As I’m no US-citizen (I’m German) I thought it could be interesting to give you Kossacks a point of view from the outside of what the rest of the world hopes, what will happen on Nov 7th!
But first a few words about me. I was fascinated by America from early childhood on. I really liked what it stood for: Freedom of Speech, Home of the Brave, the American Dream and so on. Today, thanks to the Bush Admin. and the rubber stamp congress which puts party over oversight there’s not much left of those principles.
For example, I visited the US in 1996 with my girlfriend and we came in at San Francisco Airport, rented a car and drove along the coast highway to L.A. and San Diego. We had a great time. People were friendly. From what I gather, such a journey wouldn’t be possible today, because visitors to the US have to give an adress where they intend to stay during their visit. For people like me, who just want to journey around on vacation with no planning ahead where to spend the next night (there’s always a motel somewhere) that would be the first obstacle. The second thing is the new profiling system. For example, I’m a very old fashioned guy, I pay ALWAYS in cash, be it flight tickets, the rental car or whatever. That was no problem in 1996. According to the new guidelines, that would make me highly suspect. Combined with the fact that I look like what the CW says a muslim looks like (dark hair, dark eyes, somewhat browner skin) and my name sounds eastern (my father was from turkey) I could find myself interrogated by the Gestapo…uh…Homeland Security and/or deported to a black prison in no time. Therefore I will not visit the US anytime soon. How so much could have changed in so few years. And don’t anyone tell me 9/11 changed everything!
9/11 changed nothing! It was a tragedy, of course, and my condolences to everybody who lost someone on that day, but despite its magnitude, it was just another terrorist attack, of which there are many in other countries every year. Okay, it was the first time, something that big happened on US soil, but so what? Welcome to the real world, America!
As bad as it was, that is no reason to throw all the principles your country weas build upon out of the window.
It is possible to increase security measures in an intelligent way, which does not curb your freedoms or puts everyone under general suspicion.
But I digress! I wanted to tell you what we in Europe hope will happen on Nov 7th.
Barring voter fraud, you will get a Democratic congress (Senate I think is possible, but still a long shot)! And if there is evidence of voter fraud, I hope you will get of your lazy a**es and do what people around the world are doing (Mexico, Ukraine, etc.) and take it to the streets.
This abomination which once was the great US has to be stopped and put back n track where it was headed under Clinton. Somehow I have the feeling that most Republicans are stuck in the middle ages with their views and „solutions“.
The people here in Germany are very interested what happens in the US (mostly younger people and students), some like me still admire the ideals the US once stood for and are sad to see what has happened to a once great nation. Its like a to watch a dear friend who has fallen from grace and being unable to help him get his act together, if you know what I mean?!
Of course there are also those who couldn’t care less what happens in the US. That is stupid in my opinion, because despite all its problems, the US still is a major world player and can shape the future of this world.
Our media sadly are mostly neutral (Too neutral regarding the adventures of the Chimp), with a few favouring Bush (I could vomit if I come across articles/news which uncritically try to back the mismanagement of the Bush Admin.)
Oh boy, that was my first diary and it got longer than I expected. I hope my English wasn’t that bad , that I wasn’t pointless and you get something out of my rantings!
Until next time! I will report on how the media here have covered the midterms!
You can find the original here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/16/257853/-The-World-awaits-Nov-7th
