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From: gjk@talcott.UUCP (Greg J Kuperberg)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Reagan's re-election
Message-ID: <167@talcott.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 5-Dec-84 13:48:06 EST
Article-I.D.: talcott.167
Posted: Wed Dec  5 13:48:06 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 8-Dec-84 04:50:22 EST
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Organization: Harvard
Lines: 45

> 
>  >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."

Your sweeping generalities are unsubstantiated.
>  >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...

There is implicit confusion here between the concepts of "some","most", and
"all".  Some illegal aliens get kicked out immediately.  Most stay for
free.  Almost all are better off here than in Latin America.

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

That I agree with.  Unfortunately, there is implicit confusion between the
American goverment and America.  The American goverment is only 33% of the
American GNP, one of the smallest percentages in the deloped world.  With
the amount of money that the U.S. has, and the amount of weaponry that we
*could* build, the U.S. goverment is not very large.  This is what I like
about America.
---
			Greg Kuperberg
		     harvard!talcott!gjk

"Madam, there is only one important question facing us, and that is the
question whether the white race will survive."  -Leonid Breshnev, speaking
to Margaret Thatcher.