I don’t get what’s going on in American politics anymore (and apologies in advance for the rant, they seem to be going around recently.
I don’t get the rise of the Tea Party. I don’t understand why it’s so “weak” to be a liberal. I don’t get that a fair number of my fellow Americans would consider me “soft in the head” because I would like for everyone to live a comfortable life and am willing to pay taxes to support those less fortunate, even if, occasionally, that person is just gaming the system (which I think happens FAR less frequently than conservatives seem to think, but that’s just my experience in volunteering for organizations like Meals on Wheels and Habitat for Humanity).
I find it interesting that liberals are often told, in comments to news articles, to “go read a book and learn something,” especially in regards to “what our founding fathers believed.” Being an early US history fan and having read hundreds of books on the subject, I really don’t think most of these Tea Party folks have any idea what the founding fathers really believed, and doubt they have read any history books on this era (unless the book was written by Glenn Beck).
I don’t understand what is wrong with being educated. Somehow, my 21 years in school have “corrupted me.” Is it that all those liberal college professors have brainwashed me into mindlessly following their teachings, or could there perhaps be another reason that increased education tends to correlate to increased liberalism?
My grandparents came from the midwest and I’ve gotten in touch with some distant relatives over email. Through these cousins, I’ve been forwarded some of the most hateful, disgusting emails I can imagine. One praised the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, claiming the Japanese should thank us for changing them from barbarians to civilized people. I used to just politely ask them to not forward these types of mails to me, but recently I’ve started calling them out on it.
The latest email praised the border control of Iran, in particular, how people caught illegally in country are detained indefinitely. The mail suggested the US would be better off with this kind of policy in place. I responded to the forwarder, suggesting that if that is the kind of system he would prefer, perhaps he should consider emigrating to Iran. He didn’t understand why I would say something like that to him, why was I being so mean???
While I’m sure it does happen, none of my liberal friends have forwarded me anything hateful. But I guess that’s just because we’re all softies.
What do you think is going on?
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
I think an amazing number of people lack empathy and have a “me first” attitude toward the world– sort of “I’m number 1 and screw everybody else” approach.
These people seem to respond to a message that the government is stealing from them by having excessive taxes (although these people take advantage of the roads that tax dollars pay for, and use technology that tax dollars funded the research to build), and respond to the message that “illegals are stealing their jobs” even though illegals work the jobs that citizens do not want and keep prices at Wal-Mart low.
There seems to be pride in being ignorant — a willful ignorance celebration.
you caught one of the many beautiful paradoxes of the extreme right: ‘go, read a book!’ and anti-intellectualism. amuses me every time ex-governor palin opens her mouth and starts shooting off propaganda.
It isn’t the conservatives that lack empathy. For example, the decline of the black family is entirely due to liberal social policies. It is conservatives that champion personal betterment and individual freedoms. Conservatives are very caring people, they just don’t want the government to be the ones giving handouts.
And Christina, you are in the right country if you don’t mind paying more to help out people less fortunate than yourself. Just look how high the taxes and health insurance costs are in Germany. I live in Hamburg by the way.
Why does health care cost a percentage of my wages? Doesn’t my dentist visit cost as much as someone else who makes less money?
@Adam, I think that plenty of things would be invented if it was up to the private sector. You can’t possibly say that government funds pay for more inventions than private funds.
@adam: Speaking of Walmart, I hear so many Americans complaining about companies shipping jobs overseas, but do they buy American made products? No. They look for the cheapest price. I wonder that more people haven’t put two and two together.
@rita: Yeah, apparently we’ve just got the “wrong” education.
@jason: I hardly think liberal politics could be “entirely” responsible for the decline of the black family. I also don’t see many conservatives truly championing individual freedoms (although I hear conservatives saying that a lot).
I am happy to be in Germany and am very happy to be paying the taxes that I do here. I am happy to contribute to health coverage for all people, because I don’t think that a single mom raising two kids on her own should have to work two jobs and not be there for her kids in order to pay their healthcare.
You may be interested, or not, in my post How Germany changed me from a Republican to a Democrat.
“For example, the decline of the black family is entirely due to liberal social policies.”
Um, no.
@Jason – That mobile phone in your pocket? That computer? The Internet? Surprisingly all of these inventions are founded on R&D directly funded by taxes.
