Does anyone on the Right know how dumb we look to the rest of the world?

[hedgehog]

I work for a company with plants in South Korea, Brazil, the US, Canada, Germany, France, Switzerland and the UK. We're lookng at possible expansions into China and India. Some of the foreign engineers I work with are liberals, some are conservatives. All are flabbergasted at the retrograde US human capital,industrial and energy policies. They can not believe that this country is so committed to the oil standard. It's as if it's 1859, Drake has just drilled his well, and US politicians claim that the wave of the future is to increase our whaling fleet!

When I was born, the only thing standing in Seoul was the train station; the rest was rubble. I think the city spreads at least 10 miles on both sides of the river now, and I couldn't even begin to count the number of active construction cranes. Coming into Inchon, I saw numerous loaded freighters leaving port as well as a flock of wind turbines turning away.

It's time to get with the program or else get run over and left behind.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. they don't care what the rest of the world thinks.

[RC]

4. Is the Right even aware of the rest of the world?

Other than someplace for oil and cheap labor?

[themadstork]

7. Anyone who cares what the rest the rest of the world thinks is filled with anti-american paranoia.

Because we US, we beat chest and ignore whole world!

Quite a few conservatives will admit to not caring about global opinion, and imo it is one of the starkest indicators of their immaturity and childishness. Like it or not they live in a society of billions of people who all matter, so maybe they should start taking them into account.

[truebrit71]

21. Bingo. They simply don't give a shit...

...there is simply no "world view" in the gop...they are still stuck in the era where they think the Yew Ess Aye is the biggest swinging dick on the planet and that what Uncle Sam sez, goes...Not so much...

[Tippy]

2. Those on the right are soooo wrong, they are totaly

responsible for this mess, the only dam thing the think or care about is their re-election, getting richer. I get sick thining about it

[tanyev]

3. Silly, they're just envious of us. USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

[dtexdem]

5. Real question: does anyone on the Right really care?

Corollary question: does anyone on the Right know how dumb we look to ourselves?

[ChoppinBroccoli]

6. Of Course You Realize...................

...............you're talking about a group of people who REVEL in their own dumbness. Where do you think phrases like, "fancy pants intellectual" came from? This is a group of people that ridicules SCIENCE.

[RKP5637]

8. But we all know USA is #1 in everything!

:argh: :argh: :argh:

[demosincebirth]

9. I met a young couple on Amrak this summer. The conversation drifted to

politics by me prodding them. They finally stated that their country(Netherlands) had smarter voters and people. I agreed with them. What they specifically said was how can this group of Tea Partiers be allowed to control so much of the political process in this country. This is only the short version

[RKP5637]

10. We have three dangerous ingredients in the US. Ignorance, Apathy, and those

damn proud of their ignorance.

[Marr]

18. We have one massive problem they don't have, and it's the root of everything else.

Incomprehensible wealth disparity.

The Tea Party is just a phony grass roots movement organized by wealthy interests. These same interests control the major media outlets, so of course, they get wildly disproportionate coverage.

Take away that wealth disparity, and the US voter IQ would appear to shoot up 50 points.

[RKP5637]

20. Excellent point! It is the root cause!!! n/t

[demosincebirth]

26. Also, this young couple was in their early twenties They knew more about

our history than many of our own citizens. I know this as a fact because many people I know couldn't tell you who was the first President of our country. I have also traveled in Europe and they put us to shame when it comes to knowledge of our own country. I apologized to one older couple for our lack of knowledge as a people. They told me, in unison, "my friend, it is the priority that the U.S. puts in it's Education System." I slowly nodded and said "you are so right."

[hedgehog]

14. It's funny as hell working with the group. They know who the Republicans are

and never bring up politics if they can help it. When issues like Global climate change come up, the foreigners get a pained look on their face as they try to politely explain the issue to someone who should understand science. They keep using simpler and simpler words and phrases, convinced deep down that this fact is so obvious there must be a translation error somewhere!

They know that my husband and I are Democrats, and will take us aside and ask us to explain what's going on!

