How do foreigners view US politics? - Page 25

I am curious to see how they will accept the fact that U.S will not stay the first economy of the world.

On November 05 2010 05:50 VanGarde wrote:
Well... It is always dangerous to start generalizing between communities and I can't speak for the entire world but I can tell what factors differ between Europeans and Americans in general when it comes to politics and thus results in very I guess polarized views on american politics.

First of all Europe is in practice way way more secularized than America. We have way way more unbelievers and of those who follow a faith, they are way more toned down than most american Christians. I think there are quite obvious historical psychological reasons for why it turned out this way.

The US was founded on the basis of freedom of religion, to a large extent, the people who came to america were people who were persecuted for their religious beliefs elsewhere and found refuge to practice their faith in america. For that reason religion has always had a positive connotation in america and that is why presidential candidates apparently need to utter stuff like "god bless america" to gain the favor of the people.

But because of this fact america has always had a plethora of religious groups who kind of all cancel each other out in the sense that no one group gets any real influence over politics, at least not until recently. Thus a society, historically with freedom of religion.

Europe on the other hand have experienced something that the United States so far and for these reasons have not had to deal with. That is Europe has experienced a society where one religion gains dominance and eventual influence over politics. Traditionally the people of Europe were suppressed by a religious elite of the kings and the church and the people were eventually able to liberate themselves from the church. For that reason any religion that starts to become a bit too vocal tends to make Europeans way more uncomfortable, especially the further north and the further west you are in Europe.

If the swedish prime minister were to end a speech with "god bless sweden", then that would for most people bring on an uneasy feeling comparable to if he had said "sieg heil".

I don't pretend to speak for everyone but I think this is the majority situation at the very least in Scandinavia, and then obviously when you watch american politics and see this constant influx of religion into politics in america it creates the same feeling of unease as if you are watching a theocracy in the making.

I think that at the very core, social differences are not the biggest factor but rather that Americans are more interested in defending their freedom of religion, while Europeans are very passionate about defending their freedom from religion. And this core leads to all the different and usually negative views on the other sides politics.

On November 05 2010 05:40 Scruffy wrote:
I prefer the American system of health care (pre-Obamacare). I am 24 years old. I have basic catastrophic coverage (train wreck insurance), that has high deductibles in the event (although highly unlikely) that I get very sick or hurt. I pay 80 USD a month, and it covers some of the costs of prescriptions. I pay 40 USD per visit to go to the doctor THAT DAY, and would never have to wait for surgery if my life was at risk. My family doctor is awesome, and I wouldn't trade him for anything. So yes, I would rather pay for my own health insurance than pay for mine and YOURS. I would rather not have government bureaucrats decide what I should do with my healthcare, or if I should have healthcare at all. I pay maybe 8 percent of my income on healthcare, and I don't even have my CPA yet (and am barely above the poverty line probably). Is that really so bad?

On November 05 2010 05:51 domovoi wrote:
By the way, here is a good example of European xenophobia, so it's not like y'all are that progressive/enlightened:

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=166401

If an American made those sort of comments about the American underclass, they'd (rightly) be called a racist.

On November 05 2010 05:58 trainRiderJ wrote:

Actually it sounds like you have pretty bad insurance, assuming you are a healthy 24-year-old. Having priced private insurance for myself I was able to find much better deals (i.e. cheaper doctor visits for a lower monthly premium). Maybe it has to do with where you live (I'm in Texas).

On November 05 2010 05:58 trainRiderJ wrote:

Actually it sounds like you have pretty bad insurance, assuming you are a healthy 24-year-old. Having priced private insurance for myself I was able to find much better deals (i.e. cheaper doctor visits for a lower monthly premium). Maybe it has to do with where you live (I'm in Texas).

On November 05 2010 05:06 simme123 wrote:


The reason we get angry is because it's selfish thinking that yeah I am the most important person in the world and those kids who were born on the street should not get a chance in life because their parents aren't rich. It's just a bad system. I am not saying that our health care system is perfect but putting values on someones life is just inhuman. Saying that yeah I'll patch you up but only if you pay me X amount of dollars. For a really rich person of course it's more beneficial for you but if you look at the country as a whole it really isn't.

