I have been neglecting my job here but I have slapped my own wrist and am ready to go! This was intended to be posted the day before the recent US election but now is as good a time as any.

Not long ago, when I wrote an item on US politics, my esteemed fellow blogger Bob Brague, an American, suggested that I should not pontificate on the politics of another nation – me being English of course. Well – that was more or less what he said. We have also seen many, many comments on a variety of websites where other Americans have expressed their surprise at the interest the rest of the world took in the election of their next president. Well this is an open letter to Bob and all of those others who agree with him or are still bewildered about the global concern.

There is an old and very worn out saying which I apologise for recycling here: “When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold”. Clichéd but apt. The power and influence of the USA is not comparable to an old style empire – it is more subtle than that. It is a mix of economics and trade, military might, genuine national friendships in some quarters and genuine national loathing in others and much of it stems from the deep-rooted American belief that they are the natural guardians of freedom and light in the world. And that belief almost certainly stems from their involvement in two World Wars where, let’s be frank and honest here, they virtually did save the day although this was largely down to sheer force of numbers and wealth.

Over the last half a century or longer, America has woven a web across the globe in which all nations get caught at one time or another. We in Europe may sometimes shake our head in disbelief at some aspects of US foreign policy. We often see their trigger happy use of the military as dangerous and provocative. We see the contradictions and hypocrisy in the support they give some nations while at the same time being confrontational with others. And many times in the past we have seen ourselves in the role of Stan Laurel to their Oliver Hardy. They are capable of the most stunning stupidity and arrogance one moment and overwhelming compassion and thoughtfulness the next.

But whatever they do – we are all affected by it. The two most recent and most obvious examples are the wars being waged in Afghanistan and Iraq and the global economic meltdown. Both started in the USA. Because of the first – and because we are allies – my own nation finds itself fighting unwarranted and disastrous wars and has acts of terror being planned against us. Because of the second, my own savings and investments have been decimated along with millions of others.

No other nation – at this time in global history – has this interconnected level of influence and hence the natural laws of cause and effect are of interest to us all and without question give us all the right to comment and criticise the political status of the USA.

And yes – much of the world sighed in collective relief at the presidential election result. Liken it to an ally of the ancient Roman Empire on the death of Claudius wondering, with bated breath, if the next Emperor is going to be as mad as Caligula, as bloodthirsty and corrupt as Tiberius or at least as fair-minded and dignified as Augustus on a good day.

I shouldn’t be doing this as I suspect I’ll just get myself into trouble again. Just like last time. But sometimes you just have to stand up and join the debate.

Exactly a month ago I wrote a piece entitled ‘Scary People‘. You don’t need to read it but it might help. It attracted around 37 comments and then, as always happens, it gets buried deeper into the stack and finally forgotten. And then up pops a new comment from someone calling themselves CarpetGuy (who is a first time commenter on this site) which I reproduce here:

When I first started reading this post, I was a bit offended, but as I read on, through the comments that followed, I could see that things here are as they are everywhere, a bit confused. Sarah Palin never got any orders from God, she simply prayed that what was happening was God’s will, as we all should. I am an American, but lived in Germany for more than a decade and my daughter is a citizen there. As for the reason of fearing Barack Obama, as an American it is simple, here in America, we DO NOT want to be a socialist society as in Europe. I know, as a European, you cannot understand this, but that is because you have never known the true Freedom of Capitalism in it’s purest form. No offense intended, it is just different here. Barack Obama represents everything that a true “Capitalist American” hates, as in Welfare and such. I know, it sounds crazy, but we believe that the people are in charge, not the government. We just want to be left alone, no taxes, no welfare, no social programs, simple right? The problem is that many Americans do not want to work, and want the government to send them a check, and that is what Barack Obama represents.

This is a clear, concise comment written, no doubt, from the heart and could probably have only been written by a true, patriotic American citizen. I have no real problem with patriotic Americans but I do have problems with historical inaccuracy and that overwhelming American belief that they all know how the rest of the world works. But let’s get Sarah Palin and God out of the way first:

Sarah Palin never got any orders from God, she simply prayed that what was happening was God’s will.

