From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Sun Jul 01 2001 - 16:34:51 MDT
Lee Corbin wrote:
>
> I had written
>
> > > I am speculating; and I thank you for your interesting
> > > observations. But historically there has been a pattern
> > > of political extremism in Europe that American has been
> > > thankfully spared. I don't think that you can deny that.
>
> to which Michael Butler replied
>
> > I don't think I can understand it.
> > Consequently, I can neither confirm or deny it.
> >
> > If you mean that the US hasn't had land wars across its face
> > every few decades, you're right. Beyond that, I am baffled.
>
> Please see Mike Lorrey's post for examples. The political
> extremism of which we speak, e.g. that in Russia, Italy,
> Germany, and recently in Yugoslavia really doesn't seem to
> have a counterpart in the Americas. The explanation may be
> so simple as the fact that democracy has been prevelent in
> the U.S. for three hundred years.
However, I consider the issues at the basis of european extremism to be
rather simple, while their solutions are hilariously ludicrous. American
examples of extremism (slavery, civil rights, taxation without
representation, the desire to not live under the threat of nuclear
annihilation, the desire to not live in a police state) are all rather
profound issues of the human condition.
You'd have to LIKE living like a lemming in a fishbowl in a house full
of hungry cats to enjoy the sort of extremism that occurs in europe. I'm
sure that such is just fine for some people, but we are over here
specifically because we DONT like it.
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