WHY EUROPEANS ARE DEMS!

[Gustaf]

HEY! I just realized one of the most important reasons for foreigners being pro-Dem. We're most interested in foreign policy, since we don't live in the US, don't have to pay your taxes, etc. And on foreign policy, well, Democrats tend to like Europe, Republicans tend to despise all other countries in the world.

I made this a thread of it's own, b/c the other was getting buried, and I think everyone should see it, since it seems to have evoced a lot of feelings...

[Gustaf]

Just kidding I don't hate France

I don't like France, few people do, so it's OK...

Nice to hear, there are alwaus exceptions to prove the rule, I guess...

[Gustaf]

If you say so...I must say that after the discussion I had on this thread it seemed true enough. I actually thought it was a stereotype uptil then. But so far MarkDel and 9Iron768 has turned out differently, so perhaps I'm wrong. I would hope so. But I think a lot of Republicans do fot into that stereotype, I'm afraid. Which is very sad, imo.

[Gustaf]

Hehe...I'm afraid you proved the wrong point, these 2 were infact the NON-Europe haters that I have so far encountered. (Though I am hoping for you as well, since you're debating this).

[Gustaf]

See? Even those who are pro-Europe you percieve as anti-Europe! Now what does that tell you??

[Gustaf]

I just want to point out that I never said hate, i used the word despise...

There's a difference between hating and disagreeing with, of course, but a lot of people seem not to take that distinction too seriously. Dare I say "Freedom Fries"?

[Gustaf]

I knew you would reveal your true nature eventually!

[Gustaf]

Are you caving in to JR's quoting policy? Are we losing you to the dark side?

Thanks for supporting me, and if you wanna live ina world with "Fried potatoes that have distanced themselves from the dictatorship-sympathizing French bastards", be my guest...

I didn't support calling French Fries "Freedom Fries"... as changing "French" to "Freedom" would imply that France has something to do with freedom.  Instead, I would call them "Fried potatoes that have distanced themselves from the dictatorship-sympathizing French bastards"... but perhaps that is too long of an order for McDonalds

I just want to point out that I never said hate, i used the word despise...

There's a difference between hating and disagreeing with, of course, but a lot of people seem not to take that distinction too seriously. Dare I say "Freedom Fries"?

Now that stupid Freedom Fries thing got widely reported in Europe at the time, and I wonder how many of you Americans agreed with it back then and how many of you even heard of it. I don't know if this got reported this widely in America...

[Gustaf]

Exactly. I didn't mean to talk about the Cold War, I was talking of the present situtation. I too have spent a lot of time supporting the US in debates. I think many who are pro-America like me are worried about the relationship between the US and, well, the rest of the world, basically.

[Gustaf]

Btw. I have many friends (here in Finland) who support Bush's Iraq-policy. One of them threatened to come to this forum and give me a lesson!!!  

Well, it's always nice to have more Scandinavians around!

[Gustaf]

Uhhh hate to tell you this but your very very wrong as someone who has a very big european background I am offended by you saying Republicans dispise Europe. I disagreed with France, Germany and Russia does that make me dispise them? No. Also I do know of quite a few europeans that pretty much really dislike any American President(including Bill Clinton).

So Gustaf I'm sorry but theres no way you can convince me that Republicans dispise europe.

Hmmm...it seems like my post evoced much stronger reactions than I thought it would. I am happy to see that I might have been wrong, previous discussions on Europe on this forum gave me that impression. I would like to point out that I never used the word hate though, and I of course did  not mean avery Republican. It seems like it might even not be a majority, in which case I am happy!

It's still the way mane Europeans percieve it to be, though.

[Gustaf]

I certainly don't think Republican's hate Europe, if they had, would Reagan have even bothered about it in his foreign policy? Being a Centre Left European, I give credit where credit is due. I do not like President Bush, but I did like his father and President Reagan, just as I admire Margaret Thatcher here in the UK. I would not dare say (as some fools have recently) that 'I Hate America' simply because Bush is prez. I would say that I love America because they have a system that allows Bush to be kicked out! I agree there can be some confusion. Tony Blair for instance is championed by the Neo-Cons, yet his actual policy positions in general would make Howard Dean seem cuddly to the Republicans, but to say they have a general disregard for Europe is naive.

OK, I don't know how many times I will have to restate what I meant...I started a discussion on how a healthy relationship between the US and Europe could be maintained, and the answer from the Republican could be summarized as "Who cares if Europeans don't like us, they're no good anyway". That is what led me to the conclusion, as well as the general ridicule of European countries that many Republicans seem prone to. I never used the word hate, and I did not mean to imply that every Republican feels a certain way about Europe. It seems like you have proved me wrong in thinking that a great many Republicans are rather hostile to Europe, and for that I am happy. I hereby apologize to anyone who felt insulted, and I retract my statement on Republicans.

Anyway, I thought of a more likely reason, it's funny that no one thought about it before. Roughly 50% of the 50% who vote vote Republican. That's a similar slice of the electorate that votes for the Conservatives in Sweden. But in many European countries voter turnout is much higher than in the US. In Sweden it's regularly at 80%. Maybe there are a similar number of left-wingers in the US, but they don't vote as much?