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516 Comments
- seltaeb4, on 05/23/2009, -32/+810Damn Socialists, building schools and providing health care for their people!!!
What kind of country doesn't have crime?!
You just can't trust these shifty liberals.
If you want to be a real country go start a war or something! - Jascol, on 05/23/2009, -14/+429I ***** LOVE the Netherlands. Amsterdam is actually the nicest place I've ever been to. They're about 50 years ahead of the rest of the world socially speaking.
- BoneStamp, on 05/23/2009, -9/+296Wait! If we legalized cannabis and closed our prisons, how would we (the tax payers) continue to make private prison owners filthy rich?
- inactive, on 05/24/2009, -1/+182Texas has 1.5 times the population but 11 times the prison population.
- redgiemental, on 05/23/2009, -11/+176My admiration for the Netherlands continues to be well founded.
The language thing is the one reason I would hesitant to move there.
I realise most people in the major cities speak very good english but I'd feel like an ass not speaking the language of the country I live in. I'm not good at languages unfortunately. - CaptObvious, on 05/23/2009, -23/+171Wait. I thought socialism would ruin a country?
- GoldenGlovez, on 05/23/2009, -2/+149Really? I heard going outside once in awhile is another good way.
- defendliberty, on 05/23/2009, -7/+148But, But, But Marijuana is a gateway drug. It leads to hard drugs, and those lead to hard crime............
***** America. WTF are we doing? - m3th0dm4n, on 05/23/2009, -12/+151It's funny how little you know.
- zyklon, on 05/23/2009, -1/+116The Dutch taking the lead in the war of reason versus insanity.
- scamper22, on 05/23/2009, -15/+116Dutch socialist... yeah....
The Dutch were the folks who invented the stock market...
Libertarian social policy does not make you a socialist. It makes you someone who only recognizes the benefits of the state getting out of the way in social policy and not everything else. - agflorida, on 05/24/2009, -2/+101You bet, I sure wish the bankers would start earning their keep instead of needing us to bail them out, and just look at all those CEO's and CFO's doing such a bang up job, they sure deserve being paid 500 times what their workers get.
- vacax, on 05/23/2009, -0/+96I just want to point out the marijuana is not legal in the Netherlands it is merely decriminalized. Possession is still technically a misdemeanor.
- inactive, on 05/23/2009, -7/+96I don't think the right to be healthy and to acquire knowledge as to utilize it in some way that boosts our economy and overall standard of living needs to be earned.
- Wongeroo, on 05/24/2009, -1/+84"In this world we expect people to earn their keep."
Are you seriously arguing that the better system is one in which it is run through unregulated (yet bailed out) junk mortgage securities and excessive foreign debt than one which is maintained by a pay-as-you-go system that actually and empirically gives the citizens a return on their government investment?
Please, enlighten me with your superior logic. - carbonetc, on 05/24/2009, -3/+83He says as he pays for other people's children to go to school, other people's burning houses to be extinguished, other people's roads to be repaired, etc.
- Renian, on 05/23/2009, -8/+83Ladies and Gentlemen, if you will look at Exhibit A, shown above at the top, you will see the only sarcastic Digg comment ever conceived that need not have a /s in it.
- scamper22, on 05/23/2009, -0/+73or public sector prison workers....
There's a reason why the California prison guards union is opposed to drug legalization. - X0rn, on 05/23/2009, -0/+72You`d be surprised how easy it is to learn dutch. especially if you`re a native english or german speaker.
Grammar is basically the same as in english and the vocabulary is a mix of english & german words (slightly different) and some own words. I speak all three languages and I`m sure that you`d get used to dutch pretty fast. (except for some accents) - walgman, on 05/23/2009, -0/+69If you fancy loosing it whilst being timed with an egg timer.
- TheNyquilKid, on 05/23/2009, -5/+69This is just more reason for the US not to legalize cannabis. Someone has to fill these prisons damn it, this isn't a charity!
- HeavyWave, on 05/24/2009, -0/+62You have private prison owners in America? Wouldn't they try and get everyone in jail if they could get away with it?
- scamper22, on 05/23/2009, -2/+61The Drug War is an employment scheme for lawyers, prison guards, police officers...
Welcome to the centrally planned economy. - JFitzpatrick, on 05/24/2009, -1/+58I hate to rain on the parade but there are a lot of bigger factors at play in the Netherlands than just decriminalized marijuana usage. They have a radically more homogeneous, better educated, stable, socially progressive society with less radical class stratification than we have in the United States. I'd be deeply shocked to see a country with those parameters have a crime problem worse than the US.
- 300thSpartan, on 05/24/2009, -2/+56In defiance of whom?
- bigbadgoat, on 05/24/2009, -1/+52You know Canada? That country that's just above you, that builds schools, provides health care and has a substantially lower crime rate?
Isn't that pretty much in the same part of the world? - fedja, on 05/24/2009, -3/+53Socialist nightmare? And you called other arguments straw men?
