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Originally Posted by Mynydd
"Europeans"? Most comments I read there are from American "expats" (PC for "immigrants").
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That is a bit of a relief; I really didn't like the idea of native Europeans getting that involved in US politics for several reasons. Firstly, it gives legitimacy to the American claim that their president is "leader of the free world" or "the West". Secondly, it is more than a little odd to support an American advocate of smaller government, less bureaucratic centralism and the revival of state sovereignty (regional autonomy) in front of the EU parliament!
Also, Americans cannot stand getting advice or criticism from foreigners. This sort of thing would do more harm than good to Ron Paul.
Here's a quote from an interview with the odious Bernard-Henri Levy which helps illustrate the massive gap between the EU's project and Ron Paul's.
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What did you learn about Europe in America?
I learned that it's possible. When I came to the USA I was in a melancholy mood over the question of Europe. It was the time of the French debate over the European constitution, the time when even the "yes" partisans didn't dare say you had to vote "yes" because Europe was a good thing in itself, but because it was good for France. I was close to thinking that the Europe was possible just an illusion of our generation. I said to myself: "I've spent my life thinking Europe was one with history, that it will come together no matter what happens, you just have to let it be. We could all go to bed and it would form, behind our backs. But perhaps it won't form itself at all, perhaps it's undoing itself before our eyes…"
And America made you see things differently?
Yes. I saw this federation of states, this national community made up of people who speak even less the same language than the Europeans and who are faced with problems of ethnicity far more weighty than those in Europe. And I think that miracles are possible, that the inorganic nation, the inorganic social body, can be constituted. I discover that constitutional patriotism, to speak with Habermas, is not just a philosophical reverie, that it's something that works. One can create an army, maintain schools, raise taxes, etc. When you cross the country as I did, when you see how a landowner in Alabama has nothing in common with a Mexican from San Diego or a European from Savannah or Charleston, and that despite all that America has been able to constitute itself, that rekindles your hope in Europe.
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http://www.signandsight.com/features/1305.html