Today's Warm and Fuzzy Thought

Yep, it's back.

In a recent series of articles Fox News Reporter Greg Palkot followed the Bush Train through Europe trying to get the "real European man's" view on Americans and our policy. The first story I read of his was the last installment of the series written from Slovakia. The entire article is written from a negative "back in the USSR" mentality that really upset me. Perhaps it is because the eastern European block countries are near and dear to my heart but this article really upset me. He talks as though they have lived for generations without Soviet rule when in fact they only gained their own sense of independence a relatively short time ago, so they have not really had a lot of time or money to come into their own.

In this article he also asserts that only by becoming more American and more capitalistic will these countries survive. I find this to be amazingly arrogant. In case some haven't noticed, we do not have the only form of democracy nor do we have a 100% perfect way of running a country. There are a number of serious problems we face as a nation on domestic issues that should not be spread to other countries. In this article he only slightly addresses some negative feelings that apparently only one person in the whole of Slovakia has, then moves on to some perky secretary who says she "loves" America.

The entire article reminded me of reading pieces written by early explorers who talk about the savages and how it was the responsibility of the explorers to show them the right way to live. I have a hard time with the mentality that "progress" is measured by how many Wal Marts and Barnes and Nobels are on each block. I mean will Eastern Europe finally be brought into the modern era when you can't spit without hitting a Starbucks? Why can't they find their own way to democracy and to their own economic system. I mean G-d forbid they should suddenly have a system of fair taxation, centralized health care for all citizens, a viable retirement plan for senior citizens, a governing body that truly represents the people and a society that doesn't look down on history, culture and those who cant afford it?

For an interesting take on Communist/Socialist to capitalist change see Good Bye Lenin.