. An American opposes this. This is my money and I will decide how to spend it. It is a totally different mindset. The Declaration of Independence states that a person has the right to the pursuit of happiness. Every American child absorbs this from the age of seven or eight. No one tells you in school that you have the right to happiness. Our schools tell us that we have obligations, theirs that they have a right to happiness. The American system is no worse than ours. Others may say this but no one is ordered to live in America.
– In conversation with Tomasz Plaskota
TVP WEEKLY. Editorial team and jornalists
– Translated by Jan Darasz
Zbigniew Lewicki is a political scientist, American and English specialist, Professor of humanities, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University and the Vistula Business and Finance Academy Warsaw