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<div>Chas et. al.</div>
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<div>OK, Chas, just this once, I'll read your content... But only if you promise to ignore my posts, deal? And stop being so sane! The truly crazy people are the ones who insist they are not, so this leaves you out!</div>
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<div>So what else is new? </div>
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<div>Anyone aware of Europe's governments knows that the US political spectrum is shifted dramatically away from popular European positions on taxation, the death penalty, gun control, religious fundamentalism, and health care, insofar as many of Europe's governments have much higher taxes, no death penalty, more gun control, less religious fundamentalism, and universal health care...Who are the extremists on these issues is a matter of opinion.</div>
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<div>If most people in the Moscow area are not aware of this (I hope this is not the case), well, I suppose it's no surprise, given the shocking percentage of people in the USA who cannot find Iraq on a world map:</div>
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<div><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02/geog.test/">http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02/geog.test/</a></div>
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<div><strong>After more than three years of combat and nearly 2,400 U.S. military deaths in Iraq, nearly two-thirds of Americans aged 18 to 24 still cannot find Iraq on a map, a study released Tuesday showed.</strong></div>
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<div>Ted Moffett<br><br> </div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 2/3/08, <b class="gmail_sendername">Chasuk</b> <<a href="mailto:chasuk@gmail.com">chasuk@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">Please read this. Even if you usually skip posts by Chas, I request<br>that you pay attention just this once.<br>
<br>********************************<br><br>US Politics Have No Left Wing<br><br><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2008/02/us_politics_have_no_left_wing.php">http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2008/02/us_politics_have_no_left_wing.php</a><br>
<br>This is the first time that I'm aware of the US primary elections.<br>I've never been very interested in the news, having at best a hazy<br>idea even of Swedish politics. Blogging is entirely responsible for my<br>
heightened awareness of US political matters over the past two to<br>three years. I've taken to reading US blogs and hanging out in web<br>forums dominated by Americans. And what I've learned scares me.<br><br>US politics often look absurd from a European perspective, since the<br>
entire bipartisan system maps onto the conservative half of European<br>politics. A case in point is that the US "Left" is called "the<br>liberals", while the Liberal Party in Sweden is part of the Right<br>
wing. How could it be otherwise? Liberalism is about free-market<br>capitalism, small government, low taxes, all Right-wing ideals. Yes,<br>both US parties advocate low taxes. Normal taxes are 30% to a Swede.<br>And that's rock bottom, before adding the effect of progressive<br>
taxation. That's how we can afford universal health care. Hint, hint.<br><br>So, believe me, US politics don't have a Left. Looking at the<br>presidential candidates, I am frankly appalled. None of them would be<br>
a viable politician in Sweden. They all support the death penalty,<br>none advocates strict gun control and all make frequent mention of<br>their religious beliefs in public. These are extremist stances. Not<br>even the tiny Christian Democrat party mentions God publicly in<br>
Sweden, for fear of alienating the pragmatic rationalist majority.<br><br>>From a European perspective, US politics are an ongoing battle between<br>the extreme Right and the middle Right. The Republican presidential<br>
candidates are really, really scary people in my view. So all of us in<br>the world at large who live under the shadow of US political hegemony<br>are holding our breaths, hoping that Clinton or Obama will make it<br>into office. They're pretty bad, but the alternative would be<br>
unspeakably dreadful.<br><br>********************************<br><br>Why do I consider the previous so important, you ask? Because it<br>expresses more casually and more succinctly how most of Western Europe<br>see us, and largely informs my own politics. Now you know where crazy<br>
Chas is coming from, when Chas is being crazy.<br><br></blockquote></div>