The Europeans Are Different

For John, BLUF:  Not everyone sees freedom and democracy the way we do.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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I was sorting through my EMail In-Basket and came across this comment from one of my correspondents, a campaign veteran from Afghanistan.  In fighting in Afghanistan he worked with our Allies, including the British and Australians, but also more.  He was talking to a post about a news story of Retired Army Lieutenant General Micheal Flynn and General Flynn's passing of otherwise "US No Foreign" Intelligence to our allies as the tactical situation required.  Otherwise our allies would not understand why we were proposing what we were proposing.

Here is my friend's comment:

I am not of the mind that our European partners are the same as we are.  They are different and have different traditions, goals, and objectives when it comes to military and political activity.  That is not a shortfall on their part, it is natural.  The shortcoming is when we do not recognize this.

Exactly!  There is a spectrum of nations from those which most empower its citizens to those who restrict its citizens.  We are on the side of the spectrum with freedom and a belief that we don't need a lot of guidance from government agencies to successfully cope with life.

Maybe the way to think about it is that Runnymede and the Magna Carta and 2015 are in our political DNA.

We are far from perfect, but we are making progress and overcoming a lot of history.  We are helping a lot of immigrants, from other political traditions, learn those traditions that have given us our freedom and democracy.

Regards  —  Cliff