November 2nd, 2004
Oh cmon it's election day, you really thought I wouldn't get political? :P
Like it or not, we and most other nations (if not all) in the world today are affected by the outcome of these theatrics currently in progress. It's fair to say in the long run it affects us just as much (or probably more) than whatever may be the outcome of the political process here at home. Thus it shouldn't be hard to understand that the world gets involved when the only world superpower is electing its leader. And the world has voted overwhelmingly for not-Bush. In the grand scheme of US politics, where no person without a fortune and the backing of most the country's multinational corporations is a worthy candidate, it might seem trivial to get worked up about who might win. Either of the sides is still going to do favors for their corporate patrons and noone cares about the people anyway.
But seeing how much damage the Bush camp has managed to inflict over the past four years, considering that administration shows no restraint in pursuing their blatant self-interests at the expense of long standing, well established diplomatic relations (for one thing), the choice seems very clear. The puppet must not win, otherwise the puppet masters currently in power will never hesitate to extend this dreadful streak of ruthless foreign policy and domestic misery. Bush is no orator and in his poor rhetoric, I noticed that he doesn't speak much about domestic issues at all. It's all about "we have to defend ourselves", "this is a great country", "hard working people" and for some reason people don't seem to mind hearing that. Yes, let uncle tell us a story. In Orwellish manner, the "threat to national security" is so great that he gets away with harping on that same thing and that's enough to please the masses. "America was attacked". Meanwhile fresh reports suggest the number of civilian casualties in Iraq has surpassed 100,000 but that never makes the big headlines.
I might as well say I don't know anything about John Kerry. But his people couldn't possibly be any worse than this.
You vastly overestimate the influence the US leader has in European nations. It does not affect our welfare system, it does not create or lose jobs, it does not lower or raise taxes or anything else that would be important in a European national election.
Furthermore, the only influence Bush will have on Europe is actually positive. He will inevitably cause the Atlantic Alliance to fall apart and Europe will be on it's own; effectively forcing us to get into fifth gear on our integration projects: with or without the UK, and have you no illusion; we can easily go without.
And history might one day look upon Bush and say he was the founder of the second global superpower of the 21st century: The European Union.
Ok that's far out, man :D
It's much less knowledge than it is fear and I have a fear that whatever happens on the domestic stage in the US will gradually want to reproduce here as well, due to the unquestionable economic and cultural influence. And as you keep hearing that it's the big corporations that really run the show in the US, I have a bad feeling that will spread and big companies will tighten their grip here as well. Wasn't there are story about German unions losing ground and conceding defeat to abandon their 6 six week paid holiday? It may have been just one instance but I'm nervous about this. What about civil liberties? Could that be the next one?
More than that, I don't think Europe has the guts to stand up to the US and face the consequences. Not are we united either, Poland is a lap dog to the US in hope of a brighter future, for instance.
Some student of politics should do a paper on this.. :D
I know that was far out - I was merely showing the opposite extreme to the one the media have been offering us so far (let's face it, they all sing the same song).
And that example from Germany you provided is correct; but it's only an effect of an ageing population and doesn't have anything to do with the US. Europeans have traditionally had a completely different view on life which is why we spend so much less on military and have incredibly thorough welfare states. That is very unlikely to change.
The fact that the welfare state is being downsized throughout Europe right now is only because we've been overliving it for the past decade. The ageing population will cause us to take a couple of minor steps back but, as stated before, this is a seperate issue.
Count GB out of the European Union 'super power'. Thats simply not going to happen.
Done. Byebye.
:dielaugh:
Love your reaction. :D