A quick posting since I just returned from Buenos Aires and now fly to Columbus, Ohio for a week. Two observations I had while traveling around Chile and Argentina. First, I was asked by folks (including a journalist), about how many Americans actually support Donald Trump. You see, despite what some Right Wing Media claims, many outside of America think we are stumbling with Trump in the Oval Office. How so? Every person I met that showed any interest in American politics, asked how in the world Trump could have been elected. Yes, you read that right. Many throughout South America are puzzled how the great United States elected someone as shallow and weak as Donald Trump. So much for the illusion he was leading us back to "greatness!"
One journalist asked me if we were "all crazy!" When I explained to him that so many Americans just don't vote, he seemed perplexed. How could the largest democracy in the world allow so many to ignore the importance of elections? How would you answer that question? I told him I can only hope Americans learned a valuable lesson - that every vote counts and that upcoming elections can "right the ship!"
The other observation is that very few people in South America speak English. In fact, had we not been traveling with friends fluent in Spanish, I doubt we could have survived. Seriously! We were not in the Caribbean. We were in South America! Any time I ran into a language problem, I found myself frustrated and unlike other places I have traveled where language has been a problem, folks in South America simply didn't care. English is not something they even remotely care to understand or speak.
Which gets me to my last point. For all the folks supporting Trump and his policy that America can "go at it alone" in the World, you are wrong. America (albeit a big player), can not lead without the assistance of allies and partners - and not all of them will agree with US on every matter. We must cast aside the jingoistic tendencies fed to us by the Right Wing and go back to being a World Leader, one capable of leading a "team" of partners, willing to grow the world's economy without sacrificing the environment or human rights. Capitalism is thriving in the World, and its universal language is money - not English. Hopefully Americans will come to realize it before the current Administration distances us from our friends and sets back the world economy, the environment and the causes of freedom.
As President Ronald Reagan once wrote; "The objective I propose is quite simple to state: to foster the infrastructure of democracy - the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities - which allows a people to choose their own way to develop their own culture, to reconcile their own differences through peaceful means." Have a great week!
One journalist asked me if we were "all crazy!" When I explained to him that so many Americans just don't vote, he seemed perplexed. How could the largest democracy in the world allow so many to ignore the importance of elections? How would you answer that question? I told him I can only hope Americans learned a valuable lesson - that every vote counts and that upcoming elections can "right the ship!"
The other observation is that very few people in South America speak English. In fact, had we not been traveling with friends fluent in Spanish, I doubt we could have survived. Seriously! We were not in the Caribbean. We were in South America! Any time I ran into a language problem, I found myself frustrated and unlike other places I have traveled where language has been a problem, folks in South America simply didn't care. English is not something they even remotely care to understand or speak.
Which gets me to my last point. For all the folks supporting Trump and his policy that America can "go at it alone" in the World, you are wrong. America (albeit a big player), can not lead without the assistance of allies and partners - and not all of them will agree with US on every matter. We must cast aside the jingoistic tendencies fed to us by the Right Wing and go back to being a World Leader, one capable of leading a "team" of partners, willing to grow the world's economy without sacrificing the environment or human rights. Capitalism is thriving in the World, and its universal language is money - not English. Hopefully Americans will come to realize it before the current Administration distances us from our friends and sets back the world economy, the environment and the causes of freedom.
As President Ronald Reagan once wrote; "The objective I propose is quite simple to state: to foster the infrastructure of democracy - the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities - which allows a people to choose their own way to develop their own culture, to reconcile their own differences through peaceful means." Have a great week!
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