US Politics and Europeans

by Kendall Clark

This post is wildly “off-topic” for this weblog; however, I have to say that, having just returned from nearly two weeks in Europe (Denmark, particularly), I was, as ever, impressed with just how much the average European knows about the US and US politics.

(Okay, “average European” means, here, “European male IT worker”, so not very “average” at all.)

I had many conversations where Europeans offered sophisticated and nuanced readings of the US political scene—with nearly every one expressing enthusiastic support for Barack Obama’s aspirations, both to the Democratic nomination and to the Presidency itself—that, frankly, I couldn’t possibly hope to match for any country in the EU.

At one time I knew a bit about post-WWII politics in Italy and France; a bit about the former USSR, and a bit more about the UK. And I consider myself a well-educated person, whether true or not. I read the Financial Times (the best English-language paper in the EU and, probably, the world) every day, have business dealings in the EU, and generally “stay current”. That said, I know almost nothing about Scandinavian countries, Benelux, Spain, or Eastern Europe. Quite embarrassing.

One perspective that I found incredibly apt was pointed out to me by our customer in Denmark, who insisted that his employees compare like-with-like, which is to say, the appropriate comparison is not really any one EU country with the US, but the entire EU with the US. Just so.

One bit that Europeans seems to get wrong about the US is how diverse it is on many measures. Which is interesting, since I find it so ideologically monoculturalist when compared to most of the EU, even the bits like Scandinavia that are vastly less diverse when it comes to culture and ethnicity.

That asymmetry is curious and instructive of important differences—well, I think…, since, apparently, I may not know enough about the EU to deserve to express a public opinion! Gotta do something about that, and right quick!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at 10:53 am and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Bijan Parsia 06/04/2008 12:27 PM 1 point
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You rustic American yokels with your quaint lil notions! Can one even *be* educated, properly speaking, and from the US?

Next thing you know, you'll be pushing for command lines!

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John Goodwin 06/05/2008 03:27 AM 1 point
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I tend to get most of my knowledge of US Politics from the Daily Show :)

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Kjetil Kjernsmo 06/05/2008 03:44 AM 1 point
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Coming from a Scandinavian country, I think your observation that few around here appreciate the diversity of the US is correct. I think very few know anything about the political diversity, and how many parties there are on the local level beyond the two large ones. The US Presidential elections is given very wide coverage here, with every primary election being big news. So, it is easy to get the impression that the US only has two political parties at all levels.

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Kendall 06/05/2008 10:20 AM 1 point
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Kjetil: We *do* only have two political parties at all levels; actually, we only have one. On nearly every issue, there really isn't that much difference between the average Republic and the average Democrat.

There are, nominally, both libertarians and Greens in the US, and they both have some local office holders; but not in numbers that are politically significant.

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