Can We Have It All?

            The problem with society today is that people want it all. But can they have it all? Free health care, national security, strong military, and enough people in the working class to support all of it, not to mention that everyone wants to cure homelessness and world hunger; the question is: where is all of the money going to come from?

            Can we have a country with all of those things? Can we have a perfect blend of Capitalism and Socialism? People would hope so but the fact of the matter is, it has never been done. An example of the war of ideals is Canada and the United States.

            Canada and the US are like sisters. Canada being the older and calmer of the two while the US is the haughty younger sister who loves to get in to trouble and then denies that she had anything to do with it. 

            The fact of the matter is that it all comes down to money. While the US has big economic booms it has also had severe depressions because of its capitalist ideals. These ideals have given them great social standing and a strong military. The flip side is that there is skyrocketing homelessness and corporate corruption as the government takes little standing in the way of regulating the economy. 

            Canada has a milder disposition towards socialism and does not take it as a threat. It still has many capitalist ideals but it is watered down with socialist morals. Canada does have free health care and a security net for people who are in financial trouble so they can get back on their feet. The problems that it has are that Canada does not have a strong military and people are inclined to take advantage of government services.

            Another thing to consider are resources. Canada has one of the largest oil reserves on the planet; there is also a large amount of timber and fresh water. As time goes on and the world uses up more and more of these resources they will become exceedingly more valuable. There is a cost to this however, the environment will plunge and while there are conservation groups to help, at the current rate it will fail.

Importation and exportation is a part of every economic system in the world, the goal of these systems is to export more then they import which leads to growth and prosperity. What the countries then do with the prosperity is up to them. Sweden pours most into its health care, public maintenance, and education. As a result many people are able to find stable jobs, be well educated, and, should anything ever happen to them, be well cared for at a hospital. The cost of this however is that Sweden has virtually no military prowess. Then there is the other side to this system; The United States of America. They have great military power but at the cost of many and almost all other services. 

If we follow this trend in geopolitics it is obvious that we come to the conclusion that while we can’t have the best of everything we can have a moderate amount of all services and power. For this we should focus our efforts to find the balance between these extremes where everyone is happy and is a productive member of society.