I haven’t documented it, but I got the distinct impression that the vast majority of right-wing commentators were in full agreement with Mitt Romney’s comments about the 47% and his explanation that he lost because the president gave “gifts” to his political base. I certainly noticed a lot of agreement in the comments sections of right-wing blogs. It seems to be almost an article of faith on the right that the Democratic Party is filled with “takers” and the Republican Party is filled with “makers.”
There is also a strange obsession with Europe. Specifically, it seems to be desperately important to a lot of right-wingers that America not become more like European countries. Europe is supposed to be full of people who lack all initiative and have sunk into a horrible state of dependency. Part of what makes America great, and certainly better than France or Germany, is that we don’t pamper our poor by giving them “gifts.”
Most of the people expressing these opinions have never been to France or Germany, or even Greece. Having traveled to Europe a few times, I can confirm that the people there have nice things. I usually wind up wondering why they have so many nice things compared to Americans. We can’t even agree to pay for grass seed for the National Mall.
In any case, most of Europe is quite nice and they seem to be pretty good at business and commerce, too. They have their problems, but then so do we. I don’t consider the Democratic Party to be a “European” party, at least not a left-wing one. But, even if I did feel that way, I wouldn’t see it as any kind of threat to traditional America.
But, I don’t have contempt for anyone who signs the back of a paycheck instead of the front.
Having been to various parts of Europe on numerous occasions, I have always found it to be HIGHLY livable. Vienna for instance has unbelievably convenient public transport. You do not need a car, for anything, inside the Vienna SMSA. What you do not find in Europe is the kind of chain stores that have made the US into an endless series of replicate locales. If you live in Phoenix, how do you know where you are? Can you tell Phoenix from Denver, Chicago, Charlotte, or any of a dozen midsize cities? You can in Europe. No Pizza Huts, or very very few.
We have the equivalent fear here in Europe that the “European social market economy” is being undermined by US style “neo-liberal market reforms” which always seem to make the rich richer at the expense of the poor. Globalisation has put many smaller states at a competitive disadvantage against mega-global corporations whose bottom line exceeds many states GDP. It doesn’t really matter how progressive your polity is, if key parts of your economy is controlled from abroad. Sooner or later it is the boardrooms who dictate to the parliament.
However most Europeans still look to their state to act on their behalf vis a vis global capital and think of themselves as citizens first, and employees/customers/consumers later. Where Republicans seem weird, to us, is that they make no bones about diminishing the power of the state to the point where basically it is private corporations who rule.
US politics, in that context, looks to us to be a fight of well funded and secretive corporate PR Departments against a puny and craw-thumping state which is forced to genuflect to “private enterprise” at every turn.
The bit we don’t get is that many of the corporate shills most shrill in their condemnation of the state aren’t even employed by corporate PR departments and give their fealty for free. They seem to think it is part of their religious duty to their creator to pay homage to the “job creators” – as if they were some sort of representative of the deity himself.
So in that context the Republican fear of Europe is well founded. We give the lie to the myth that economies can only flourish if Governments are cut down to size. A most revealing exchange in the Presidential debates for me was when Romney declaimed, for about the 100th. time, that “Governments don’t create jobs”. Of course they do. Millions of them. Many of them doing much more useful things than many in the private sector.
It seems to me to be an article of faith in the US that productive employment is not possible in the public sector, that all public sector is by definition a drain on taxpayer’s dollars. In Ireland, many of our most productive entreprises have long been in the public sector – albeit competing in an increasingly globalised market economy.
However the interesting thing for me – from a European perspective – is that Obama didn’t challenge Romney on this point. We may whinge, over here, at the incompetence or corruption of our political elite – but that is because we know we want and need a competent political elite to work on our behalf.
Our US cousins, on the other hand, seem to believe that what’s good for big corporations must be good for them. Do most US citizens seriously believe this? And if not, why did President Obama not challenge Romney on that point?
Yes, Republicans should be afraid of Europe – very afraid. Because for all our problems, – and they are many – our social market economy is not going to go away, and may even survive the desolation of the world by global corporations.
For us the state is part of out civic responsibility to each other – an embodiment of a Christian’s responsibility to love their neighbour as they do themselves. US Christians, it seems to us, don’t just cross the road when they see someone in trouble – they stand their ground and give them a few kicks for good measure. That is why the Sandy storm so challenged the Republican/Randian narrative. Perhaps God is a Democrat after all. He most certainly IS a European!
