Heath's Random Thoughts

The World is Watching!

I was reading over some election articles online today and began skimming over the comments that readers are allowed to leave at the end of an article. I was absolutely struck by the amount of international outpouring going on right now. People all over the world are locked into our election to see what happens. Comments are pouring in on how much people have hope in America and American citizens. Now I know a lot of Americans absolutely don't care what people in foreign lands think and feel like we should just close off our borders and give the rest of the world the bird, but I was touched by how much America means to people outside of our country. We really are a beacon of hope to people in other counties. We are seen as the undisputed leader of this great world of ours and I don't mean from a military sense. People want to see us as the "good guys" the "knight in shining armor" that always stands up for the little guy and the right cause, even if it is on distant shores.

Reading comments from people in Europe, Latin America, and Africa, saying God Bless America and God Bless Americans really got me thinking. If we were a power like Russia or China going through an election, would this outpouring occur? I really don't think so, to so many people around the world our country really is seen as that great shining city on a hill as President Reagan put it. Knowing that these people have so much faith in our system and our citizens to put things right and lead not just our country but the whole world to better times really makes me proud. Like I said before, many people will disagree with this and will make comments on how they don't care what "foreigners" think about our country, but in all reality, we no longer live in a world where we can just "do our own" thing and not worry about the ramifications of our actions. Just look at the economic fallout from our housing collapse. It didn't just effect the U.S. it impacted the whole world's economy. Or look at our agriculture. Our farmers don't just feed our citizens they feed a good portion of the world and if we only produced for ourselves not only would our own supply and demand cripple our hard working farmers but people all over the world would starve. No, the U.S. can no longer afford to just worry about ourselves, we really need to be able to strike a balance of meeting our own citizens needs and leading by example around the world. Who knows if either candidate will do this, but I definitely think that we need to get back to being the good guys to our own people and the rest of the world.

Labels: elections, politics

posted by Heath @ 2:54 PM