@Christina, I will give that post a read when I get a chance. I think I could write one entitled, “How Germany made me appreciate the extra freedoms one has in the USA”.
When you lived in the USA did you pay more taxes then required to help people out? I understand what you write about healthcare, and that is fine if you want to help out, but I shouldn’t be forced to do it if I don’t want to.
Championing individual freedoms for me means that I want to keep government small and out of my business.
@Adam: and surprisingly those aren’t the only things that were ever invented.
I’m an expat as well, and I am PLEASED with the German system of taxation. We all benefit from libraries (remember those?) and fire departments and police departments whether we use their services or not. And Jason, yes, I also think it is fair for me to pay more for healthcare than someone who earns half of what I do. THat is what makes it even possible for low-income people, or children (who are often both) to get good health care. I was once a child, now I HAVE a child and I am grateful for this healthcare and for subsidised daycare, also supported by my taxes. I try hard to buy local products from local businesses, which is also more expensive, but I am glad I have the choice. Many US urban residents would love to have the cheap, local produce markets we have here. I too am overeducated and becoming increasingly liberal. And to those who support a more stringent immigration policy.. hello!?!? Then how did your parents / grandparents get in? My 2 cents…
Hi Christina, nice to read you again
I always enjoy your posts, they help me understand Americans better, they sometimes are a riddle to me, especially when it comes to politics! I am German and live in Germany. I consider myself to be an equalist and I’m a supporter of or tax and welfare system in general, with all it includes. Of course it’s not perfect and sometimes when I look at what’s taken from my salary it’s a little *sigh*, but I wouldn’t want to change it for the world. Being able to just go to a doctor when I’m sick or not being one house fire or one bad accident (or a complicated pregnancy!) away from being bankrupt gives me such a peace of mind. I just talked to an American aquaintance yesterday, I went to uni for 7,5 years which cost me roughly 2500€ TOTAL. I’m so thankful for that!
). Um, ok, rant is over 
Thanks for continuing to give me insight on an American perspective on what’s going on over there! 
Back to politics, I’m struggling in the same way as you do, I read a lot of US blogs and websites and I sometimes just scratch my head thinking “They can’t be seriously thinking that!”. It makes me happy to see educated thinking people like yourself seeing it the same way. Also, your article about how Germany changed your view on politics helped me understand Republicans a lot better. I can’t help but feel strange about their politics based on fear. Not to mention the double standards… I find it funny that every now and then, a gay-hating politician is found in a public men’s room pants down with a young man on his d*ck.
I would really like to know what’s going on, too ^^ Maybe I’m also a little sensitive from time to time (overly so, I mean). I read a lot of blog posts from US bloggers on July 4th, stating the US as the greatest country on earth. Now, I really don’t think they are nationalists at all, but being born and raised in Germany these kind of things give me the chills. But this might really just be my sensitivity. And I never say anything about that to others, except when the topic is brought up (like now, kinda
i think there is a combination of fear (change frightens a lot of people), ignorance (often encouraged by mass media which won’t spend the time to explain what is happening in our world), a national mindset of ‘if you’re poor it’s your fault’ alongside a complete lack of the concept of ‘social contract’. i find that (my fellow) americans are provincial…if not bordering on xenophobic…creatures who have had ‘exceptionalism’ pounded in their heads to such a degree that a narrow-minded selfishness is a characteristic coming to define what an ‘american’ is.
Christina, bravo for making your “liberal” stance public. You are brave, because you know you’re opening yourself up for irrational criticism. But I guess you want the debate or you wouldn’t have started the conversation
The truth is, that being a democrat doesn’t make you a liberal, really, as even the American Democratic party is probably more center than left! But don’t take that as a criticism – I say it to point out to those who DO think “liberal” is a dirty word that the US Dems aren’t exactly liberal – they’re (we’re) simply left of the fanatical Republican party.
Now, there are things I do miss about the US that I think Germany could learn from – for example, I think it’s great that being born in the US automatically makes you a US citizen. And that dual citizenship is allowed. I do miss certain stores in the US, and I miss the incredible variety of food available there. I miss how much volunteering is a part of the culture. But, and this is directed towards Jason from Hamburg – which freedoms do you miss? You do still have to pay taxes in the US, and let’s be fair, it’s really not significantly more here! And how is the US any fairer – they tax you on your worldwide income (over a certain amount), even if you are already paying taxes somewhere else. Hello! How is that fair?
