Leave American Politics to Americans

Sorry to interrupt, but could this thread and others like it be a 'meme' used to distract us from more globally significant problems?

For instance, global famine, rising food prices, and yes the credit crisis/ global economy?

Originally posted by whaaa

Originally posted by tide88

USA's Elections are just that USA's elections. Nobody over here really care what people from canada, GB, france, Germany, or anywhere else thinks. You can criticize us all you want. I havent seen one poll over here that tells us who the rest of the world thinks should be president. Because nobody over here cares what someone from another country thinks

If we don't care what the rest of the world thinks;why do we have diplomats in almost every country? Why do we send so much foreign aid?
Why does Condi Rice have a job? Why do we even have a Department of State?www.state.gov...

Why does the President travel all over the damn world if we don't care what other countries think?

sorry tide88, you have absolutely no credibility with me and probably most other thinking folks whether foreign, domestic, or from Uranus.

[edit on 10-6-2008 by whaaa]

No US citizen really cares what you think. I for one do not. And no election has ever been swayed but what citizens from another country think. The original post was about american politics and I am assuming he is talking about the coming election. And If he is, then Yes, NO CITIZEN OF THE USA CARES WHO A FOREIGNER THINKS SHOULD BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT. This isnt a post about how our government thinks how we are percieved by the world. Obviously we care what other GOVERNMENTS think. And yes we give foreign aid to people who need it. Not just to get on their good side but to actually help those people out. That is what makes us american. That is why after every disaster we send aid. And I am not talking just aid from the government, I am talking aid from the individual american. Cause that is our Nature as americans.
LEAVE AMERICAN POLITICS TO AMERICANS. AMERICAN POLITICS are just that. The political process that takes place in the USA. We are not talking about foreign policy here.

That is what makes us american. That is why after every disaster we send aid. And I am not talking.......

A very telling frame of mind.......I wonder how many others would say this....

What makes somebody American? The love of Freedom would be my answer.

Thanks for that...made me think...and that is rarer then it should be.

As another US member of ATS, I have to say that I don't agree with the original post in this thread, but I also am disturbed by the amount of sheer hatred being espoused not about the poster's opinion but rather at Americans and my country in general. All governments make mistakes and poor choices--look back in history if you doubt this--Germany, England, France, Russia, Iran...the list goes on and on and on and the United States government is no exception and to think that it would be is naive.

The last eight years have sadly left the US in poor standing in many parts of the world and hopefully this will improve with a new administration and with an ear turned toward what our global neighbors think and feel about this country and our choices. We do not live in a vacuum and that is a valuable lesson to be remembered by not only this country but others as well. To hate Americans for the choices of our current President is akin to hating all Germans for the choices of Hitler (and no I am not comparing Bush to Hitler).

I think the US elections are a concern for all countries and to presume that people from other countries shouldn't comment on how we elect a President and who is elected is not a reasonable viewpoint. All of our countries are intertwined in a global economy and more importantly we are all members of the human kind, and as such we should be interested and concerned about our global neighbors.

Sorry to be so long winded, but reading slurs, insults and inflammatory comments on both sides of this issue has gotten me a bit worked up.

(slides soapbox back under the computer desk)

Originally posted by elysiumfire
Leave American politics to Americans? We would do if the bloody Americans and their politics and their aftermaths would stay in America!

No truer words have been spoken.


Not all Americans are war mongers. The United states GDP is projected this year based on the two previous cycles will be around 14.1 Trillion!
I'm not sure on the exact influence this amount is dealing with resources but it's substantial, and all that is going on with global positioning. For the end Run

Who Knows?

IMHO

I think the entire world has a right to comment on US politics since we, (the US) like to control the world.

Originally posted by tide88LEAVE AMERICAN POLITICS TO AMERICANS. AMERICAN POLITICS are just that. The political process that takes place in the USA.

What is it about the word "hypocrisy" that you don't understand?
We meddle in other countries political affairs, even to the extent of assassinating either their elected leaders or the opposition that America doesn't approve of.


www.zompist.com...
www.emayzine.com...
newstandardnews.net...
www.time.com...





