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Oct. 24, 2005 Yesterday I read that Europe cleared out their riff-raff by sending them to the USA, something that is not only historically incorrect but also very insulting to the pioneers that emigrated to the USA in those early years. Most were religious outcasts but that does not make them riff-raff by any description. The first pioneers were decent religious people that worked hard, their only problem was that the religious powers that ruled Northern Europe at that time were hugely intolerant of other religions. But to call them riff-raffs first and then best and brightest mr. Hughes is inconsistent. And best and brightest?? They might have been brave and very religious but to call them the best and brightest is also historically incorrect. Today the US might hold some of the best and the brightest people in the world but that was a process of evolution, in the 18th and the 19th centuries, Europe was the place to be with regard to many fields of study. Since then the US has equaled and surpassed that in many fields but to call the pioneers the best and the brightest of Europe is inaccurate. Now I think the USA is a great country, it has great people living there who love their country to bits. It has worked with many others nations to free the world of powers that threatened to over-run the planet on 2 occasions and faced with the threat of communism and the disarray of European forces at the end of WW2, US forces stayed behind to help the Europeans stave off the threat of the Soviet Union. But I also think most European countries are great countries, with great people who love their country to bits. NATIONAL PRIDE AND POLITICS From what I gather from some (and I know it is only a minority of people from the USA) we Europeans should not be proud of our countries and should be satisfied with basking in that bright light of world superiority that is the United States of Republican politics, eeh sorry, United States of America. We are not allowed to criticize the USA because 60 years ago, soldiers from the USA, Russia (without whom this war would never have been won in 1945 if at all), the English and hundreds of thousands of people from other countries fought to liberate the world from evil. As I stated before the dutch and most of Europe are thankful for the sacrifices the US and the allies have made and that we will never forget that, but that does not mean we cannot be critical of the current US administration. Strangely in a country that boasts (justifiably boasts) that it is a country that embraces freedom of speech whole-heartedly, there is a group of people who think that freedom of speech is fine, as long as it is in agreement with their political points of view. Now if that goes against the views of this political group in the US, they forget about freedom of speech and they take take it upon themselves to seek revenge to all who oppose their views, even if their only crime is disagreeing (in words only) with the current US administration. That fact alone (disagreeing with mr. Bush and his republicans) seems that is enough to warrant extreme dislike among this particular portion of the American public that death threats, demonstrations, boycotts and insulting those countries are the seen as reasonable reactions towards these enemies of the republican party. From what I read and through discussions I have had (on line) with members of that particular group of Americans I have come to the conclusion that these people think that the USA is superior to all on this planet and that the US controls what the Europeans (and the rest of the world) live on and off and off course, should and should not do. Mr. Hughes (and I dare say a large portion of republicans) are under the misconception that we criticize and talk about US politics because our politics are so boring we'd much rather talk about the US politics instead of our own. This statement is so ridiculous that it is almost ludicrous, we Europeans for instance care about US politics because the US elections directly affect us and the rest of the world too (with regard to which direction the US politics is going), and unfortunately most Europeans don't like the direction the US has taken in the past few years. Luckily for Euros it seems plenty of Americans also disagree with the direction in which the USA is heading (or at least that is what Gallup tells us) and hopefully it will show in the next elections. If it wasn't for the influence on world as a whole, US politics would be a non-issue because it hardly is an exciting political process. I hate to burst the bubble but national US politics/elections compared to politics in Europe is less exiting, not more exiting. The only thing the US election has on European elections is that it is more glitter and glamor. Let us do a little comparison between my tiny country of the Netherland and the US with regard to politics. * USA 2 political parties that have any realistic chance for elected officials NETHERLANDS 9 political parties in parliament right now, 11 parties have a realistic chance for elected officials * USA first past the post. NETHERLANDS proportional representation * USA in the 2000 elections 99,783,383 people went to vote, the entire voting population was in that year 213,954,023 people meaning that only 46.7% of all Americans got out to vote. NETHERLANDS in 2003 during the last election 9,654,475 people went to vote, that meant that 79.9% of the all dutch people went out and voted * USA chads, butterfly forms and 29% of voters were able to use voting computers NETHERLANDS almost all but a few municipalities have abandoned voting by hand, more than 90% of the population votes by voting computers (more than 95% if I am not mistaken) Dutch elections are more based on policies and political parties, in the USA it is very much showmanship that secures elections and how good an "public image" one can create. In US politics it is much more people standing against each other with a bit of party politics behind it. In most countries it is the other way around. And lets be honest, if US politics was indeed as exiting and the envy of all the world, how come in most western nations the voter participation is way higher than in the USA. There are not that many western nations that have poorer voter turnout figures that the USA. Do I think the US system is less than the one that we have in the Netherlands, no, I do not. I think the systems are very different and if it works for the Americans than great. I love our political system and most dutch people actively participate in elections by doing their democratic duty of going out and voting. