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A US administration that bars journalists from press conferences, attacks the judiciary, rules by decree rather than laws, releases convicts from jail who attacked congress, ignores science, fights inclusion, spreads lies about elections - lectures Europe on democracy and values.
It's not weakness to invest in people rather than the military. That'll likely have to change now, but not because it's good.
The US are better than this.
Time to organise - Europe has 450 million people.
@W_Lucht what I find reassuring in a way is that Vance & T encourage the EU to bolster their military
@jfrantzius
Sure, but except that it seems necessary now, in my view there's nothing good about that. The US are strong militarily only because they are not spending that money on increasing the welfare of their people. Not having affordable health care or retirement is the price Americans pay. To what end?
And that's not even considering how many problems the world has that could be so much better with multilateral cooperation. Dreaming? It's not a bad dream.
@W_Lucht it's a good dream, and one to determinedly pursue, definitely!
Germany's wealth is also due to the "Friedensdividende", and it might just have been too early for that, or rather, forces from the past force us to take a break from it
I find Vance' plan not too bad after all, accepting the current US government's freedom not be involved with "boots on the ground" themselves, and provided the EU and other countries in the world get their (military) act together.
@W_Lucht you could see it that way that Vance & T want the US to now also enjoy the #Friedensdividende (which of course could very much help them politically if the US electorate can profit from it substantially)
@W_Lucht having recently spent quite a lot of time engaging with healthcare and retirement in the US, the stories about not having it are pretty overblown.
Really, it's more that so many in the US choose lifestyles that are harder to stay healthy and retire through.
It's a different set of values. It's a very personal matter what set of values you prefer.
@volkris
I lived 9 years of my life in the US and witnessed it. Health care is a big financial worry for many people. Often retirees have to continue working to make ends meet. None of that is as true in our European welfare states. Americans who move to Europe are regularly astounded.
@W_Lucht to be sure, this is every administration, and the US system of government was designed specifically to keep those tendencies in check.
In fact, the US system of checks and balances relies on administrations being so self-interested so they can keep the other branches of government from running amok.
In terms of game theory it's actually kind of brilliant.
@W_Lucht And, hilariously, complain that Europe is stifling free speech
@W_Lucht since election of Trump I’m not sure what embarrassed us germans more : Is it the size of US or their military protection ? Or is it our history and tight alliance since 1945 ? Is it the democracy they tought us ? Now all is lost and big brother is no longer watching us . Maybe in 60 yrs Germany denied to get maturity . I see it as a chance for emancipation