Seriously. It appears quite certain that Obama will be elected and that we in the U.S. will soon be living the way you guys in Europe do, with Big Government and Social programs out the wazoo. I know there are a lot of guys/gals from Europe that visit this forum, so please give your input.

Here are my totally sincere questions for you, because this will significantly alter that way I have lived for more than 40 years:

1) Assuming that you have a fairly good income, how do you feel about so much of your earnings being handed out to unproductive, lazy people who never show a hint of appreciation for what they are given?

2) If you own your business, what kind of actions do you have to take in order to minimize the amount of your earnings that the government takes from you? In other words, how do you shelter your earnings?

3) What are some recommendations for how to prepare for our conversion to Socialism/Marxism by the Democrats once Obama is in office? How do I set myself and my family up to reap benefits from the government? How about people without kids - how do they get treated fairly by the system?

4) We in America have traditionally prided ourselves for our independence (something the Brits can relate to, c1776) and rugged individualism. The collectivism mindset of Europe will be a tough conversion for about 49% of us (those who don't vote for Obama). How might we prepare for it?

5) Obama plans to get us out of Iraq quickly. He also has no great love for NATO, so we will likely se a significant reduction of military presence in Europe. That will save us a lot of money by not having bases and ports spread around Europe, and by not funding missile defense systems. We'll probably also soon end support for Israel, which will make a lot of people happy and save us even more money. What is the EU's plan for defending itself unilateraly?

6) I have personally always loved Europe and the old world settings. Hopefully, the significant changes we are about to undergo here will not redound negatively on you guys. It truly would be a shame to have the historic treasures of Europe in any way risked by something like the equivalent of a modern day Crusade with modern day techniques. If America was needed for a third time (after WWI and WWII) to help fight on behalf of our distant relatives, would you even want us there?

Thanks for any and all responses.

I can say that Socialism is not a vulgar word as you tried to depict it. As someone who has lived in both ways: Capitalism and Socialism, I can assure you (from my experience of course) that Socialism is far better.

The high taxes that we pay are going to the benefit of us in the future when we will be old. The country and its authorities stand for our rights the tax payers. If one does not have a medical insurance, he/she will not die in the street but there will be a shelter open for him/her. We have quiet life and do not run after getting more and more luxuries just to show our neighbours that we have more than them.

True that there are some scumbags among us who use this policy in the wrong way and take advantage of the system, but luckily they are a minority. The allowances given by the governments to the unemployed or limited people are not endless anymore as they used to be. Governments have realized that the resources are not endless.

Children get education for free - really FREE. get discounts for transportation, for child care etc. This all comes from the money that the tax payers put in the common pool. This is all set up and provided by different taxation levels.

As an ex Israeli resident, USA will not leave its presence in the Middle East so easily because of oil and proximity to its local interests related to oil. Israel and the US are binded together too strong for such a long time that no matter who will be elected to the US government - USA will always be there.