Better yet, have French Socialists not learned anything from their Greek brethren?
What specifically do you think they should learn?
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Always enjoy your comments and diaries. In above comment you describe paradise, perhaps I should cross over and visit the Irish. Care to be specific about the most productive enterprises?
In Ireland, many of our most productive entreprises have long been in the
public sector – albeit competing in an increasingly globalised market economy.
You must be aware that mentioning the French or Europe in an Anerican election is equivalent in taking a potent toxin. No discourse is possible within the political structureof both parties in the US. The Republicans have labeled a liberal view as part of socialism=communism=nazi/Hitler/Marx/Stalin/Lenin. Therefore to get re-elected Obama had to move to the right on many issues. [He had to tread carefully on the Middle-East issue and Israel] The problem for Romney was a move to the far-right to get through the Republican primaries, get backing from sponsors, evangelicals and right-wingers. In the campaign with Obama he had the shed the right-wing extreme talking points (abortion-rape) and move to the center to be attractive to Independents and Blue Dog Democrats. A mission guaranteed to fail.
Funny to introduce God in this way. His Son did not have such a pleasant stay amongst human kind. God does not choose in battle or war. It’s the individual to make a choice to live by the golden rule: “Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you.” A difficult committment in a troubled world.
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On economic freedom, the Heritage Foundation ranks Ireland 9th in the world, one place higher than the United States. Amazing!
And the thing the Heritage Foundation glosses over is that Ireland is one of the most heavily unionised countries in the world where wage agreements are negotiated centrally between the government, Employers, Unions and the Voluntary sector and take account of gross pay, tax rates, social welfare benefits and economic development and social transfers generally – in other words a basically socialist approach to governance. This was perhaps Celtic Tiger, and the maintenance of social cohesion now in the face of unprecedented austerity. But you don’t read about in the neo-lib text books. And guess what? Most employers are fine with the arrangement.
Historically state monopolies have run all electricity generation, gas distribution, telecommunications networks, public transport, turf/fuel production, agricultural produce marketing, health insurance, life insurance, tourism, airports, ports, TV stations, national lottery, and numerous industrial companies producing steel, fertilizers, airlines, sugar and a plethoral of sporting organizations!
In more recent times some have been provitised under pressure from the EU, and others now operate in “open” markets in competition with private corporations. However in many cases they developed the Irish economy when no private companies were interested in doing so, and their privatization hasn’t always added value to their efficiency and productivity. For instance the privatisation of Eircom (monopoly phone provider) resulted in a succession of leveraged buyouts where hedge funds loaded the company with death and cut investment in infrastructure – which is why Ireland lags in broadband and which inhibits economic development in more rural parts of Ireland.
Paradise it is not, but it works more often than not, and it is anything but the neo-liberal paradise mythologised by the Heritage Fountation and other assorted Austrian austerians.
…where hedge funds loaded the company with death..
A very appropriate typo, maybe intended?
Accidental, but intentionally uncorrected. Eircom is now indeed at risk of going under – and needing a taxpayer bail-out – as a direct consequence of hedge funds loading its balance sheet with debt.
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Some interesting facts and thoughts ‘Land of Mineral Opportunities’.
The Irish selling state assets to reduce state debt due to banking crisis … corruption anyone? I understand the state-owned monopolies is a thing of the past, before joining the Eurozone in 2002?
Oil and Natural Gas
Over the past 15 years gas and oil have been discovered under Irish waters in the Atlantic Ocean. However, the government’s “Minister Ray Burke (later jailed for corruption) changed the law in 1987, reducing the State’s share in our offshore oil and gas from 50% to zero and abolishing royalties.
Upcoming centenary of the 1916 Rising known for its Proclamation and the 1922 Constitution – Article 11 states that:
“All the lands and waters, mines and minerals, within the territory of the Irish Free State hitherto vested in the State, or any department thereof, or held for the public use or benefit, and also all the natural resources of the same territory (including the air and all forms of potential energy), and also all royalties and franchises within that territory shall, from and after the date of the coming into operation of this constitution, belong to the Irish Free State”.
Perhaps being listed as 9th on the Heritage Foundation list is not good for the well being of the Irish worker?
Commercial finds of oil or gas in Ireland have been few and far between, and most exploration companies have gotten little return for their investment. As a consequence exploration has been limited and some Governments sought to incentivise exploration companies to invest more. Had we had, say, Norway’s track record of exploration success our bargaining position would be a whole lot better. That is not to say that the issue has been handled skillfully by the Irish Government although allegations of corruption – as far as oil/gas exploration are concerned – are probably far off the mark and have never been seriosly alleged, never mind proved. It’s all very well claiming ownership of everything underground. Someone still has to find it and develop it, and you don’t get that for free.