We are truly splitting the proverbial hair here. I did not say God ‘ordered’ her to do anything but if her statement that it was “God’s will” to build the new pipeline came through prayer then it seems to me she is making the statement that this is a project personally endorsed by her God. Actually, of course, as she resides and operates in a secular society where the separation of politics and religion is a constitutional directive one should question what God was doing advising her on a purely political decision in the first place. The woman just becomes scarier and scarier.

But on to the real issue here:

As for the reason of fearing Barack Obama, as an American it is simple, here in America, we DO NOT want to be a socialist society as in Europe. I know, as a European, you cannot understand this, but that is because you have never known the true Freedom of Capitalism in it’s purest form.

This truly is one of those marvellous statements that Americans of all persuasions come out with much of the time and, in my experience, have a rock-solid belief in. Let’s start with Capitalism, both in it’s ‘purest form’ and in it’s more modern form of a ‘mixed economy’. Capitalism, in it’s purest form, was not only a British doctrine but flourished here for a good 350 years much to the detriment of the vast majority of our citizens. On one side of the coin it created a huge Empire and kick-started the Industrial Revolution (both for good or bad). On the other side of the coin it also delivered America’s ‘Great Depression’ and notwithstanding the current markedly ’socialist’ activities of the current Republican administration, may well usher in another one. Unbridled Capitalism is like unleashing a rabid wolf into a dog pound.

Socialism, in it’s purest form, has never really been practised in European countries although we have all dallied with it and tried it on for size. What we have here is a watered down variant that is getting less and less support as time goes by. But it came about as a direct reaction to the long period of Capitalism that went unchecked for such a long time.

I may not personally agree with the policies of our more recent governments and I am the first to state that we are over-regulated and that government gets involved too much where it does not belong but I much prefer the compassion we show for the under-privileged and for those less able to compete for their daily meal.

The problem is that many Americans do not want to work, and want the government to send them a check, and that is what Barack Obama represents.

You heard it here first folks – Barack Obama wants to send all lazy Americans government checks. Which, of course, he doesn’t. Any more than any world government does. Any more than any working citizen of any nation does. Apart from those on the receiving end, nobody can actively want to see their hard earned tax money get spread around like this. This has nothing whatsoever to do with Socialism and probably has more to do with the Capitalist way of disenfranchising people. It is most certainly a symptom of a society with problems. But the notion that any politician actively supports such behaviour is quite obviously ludicrous. Britain’s most recent right wing government was unable to solve a problem it loathed in it’s 18 years of tenure as has the current right wing American administration. Perhaps this is because to a certain extent it is not quite so easy as it sounds.

In pure Capitalism, the small few get educated, can look after their health, can own property and ride roughshod over the majority who remain doomed by the circumstance of their birth. In pure Socialism the incentives, challenges and goals that people need are removed. Neither doctrine can work without seriously diminishing the growth and progress of a nation. The world saw this clearly in the downfall of the Soviet Union and the legacy that was left behind. CarpetGuy predictably sees this event as the direct result of US policy – whether of the late President Reagan by negotiation or – as he would have it – the sheer dominance of American armed forces firepower. Indeed it seems to have become part of the American collective myth that they alone were responsible for the breakup. It wasn’t, of course, the primary reason, although it may have helped a little. The Soviet era finally unravelled because the will of the people made it happen. It is what eventually happens to all extremes of political doctrines imposed by the few on their nation. The nations with stability and longevity steer a course somewhere between extremes and accept that to have the good bits, you need to deal with the bad as well.

Many, many years ago I was driving a first time American visitor from Heathrow to my home town and he became intrigued – or perhaps a better expression would be horrified – at good old roundabouts. His initial reaction seemed to be terror but, in all fairness, that was probably the South Mimms roundabout that connects the M25 to the A1 so it’s a little understandable. He softened, of course, with each successive trip round the circle and finally declared that the ’roundabout typified the English sense of humour’.

This led me to believe, at the time, that America had no roundabouts but now I know this to be untrue I have to assume that Denver – my visitor’s home town – had none at that time. The fact is, of course, that roundabouts (sometimes called ‘circles’ in the US) are springing up all over the place and some have been there for a long time. I have encountered them in various places. And this is because they are, at the end of the day, pretty efficient at their job, cost-effective because they need no traffic lights, low maintenance, good for traffic flow and emissions and, most importantly, have a lower accident rate than normal US crossroads and junctions controlled with lights.