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA COMPARED TO "OLD" EUROPE There is no denying that there are a lot of differences between Europe and the USA. And it is mostly a difference in choices and core values. Some people in the Europe feel that all the US really cares about is money and power. In Europe the USA is sometimes seen as arrogant and in the US it is the Europeans who are seen as arrogant. Who's right? I wouldn't know, most likely there is some truth in both points of view. Europeans can be quite arrogant but one has to wonder whether that is due to a European superiority complex or if it is because of ever present American claims that they are number one. It is as mr. Hughes said: ++ KEN HUGHES: Americans lead the world in technology, productivity, generosity, and hospitality. Oh and I nearly forgot security for the world ++ Let us take a look see at some of mr. Hughes's claims: * Export - The US is the second largest exporter in the world, it exports 795 billion US dollars. Germany on the other hand exports 893 billion US dollars . Even a country like the Netherlands exports 293 billion US dollars. The USA has 300 million people, the Netherlands only 16 million. * Technological achievements - number 1 is Finland, number 2 USA * Patents granted - number 1 Japan, number 2 South Korea, number 3 USA * Broadband access - number 1 Korea, number 2 the Netherlands, number 3 Denmark (number 12 USA) * Economic aid as a percentage of GDP - number 1 Norway, number 2 Luxembourg, number 3 Denmark In the end none of this matters, the USA is a great country. It's population is very advanced, productive, generous, hospitable and provides a lot of security in the world but that does not mean they actually lead in all those departments. But other countries are just as advanced, productive, generous and hospitable. The only thing I have to agree with mr. Hughes on is that no country in the world spends as much money as the US on their armed forces. What it comes down to in the end is a choice of politics and values. Where the US spends billions on weaponry, a lot of European countries are spending it on their people. That doesn't make it better or worse, just different. Let us compare for the ease of it the Netherlands and the USA. # UNITED STATES GDP 39,731 US dollars per capita - NETHERLANDS GDP 29,322 US dollars per capita # UNITED STATES child poverty 22.4% - NETHERLANDS child poverty 7.7% # UNITED STATES percentage people with no health care insurance 15.7% NETHERLANDS percentage of people with no heath care insurance 1.4% Let us conclude that most western countries are great, Europe and the US are both great, wonderful and fantastic parts of the world although there are differences between them. There are things the US is much better at, there are things Europe is much better at, who cares in the end? Why do we have to envious of each other? Let us be happy what we have achieved in our own countries/parts of the world instead of trying to prove that one is better than the other, something that is impossible to begin with because such things can never be measured objectively. Maybe it would be a smart thing if Europeans stopped being snotty and arrogant towards the American and maybe Americans could stop claiming to the the most superior country and people in the world. Americans and Europeans (and their views on the world as a whole) different but equal, none is better than the other. And let us not forget that Europe and the USA are allies, even if sometimes political moods between the two power-blocks are a little stand-offish, we need each other to survive because neither the USA or Europe can go it alone in this world. And a competition about inventiveness is also subjective. The USA may have invented the internet (although there was some Swiss influence), it is now a world wide web. Furthermore, I could also say who invented the steam-engine (England), the microscope (dutch), pendulum (clock), telegraph (USA), telephone (Italy), micro-wave (USA), cassette tape (Netherlands), video-tape (Netherlands), compact disk (Netherlands/Germany), CD-rom (Netherlands-Japan) and let us not forget cocoa-powder ;-) (thanks to Coenraad van Houten). AND OFF COURSE, I HAD TO END WITH MR. HUGHES In the first part of my story I already wrote what I thought about the incorrectness of mr. Hughes statement that the Europeans sent riff-raff to the USA, it now is time to deal with a more delicate statement of mr. Hughes's: ++ KEN HUGHES - I would have included Holland but I can’t recall a time when they haven’t acquiesced in the face of danger ++ It seems Mr. Hughes cannot wait to try and insult my country again, but as with earlier fibs once again mr. Hughes seems to have little or no historical knowledge, or at least he seems to show very little of it with this statement. So for his reading pleasure and the rest of the readers, a little bit of dutch history so he never needs to be misinformed again: - since the middle ages the Netherlands (with Belgium) has been the scenes of numerous battles against foreign forces - The creation of the Netherlands started by a war of independence from Spain that lasted 80 years - first Anglo dutch war (ended with a treaty) - second Anglo Dutch war (ended after Admiral de Ruyter destroyed a large part of the English fleet) - third Anglo Dutch war (the dutch were attacked by England, France, Munster and Cologne but with some help of allies fought off the invaders and eventually peace was agreed upon) - fourth Anglo Dutch war After the defeat of Napoleon (with the help of William the fifth of Orange) the dutch revolted and kicked out the trench and have been independent ever since (apart from 5 years of German occupation). In the first world war we were neutral and in the second world war we were invaded by both Germany and Japan, 2 armies for which our national army was no match. Since that time the Netherlands has been involved in several wars and do more than their fair share of military actions with both Nato and the UN. So please mr. Hughes, I do my best to know what I am talking about when I write something about the USA, so it would be nice if you at least took a good faith effort to do the same because your remarks so-far have been off target (to say the least). ------------ About the author: Peter van der Vliet is a 36 year old man who lives in the Netherlands, he is a keen visitor of several internet messageboards and loves to write in the English language. Peter is a keen follower of international politics and worldhistory. Email: peter_van_der_vliet@yahoo.co.uk Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. 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