Most of this is pretty predictable. As many of my friends and I often wonder, "do people in other countries of the world think we are just f#$%ing nuts?!" And the answer seems to be yes. -SJ Otto
From Quora Digest;
I hope to write this and not offend anyone, though what I'm about to say might do. It's also worth pointing out that the sample size of this response is 1, not 65 million (maybe 2, I think my husband is with me on most of this).
- Donald Trump: we cannot understand how someone with such openly racist and pretty stupid views can be seen as a potential presidential contender. Our parallel version is probably Nigel Farage, who leads the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), whose sole aim is to get the UK out of the EU (which is somewhat undermined as he takes £££ in subsidy from the EU parliament but does not turn up to vote, and aligns himself with semi-fascists in the EU parliament). People vote for him primarily as a protest vote. We haven't had a say on EU membership for 50 years , which is why a protest vote is seductive, especially as the rules have changed substantially in that time. He garnered 12.6% of the vote in the last UK US
- Gun control: really, America
- Gay marriage: great. It was a moment of world wide solidarity and happiness when the Supreme Court made the decision. Our government made it too. The most touching version though was #hometovote: Irish abroad return to vote in gay marriage referendum Ireland
- Republicans/Democrats - Democrats look like our Tories, at least the nicer ones, Republicans don't really have a British version. Only about 5% of our electorate would take the Republicans seriously on everything they hold dear, far too right wing for the rest of the country - we're generally built on centrist and consensual politics. Our Labour party also looks like the Democrats which is why Blair did so well (and why Corbyn will fail). Our Liberal Democrat party looks like Bernie Sanders' cheerleaders. The Green Party look like Al Gore's cheerleaders. A multiparty system is much more common in Europe than a duality, and the UK
- Abortion - ceased to be an issue in Scotland , Wales and England Northern Ireland UK
God - as Tony Blair said, famously (then converted to Catholicism as soon as he'd stepped down, in an audience with the Pope) we don't do God. We might have the Church of England as our state religion with the Queen as its Head, and we might have Bishops in the House of Lords, but our version of Christianity is rooted in humanism and social justice, not the literal interpretation of the Bible (I am one of these Church of England types - we try and work out what that Samarian Jew with nice values might have done rather than take a literal interpretation of what was written, by men, some few hundred years after the fact with a grain of salt). This might make us crap Christians but it makes for more sensible law making in an essentially secular society with people from all faiths and a majority of people with none. I find the religious nature of the American public discourse quite disturbing. Doesn't this anger people from minority faiths? Love thy neighbour as thyself. We're probably less good at the adultery one. Though Clinton, Spitzer and Weiner might suggest you have the same problem.
I am a fan of the US
But your politics make no sense to me as a European and a British woman (who would like to retain ownership over her own body, thanks), I remain perplexed. I'dlove to hear your view of us, too.