Foreigner Policy...
I'm slow on this story, because I hadn't really made up my mind yet. When Australian Prime Minister John Howard weighed in on Barack Obama's candidacy. I was torn. On the one hand, I like John Howard, and everything he says is absolutely true. Retreat from Iraq is the absolutely wrong strategy, and the enemy knows they can only win by making us pull out. Obviously candidates who endorse pulling out aid the enemy. At the same time however, no country with a freely elected government likes having other governments weigh in on their internal politics. (The dictatorships don't much like it either, but because they are dictatorships, I don't much care what they think.)
I have sympathy for Howard. He's banked much on the Australian-American alliance, and sent troops to Iraq despite high opposition from many in his country. It must be frustrating for him, tied to a policy where the American people's choice of a politican can determine his success or failure. Even so, I think its inappropriate for a representative of a foreign government to weigh in on who we should elect. (of course it happened constantly with Europeans and Bush, course you never saw that in the news, but two wrongs...)
Speaking of people keeping their mouths shut... The Dixie Chicks went 5 for 5 at the Grammys. The Dixie Chicks had felt the icy hand of censorship when BushCo's operatives managed to convince country music fans (usually die-hard liberals and internationalists) to boycott the band for statements made before a british audience.
I've lived outside this country of mine for a long time, most of it during a presidency I was not supportive of in the least. And foreigners love to ask you your opinion of your politicans, especially in China, where the idea of criticising the government is unheard of. All of the expatriates that I knew followed the advice of Winston Churchill:
“When I am abroad, I always make it a rule to never criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.”
I have sympathy for Howard. He's banked much on the Australian-American alliance, and sent troops to Iraq despite high opposition from many in his country. It must be frustrating for him, tied to a policy where the American people's choice of a politican can determine his success or failure. Even so, I think its inappropriate for a representative of a foreign government to weigh in on who we should elect. (of course it happened constantly with Europeans and Bush, course you never saw that in the news, but two wrongs...)
Speaking of people keeping their mouths shut... The Dixie Chicks went 5 for 5 at the Grammys. The Dixie Chicks had felt the icy hand of censorship when BushCo's operatives managed to convince country music fans (usually die-hard liberals and internationalists) to boycott the band for statements made before a british audience.
I've lived outside this country of mine for a long time, most of it during a presidency I was not supportive of in the least. And foreigners love to ask you your opinion of your politicans, especially in China, where the idea of criticising the government is unheard of. All of the expatriates that I knew followed the advice of Winston Churchill:
“When I am abroad, I always make it a rule to never criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.”
1 Comments:
One thing about show business...is if you say or do something stupid people soon forget. The Hollywood Liberal will turn the other check far to fast and reward those that buck the establishement...no matter what side you're one.
Point in case is Polasnski (is that spelled right?) winning the Oscar a couple of years ago. He can't even enter the country because he would be arrested for rape and yet Hollywood awards him. Crazy.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home