What is is like to live where you live?

[studioalamode]

With all the political turmoil here in the US, I'm just wondering... what is life like under a different kind of government? Does it affect every day life? Are laws restricting? Is there "freedom"? Can you read/write what you want? Say what you want? Protest? Generally, what is your economy like in non-troubled times? Do you want for anything?

I would really like to know, so please... if you are from a different country (and I know we have some Aussies among us), please educate me.

Thanks! I'm really looking forward to getting some real insight into this!

 

[studioalamode]

Oh, I am at work, so I might not answer/discuss replies until tonight or tomorrow, but please... put forth your thoughts!

 

[Tabitha]

Please be careful that this does not turn into a "my country is better than your country" thread or a "your country sucks because" thread. Feel free to post, I have just seen a couple threads like this go south and don't want that to happen.-Thanks, Tabitha

 

[dagmar88]

The Netherlands:
A couple of years ago politician Pim Fortuyn & film maker Theo van Gogh were killed for their opinions.
The biggest part of the population wasn't sharing their opinions, but it felt like a blow to freedom of speach anyway.
But I'd say yes, normally we do get to read/write/say and do what we want.
For example we have a Gay Parade an Pink Carnival; festivities where homoseksuals can show they're proud of being gay. And we have gay marriage. I'm really pro gay marriage, it's not a decision of government or church wo you are supposed to love and want to make a family with. This should be a basic right. Just my tow cents though :roll:
We are allowed to choose any religion and praction it in open.
Our lives often consist of, like pretty much everywhere else, working your ass of for just enough to pay the bills. And never get to doing what you really love.
Just kidding; to give you an idea of financial situations; we do have a reasonable system; when something happends to you/you have a disability/can't fiend a job, you get welfare. Everyone is always guarantied to have an income.
A family home with 4 bedrooms costs 500 euro a month, in the area we want to move to, wich is rural and by the sea. We get some 'rental support' from the goverment, cause we don't make a lot of money :wink:
So we'd pay about 350 a month, plus electra end gas 150. Health insurance is about 100 euro a month per person, children under 18 are free.
Driving a care here is very expensive! gas/diesel prices are really high; you pay insurance, road taxes, and when you own a car, there's no more remission for some other taxes, like water and sewer tax Yes we are a country of taxes and bureaucracy
Only 15 000 people out of 16 000 000 rely on the free food system.
Health care is good, eveyone gets the help they need; everything needed is paid by the insurance automatically.
There has been an attack on the royal family on queensday; some people were killed. Those kind of thing do change opinions, but mostly for a short time. In general, we do feel safe, but some would like more 'uniforms' on the street.
Normally we have pretty low unemployment and pretty well aducated people. Everyone can get a college loan, so everyone can go to school/highschool/university. This loan is paid out once a month; a part of the end amount is let off when you make it through.
prostitution is legal and so is smoking marihuana (you buy it in a coffeeshop) as long as taxes are paid. Grwoing is illegal; but the government is thinking of growing it theirselves :shock:

I'd say I live in a pretty relaxed country... I like living here.

The country site. Most of the Netherlands is flat

The city we're going to move to... can totally picure my business in one of these cute streets :roll:

Skyline of Rotterdam

Hoped to have given you some useful info!

Dagmar

 

[Sibi]

Dagmar,

Wow, the Netherlands sounds like a great place to live Maybe I should consider relocating.....

Sibi

 

[studioalamode]

Wow, what beautiful pictures! Thanks for the information about your country. I will probably never have money to travel abroad (unless I get famous by selling jewelry or soap!), and visiting somewhere as a tourist for a short period of time is not the same as living somewhere. The information you have provided from your perspective of citizenship is interesting. I had heard that the Netherlands was more permissive/tolerant of expressions of sexuality and marijuana use, and it is interesting that it is legal and the government is considering growing it!

I agree with Tabitha that this thread should not be come a hate thread or even competitive in nature... let's just be in a listening/learning mode and see what we can find out about how each other lives, whether we agree with it or not.

Personally, I think this was a nice personal response and I enjoyed the pictures tremendously. Thanks, Dagmar!

 

[dagmar88]

Thanks; I love living here My hub is always wining about taxes and rain though
Who knows what will happen; traveling could become very cheap, you could become a mulinational soap company 8)
Well, the marihuana thing is actually anywhere between illigal and legal; its an acceptance-policy :wink:
In the early day a lot of people had a couple of plants, and that was enough to support the demand. Now we have drugs tourism from Germany, Belgium and France and the supply needs to be larger.
The process is les and less normal people are growing it and the growth is taken over by criminal groups. Only now it has become a problem.
So some people in the government are thinking of growing it themselves, to avoid criminality... Don't think the christian parties will ever be ok with that though

I'd be really interested to hear from Victoria (rupertspal) what life in Iriq is like now for the normal civilians!

Nothing competitive as far as I'm concerned, just really interested how life actually is in other parts of the world.

 

[Guest]

Not to hijack a thread but I just came back from a walk in my new neighborhood, in which I feel so god-awful lonely in. I was thinking how so many parts of America are so different, even neighborhood to neighborhood.

I finally moved to a middleclass area after being raise in a mostly black middleclass hood, raising my children in an extremely depressed area and finding myself comfortable.

I am so disallusioned with American life. It is so stressful even though this is supposed to be the land of plenty. I love living here and can't imagine what life might be like in other places (not making a one place is better argument) It is just affecting me in a weird way the pain and poverty I see around me.

Just praying that the mental health system becomes better in the US. Hoping through the "green" movement we go back to a simple-er way of life. And I wish folks cared more about each other and that we become as a nation, less divided by economic. Years ago I might have hoped we would become less divided by race, but the Obama era has moved us ahead by leaps and bounds to the point I no longer consider race an issue, it is truly economics...I think MLK saw that years ago, he was so ahead of his time...... :cry: