Of course, Germany and France, on our case again.

[The Brain]

Originally posted by Silera
That response is why we're doomed.

If countries don't agree with us, they're worthless. Forget history, culture, the fact that the language we speak and the very basis of how our society is formed was predated by these countries.

Whoa whoa whoa, hold the phone. So we're just supposed to automatically agree with all of Europe, when they still can't even agree amongst themselves?

And mind you, <i>our society</i>, our laws and government, was built to be an <b>antithesis</b> to the monarchies that ruled Britain, France and Spain. We may be descendant from them, but we have also done everything possible to distinguish ourselves from them.

And in this instant, yes, perhaps we <i>should</i> forget history. After all, we're not referring to the great leaders of ancient Europe: the Caesars, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Alexander, Churchill. We're talking modern men and women leading their respective countries in very modern times, who desperately try to cling to the notion of Old Europe still being at the forefront of the world's eye, when that time has long since passed.

Or are you instead referring to the 2,000+ year history of Europe that is constantly at war with itself, over the very same societal ideas of culture and religion that you are hinting we should be embracing?

<b>Ignore the fact that they have a better standard of living than we do, quality state sponsored education and medical coverage, and progressive labor laws.</b>

There you are wrong. <a href=http://www.thereporter.com/current/Horizons/horiz060902.html target=new>Recent studies</a> have shown that America and Japan have the <a href=http://www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/NEWS/9708/06/summer.vacation/index.html target=new>lowest vacation times</a> of any countries (usually, two weeks of every year)... and <a href=http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/09/01/un.us.labor.ap/index.html target=new>subsequently, the highest rates of productivity</a>. That last article does note that Belgium, Norway and France average higher "output per hour", but the U.S. leads overall in most working hours.

France, by comparison, mandates a 35-hour work week, and the entire month of August is practically a vacation period... <a href=http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/08/24/france.bodies/index.html target=new>which, by the way, was directly responsible for most of their health-care workers not being around to save thousands of elderly people from dying in Europe's recent heat wave.</a> Can you imagine the uproar that would occur here, with our hospitals already being somewhat understaffed, and our doctors already being overworked on obscenely long shifts, if most of them just up and left for a entire month?

Economically, Europe goes where our Wall Street takes it. There is a reason why every other currency is always balanced against the U.S. dollar. It is not narcissism; it is because of the economic structure of the U.S. that lends itself to fair comparison. We may be in a recession, but our economy is stable overall, which very few (if any) other countries can honestly claim.

As far as schooling is concerned... yeah, there is always room for improvement, and I bet Europe is no different. But this country has a (fairly) solid public school system, and-- here's the kicker-- options to select other schooling, be it parochial school, private tutor, home schooling.

And we have national health-care systems. They are simply not mandatory like they are in Canada or in parts of Europe, but <a href=http://www.cmwf.org/programs/international/ihp_1998_multicompsurvey_299.asp target=new>this country spends the most per person</a> in providing health care services to its citizens. (oddly, this still translates into us having one of the lowest average life expectancies, but I attribute that to the fact we work our asses off too damn much). We have free clinics in this country, too, as well as doctors who do more-than-occasional <i>pro bono</i> work. The fact is, of you ever actually need a doctor, in this country you are guaranteed to have one.

Fuck art, and engineering, and the fact that they were our allies up until maybe this year.

They <i>are</i> still our allies. What, you have never, ever had a single disagreement with any of your friends?

We're always right. Our country and it's policy makers are omnicient and infallible.

No, it's a case of "damned if we do, damned if we don't." Remember, we tried the hands-off approach during WWI. We were dragged into the war anyway. Following the formation of the League of Nations, we again tried to stay out of European and Asian affairs. Then we still got dragged into WWII. The fact is, we are admonished for using our powers and resources to "police the world"... or we're taken to task for trying to idly stand by while people suffer who we could help with those same powers and resources.

For this country, there <i>is no middle ground</i>. We are not afforded that luxury.

We're Americans and therefore we're better.

As much as I know there are many people in many nations the world over who hate the idea of America, and everything we stand for, I still love to <a href=http://www.pbs.org/newamericans/3.0/personalstories.html target=new>read stories about the difficulties people from all over the globe endure just to find a new life here</a>, and I think to myself, "we can't really be all that bad now, can we?"