Do tell where you experienced the socialist nightmare you're so knowledgeable about? - Gudeldar, on 05/23/2009, -1/+50Just like adultery is still technically a crime in many US states. They just don't bother to enforce it.
- scamper22, on 05/23/2009, -7/+53ummm, drug legalization has more to do with individual liberty than socialism.
Perhaps you should rephrase that as... I thought libertarianism would ruin a country? - Animan351, on 05/24/2009, -1/+47A gateway drug like drinking milk is a gateway drink to beer right?
- Thorpe, on 05/23/2009, -4/+49I heard Amsterdam is the place to go for losing your virginity.
- SnakeJake, on 05/24/2009, -10/+54How on earth is a decline in crime caused by legalizing cannabis. Which btw is still illegal to grow in The Netherlands.
The main reason is imo the rehabilitation system, not the legalization of cannabis. - BillE3, on 05/23/2009, -6/+48Maybe we can contract with them to hold our prisoners?
- inactive, on 05/24/2009, -8/+49Meanwhile;
Amerika builds more prisons than schools
Amerika builds more prisons than ANY OTHER COUNTRY per capita.
Amerika imprisons more of their citizens for non violent crimes than ANY OTHER COUNTRY per capita.
Amerika imprisons more of their citizens for victimless crimes than ANY OTHER COUNTRY per capita.
Amerika manufactures and exports more weapons than ANY OTHER COUNTRY.
Amerika spends more on its military presence than all other nations on Earth COMBINED
..but, you know, the Amerikan Idol finalists... - mrogi, on 05/23/2009, -2/+37There is no need to close prisons. If the Netherlands wants more criminals all they have to do is declare more things illegal. Start with drugs. The prison industry is booming in the United States.
- borez, on 05/23/2009, -3/+37Well at least ONE country is doing things right.
- mfc5200, on 05/24/2009, -5/+39Just going to point it out.
Netherlands:
Population: 16 million
Area: 41,000 km^2
GDP: $675 billion
U.S.A
Population: 300 million
Area: 9.8 Million km^2
GDP: $14.2 trillion
Avoiding getting into an argument about what is bad/good policy. I'm sure you agree that it is difficult to compare the US to the Netherlands as a result of many different factors ( I listed 3). If anything, you should be trying to implement the programs you want on a state level, which is 100x more tractable than on a national level. - impei, on 05/24/2009, -4/+35Free market but also a generous social safety net, publicly funded health care, higher taxes and a strong labour movement. I think that fits the current Republican definition of socialism.
- jacksontollock, on 05/23/2009, -7/+38How is this Socialism? Netherlands is one of the most free market countries in Europe.
- zslice, on 05/24/2009, -8/+39I hate it when people associate broadly defined stats with whatever agenda they want to push. The article goes on to state that Belgium is overpopulated with criminals and Dutch prisons may take the extra convicts. Belgium by the way has based its drug policy on the Netherlands and yet by applying the same logic, this has led it to become teeming with new criminals.
lowest crime rates in the world? Saudi Arabia, where drug enforcement is one of the harshest in the world. - inactive, on 05/24/2009, -3/+32Along with the Nordic countries as well Norway, Sweden, etc.
- Schmich, on 05/23/2009, -0/+29Too late, Belgium is already on it.
- skinny01, on 05/24/2009, -1/+28Yes. Certain americans are routinely dragged into the prison system just because of what they look like and where they live. But add in Sharpton hopping on tv every second crying wolf and now nobody takes it seriously when we tell them what's going on for real in some communities.
- trakie, on 05/24/2009, -0/+26well i drank milk as a kid, and now i drink beer so you must be right...
- christoast, on 05/24/2009, -2/+28In defiance of society's expectations of what I should do.
- MicroGlyphics, on 05/23/2009, -2/+27Yeah, but we gotta convict them first: George Bush, Dick Cheney...and the list goes on...
- Moz34, on 05/24/2009, -0/+24"the population of the netherlands is less diverse"
Can you elaborate? I actually live in NL and I find your statement rather conflicting with reality here. - inactive, on 05/24/2009, -1/+23Its amazing how many idiots on here condone locking people up for their particular choice of sedative when these idiots can't even spell the word prohibition much less understand what it means or it's repercussions on society.
Meanwhile these "drug warriors" go out and drink alcohol and smoke tobacco after a hard day's work of locking up others for their choice of narcotic. - DotGet, on 05/24/2009, -2/+24@"logicalwisdom"
The Netherlands is a straw man? I don't follow.
In any case, you're the one pigeonholing socialism, which means you clearly define it as something separate from what you stand for. And by the way you're talking to your buddy, apparently you think that you and he and some other demographic stand for a separate cause, whereas all of these socialism-supporters are just ignorant. How is this not, as you put it, "black and white"?
What is fairly obvious is the fact that societies with more socialist policies than us are obviously fairing better. Way better. Way, way, way better. - X0rn, on 05/24/2009, -3/+24http://www.d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com/
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