Thank You, France!
(I'm sorry, I feel like I'm always picking on the French. I have no beef, honestly, it's just that they're so easy to mock.)
From the great nation that brought us Zeuhl comes the rejection of the EU constitution. Thank you for confirming the unipolar international structure in which the United States remains the sole undisputed superpower! Perhaps now the Euro will weaken and tourism will be affordable for Americans again.
Something that made me do a double-take: apparently the EU-opposition media in France is characterizing free market (one of the goals of the EU) as "ultraliberal." A. Since when did Europeans ever pretend to be anything BUT liberal? B. Free market is ultraconservative - libertarian, perhaps - but NOT ultraliberal. Unless my own educational sources are warping the truth and the French actually have the right schematization - which is entirely possible...
On second thought, I don't think that's right. I remember my Swedish boyfriend saying that the general sentiment in his country was anti-EU, because the EU was perceived as a right-wing conspiracy meant to help big businesses and crush socialist benefits. So I was right the first time, the French media is warping and mixing ideologies so as to promote their numero uno agenda, which is to be better than all the other European countries, even if it means that Europe as a whole is under US thumb.
I wonder if the US had anything to do with mobilizing the EU opposition. We have some crafty sons-of-bitches in high places.
From the great nation that brought us Zeuhl comes the rejection of the EU constitution. Thank you for confirming the unipolar international structure in which the United States remains the sole undisputed superpower! Perhaps now the Euro will weaken and tourism will be affordable for Americans again.
Something that made me do a double-take: apparently the EU-opposition media in France is characterizing free market (one of the goals of the EU) as "ultraliberal." A. Since when did Europeans ever pretend to be anything BUT liberal? B. Free market is ultraconservative - libertarian, perhaps - but NOT ultraliberal. Unless my own educational sources are warping the truth and the French actually have the right schematization - which is entirely possible...
On second thought, I don't think that's right. I remember my Swedish boyfriend saying that the general sentiment in his country was anti-EU, because the EU was perceived as a right-wing conspiracy meant to help big businesses and crush socialist benefits. So I was right the first time, the French media is warping and mixing ideologies so as to promote their numero uno agenda, which is to be better than all the other European countries, even if it means that Europe as a whole is under US thumb.
I wonder if the US had anything to do with mobilizing the EU opposition. We have some crafty sons-of-bitches in high places.
posted by Rex at 4:30 PM
3 Comments:
Rex, is it possible that the think that made you do the double take was something relating free-markets to the term "neoliberal"? I had this confusion myself recently. Apparently, in economic terms, "neoliberal" refers to a pro-free-market, laissez-faire stance... Apparently, in classical economics, "liberal" meant something entirely different from what how we associate it in a political sense. And the neoliberals are the ones who supported deregulation (that is, a return to classical laissez-faire models that were, when they were invented, liberal). Apparently. Maybe we should ask an economist... perhaps David Savage is on hand!! He could also help us suss out the Kurt Cobain issue.
Kudos on the Zehul reference!
Is David Savage an economist? Hrmph, I don't know if I would trust his opinion on anything intellectual (himbo), much less anything ideological (virulent Republican). However! on the subject of Cobain's dubious sexuality, I'm sure his authority is of the highest merit. We could sound him out on things like Cobain's offbeat fashion statements, etc.
I think you have to look at the definition of the word "conservative."
In the US, our past is one of minimal government at individual freedoms. Capitalism is the basis of the American Dream.
In much of Western Europe the history of their governments is socialist, valuing the common good over commerce.
The term “conservative” is then correct in both uses—in the US conservatives resist socialist agendas, and in France conservatives are the keepers of the socialist agenda.
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