Recently, somebody asked me whether it is true that life in the US has “nothing in common” with life in Europe, regardless of the country. I generally agree with that, although one can say that all countries are unique. But I still stand with the statement that the first time you come to the US, especially if you do not come as a tourist, the “differenceness” strikes!
The differences are very pronounced in virtually all areas of life, but today, I wanted to talk about just one aspect, which was touched upon in the blog post that triggered the original question (is it too long a chain of references :)?)
That initial blog post described philanthropy, volunteering, and charity in general in the US and how people of different walks of life, not necessarily extremely well off, give their time and money, establish trusts, fund medical research, etc. That always prompts admiration and excitement in my European friends, who tell me there are not that many volunteering opportunities in their countries.
Although I also admire my fellow citizens’ drive for volunteering and giving in general, I often think that, at least in part, it is a natural reaction to the lack of governmental support for many causes. For example, when I am in Finland, I see practically no unhoused people on the streets. I know that that’s not because they are being arrested but because the Finnish government takes appropriate measures to ensure people do not end up on the streets.
I do not even want to start talking about healthcare; I wrote enough about it. But the situation here is similar: clinics do not need to establish special funds for treating uninsured people because uninsured people do not exist.
Let’s look at the situation with refugees. And I do not even talk about the current crisis; let’s look at how things were a year ago, with the war in Ukraine in full swing and with refugees from other war zones trying to get to safer places. In the US, the situation with accepting refugees and asylum seekers is unimaginably bad (see my post here). The asylum seekers are not allowed to work; at the same time, their cases are being postponed in court for months and years. None of them would survive if they would follow the letter of the law.
At the same time, there are multiple volunteering organizations that have over a hundred years of history of helping the asylum seeker. These organizations provide basic benefits, enroll people in community college classes, and help with housing. We, as a country, have enough resources, and I am wondering why we can’t direct them where they are needed, why there is no straight path for the asylum seekers, why they are not allowed to work – and many other “whys.”
During his speech on Veteran’s Day, President Biden said: “We are the only nation in the world built on ideas, not on the territory.” I do not think that this statement is entirely accurate, but I agree with the idea: people have been coming to the US because they have certain values and ideas on how things should work. And this has both good and bad consequences.
I love this country dearly, but there are many things I wish I could fix. I am not sure they are fixable, though, and I am sure there will be more things to fix after that :).
Hettie's Reflections 
There is some logic in it, some kind of “I choose to what I pay my taxes”. E.g. in France, I can donate to some organisms (the choice is quite big) and 60% of the donated amount will be returned to me by the tax office. Taking in account low level (if I’m not wrong) of taxation in US, participation in charity could be view as a “volunteer self taxation” on a chosen cause. This way resolves the contradiction between the people who is volunteers to help others and the people who don’t wont to care about anybody and anything except oneself (or simply between people that have different priorities) and so this way of “self taxation” may reduce a tension in a society… (at least in theory, because as we can to state the society in US is far from be relaxed at present).
(what about me I would prefer “north European social way” of society, where a country organisms takes care about people who needs help, for the reason of predictability of such care… but it works sometimes not perfectly too).
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There is some logic in it, some kind of “I choose to what I pay my taxes”. E.g. in France, I can donate to some organisms (the choice is quite big) and 60% of the donated amount will be returned to me by the tax office. Taking in account low level (if I’m not wrong) of taxation in US, participation in charity could be view as a “volunteer self taxation” on a chosen cause. This way resolves the contradiction between the people who is volunteers to help others and the people who don’t wont to care about anybody and anything except oneself (or simply between people that have different priorities) and so this way of “self taxation” may reduce a tension in a society… (at least in theory, because as we can to state the society in US is far from be relaxed at present).
(what about me I would prefer “north European social way” of society, where a country organisms takes care about people who needs help, for the reason of predictability of such care… but it works sometimes not perfectly too).
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There is some logic in it, some kind of “I choose to what I pay my taxes”. E.g. in France, I can donate to some organisms (the choice is quite big) and 60% of the donated amount will be returned to me by the tax office. Taking in account low level (if I’m not wrong) of taxation in US, participation in charity could be view as a “volunteer self taxation” on a chosen cause. This way resolves the contradiction between the people who is volunteers to help others and the people who don’t wont to care about anybody and anything except oneself (or simply between people that have different priorities) and so this way of “self taxation” may reduce a tension in a society… (at least in theory, because as we can to state the society in US is far from be relaxed at present).
(what about me I would prefer “north European social way” of society, where a country organisms takes care about people who needs help, for the reason of predictability of such care… but it works sometimes not perfectly too).
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Actually, it works exactly the same way in the US – most donations are deductible. Also, the difference in taxation rate is not as drastic as people tend to think: the priciples of taxation are different but the final result is surprisingly similar (you just reach these numbers in a more convoluted way, and pay people to prepare your taxes😂). I also like it better the way it is done in Nordic countries (and I still admire my fellow Americans for their relentless efforts to fix broken systems).
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