@Lili – I think the vast majority of people who say/think that the US is the greatest country in the world have never lived outside of the United States. They may never even have traveled outside of the US. And they likely never will. The standard of living is higher just north of the US border, in a country that a certain portion of the American population doesn’t even know exists!
I think that what’s going on in the US is nothing short of scary. The Republican party somehow doesn’t think that lying to your populace and fearmongering are sins… I thought defamation was against the law, but somehow the Republican party manages to…
Christina,
I’m an American who’s been living abroad for the last seven years, and like you, I’ve also been trying to puzzle out how this huge divide happened in American politics and why so many Americans think the way they do. I think jonquil hit the nail on the head with the points he made. It’s a scary time right now in the US for a lot of people, and fear is at the root of hatred. It’s easier to blame our problems on someone else, e.g. foreigners stealing jobs and so on. Also, I find it interesting that Americans are in general very generous and give much towards charity, but there’s a social stigma against accepting help when you need it. It’s a society that strongly values “pulling oneself up by his or her bootstraps” and getting on with it rather than accepting a handout.
In terms of the political divide, I think the root of the problem is also at least partly to blame with the launch of the Fox News Channel back in 1996. I’ve watched over the years with increasing horror as what was once the news, reported as it should be without slant or a hidden political agenda, has turned into an absolute charade. Now when I watch even a few minutes of Fox News when I’m back in the US my blood pressure almost immediately rises. I’m not saying the other American news channels are totally innocent these days either, but Fox has become so ridiculously, laughably slanted it’s almost as if the other news channels HAVE to do something just to counter Fox (therefore turning them into a “liberal” news station, I suppose). The “news” has become another form of entertainment: it’s the good guys vs. the bad guys (you just have to pick your side and watch your network). But the problem is that I think a lot of people who watch Fox news don’t even realize just how insanely biased it is, or if they do, I guess they don’t care.
You want low taxes, little government intrusion, freedom to do whatever you want? You should totally check out Somalia. You can even be a pirate! I’m serious! I bet you they could use a few good expats!
@Tom – that’s hilarious!!! (And, sadly, very true)
@jason: If championing individual freedoms for yourself also means championing freedoms for everyone else as well, I totally respect your viewpoint. I just have trouble with people who espouse personal freedom, but in reality just want to impose their belief systems on everyone else. And I answered your question in that post.
@rebecca: I find having children here in Germany changes the way a lot of people feel about the social system here.
@lili: You bring up a good point about college tuition. If you factor the average college tuition a person in the US pays and spread that figure out over a persons working years, I bet the tax difference is close to zero. It may even work out in favor of Germany. I should look into that!
@jonquil: Americans do hear about how “special” we are over and over and over while growing up/watching tv. I think it’s only natural to develop a somewhat egocentric view of the world.
@saskia: I find the readers of this blog are pretty civil, so I’m hoping for intelligent debate rather than irrational criticism
I, personally, feel more free in Germany. I’m free of the fear of violence, of health problems or job loss destroying me financially, I’m free to enjoy the money I have instead of worrying how I will fund my retirement or pay for my children’s college educations.
@holly: Totally agree. I think it started with Fox, but all the channels are getting in on the action now. Divisiveness gets ratings and they need to make money.
@tom: LOL (for real!)
@ jason: “I understand what you write about healthcare, and that is fine if you want to help out, but I shouldn’t be forced to do it if I don’t want to.” — but isn’t this one of the principles in a democracy where sometimes you find yourself in the minority and still go along with the whole plan until you belong to the decission-making group?
You’re a LIBERAL??? But you seem so normal!!! I’ll admit to being a conservative who sometimes thinks liberals are “soft in the head”. I think people who work hard should be able to keep what they earn and not have it taken from them to be distributed as some bored, corrupt beaurocrat decides. But I’ve also got a PhD, so there are educated conservatives out there. I will admit that I was the only Republican in the PhD program and was constantly getting flack for my beliefs.
I read your post on changing to being a Democrat and it gave me some things to think about. Not saying it will convert me, but maybe there’s something to some of your points. Still, you’ll have to pry my gun from my cold dead fingers
Greetings from your non-rascist, non-bigot, yet still conservative cuz in Missouri.
