Why are Americans so different from the rest of us Westerners

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by GP


Come on Kitty. We're not going to only elect Democrats cause you all liked Clinton and Carter better than Reagan and Bush. The countries have their differences. Deal with it. You all haven't followed us everywhere anyway. No Vietnam involvement, etc.

If you are kvetching about the trade stuff (lumber, etc.) you've got my sympathy. I think we need a firmer free-trade agreement. But you know how trade politics are...

We've dealt with Republicans before. For 75% of the last 30 years we've dealt with Republicans. We've never dealt with this kind of Republican, though. And the Euros have real problems with him too.

I'm referring both to his interesting take on world affairs and his 19th century view of tarriff policies, by the way. Both of which were becoming evident before terrorist attacks. He seemed more comfortable dealing with 3rd world despots than with leaders of industrialised countries. Perception is that he can't stand dealing with anybody who'll ask him to compromise.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by GP


You're missing my main point. I'm not saying that the red brigades would take over Europe. But that the buzz was different. Very few predicted the collapse of cimmunism by 1990. Not those on the left either. They said we needed to learn to live with the Sovs and expected them to be around for a while.
The mood in 1979 was one of a real fear of nuclear war and of being backed into one. By 1985 that was gone.

Right, and I'm saying the fear was unjustified. Can't really take credit for saving Europe from a threat which wasn't there in the first place, and which you did your best to create paranoia about.

I'm not trying to say that the Left was any more visionary than the Right was...

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Sagacious Dolphin
?

Anti-terror laws that make the Patriot Act look good.

Or was AH talking about invasion in response to terrorist attack?

[Main_Brain]

Riiight the Civil War
~20 Years later and Texas fought with the Confederation. I remember now.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Anti-terror laws that make the Patriot Act look good.

Start a thread comparing the two.

[KrazyHorse]

Right, and remember how they were abused?

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Or was AH talking about invasion in response to terrorist attack?

I thought it a reference to Iraq.

[The Vagabond]

Originally posted by Ned
Alexander's Horse, this reads like a liberal/leftist wish list. The question really should be is why the rest of the West shifted so strongly to the left after WWII while the US did not.

The answer to that is simple. The rest of the Western world has been developing in a kind of natural preserve. But the results of their development are nice, one should admit.

[Ned]

I think Sava has a point. Europe directly suffered from WWII, while the US seemed to prosper from it.

Perhaps this explains it all.

[monkspider]

AH makes an interesting point, I have been wondering about things along these lines as well.

[AnnC]

Not all of us are Jacksonians but...

Some of the comments in this thread remind me of an article I read in The Atlantic Monthly several months ago: The Case Against Europe by Walter Russell Mead.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Frogger
(4) Canadian Football is much better

Go Argos!

[KrazyHorse]

Go Als!

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Frogger
Right, and remember how they were abused?

Are you one of those that believes in giving the government wide ranging authority as long as they look doe-eyed and say that they won't abuse it?

[KrazyHorse]

Yes.