Just Back From Europe

[Native_Iowan]

And believe me, we were among friends!

My travel buddy wore a Kerry-Edwards button and got nothing but compliments. We spoke with a tour guide at Dublin Castle who assured us that the people of Ireland were most definitely in our corner. His own girlfriend lives here in DC and works for the Kerry campaign. He recalled an earlier conversation with a couple of GOP tourists who regaled him with questions as to why the socially conservative Irish people so despised Dubya and why they admired a "fornicator" like Bill Clinton so much. He calmly explained to that them that even in the most conservative Catholic countries of Europe, the people make a distinction between a political leader's personal weaknesses and their actual performance as leaders. Wow..what a concept...if only we could get more people to get that here! Specifically, the Irish appreciated Clinton's active role in the Northern Ireland peace process, but resent (along with EVERYONE else) the condescending tone of the Bush administration toward the rest of the world in insisting on going forward with their belligerent policies still mired in the early 20th century.

We saw anti-Bush grafitti everywhere we went. My favorite was "Bush - don't come here" scrawled on the wall of a sidestreet in Dublin. Another in Lisbon scrawled a swastika over a picture of Dubya - it was in Portuguese but I got the point. A Madrid bookstore window had the following books: "Bill Clinton - Mi Vida", "Bush -- Contra", a Spanish-language foreign affairs book with a rat being pulled from Uncle Sam's Hat on the cover, and "John Kerry". Hmmm...where are all the kudos for Chimpy in one of our "coalition of the willing" countries?

The icing on the cake? Our last night in Madrid, we were sitting in the Plaza Mayor, the city's most prominent and populous plaza. We looked up to a third floor balcony and saw a sight so familiar to us that we did a double take, having to remember that we were in a foreign country...it was a Kerry-Edwards yard sign, prominent for all to see....SWEEET!!!

Folks...if only the world could vote for the so-called "leader of the free world."

[Eloriel]

1. So nice to know they care

and are with us. Thanks for posting.

[glitch]

2. thank you for this - especially the sign in the window! nt

[TriMetFan]

3. Thanks for story.

My sister in-law lives in London and she says the same thing. People in the rest of the world hate Bush.

[nyhuskyfan]

4. The European Dream...

by Jeremy Rifkin

I haven't read it yet (it's on my after-the-election list), but it seems like he wrote about the sort of things I've been thinking for some time. That Europe as a collective whole has managed to achieve a comparable (or superior) ideal to the way we have always thought of America. They are free societies, but they manage to allow capitalism without abandoning large sections of its populace. And there isn't the "we're the rulers of the world" arrogance that the United States has taken on.

Europe isn't Eden, but I think their style and standard of living is more appealing than ours. European nations fought each other for hundreds of years, invaded other nations around the world, but have evolved. Sometimes I wonder if we're behind their curve, even though we're supposed to be the "superpower".

[Native_Iowan]

8. We Should listen to them...

I read an excerpt from Mr. Rifkin's work before I went abroad and believe he is spot on. Europe indeed has many problems (latent racism and lingering poverty most prominent among them) and raw socialism is indeed no panacea. Nevertheless, I have become convinced in my numerous travels over there and from ongoing conversations with non-American friends that it is their vision and not our current one that offers the most promise for the 21st century.

It would be nice for a change for American leaders to listen rather than preach when defining what it means to be the most prominent member of the free world. A true leader welcomes passion, ideas, and open-minded discuourse from the outside. A true leader allows leadership to flow at times from other sources. Instead, our "leadership" behaves like schoolyard bullies intoxicated on their own false god of American exceptionalism, insisting that we are beacons of "freedom" while being utterly untrue to the meaning of the word.

I have more and more come to admire the more inclusive nature of European, Asia/Pacific, and Canadian sensibilities as to what a 21st world should look like. Europeans have learned much from the travesty of two world wars and have much to teach us about the limits of hubris. We ignore their input at our own peril.

