A commenter takes issue with Jonah's historical contention that Americans reject generous social welfare states because we're a country comprised of refugees from monarchies who hate expansive safety nets:
Does this kid know ANYTHING about American immigration patterns?
I find it especially laughable to think the potato famine Irish immigrants were fleeing a welfare state to which so many of their brethren gleefully submitted their fealty. Yeah, that's EXACTLY why starving Irish came to America--they took offense at the too-generous welfare policies of the English!
Likewise, I'm rolling at the suggestion that millions of African Americans chose America over Europe and Africa because they didn't want to be mollycoddled by a state that invested in their welfare.
And let's not forget the Eastern Europeans who flooded in during the late 1800's and early 1900's, terrified that they would be forced to live under the generous welfare policies of nations like Poland and tsarist Russia.
God, what an idiot. Yeah, that's the defining historical difference between Europe and the US--generous welfare states.