[edit on 10-6-2008 by whaaa]

reply to post by eric52081


This is one of the stupidest threads I've seen on ATS in a long while, and that's really saying something on this board...

Why should we stay out of it when it's pushed onto televisions the world over?

Why would not being within the country make any difference? It's not like living under the government gives you much more insight, most people in most countries don't seem to give a damn about who's running the place. Unless things go wrong that is. If anything, you're likely getting more propaganda within the country than we are outside of it.

Finally, people globally should be involved in this process and monitoring it, mainly because America can't stop playing world police. When it stops sticking its nose, arms, legs and everything else into other countries business, we'll pull ours our nose our too. Deal? Deal.

Blah. I'm not going to waste much more time on this thread.

countries have the right to handle their own affairs without foreign intervention. China and the U.S. both hate secondary powers getting into their faces for being more successful.

reply to post by GradyPhilpott


As long as your war mongering leaders continue to stick their nose in everyone elses business in the world you can look forward to the same when it comes to your politics, and hypocrites like yourself, the op,and your government, are not going to change that......

Originally posted by die_another_day
countries have the right to handle their own affairs without foreign intervention. China and the U.S. both hate secondary powers getting into their faces for being more successful.

If this is true, then why all the invasions by the US? Not just recently but throughout history. America has constantly built up nations for it's own benefit, broken others down, or even broken down those they initially built up.

This seems to touch on the same issue others have raised in this thread. The hipocracy of calls for silence over the election from nations outside the US.

Additionally, why do America and China have some sort of superiority complex in which they're always claming others just "hate them for being good". Yes we're all so jealous. We all wish we drove hummers, paid a lot for fuel, had guns and massacres due to that, frequent abuse by police and 'nonlethal weapons', useless nuclear arsenals, religious zealot leaders and a near military economy, yada yada yada.

That argument is just a cheap way out of ignoring the facts. It's also a convenient way to get US citizens to ignore the facts themselves. Didn't the Romans invent the tactic of turning a country to an outside 'threat' to hide and ignore internal issues? I suppose that's irrelevant, because the US is now the biggest user of this tactic.

The rest of the world will stay out of U.S politics, when the U.S stays out of everyone elses.

HYPOCRITES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow you guys are so right!
We Americans interfere so much with other countries and never, ever, with U.N. mandate and never by the U.N.s request.
I really really think that folks need to invade us and teach us a lesson.

If you do get your way eric, perhaps then we can close down all the military bases you have stationed around the world. Seems everybody but the old rich white men in charge understand that nobody really wants them there or to be there.

Perhaps if the United States Of Paranoia allowed a little foreign influence on it's politics the presidential race itself wouldn't look so much like an American Idol audition

Believe me, I'd love nothing more than to turn on my TV and see some REAL news, however your media insists on shoving garbage down our throats day after day and it just gets worse around election time.
So I just don't turn the TV on anymore, well not for TV anyway, especially American news *shivers in disgust*.

So please, if you can arrange it, keep American politics out of everyone else's business. Please. Thank you.


smh

Hey Sacred,

Russia seems to be spending billions on re arming it's defense forces, can you work out why? They don't seems to like you guys very much at the moment do they.
I wonder what would happen to the U.S if they pushed their luck trying to swindle away the oil in the Black Sea states, don't think Russia would lay down and get walked over , do you? I wonder how the Russians might react, Hmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

reply to post by zealman


Most assuredly the same way they did in the eighties.

This is all a bunch of nonsense. The facts are the facts:

1.) You Europeans would still be digging out of the rubble from your two - not one, but TWO World Wars that started on your continent - if it weren't for the United States' assistance (the Marshall Plan). Yeah, you can "Non, mais..." or "Nein...", or even "No, mate, but..." all you want, but the facts are the facts. We were a very strict isolationist country before the 40s, and the majority of Americans didn't want to get involved with your ethnic cleansings and imperialistic aspirations causing all of your little bickerings, but we were forced into by our government. Hmmm...sound familiar?