“basically it is the private corporations who rule”
Yes, IMO you have hit the nail on the head as to the greatest structural problem we face as a society–the majority of ordinary Americans have been taught (by the plutocrat-funded “conservative” movement) to fear and hate their elected gub’mints, but not the unelected, unaccountable bizness leaders of monster global corporations.
As a result, labor power has long been destroyed in America, government power has been close to destroyed, the national gub’mint is completely paralyzed and corporate/plutocrat power reigns supreme. And the dummies can’t figure out where the problem lies and who is actually destroying them.
“It seems to me to be an article of faith in the US that productive employment is not possible in the public sector”
Spot on.
Even among the most active progressives in the US one can often find the assumption that any endeavor is more efficient AND more productive if run by private interests instead of government. I just had this conversation over Thanksgiving with a person on the East coast who was deeply involved in Warren’s campaign.
If this creative, well informed, brilliant person assumes that…
There is only one thing I notice lacking from Europeans. Even in recent years I’ve noticed when I’m in a social group including US and Europeans there is a lack of anxiety about retirement income and medical care (I’m talking German, Austrian, and others; not Greek or Spanish). And the US folks have so much tension built up about it you can smell the fear. The Americans chatter away about SS, 401ks, etc and the Europeans just sit there silent somewhat perplexed maybe about the bizarre terminology.
My brother has lived in Austria for 20+ years and has a great, low stress arrangement.
I have no fear of modern Europe.
then again…I’m not a right-wing sociopath.
Both my kids were raised in NY. Both are now in Europe. Neither plans to move back.
It seems to be almost an article of faith on the right that the Democratic Party is filled with “takers” and the Republican Party is filled with “makers.”
Never mind, of course, that the reddest states are the biggest “takers” of money from the tyrannical big government.
Most of the people expressing these opinions have never been to France or Germany, or even Greece.
Many I know are not even comfortable leaving the cozy environs of their red state, much less venturing out of the United States. A lot of people I know wouldn’t even entertain the idea of visiting the west coast, simply because it has the reputation of being such a liberal bastion.
There is also a strange obsession with Europe. Specifically, it seems to be desperately important to a lot of right-wingers that America not become more like European countries. Europe is supposed to be full of people who lack all initiative and have sunk into a horrible state of dependency.
Again, in this case, they are frightened of a Fox News straw man. Anyone who has been to Europe knows that, all in all, it’s a pretty nice damn place.
Certainly safer than the U.S. The have invested in infrastructure and transportation. It is an extremely enjoyable place to be.
For the right wing mind, it really is all about the same thing, regardless of the target for their paranoia. They have to feel superior. And if you are going to feel superior then there also has to be someone inferior to look down on. Pick your poison there. Skin color, language, customs, regional history and a million other things. There just seems to be a tremendous insecurity that comes as standard equipment with that RW brain.
“The great advantage we have in Germany at the moment is we really have a broad consensus in society….We really don’t have the situation like you have in the US, where you have [these] Koch Brothers…” Franz Untersteller, Baden-Wurttemberg state minster for environment and energy.
Pretty much explains it all—in Europe the people, through their more numerous political parties and much more democratic government structures, keep a much tighter rein on their abusive plutocrats. They understand plutocrats are an abusive class who do not have the national interest in mind, ever.
In America, our plutocrats have purchased one of the two allowed political parties, the national “news” networks, and the national supreme court. They have intentionally wrecked the national government, as well as most state governments. All in the name of the “Founders”—each of whom would puke were they to see the current situation, haha.
I don’t know if that’s quite right. I think in Europe the abusive plutocrats “know their place” and are much less public with their abuse. They have the same privileges as the wealthy everywhere, but if they are foolish enough to believe (as Republicans here do) that their wealth gives them some moral claim, they are also wise enough to shut up about it in public. Something similar holds for religion. You can see this by watching Monty Python.(Full disclosure: I lived several years in the land of Monty Python.)
