I visited Amerika, and all I got was this lousy zot.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6857387/site/newsweek/ ^ | Andrew Moravcsik

[Manservant]

The U.S. Model: For years, much of the world did aspire to the American way of life. But today countries are finding more appealing systems in their own backyards.

Not long ago, the American dream was a global fantasy. Not only Americans saw themselves as a beacon unto nations. So did much of the rest of the world. East Europeans tuned into Radio Free Europe. Chinese students erected a replica of the Statue of Liberty in Tiananmen Square.

[day10]

[SmithL]

Thank you for sharing that.

[SmithL]

Ooh, Me too, me too.
I wanna be on your Zot list, please.

[WestCoastGal]

Zot baby!! manservant??

LOL

[Manic_Episode]

[Publius6961]

I hate to state their obvious, but every critic of America, with the possible exception of the Socialist incompetents, would give their left ****d to move to the United States.

[zip]

You had only to listen to George W. Bush's Inaugural Address last week (invoking "freedom" and "liberty" 49 times) to appreciate just how deeply Americans still believe in this founding myth. For many in the world, the president's rhetoric confirmed their worst fears of an imperial America relentlessly pursuing its narrow national interests.(I hope to God so.) But the greater danger may be a delusional America—one that believes, despite all evidence to the contrary, that the American Dream lives on, that America remains a model for the world, one whose mission is to spread the word.

Tellingly, the anti-Bushism of the president's first term is giving way to a more general anti-Americanism. "President Bush has further isolated America from the world.(Meaning President Bush will not turn the US over to the UN.)

Much in American law and society troubles the world these days. Nearly all countries reject the United States' right to bear arms as a quirky and dangerous anachronism. They abhor the death penalty and demand broader privacy protections(Who in the hell do they think they are, trying to dictate our values?).

The United States' refusal to apply the Geneva Conventions to certain terrorist suspects, to ratify global human-rights treaties such as the innocuous Convention on the Rights of the Child or to endorse the International Criminal Court (coupled with the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo) only reinforces the conviction that America's Constitution and legal system are out of step with the rest of the world(Again, who do they think they are trying to force us to join the ONE WORLD UN and give up our sovereignty?)

[Lady Jag]

[Tarpaulin]

Buzzflash eh? A left wing, Bush bashing hit site is what it is. I got 'yer buzzflash right here, bub.

ZOT!

[mrsmel]

All these dreary little backwaters should then be removed from the American life support system. They wouldn't last out the year.

Another thought is that we should calculate foreign aid to these countries based on the results of the BBC polls/MSM bias. Egypt hates us very badly = 0 dollars. Serbia hates us somewhat badly = 1/2 dollars, etc.

This is what I think,and I fully agree with you.All these countries with one hand stretched out,to receive our largesse,and the other hiding a knife to stick in our backs.The great thing would be if we ever got political leadership courageous enough to tell them to kiss our collective rears,and go beg the EU or China or some of these other "wonderful role model" countries to fork over the cash,and tell Europe it's doing so well now(thanks to American generosity after WWII),it can pay for its own defense,and pull all of our troops and defense systems out. They love to ignore the fact that because we DO carry the guns,they have the luxury of being moral hypocrites and spending all the many taxes they put on their citizenry on their "social welfare". Oh well, that's what made our country great,the people who were unafraid of work and of leaving their comfort zones came here,and the rest stayed there.LOL!

[muleskinner]

"...World Health Organization rates the U.S. healthcare system only 37th best in the world, behind Colombia (22nd) and Saudi Arabia (26th), and on a par with Cuba."

Yeah, I always see the big cheeses of the world going to get their heart operations or cancer treatment in Cuba.

Grow up.

[Bean Counter]

[OpusatFR]

Again?

This was posted a few weeks ago.

Gee. Orginal thought just seems to be a nowhere land with the fascist left.

[Mark17]

Good picture of Atomic Annie.

[trisham]

"For Europeans, money talks too much in American democracy. It's very prone to certain kinds of corruption, or at least influence from powerful lobbies," he says. "Europeans would not want to follow that route."

**************

Apparently the author hasn't heard of George Soros.

[Doomonyou]

That's it, YOU'RE GONE!!!

[Billthedrill]

Only one third, disproportionately in the poorest and most dictatorial countries, would like to see American values spread in their country.

Yeah - they're not ready for the welfare state yet because they haven't made enough money to afford it. In time they'll grow as soft and pathetic as the Europeans, and just as self-righteous about it as they are.

Anyone who quotes Jeremy Rifkin is an idiot. Period.

[GOP_1900AD]

Futurologist Jeremy Rifkin, in his recent book "The European Dream," hails an emerging European Union based on generous social welfare, cultural diversity and respect for international law - a [Socialist] model that's caught on quickly across the former [openly Communist, now faux capitalist, Leninist, NEP-esque] nations of Eastern Europe and the Baltics.

In Asia, the rise of autocratic [Leninist NEP-esque, faux] capitalism in [Communist Red] China or [Fascist] Singapore is as much a "model" for development as America's scandal-ridden corporate culture.


When nations write a new constitution, as dozens have in the past two decades, they seldom look to the American model [and instead look to Communist, Fascist and Nazi models].

South Africa rejected American-style federalism in favor of a[n] [East] German model,

Now fledgling African democracies look to [crypto-Communist] South Africa as their inspiration ....

Etc. etc. etc.

[Darksheare]

Aiiieee!
It's Jeeves!!

[add925]