[nyhuskyfan]

10. Indeed...

The best system would be one where individual achievement is suitably rewarded (capitalism), while the society provides an adequate safety net for people fall through the cracks. I guarantee a lot of people in this country who want to do freelance work or become an entrepeneur don't do it because they don't want to give up their benefits. The risk of failure is too great, because the safety net in the United States has too many holes.

We are the wealthiest nation in the world, yet too many people are in poverty, too many are denied basic health coverage, and too many are denied the opportunity to get a decent education and find their way out of their rut. How many deaths in this country occur because a family couldn't afford health coverage and the sick family member's first visit to a doctor was in the emergency room?

Many nations in Eurpoe come much closer to achieving the balance, even though it hasn't always been easy. Sweden, for one, might have been too socialistic and been dismissed by many in this country, but they've improved their system and developed a pretty strong society with a high standard of living (and a tax rate not substantially higher than ours).

If this country wasn't spending more on its military than the rest of the world combined, perhaps we could find a way to have a better safety net.

[Native_Iowan]

12. Excellent Point on Safety Net

The comment that many people who wish to pursue a more entrepenuerial route, but do not because they fear losing necessary benefits applies to my own career experience! Ironically, I would love to be able to spend a little time abroad - a few months here, a few months there while tethered to my own web development business and benefits back home. Very difficult without a safety net!

[RaleighNCDUer]

13. Well, you gotta figure. In the last thousand years, even in the last

200 years, not a single country there has not been affected by war, destruction, invasion. We are arrogant because the only people to invade us have been us. We have't experienced the direct effects of war since the civil war, and as a transplanted yankee in NC for 10 years I can tell you there are still hard feelings about that.

We should be looking to their example rather than disdaining their opinions.

Of course, I'm preaching to the choir, here.

[blm]

5. What a PERFECT post when we have just 3 weeks to get rid of BushInc.

Thank you, thank, you, thank you.

[babylonsister]

6. The sentiments of the rest of the world

are being lost on the damned repugs. They don't know or care what a blow our country has received w/ Shrubbie* in power. Pleasepleaseplease, we need to get him outa here!

[FormerOstrich]

7. A little like traveling...

I play backgammon on a site and the opponents are from all over the world. Many have asked me questions but none have made the impression as one man did last night.

He was from Norway and he asked me who I thought would win the election. I told him that I certainly was in Kerry's corner. He then told me that he hoped that was true that the world was "crumbling". He said for the first time in his life he feared for his children. I told him I had no children but I freared for his children, too.

Go Kerry/Edwards.....the entire world is looking towards you.

[TNDemo]

9. We just had the opposite experience.

Our car club here hosted the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club from England. Fifty guys (and wives) shipped their cars over and are taking a three week driving tour of the south and then will ship their cars back. One couple was from Belgium and when asked what they thought of the upcoming election they said they hoped Bush got reelected because Kerry would be too weak. Another couple was talking about France and this led to the general distaste for the French and then it came out that they were Bush supporters. We were trying to figure this out (and that was just two of the 50 couples and we could have talked to the wrong ones) and finally decided that these were probably the rich folks and they would be more likely to be Bush supporters. One 75-year-old was a surgical nurse so he evidently was not upper crust but I don't really know about the rest. I was completely surprised they wanted Bush and thought they would all hate him. We just decided to shut up and not talk politics with them.

[Native_Iowan]

11. Sorry to hear that...

Sounds like you managed to bump into the "exceptions that prove the rule" - if you will. I did see a link a couple of weeks back that showed polling from most of the world's nations showing Kerry winning almost of the European nations (except Poland) by wide margins as well as most of the rest of the world.

Too bad you didn't have the same experience and get to enjoy the same warm fuzzies my friend and I got. But, there are exceptions to every rule. My brother-in-law is from the most liberal city in the country (San Francisco) and is pretty far right...so, location is not a guarantee...

[Lefty48197]

14. New Europe, or old Europe?

Did you forget Poland?