It’s an interesting question why they hate/fear Europe, but I am sure the answer is at least 90% folklore. Europe is where most of us came from to come to America to get our FREEDOM! We kicked Europe’s butt and became independent. (Except France helped us.) Spain and Italy are wogs and they are bloody PAPISTS. Europe is very artsy, with all these high-fallutin intellectual ideas, like sosahalism. Hell, they even believe in noodism. “Oh they don’t wear pants, on the sunny side of France … ‘
You know what? This country really is more free than Europe. Europe is a great place, but a lot of the problems there are less out in the open. For example, Europe is way more racist and less tolerant of immigrants and “exotic” religions than the US. Seriously. Look ar the headscarf issue in France, for example.
Another thing is that the growing belief in the privileges of the rich, which definitely comes from Reaganism, is actually far more like Europe than America. Except here, it has to be democratized, so every working stiff believes he has the same rights as a billionaire.
However, the joke of it is, the USA cannot and will not ever be much like Europe, so why worry about it?
Europe is more racist than the US, and has a nasty right wing that is nearer to fascism than the GOP right. However, they are more open to spreading the wealth, investing in the quality of life, and listening to science
Henry Wallace in his Century of the Common Man speech saw the American, French and Russian revolutions as gains for the common man. Those gains contained the potential for, as he put it, the inevitable strong labor movement and equitable sharing, without profit, the fruits of science and technology for the benefit of all people everywhere in the world. This utopian progressive view cost him his Vice President position. When Wallace and his new Independent Progressive Party challenged Truman and Dewey, both sides attacked him as being communist, in effect ending the very popular progressive movement. With the Cold War and McCarthy/Nixon/Hoover era, any progressive or socialist ideas became equated as communist ideas, enemy ideas. The John Birch Society and the modern right wing has never let go.
I believe Europe did embrace the Century of the Common Man. A close friend of mine from Germany told me that labor strikes are almost an everyday situation there causing routine public inconvenience, almost a way of life. The labor movement is very strong with some unions even representing workers interests on Corporate Boards. If a corporation attempts to move jobs away to cut labor costs, they must pay for the social consequences of those actions making those moves likely unprofitable. While the economy in Europe is capitalist, a safety net is also in place to take off the sharp edges. One thing I noticed when traveling some years ago in Germany and Austria was the absence of homeless people. And yes, everyone does seem to have a lot of nice things, even more than us, plus the time off to enjoy them. Quality of life is very different.
This is not about which side of the paycheck one signs but the vertical battle with the 1%, you know, the American Century.
What’s weird is the basis for the fear… it’s not like rank and file republicans feel that being like Europe would be economically disadvantageous, it’s that they feel it would be effeminate.
Well, the other thing about Europe is that right now European politics are to the RIGHT of the US, with the EU, especially the dominant Germans, paralyzing itself in austerity policies of the kind promoted by Paul Ryan.
Yeah… in this regad, Barack Obama is really a blessing for the US. Most of Europe is controlled by Goldman Sachs pod people
It is true the Right is in power in most of Europe, but on a whole range of issues the European Right is to the left of Republicans and even many centrist Democrats including Obama in his first term. You can argue the Stimulus was Keynesian and to the left of current EU policies, but that is in the context of US public sector % of GDP being way lower than the European public sector as % of GDP. Perhaps Obama’s second term will be different, but Republicans control congress and Debt ceiling/austerity policies are still the dominant paradigm.
Very well said!
My wife and I lived in France for 3 years and had our first child there. We then lived in England for 3 years and we had our second child there. Best thing about European health care? The first thing they do when you show up is treat you. Here? (third kid born in St Louis) first thing they do is figure out your method of payment!
I am in Frankfurt at the moment. Two stories in rotation here are that the average family of four in the UK pays 73% of there income in taxes and is returned only 23p in services for every pound of tax. The rest of Europe is also high but roughly half the UK rate.
The second story is about the UK government going after multinationals who pay little of no taxes. See Starbucks, Amazon and Google as examples.
Neither are examples of things being better Europe but neither are they reasons for fear. Europes core problem is an aging population, a trouble handling immigrants and economies that will almost surely be among the slowest growing. Investment is headed elsewhere but for reasons of demography more than ideology.
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Initiated a look at a few multinationals harking in billions in revenue and not paying taxes. Think Bain Capital. However, the UK government would be the last to go after these multinationals on its own. Starbucks felt the pressure from consumer boycotts and unrest amongst their employees.
Better not search deep in the German logic to bail out Greece with many tens of billions of German taxpayer money … risk of Greece debt to German banks and the military industrial complex selling submarines.
PS Cameron is sorting out his personal mess and involvement with Murdoch after the Leveson Report.