Why can't we be like the other industrialized countries?

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Every other industrialized country, except for Papua New Guinea and Oman, has paid maternity leave guaranteed for young mothers. Why can't America be like that? It seems to work pretty well.

I guess, though, the wingers will come up with the takers and givers spiel: Those in need in America, unlike those in need in other countries, do not deserve help. That's what my dad told me, a big-time Fox News watcher: Those in need in America are just takers who deserve nothing, while the givers deserve everything.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/pare ... ty-leaves/

I find this takers and givers form of American exceptionalism to be revolting.

I think, too, that it is racist due to the long history of working-class whites, the givers, being pitted against the African-American (and now also Hispanic) takers by cynical, evil, revolting politicians ever since Bacon's Rebellion: This divide-and-conquer strategy has become less explicit as explicit racism has become less acceptable, but it is still in play.

This divide-and-conquer strategy generally doesn't work in other industrialized countries and it's why we can't have nice things in America.

I tell you, when the baby-boomers die off and whites become a minority, we'll see some massive improvement with the increased power of minorities, who would not let themselves get played a divide-and-conquer game.

Do you honestly believe that? Every major city in the US is controlled by the Democratic Party, how well are they doing? You're deluding yourself if you think this country will be better under one party rule regardless of who it is, instead of fighting with each other they'll turn their attention on the American people. Divide-and-conquer is what our "democracy" is all about, its built into our system and never will change. This a country of slaves too stupid to know they're imprisoned, they have their bread and circuses and get caught up in stupid pointless social debates that have no business in the hands of government instead of realizing that there is a elite class of people in this country that control our government, media, and financial institutions. Pitting whites against minorities is a prime example of divide and conquer, they keep us bogged down with racial animosity to distract us from the real criminals. A lot of people say we fought a civil war to end slavery which they make to seem all pervasive thru out only Southern society when it reality it was present not in the South but the North and it was only small upper class that owned them. 620,000 men died in the Civil War, how many of them were slave owners? They elites use the common man as cannon fodder, they pull the all strings and never suffer.

Jacoby,

We're talking past each other quite a bit.

And we're in agreement more than you recognize.

Also, nobody said anything about one-party rule.

I think we have the majority of selfish "me-ists" in the world residing within the borders of the United States.

I know this, I feel like a lot of the anger common people have is the same regardless of what team they're pigeonholed into supporting and it's the powers that be that play us against one another. I've become pretty disillusioned with the idea that things will ever change, Lord Acton's quote about power rings true and this power over people is ultimately the real problem.

Don't take what I say as a rant against you btw, sometimes I go on tangents when replying to posts that spur my stream of consciousness.

I'm not saying I'm opposed to paid maternity leave, but why should an employer be forced to pay a person who has to take time off from work for CHOOSING to have a baby?

You get sick or injured, that's involuntary, and that's what your "sick pay" normally covers.

Pregnancy, more or less, is a choice. Some employers offer it as a benefit. The law requires that the mother can take time off and come back to their job.

I can't really get behind FORCING employers to pay someone for choosing to miss work because they want to have a kid.

There is for and against, you could argue that the men are as much responsible for their wives/girlfriends becoming pregnant but it is the women who have to carry the child. In much of Europe it is illegal for employers to discriminate who they employ based upon gender; however what sometimes happens with very small businesses is that they will find other superficial reasons to employ men rather than young women as the financial impact on their business from a woman taking paid maternity leave can be a heavy burden, especially if they have to employ someone else to do the role of the women who they are already paying not to be there. In the UK there is now paid maternity leave for men too so they can look after their baby, so this tends to counter the discrimination but can still be a heavy burden for small businesses.

We do have the FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) of 1993.

To comment on your original post, I hardly consider Papua New Guinea an industrialized nation. Oman is getting there, though.

If you read the article, the model they used, Finland, the government pays for maternity leave.

It's unpaid and can last only up to 12 weeks in a 12 month period. There are other stipulations. If you had bothered to read the article in the OP, you would see the deficiencies of FMLA.

In those other countries, it's more about getting women to start families. It is much more difficult there, birth rates are on the decline. In the US, there are people always urging women to marry and have kids like it is their duty so you have some women who fall for that. I doubt in these other countries it is like that, more nihilistic...like it is a burden and punishment to bring more life into the world, you should focus on yourself and having fun in life or it is just too dreary and dismal a climate to do it.

Sooo...women are given more benefits to encourage them to increase the birth population because when it decreases, politicians view this as the kiss of death.

If US birth population growth decreases too much, you will see politicians scrambling to give parents more reason to produce more babies.

The "problem" you have in American:

1. Americans value stuff (goods, items, consumer lifestyle).
2. The standard of living is declining (real wages are stagnant despite productivity increases). Generally people work more, take on more debt just to maintain the same standard of living they had previously.

Now it is suggested to these people - many who admittingly may still have it good - that they should have more taxes taken from them, or in this case see their insurance premiums rise to cover maternity leave - which to them is seen as further eroding their declining standard of living, thus, less stuff.

The math in America:

Stuff >> helping another with maternity leave

The standard of living is declining all over the industrialized world.