The German magazine Spiegel says 'Political Radicalization in US Unworthy of a Democratic State'

[Democrats Ramshield]

(I am cross posting this article that I wrote earlier today at the Daily Kos.)

"As an American expat living in the European Union I've come to rely on the European mainstream press corp for opinions and information that is essentially unaffected by the influence of Fox news and right wing talk radio.

This diary is essentially an annotated bibliography of European media sources which are unavailable in the US which contain information and opinion from published German news sources listed by the German Spiegel magazine. Additionally there is also a sampling of news sources outside of Germany, to include Britain and France. This diary attempts to add value to the reader's experience by providing an international perspective on the Arizona tragedy from capital cities in the European Union. It is important for American readers to note that mainstream European news outlets essentially speaking have universally condemned what's happened in Arizona in siding with progressive America. It is important for American readers to understand that this condemnation comes from the subtext of a strong European style social safety net.

While we can all be proud Americans, we sure don't have to be proud of the broken American social safety net. There we can do better.

Because Europe in general and Germany in particular has learned its lessons very well, given the combined experiences of the last century within the collective European memory. Additionally that a strong social safety net prevents politically motivated killings and promotes a more civil discourse on a continent where extreme rhetoric cannot take hold, which indeed by many social scientists is the reason that a European style strong social safety net exists which provides cradle to grave universal medical access, paid sick leave, paid maternity leave, paid annual leave and dental care to all workers to include low wage workers. Even Germany's unemployed receive medical benefits, as do their family members as part of a jobless benefit package, (which includes jobless benefit 1 and wherein jobless benefit 2 never runs out). Clearly people who are supported by a strong social safety net are going to be more satisfied and therefore harder to radicalize, because these people are not pushed to the wall economically."

(Click here to read full article) http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/1/12/935423/-The-German-magazine-Spiegel-says-Political-Radicalization-in-US-Unworthy-of-a-Democratic-State

[Ikonoklast]

1. We are scaring our allies.

This can be an enormous problem, if we fail to address it, immediately.


If this made Der Spiegel, you know it's been discussed at the highest political levels in Germany.

[RainDog]

2. Europeans have been stunned by the level of stupidity in the U.S. for decades

A professor from a European nation used to come to my house and stay for a month at a time while doing research with others here and, this was before the intertubes were so developed, he used to videotape religious broadcasters on tv with his video camera (because the tapes wouldn't play region to region) to show the folks back home because they would never believe that these religious broadcasters were taken seriously by such a technologically advanced nation with such great universities.

when I would spend time there - people who had never attended college knew more about American political issues than people who live here, I found out.

Since the election of Bush, Europeans have been speculating on the fall of the United States because any nation stupid enough to elect him has serious problems that they don't seem to be able to solve.

It's only gotten worse.

As we decimate unions and try to destroy the social safety net in this nation we'll have more and more social disruption and upheaval - and this is just what people like the Koch Brothers want - they are the ones who seek to destabilize our society by their greed and corporate take over of all facets of American life.

Western European nations have fared much better through all this economic crisis time because they have not abandoned the middle class for the interests of the wealthy.

If Democrats care about the well being of this nation, they will not allow the right wing policies of extremists in this nation to further degrade our national security.

[Ikonoklast]

13. My sister lives in Spain, married a Spanish National who

lost both his grandfathers fighting Franco in the Spanish Civil War.

My BIL is a devout Socialist.

Many Spaniards think that we are on a similar path of self-destruction.

[Democrats Ramshield]

4. To ikonoklast

I added your comment to my diary at Dkos. Thanks for the post. Your comment added value to our discussion.

[The Magistrate]

3. There Is No Further To Fall, Sir, Than Denunciation Of Radicalization From Germany....

[AspenRose]

5. For Real

When GERMANY says 'be concerned...' we best pay attention!

PS- I bookmarked this!

[Democrats Ramshield]

6. To AspenRose - Thanks for your kind words

and thanks for your support. Both are appreciated.

[Kievan Rus]

7. I love the European media for being so honest and telling it like it is...

unlike our kkkorporate media over here which is more concerned with Lindsay Lohan getting arrested, or Dancing with the Stars, than stuff that really matters like this.

[devilgrrl]

8. This doesn't surprise at all. Germans are utterly perplexed by us these days...

and that includes many in the former GDR!!!

[txlibdem]

9. Broken safety net

We Americans are composed of the following
the unaware
the duped
the tools of the rich
the apathetic
and a tiny percentage who see the truth: the rich have been waging class warfare against us for generations

Is it any wonder that our safety net is broken?

[Democrats Ramshield]

14. To txlibdem - That's a really great question

You're absolutely right, the American working class has been the victim of a long term class warfare by the super rich. Therefore America has the weakest social safety net of any major industrialized country.

My question is, how do you some of the other posters and readers here feel about that? Thanks for posting.

[txlibdem]

16. Personally, I've lost all faith in Capitalism -- it must be destroyed

Capitalism will kill us all, especially American-style (corporations control everything) Capitalism.

[Rageneau]

10. If a "European News Channel" were available on TV, the right-wing would lose followers.

The only way the reich-wing stays so potent is by keeping the yahoos of America in the dark. If the news was REALLY the news, the GOP would steadily lose membership.

(Which the GOP knows as well as we do; hence: no "REAL" news.)

[Democrats Ramshield]

12. To Rageneau - You know what you're right

What's more is everyone knows you're right. So I have written a series of recommended diaries at the Daily Kos to try and get real news from European sources back to the American people. Because the real news is that in America there's about 59 million people who don't have medical insurance. In the European Union that number is virtually zero. That's real. I look out on the street every day and everyone I see is insured. I said to myself, if progressive America could see what I'm seeing, there would be no one who would be medically uninsured in America. So I started writing my series and I'll keep writing until everybody who needs medical insurance back home is insured. Let's get together and make this happen. Together we can get the word out.

We can all be proud Americans but we don' t have to proud of the broken American social safety net.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. UK poll q yesterday: "would the election of Palin in 2012 be a major threat to world stability?"

This was YouGov, a major pollster in the UK. They did not ask about any other possible election of any world political figure. They did ask whether Al Qaeda, radicalised British Muslims and other groups are a threat to the British people. But, basically, they needed to know if people regard Palin as a danger to the world, in the kind of category that Al Qaeda is already placed.

[xchrom]

15. recommend and +1 to The Magistrate. nt

[steve2470]

17. kick nt

[CJvR]

18. Radicals.

It is an intresting theory, but it seems flawed.

It isn't those excluded from the system that seems to become radicalized in the US.