I've been to Europe many, many, many times. I've loved all of my travels there, and I've enjoyed the people I've met. I cannot really recall ever being treated inhospitably by anyone. However, Europeans are very short-sighted when it comes to history...they always have been. The French owned most of poor North Africa and SE Asia - until they got kicked out. The Germans...well, we don't need to go there. The English - they owned almost the entire bloody world until the US stood up to their bully empire and kicked their arses out and then the world woke up and followed suit. Even the Spanish had their heyday murdering...hmmm...how many Jews that wouldn't accept the Catholic Church's pay-us-off-and-get-to-Heaven social welfare program (indulgences). Just remember - if you want to sling mud at the US, then there's plenty to go around for your past - and sometimes present - too. The facts are that we all come from countries where there are not so proud moments. Let's not forget our history, and let's show a little humility - all of us.

2.) The US govt is not representing the American people, and they haven't for some time. A long time. We watch the circus on tv like everyone else when we can stomach it. I personally don't even watch it. It makes me sick. Neither McCain or Obama will change one thing about how this country is run. Each one of them from decades past has pledged the same thing, but it's always the same. We get sick of one party's BS and so we completely vote them out and vote in the other pathetic party. Then within 4 to 8 years we do it all over again. It's a nauseating circle-jerk that has caused many, many Americans to be completely apathetic to the process.

It is not running or operating in its intended capacity. Our govt was conceived and constructed brilliantly. It was originally a model of balance and representation. However, like everywhere else - whether you can admit it or not - its power and operation has been usurped by corporations (foreign and domestic), backroom deals and lunatics at the helm.

3.) Iraq and Afghanistan. Sigh. Look folks, we don't want to be there more than anyone else wants us there. If you are truly paying attention to our politics then you would know that the vast majority of Americans want out of both countries. We want our men and women home and safe. We were lied to about a threat, now we know. Don't think that you guys across the pond are the only ones who'd like to see our current administration charged with crimes against humanity. To take what a few nutjobs in office do and twist it to imply that even a large minority of Americans support this crap is just ignorance.

4.) Guns, fast-food, etc.: Ignorance. It seems to me that most of you form your ideas based on Miami Vice re-runs, MTV and gangsta rap. What a shame that this image is what we export. Part of that, however, is our fault. However, when I've been to Europe, I've found no shortage of Coca-Cola Light and Big Macs. Don't be a hypocrite.

Just remember - we all have our faults somewhere in our histories. For each one of you that points a finger at us with your accusatory tone, we could point it right back at you. (Switzerland and Sweden excluded - love the chocolates and love IKEA )
Please don't be a hypocrite.

America is the largest superpower in the world right now.
Are you suggesting that American politics DOES NOT directly or indirectly affect the rest of the world in one way or another???

It absolutely and entirely does impact everyone's lives and while the choices that are being made in American politics are affecting the livelihoods of foreign people, they will ALWAYS have a right to discuss this subject.

This is the way it is. I sure hope that if any Australians wanted to comment on who their choice would be for the next President, for example, they wouldn't be shot down for having an opinion about another country's politics.

Don't be so small minded.

And the other thing , is your country is run by agents of a foreign power with these dual citizen characters in high position of the government and judiciary. But you can't say much as your all nailed down with being accused of being anti this or anti that. At least non US opinion hasn't been the subject of intensive oppression like you have to put up with.

Again, Let them comment on our politics, let them have their say. Our government and our politicians really don't care what their international approval rate is. Let me ask you all this. How many political canidates have ever campained overseas, shook hands with a bunch or regular foreigners. My guess is zero. Sure we meet with their leaders, and our president only meets with a handful, but that is all. Our president doesnt go overseas and ask the great citizens of GB what they think. Nor do the candidates. So again let them all criticize us, tells us who they should think should be president, or how we should go about our foreign policy, because in the end, how they think we should run our country or who our elected officials should be is a mute point.