[demosincebirth]

27. I have a very good friend (real nice guy). He is very apolitical...doesn't read anything and I mean

"nuttin." We go out and eat breakfast once a week and have for a long time. You are wondering what the hell do we talk about? Well, women and sometime the weather and cars. He votes democrat because his family has always voted that way for 100 years. He doesn't know what issues separate the parties...he just votes dem every time, that's why I have liked the guy for years. He's given me all the magazines he receives for years. He says he doesn't read them. Some with very good followings and many good sports mags...I like those. I like the guy. He also has similar issues with Republicans like welfare cheaters, etc, etc.

[joeybee12]

11. You're right...knr

[Johonny]

12. Was in Chongqing last month

blown away by the construction. You can say a lot of negative things about certain countries governments. But it is clear to me some countries at least believe in themselves and building and investing in themselves for the future. That's what depresses me in the US, for high speed rail to bike lanes to new sewer systems, no one wants them. Everyone is desperate to hold on to what is here. There is no vision for the future. I see no Republican talking about real visionary future for this country.

[hedgehog]

15. Exactly - it's an effort to establish stasis!

[Jack Sprat]

13. No, they are too dumb to know. n/t

[lolly]

16. Yes, they do.

And it's a point of pride for them.

Remember the bizarre "We hate France" movement of a few years back?

They're damn proud of having the whole world against them. Feeds into their persecution complex.

[Uncle Joe]

17. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, hedgehog.:thumbsup:

[hedgehog]

19. What i can't figure out is this - presumably the executives who run

large corporations must have some smarts. Why aren't they pressuring Congress to move us forward?

[Populist_Prole]

22. Because it's easier for them to make money from labor arbitrage and rent-seeking

As opposed to investing in classic R & D and brick & mortar.

[Uncle Joe]

24. I believe much of the dysfunctionality is tied to the dominating position of the financial sector

in determining U.S. policy.

There is little or no long term or public consideration, it's all about making instant profit, short term thinking, that's what dominates the government and in turn other more forward thinking ie: sustainable energy corporations in need of financial support.

Here is a thread from mod mom in 09

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5471208

Fresh Air from WHYY, April 15, 2009 · Former International Monetary Fund chief economist Simon Johnson has advised many countries in financial crisis. When it comes to America's current economic woes, Johnson says that U.S. suffers from "financial oligarchies" — government officials and elite members of the financial sector that run the country like a profit-seeking company.

In his article "The Quiet Coup" in the May issue of The Atlantic Monthly, Johnson explains that the close connections between government officials and financial leaders are a major part of the U.S.'s economic problems:

"We face at least two major, interrelated problems," Johnson writes. "The first is a desperately ill banking sector that threatens to choke off any incipient recovery that the fiscal stimulus might generate. The second is a political balance of power that gives the financial sector a veto over public policy, even as that sector loses popular support."

The financial sector has become a trust enthralled to preserving the status quo, because they're at the top of the heap, even as the nation loses ground in development and usage of alternative, sustainable energy sources; which would benefit the public.

Those more forward, long term thinking corporations are afraid and/or incapable of bucking the out sized power that the financial sector holds over the government.

That why the financial sector's Republican Puppets and corporate media mouthpieces are continually harping on the failed solar company Solyndra as an example of the political mace that will be used to pound any political opposition, to this short term, greed worshiping status quo way of thinking.

[FiveGoodMen]

28. "Why aren't they pressuring Congress to move us forward?"

Because they want feudalism, and that's backward from where we were.

[Tsiyu]

23. Three words

Short Term Profit.

The Right Wing is the party of low intellect, combined with poor impulse control, add a heaping scoop of greed and that explains everything.

The future is just a liberal plot.

[Romulox]

25. Successive governments sacrificed the US Rust Belt to provide that growth in Seoul. nt

[hedgehog]

29. I am very curious as to the wealth disparity in South Korea vs the US.

I'm suspicious that what we see there is what happens when prosperity is shared. I do know that farmers are heavily subsidized, and we're talking farms of maybe a few acres of hand cultivation in many cases. Did I mention how good the food was, by the way?

[Enthusiast]

30. Great OP! K&R!

"They can not believe that this country is so committed to the oil standard. It's as if it's 1859, Drake has just drilled his well, and US politicians claim that the wave of the future is to increase our whaling fleet!"

I haven't seen it said so well. Apparently they do not care as long as they get their's. I guess "theirs", in this instance, includes all the money.