On November 05 2010 05:59 DoubleReed wrote:


What? I don't understand this post at all. Not only because the underclass isn't a race (so its not really an analogue to Roma), but also because I honestly don't understand this post.

On November 05 2010 05:59 DoubleReed wrote:


What? I don't understand this post at all. Not only because the underclass isn't a race (so its not really an analogue to Roma), but also because I honestly don't understand this post.

On November 05 2010 05:48 domovoi wrote:

Probably not well, but it's not going to happen for at least another two decades.

On November 05 2010 06:05 AkatjaN wrote:


atm, the United States growth stay at 2% because of the debt.
If China decide to ask the money back, it change everything,
And it can appened in 5 or 10 years, (when China wont need american consumption anymore)

On November 05 2010 05:24 PacketOverflow wrote:
I find it pretty funny that Europeans are about as dumb as Americans...
...it really demonstrates a lack of understanding of our political system, our history, and the nation itself.
America has a LOT of different demographics and is no where near as homogeneous as Europe or Canada.

and is no where near as homogeneous as Europe or Canada

near as homogeneous as Europe or Canada

as homogeneous as Europe

On November 05 2010 06:05 AkatjaN wrote:


atm, the United States growth stay at 2% because of the debt.
If China decide to ask the money back, it change everything,
And it can appened in 5 or 10 years, (when China wont need american consumption anymore)

On November 05 2010 06:01 domovoi wrote:

This is a good point. I'm a healthy 28-year-old, but I have what some people describe as "cadillac coverage." My deductibles are low because of corporate tax incentives, but it boggles my mind why I even need insurance for things like eyeglasses and periodic doctor checkups and dentist appointments.

On November 05 2010 05:50 VanGarde wrote:
Well... It is always dangerous to start generalizing between communities and I can't speak for the entire world but I can tell what factors differ between Europeans and Americans in general when it comes to politics and thus results in very I guess polarized views on american politics.

First of all Europe is in practice way way more secularized than America. We have way way more unbelievers and of those who follow a faith, they are way more toned down than most american Christians. I think there are quite obvious historical psychological reasons for why it turned out this way.

The US was founded on the basis of freedom of religion, to a large extent, the people who came to america were people who were persecuted for their religious beliefs elsewhere and found refuge to practice their faith in america. For that reason religion has always had a positive connotation in america and that is why presidential candidates apparently need to utter stuff like "god bless america" to gain the favor of the people.

But because of this fact america has always had a plethora of religious groups who kind of all cancel each other out in the sense that no one group gets any real influence over politics, at least not until recently. Thus a society, historically with freedom of religion.

Europe on the other hand have experienced something that the United States so far and for these reasons have not had to deal with. That is Europe has experienced a society where one religion gains dominance and eventual influence over politics. Traditionally the people of Europe were suppressed by a religious elite of the kings and the church and the people were eventually able to liberate themselves from the church. For that reason any religion that starts to become a bit too vocal tends to make Europeans way more uncomfortable, especially the further north and the further west you are in Europe.

If the swedish prime minister were to end a speech with "god bless sweden", then that would for most people bring on an uneasy feeling comparable to if he had said "sieg heil".

I don't pretend to speak for everyone but I think this is the majority situation at the very least in Scandinavia, and then obviously when you watch american politics and see this constant influx of religion into politics in america it creates the same feeling of unease as if you are watching a theocracy in the making.

I think that at the very core, social differences are not the biggest factor but rather that Americans are more interested in defending their freedom of religion, while Europeans are very passionate about defending their freedom from religion. And this core leads to all the different and usually negative views on the other sides politics.

On November 05 2010 06:10 SweetNJoshSauce wrote:


This is a really good post. It's pretty obvious that Europeans have a much different stance about organized religion than Americans do, but I never really though about the reasons you bring up.

On November 05 2010 06:09 trainRiderJ wrote:

That's another good issue for debate regarding our current healthcare system. Much of what we call "insurance" is more like a "health club".

Insurance is by definition a risk-mitigating service for unexpected events that you might not be able to afford to pay for out of pocket. Insurance companies pool everyone's money, run risk tables to see how much they should expect to pay out, and then charge extra for some profit as they run a high-demand business.

Obviously, yearly wellness exams and eyeglasses are not exactly "unexpected events". Why is there even a need to include the insurance companies in the mix?