Why are Americans so angry? (1)
Non-Americans are astonished and indeed disturbed by the level of anger that one sees in American discourse and especially American politics. The town hall meetings on health care reform and the rise of the Tea Party movement have shown a level of emotion and vitriol that makes rational debate very difficult.
Why are Americans so angry and why do so many Americans think that President Obama is a socialist/communist/Marxist Muslim who was not born in the USA, has no right to be in the White House, and is taking the United States into a world government?
I guess behind a lot of the anger is fear. Fear of unemployment in an economy which is stalled with an official unemployment rate of 10%. Fear of losing one’s home when repossessions continue to run at record levels. Fear of poverty when the globe’s richest nation has more than 43 million citizens – an incredible one in seven of the population – now below the poverty line (15 million of them children).
For my part, I fear for the outcome of the mid-term Congressional elections tomorrow.
November 4th, 2010 at 9:57 pm
A particularly interesting post. On to the subject of the UK, the drastic programme of cuts to be instigated by the Cameron/Clegg Coalition will lead to some very harsh consequences not dissimilar to those in the US. Repossessions and homelessness will soar and a bitter crisis is looming for those who already are in poverty.
November 4th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
I fear you may well be right, Matt.