I bring all this up simply because I noticed that Frank Blackmore, the ‘inventor’ of the mini-roundabout, died last month. The very first mini-roundabout was built in my local city of Peterborough back in 1969. The part of the story I really liked was that on it’s opening, Blackmore stood on the side of the road shouting instructions to motorists through a loud-hailer! This struck me as wonderfully eccentric and very 1969 English.

Another thing that is wonderfully eccentric and English is the so-called ‘Magic Roundabout’ at Swindon (and there is also one at Colchester which I have used often in the past) shown in the diagram to the right. Yes – it’s a roundabout with a mini-roundabout at each junction! If you are an American visitor then this is one you really should be frightened of!

I am neither a political pundit nor a political analyst. My personal politics are neither left nor right – or, in the case of the USA, rightish or extreme right. But what the world doesn’t need at the end of this year is a Shrub replacement from the same political mould. What the USA might need is another matter but the rest of us need a change. Like it or not, the man (or woman of course) who sits in the big white building on Pennsylvania Avenue does have a global effect. Economically that is true but more importantly, as I have said before, America can be a power for good with the right leadership. You only have to have lived through the last seven years to understand that and the next incumbent will, hopefully, make a priority of healing the wounds that have been inflicted, rebuild relationships where trust has vanished and stop shooting the USA in it’s own metaphorical foot.

So I am a little alarmed that the front runners for the Democratic nomination at this stage of the game are Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Personally, I have nothing against either of them and I am not worried about the prospect of one of them getting the top job. I am more concerned about the prospect of either of them actually winning the final election.

I made two trips to the USA last year. One to the east coast, Washington and New York, where a strong Democrat tradition persists and one to the west coast – Los Angeles, Nevada and Arizona who always seem to me to be somewhat more politically ambiguous. I talked to a lot of people on those trips as the candidates for the next president were starting to become known. Every time I asked about the prospects for Clinton people would collectively shake their heads and say “America isn’t ready for a woman as president”. Mention the name Obama and people would collectively shake their heads and say “America isn’t ready for a black man as president”. And of the people I spoke to, the ones who seemed to shake their heads hardest were female democrats.

Of course my little straw poll, especially with so long to go before the ballot, is totally meaningless but it leaves me wondering if these views are pervasive and if it does end up as a fight between Clinton or Obama against the big, bad Republican are people going to think to themselves “No.. we’re just not ready for this”?

I posted an item entitled The Americans And The Vagina a couple of weeks back following which the comments wandered off topic a bit and I said some things about Las Vegas and the image the USA ‘exports’ of itself through Hollywood and TV shows. It was in response to just such a remark that someone calling themselves Foehammer sent the following:

The answer is simple really — the USA is practically a continent unto itself. The scope of the people, dialects, geography, languages and cultures is comparable to the rest of the world as a whole. It is not possible to sum up the USA or its people in the context of what you see overseas on television, what you believe you know of us from movies or even books. I’ve been to almost every state in this country and still can’t hope to ever see everything in my lifetime.

Let’s be honest, it’s almost impossible to let a statement like that go unchallenged. I have no intention here of insulting Foehammer or of getting into his personal politics and attitudes. He is not alone in the USA to think and truly believe the words he wrote. I bet I can add some more things he truly believes and will happily quote – secure in that ironclad knowledge that seems reserved especially for the American. They are, surely, unique in the world in that while other nations and people may believe they are superior to everyone else, the American knows it for a fact – reinforced daily by their appalling media outpourings of sickly patriotism and the world stage that their politicians seem to believe is theirs to strut by birthright.

The curiosity, of course, is why Americans in general have absolutely no or little conception of the world outside of their borders and their place within it. So this is a sort of open letter to Foehammer and the millions of others who share his dream.

The USA is not even ‘practically’ close to being a continent unto itself. It may well be the worlds third largest country but it is only just slightly larger than say, Brazil. It is less than a third the size of Africa which is a continent, and smaller than your own neighbour, Canada. You come third in size of population as well, out-gunned by India and China. If you want to see a continent – visit a proper one; Asia or Africa perhaps.