@tom That may be the best comment I’ve ever read. Well done! (I LOL’d for real too
and then went back and read it again for a second LOL)
Come to think of it, in Germany the liberal party is the one who wants as little government as possible… Or did I get the FDP wrong? ^^ Funny.
Jason, why don’t you return to the U.S. we sure could use your tax money. Bridges collapse here that need fixing as do roads with potholes and broken sidewalks. Here in Washington DC where I live we are a bit better off, it is only taking slightly more than a decade to build the first phase of a train line to Dulles airport (in the median no less). The local govt is still figuring out a way to pay for the second phase. We could also use your tax money to help fund our police departments, I was attacked while taking an evening stroll and wound up in the hospital with nerve damage and broken bones. Three houses in my neighborhood were also robbed last week one of which was a home invasion. With the help of your tax money maybe Virginia will be able to halt their plans for putting tolls on our beltway around Washington. With the help of your tax money maybe they won’t have to consider shutting down the National Arboretum.
Come on back Jason, if your lucky like me you will have no problem getting health insurance (for me $500.00 a month with 80% coverage on ALLOWED amounts). Germany is such a hell hole anyway I should know I lived in Altona and Eimsbuettel for many years.
Gotta go now, I need to check how my 401 k did today, I am aiming to retire sometime in my mid seventies.
Totally agree, Christina. I am actually quite nervous about the direction in which this country is headed. I have honestly started to research what I would need to do to emigrate to Canada.
But you know the thing that I think is most weird? The way that political conservatives (who seem to usually be also quite religious) have “claimed” Christianity and Jesus. Now, I’m not a religious person, but I’ve read a little about Jesus…and wasn’t he pretty much the ultimate liberal??
Dude, I feel bad for your family email woes. My hateful disgusting emails from family members are from barely- or self-employed aunts and uncles (covering the whole income spectrum). They spread lies about the ACLU and propagate anti-foreigner cartoons that could have been lifted directly from SA pamphlets 75 years earlier.
For a while there I did my best to remind them via my replies to all that they can apply for all those migrant worker, janitorial, or nannying jobs right away and would have a much easier time than their grandfather from Italy did, since it’s actually possible to get a job (even if it’s a menial one) as a brown-colored person in just about any place in the U.S. these days. Their illegal immigrant grandfather didn’t have it so easy. He faced deportation to Italy while the war (WWI) was on if he didn’t submit to conscription.
Now how could anyone — even my bigot family members — forget so quickly how recently their people went through hardships in search of a better life, and be so intent on making sure no one has an easier time than they did?
I think I managed to get myself removed from their address books by blasting right back at them in such a way that they are either shamed or annoyed into taking me out of the loop. But it still makes me sad to be related to them, and nauseated at family gatherings when the conversation drifts towards politics.
Hi! I found your blog via the expat bloggers in Germany. I enjoy your writing. Funny, we have a few superficial things in common
Anti-intellectualism is something that comes up again and again in the US (like a bad meat pie…). Populism led by William Jennings Bryant, the time of Andrew Jackson, some of the Great Awakenings are just some historical examples off the top of my head. Or maybe it just never goes away. I think this is just an unfortunate part of our national character.
The “quoting” of the founding fathers by the Tea partiers is infuriating isn’t it? They seem to want to apply fundamentalist methods of reading their bibles to the constitution. Not only is what they say about original intentions often substantively wrong, IMO it’s also irrelevant. The original intent was that black people were less than, women and the poor had no voice, etc. The constitution is just a framework upon which to build a government. Details have to depend on context. But it’s harder to enter into an argument about that than about the religious leanings of Th. Jefferson or whatever.
To the conservative commenters: One thing that I learned by living in Europe, and probably Germany in particular, is to view the social safety net coldly as society-wide insurance. I don’t understand why conservatives place moral judgement on taking benefits. You pay for home insurance, and your house burns down or gets blown away by a tornado – is taking the insurance payment a “handout”? Should one be ashamed of one’s weakness in not praying the tornado away or something? How is unemployment, welfare, food stamps, public health insurance, etc. any different? I’m also unconvinced by the libertarian arguments. Such insurance works best if everyone is in the pool. And if I have to pay for, say, the military that I don’t want to pay for, than you can pay into the social safety net. It’s part of living in a society.
