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From: mjk@tty3b.UUCP (Mike Kelly)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Re: Reagan's re-election
Message-ID: <545@tty3b.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Dec-84 14:29:45 EST
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Posted: Mon Dec  3 14:29:45 1984
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 >I mean, what would *you* think of an American tourist that goes over to a
 >random European country and simply criticizes it?  I think that you'd
 >have a lot of contempt for the person.
 >

It's not a fair comparison.  Most Americans are very ignorant about the world
around them.  Many Europeans know more about American foreign policy than 
Americans do.  Further, these particular Europeans are making a very pointed
criticism; they are not just "going over and simply criticizing."

 >Here's a small example [of a 'good thing' America does]:  
 >the millions of illegal aliens
 >in the States.  These aliens, although not as well of as American citizens,
 >are much better off than their friends in their home countries.  We could
 >just kick them all out and send them back to their respective Latin
 >American countries, but we're not doing this.  We're hardly even requiring
 >them to become legal aliens.

Greg, you picked the wrong example.  You really don't think that Immigration
doesn't just round people up and send them back home?  They often get sent the
very day they are arrested, with no chance to contact family or friends here in
the U.S.  You can argue that that's justified, but don't tell me it doesn't
happen, because it certainly does.  To me, most of the examples of "good things"
that "America" does are examples of things individual Americans do, not things
our government does.  For example, the Peace Corps is run as a large propaganda
machine, but that doesn't prevent individual Peace Corps volunteers from rising
above the bureaucracy to do truly worthwhile things in the field.  

The government as a government, though, does very little to be proud of,
especially with Reagan's gang in charge.