There is some diversity in your peoples – different accents and dialects – but with about 82% of you being white and about the same percentage having English as your first language the other 18% must be pretty scattered. My own travels through states like New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, Florida, Tennessee, Virginia, Delaware, Colorado and California suggests that the vast majority of Americans are pretty similar. America has absorbed the great migrations from England, central Europe and Ireland who bought their culture with them. They have spread far and wide and intermixed – theirs is the ‘American’ culture now. There is greater diversity to be enjoyed in the considerably smaller Europe than in the USA – from the Scot to the Greek or the Dane to the Turk.

America does enjoy a rich and diverse geography but no more than any other part of the world. Your mountains are matched by many others around the globe – they are not the biggest; your rivers can be stunning – they are not the longest or the widest; your deserts are filled with wonder – they are not the most awesome. One of the things I personally like best about the USA is the fact that you have such a wide range of geography in such a relatively small, compact package.

The problem, of course, is that the vast majority of Americans do not travel. Estimates suggest that only about 20% of Americans actually have a passport. In the false and arrogant belief that nowhere can be as good as the USA, you stay at home. And the rest of the world – it’s glory, it’s beauty and it’s magnificence, passes you by – available only to the few who watch it second-hand on PBS documentaries. And this lack of knowledge and understanding is ultimately both the comedy and the tragedy of the USA in the world today, for the rest of the world knows more about you than you know about them – yet you profess to know so much and to be the guardians of the globe.

On a simplistic level, I would make a wager that if I asked the average Englishman, Frenchman, Indian or Kiwi to name the states of the USA he would, with thought, be able to name most. Yet I have sat in an American diner and been told by the waitress that New Mexico is not one of them. How many Americans could name more than a couple of English county names? The countries that comprise the European Union? The provinces of Australia? Even, perhaps, the provinces of Canada. How many Americans can place Afghanistan on the world map?

This is all interwoven with the attitude to the rest of the world that has led to so much mistrust and hatred. It’s not, as your media and politicians are always so keen to claim, that they are envious of your eroding freedom, it is because you profess to know what is best for them while at the same time knowing nothing about their culture and history.

There are other myths that abound in the USA that have become so ingrained they are quoted like mantras – or like old-style USSR propaganda posters. How many times have I heard an American claim that the USA is the worlds largest democracy? It is set in stone and rolls out of the mouths of politicians and the media until everyone believes it. But that honour, as the rest of us know, goes to India. Nor are you, I believe the worlds oldest surviving democracy. That, surely, has to be the Isle of Man who recently celebrated 1000 years of their continous political system which to this day stands them in good stead. As to the USA being the worlds only Superpower, that is even something you hear on British media. But by all traditional measures of what ’superpower’ actually means, the EU is running neck and neck with the USA and Russia still retains much that really counts. China is coming up fast and even India could achieve that status in a few short years. The real major difference however, is that because the USA believes its own propaganda so completely, it feels it has the right to meddle just about everywhere. I could do on.

And finally, just to get it off my chest, two of my favourites. For the record, the USA did not win the Second World War single-handed. You came into it reluctantly late and fresh because you were under attack and admittedly our backs were against the wall but to claim the victory as yours is an insult to the rest of Europe and in particular to the Russians. Likewise, you did not defeat the old USSR and communism. Strangely, the old Soviet bloc flourished in part because of the way America insisted Europe was carved up after the war, ignoring protestations from the old countries who understood the political situation far better. But Ronald Reagan did not cause the USSR to fall apart. It was imploding from the inside before he came on the scene, caused by political, social and economic bankruptcy. The people of the USSR itself take the honour for it’s dismantling. Ronnie just gave it a small prod.

I am a big fan of the USA. With the exception of the redneck who threatened to blow my head off with a shotgun just outside Golden, Colorado, I have liked the vast majority of Americans I have met and known. I love their country and much of their culture and diversity. If they had a better understanding of the rest of the world, they could be a dynamic and worthy force for good around the globe yet for reasons that escape me they so often seem to prefer the role of spoilt brat when it comes to dealing with their planets partners.

[Update] In his comments below, Foehammer has disputed some of the statistics I have used above. In particular those on the size of the white population and the comparable size of the USA and Brazil. The statistics may well be incorrect but with the exception of the percentage of US passport holders (for which official figures do not seem to exist) they were all quoted from the CIA website, an organisation that purports to know these things. And the phrase ’slightly larger than Brazil’ is also the CIA’a own written description. Plus I apologise for using a similar image as his web page does. This was entirely subliminal.