@rita: Excellent point. Well said!
@jan: Hey cuz. I do know several well-educated conservatives and talking politics with them generally makes for very interesting and informative discussions (and you guys often have very good and valid points that I just personally disagree with, as a liberal). Thanks for reading and commenting!
@moonwaves: I went back for a second LOL as well
@lili: I always thought of the FDP as the pro-business party and the Green party as the liberal one. I think there just is no clear cut liberal/conservative line.
Ah ha! My aunt just arrived from the US, will get back to the rest of you later! Must go say hi!
@michael: They finally started on the purple line? Wow. Back when I was in high school, I remember a study coming out saying that 66 should be 12 lanes. That was 20 years ago. The transportation situation in NoVa is ridiculous.
@o-tay: He was the ultimate liberal! I once had a Christian conservative relative tell me that, “Jesus never promised nobody no free ride.” When another conservative friend found out I had read the bible she said, “Really? The whole thing? But why? You aren’t even Christian?” I answered that if I was going to criticize something, I ought to know a little about it, so I read the bible. She was flabbergasted. I’d say a majority of the Christians I know haven’t read the whole bible.
@cliff: I think it’s selective memory. Or something else. I don’t really know how so many people can forget their roots. And I think I’m getting scrubbed from a lot of my relatives address books too.
@high priestess: You make a really good point about anti-intellectualism. I just wasn’t thinking about it historically, although I should have.
You’re absolutely right about the Constitution being a framework to be interpreted for the times. It bugs me that the Tea Party folks get a lot of the Founding Fathers’ ideas wrong, but in the end it doesn’t even matter what the founders thought. As I said to O-tay, I find a lot of the right wing conservative Christians haven’t read the bible, they focus their fundamentalism on certain specific passages, ignoring, or not even knowing about, other contradictory passages, and not thinking about the bible in a historical context either.
Good luck with the church renovations. That’s awesome. You put our renovation stories to shame!
I am amazed by the right wing conservatives here in the USA. I have seriously thought about becoming an expat. I do not understand the hard attitude by some against those in society who are not so fortunate. As a working single mom I received subsidized day care. I was grateful for the help. Being willing to help others is a way for me to pay back.
Warren Buffett’s tax idea:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/08/15/139638342/warren-buffett-please-raise-my-taxes?ps=cprs
Fascinating post and discussion. i do however think i can put the original questions to rest, because i really think i’ve figured it out. Before i do so let me point that i also am an American expat (Rome, Italy) and that i left the day after Bush W was reelected in 2004 (Fool me once..!;-)
The reason that Sarah Palin exists at all is because we liberals made such a big deal talking about stupid W was. W’s fans associated themselves with him. When we called him stupid, it stung them (my father is an arch Republican with some contact with the RNC). This created two reactions: 1. The start childishly responding to us with the same thing we said to them (childish not because they are Republican but because this is how school-yard children, from my experience, tend to have out their arguments) and 2. The got defensive. In being defensive they began taking pride in everything from the gibberesh and confused countenance to the overtly anti-intellectual statements of Bush/Palin.
We have created our own monster. We, liberals, created Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann. If it weren’t for our negativity, we might have ended up with more in the vein George Will or John McCain-circa-2000.
In the future, i personally hope to act with more empathy and less criticism so that we avoid bringing ourselves more of these understandable Frankensteins.
An intelligent, thought provoking entry, Christina. It is very difficult to stay well informed and active in trying to improve our political system without getting extremely frustrated with the politics involved. I must say, I wear the label of liberal with great pride and mention it as often as I can. Who would have thought that we have to defend education and social responsibility as good things….who cannot understand this as fundamental rights for every citizen. I do believe our founding fathers were very intelligent, open minded thinkers who boldly fought for the rights of every citizen.
Good point, Christina. It’s sad that people just eat whatever the media feeds them without doing any research of their own. People are often quick to say words like “capitalism,” “democracy,” etc., but they never stop to think what they mean by saying them.
Example: people praise capitalism in the US as opposed to all undemocratic regimes. First, capitalism is an economic system, and cannot be compared to tyranny, which is a political system. Second, if by capitalism they mean free trade, why are they lamenting outsourcing job and the collapse of local manufacturers? And so on and so forth. I can think of dozens of other “buzz words” like that and demonstrate how people don’t know what they are talking about.