How 'Europe' became a dirty word in the US election

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In the US, this is not as crazy a line of attack as it might sound from Europe. The eurozone debt crisis, and fears that Greece, Portugal, Spain and the rest might yet drag the faltering US economy down with them, has turned Europe into a dirty word in American politics. Accusing Mr Obama of wanting to follow the same path of ever-growing welfare budgets and high taxes that supposedly led the EU nations to this pass will strike a chord with many voters. Those who already view Europe with suspicion, deriding the continent as an economic
backwater with a dubious military record, may be particularly receptive to the argument.
But, she adds, many inhabitants of EU nations will be surprised to learn that they are living under socialism. "If anything what we have seen in Europe during the financial crisis is people voting for the party of austerity. “We don’t know if that’s going to happen in the Greek elections - but people are voting for taking their medicine. And they are certainly not voting for socialist parties.” Liberal commentators have been quick to ridicule the idea that Mr Obama might be some kind of latte-sipping boulevardier, secretly plotting to turn the US into France. Some have even welcomed the idea that the US could be moving in a European direction, pointing to the greater life expectancy and social mobility that exists in some EU nations.

bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16583813
 
LemonAndLime said:
In the US, this is not as crazy a line of attack as it might sound from Europe. The eurozone debt crisis, and fears that Greece, Portugal, Spain and the rest might yet drag the faltering US economy down with them, has turned Europe into a dirty word in American politics. Accusing Mr Obama of wanting to follow the same path of ever-growing welfare budgets and high taxes that supposedly led the EU nations to this pass will strike a chord with many voters. Those who already view Europe with suspicion, deriding the continent as an economic
backwater with a dubious military record, may be particularly receptive to the argument.
But, she adds, many inhabitants of EU nations will be surprised to learn that they are living under socialism. "If anything what we have seen in Europe during the financial crisis is people voting for the party of austerity. “We don’t know if that’s going to happen in the Greek elections - but people are voting for taking their medicine. And they are certainly not voting for socialist parties.” Liberal commentators have been quick to ridicule the idea that Mr Obama might be some kind of latte-sipping boulevardier, secretly plotting to turn the US into France. Some have even welcomed the idea that the US could be moving in a European direction, pointing to the greater life expectancy and social mobility that exists in some EU nations.

bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16583813
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🤷 Would you be surprised to know that 'Europe" doesn’t come into the discussion much during the primaries. I haven’t really heard the candidates say anything about Europe, except in reference to ‘Obamacare.’ Since there is little else we can compare a health system to, it is compared to Canada and ‘Europe.’

However, there is a little anxiety (mostly among investors and hence politicians) about Greece and Portugal and others. And I don’t know about the voters, but the people rioting in the streets of Greece against the austerity measures, don’t seem to be ‘taking their medicine’ very well.

And no, Obama is not a cosmopolitan, wanting to make the US like Europe. He has proven too much of a warmonger for that. Just another sleazy Chicago politician here.
 
France and Italy attacked Libya and ran out of ammo after two days.
 
It’s not so much a dirty word as a path to ruin many of us have no wish to emulate.

Be serious, Europe on the whole is producing each successive generation little more than half the size of the parental generation. It doesn’t take a whole lot of calculation to recognize the pending end of a civilization with symptoms that obvious.

The reasons may be complex and arguable, but the end result is surely a ruinous one, if not a dirty one.
 
LemonAndLime said:
In the US, this is not as crazy a line of attack as it might sound from Europe.
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I think Europe thinks too much of themselves – the general US public doesn’t really care. I haven’t heard “Europe” or “European” used much in the primaries - nowhere near as much as Gingrich has derided capitalism.
 
SamH said:
I think Europe thinks too much of themselves – the general US public doesn’t really care. I haven’t heard “Europe” or “European” used much in the primaries - nowhere near as much as Gingrich has derided capitalism.
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Coincidently, the US seems to think too much of itself as it seems to believe it has a right to meddle in European affairs, with extradition laws biased towards itself.
 
Unfortunately, far too many Europeans seem to be bothered about US elections.
 
manualman said:
It’s not so much a dirty word as a path to ruin many of us have no wish to emulate.
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It has always been that way. Europe is one place we never want to emulate, every time we have tried the progressive dream of emulating them it has ended in disaster.
 
I remember a similar article in 2008. Particularly I remember the exact phrase “Europeans would be shocked to know they are living under socialism.”

Not really news.
 
Kaninchen said:
It really is ridiculous - it’s as if we’re a colonial people and it’s about time to throw the Big Macs into Boston (Lincs) harbour.
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Or you could just stop buying them and eating them, couldn’t you?
 
BernardM said:
It has always been that way. Europe is one place we never want to emulate, every time we have tried the progressive dream of emulating them it has ended in disaster.
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Well, it’s worked for us for the last couple thousand years people have been living here. How old is the US?
 
Kaninchen said:
Unfortunately, far too many Europeans seem to be bothered about US elections.
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You can’t escape the election talk no matter where you travel. Everybody has an opinion on it. I am going to be a Canadian until the end of this election, so maybe people will stop talking about it.
 
Tenofovir said:
Oops…

articles.businessinsider.com/2010-02-15/wall_street/30029418_1_goldman-sachs-goldman-first-swaps
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L’Osservatore rips Standard and Poor’s on downgrading European debt
catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=12989

Standard and Poor’s downgrades French credit rating
france24.com/en/20120113-french-finance-minister-baroin-confirms-standard-poors-downgrade-aaa-economy-eurozone

Apparently, most of Europe is overburdened with debt. S&P sites escalating “health care costs” without foreseeable solution as one of the primary reasons for the decision. So much for “free healthcare”. 🤷
 
LemonAndLime said:
Well, it’s worked for us for the last couple thousand years people have been living here. How old is the US?
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We are not Europe. Europeans left Europe because they didn’t like it. How old we are is irrelevant. Keep Europe in Europe. If you like it, swell! 👍 Most of us here don’t.
 
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