by Cody Hodge

Created on: July 13, 2008

Are US citizens really ignorant of world affairs? Sure, the average citizen in another country probably knows more about the United States than the average person in this country knows about say....Germany, or France, but is this a bad thing? One has to look at why the citizens of the United States don't seem to care as much about the politics of other nations.

I think that when looking at political affairs, most people are only interested in the issues that personally effect them. Think of it like this, George Bush being elected for a second term as US president had a much larger impact on the world than Tony Blair being outed as PM of the UK. So of course the world is going to be watching with baited breath to see whether or not John Kerry can overtake him. And since this has as much impact on the citizens of Iraq or Pakistan as it does in the US, of course they are going to spend as much time, if not more studying who our leaders are and what they stand for. Of course, Pervez Musharaf being ousted in Pakistan really doesn't impact me as an American citizen unless I happen to be a member of the Bush administration.

As I type these words I can picture a lot of raised eyebrows and maybe some laughs, but seriously I don't really sit up at night worried about terrorist attacks. Why? Iran can hardly hit Israel, and even that capability is doubtful. North Korea can't even hit its own coastline, let alone Los Angeles, and most other countries are more interested in regional conflict than hitting the US. With all the hype about dirty bombs and terrorists starting biological warfare, well perhaps if it hadn't been speculated for almost a decade now with nothing happening, perhaps the US citizens would take notice.

Consider this for a second. If Americans are so stupid, why are we the number one economy in the world? Why is our constitution the oldest functioning document in the world right now? It is so effective that scores of countries around the world have tried to use it as the model for their own government. It seems ironic that as stupid as we are, the rest of the world seems to be OK with Barack Obama as our next president.

Listen, our country isn't perfect. However, if you want to go live in China, where this site probably is blocked by the government fine. If you want to go to France and depend on the US to bail you out next time you get in trouble fine. If you would rather live in Zimbabwe, or Myanmar, or some other country and have liberty restricted fine. As I end this article, I challenge anyone to find another country that has: The worlds top economy, a democratic nation, a military that can influence policy around the entire world, and is among the freest nations in the world? If you can, great, until then, stop whining!

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