Hi, fellow Bulwarkers. Been a while. Did ya miss me? Regardless of the answer, I've missed you.
Family vacation plans took us to Europe, thankfully minus the comedic drama of being the Griswolds. But at least I was able to witness the European elections up close last weekend and can confirm that there is anxiety over both the rightward sw…
Hi, fellow Bulwarkers. Been a while. Did ya miss me? Regardless of the answer, I've missed you.
Family vacation plans took us to Europe, thankfully minus the comedic drama of being the Griswolds. But at least I was able to witness the European elections up close last weekend and can confirm that there is anxiety over both the rightward swing of the electorate in some pretty important countries and the ongoing decline of support for traditional left-wing parties (e.g. the SPD in Germany, PSOE in Spain) that have been a backbone of good governance and policy decisions for decades. It is easy to connect dots and opine that there is something in the water there, like here, that is driving people toward authoritarianism, but that is too simple of a theory. Immigration and asylum are the most often cited cause, but attempts to compare America under MAGA with Europe generally end with the acknowledgment that "yeah, we have our issues here, but our extremists are not a cult that sells t-shirts and coffee mugs and make excuses for his criminal acts." Kinda hard to argue with that.
It's also interesting to see that so many of the talking points that the GOP uses against Joe Biden as his personal failures here are just as true over there, where he -- gasp -- is not the President of Europe. Inflation problems? Yeah, they have them there too, and sometimes worse. Immigration -- already mentioned. High cost of living (energy, food, etc.) ... check. And so on. The age thing isn't quite the same, but people there seem to equate that more with valuable life experience than we do here. In other words, we aren't so different here than they are there. We just have more of a tendency to blame one guy for it all and play politics with it. To many of them it seems to be a silly game we are playing, but with a lot of real world consequences. Food for thought, above and beyond the many tasty treats we did ingest while away and now must answer for: on the bathroom scale.
'Twas indeed. Too much good food and drink (often with good company), so now the bill comes due in having to work it off. The political issues were interesting to behold and discuss with those whose opinions I've grown to know and trust, but observations of everyday life were particularly compelling. One example: getting on subway cars and buses, it is no exaggeration to say that eight to nine out of ten people (both older and younger) had a device in their hand, scrolling and twiddling to pass the time, mindless of the rest of the world around them. It is a real technology addiction there.
Hi, fellow Bulwarkers. Been a while. Did ya miss me? Regardless of the answer, I've missed you.
Family vacation plans took us to Europe, thankfully minus the comedic drama of being the Griswolds. But at least I was able to witness the European elections up close last weekend and can confirm that there is anxiety over both the rightward swing of the electorate in some pretty important countries and the ongoing decline of support for traditional left-wing parties (e.g. the SPD in Germany, PSOE in Spain) that have been a backbone of good governance and policy decisions for decades. It is easy to connect dots and opine that there is something in the water there, like here, that is driving people toward authoritarianism, but that is too simple of a theory. Immigration and asylum are the most often cited cause, but attempts to compare America under MAGA with Europe generally end with the acknowledgment that "yeah, we have our issues here, but our extremists are not a cult that sells t-shirts and coffee mugs and make excuses for his criminal acts." Kinda hard to argue with that.
It's also interesting to see that so many of the talking points that the GOP uses against Joe Biden as his personal failures here are just as true over there, where he -- gasp -- is not the President of Europe. Inflation problems? Yeah, they have them there too, and sometimes worse. Immigration -- already mentioned. High cost of living (energy, food, etc.) ... check. And so on. The age thing isn't quite the same, but people there seem to equate that more with valuable life experience than we do here. In other words, we aren't so different here than they are there. We just have more of a tendency to blame one guy for it all and play politics with it. To many of them it seems to be a silly game we are playing, but with a lot of real world consequences. Food for thought, above and beyond the many tasty treats we did ingest while away and now must answer for: on the bathroom scale.
Good to be back and reading y'all again.
I’ve missed you. You always offer really insightful comments.
welcome back!!
Welcome back, and excellent comment…:)
Hey hey hey! Welcome back.
And here you go again with the local news supplementation everywhere you go. Just can't help yourself, can you?
True dat.
Welcome back!
Glad you showed back up. I was wondering if the people at the MAGA pod dispersal depot had finally spotted you.
Me too. :)
Welcome back! It sounds like a wonderful trip.
'Twas indeed. Too much good food and drink (often with good company), so now the bill comes due in having to work it off. The political issues were interesting to behold and discuss with those whose opinions I've grown to know and trust, but observations of everyday life were particularly compelling. One example: getting on subway cars and buses, it is no exaggeration to say that eight to nine out of ten people (both older and younger) had a device in their hand, scrolling and twiddling to pass the time, mindless of the rest of the world around them. It is a real technology addiction there.
Welcome back Mr. D!