And crank out the stupid.

[Brandon]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/world/europe/27france.html

I might not be chipper to be in the US anymore, but at least we have the freedom of speech, more or less.

[Omneix Micrasius]

As of the recent US Supreme Court ruling, corporations can buy advertising to support the candidates of their choice.  The question is, now, why can't my cat?

[JasonMckerra]

Sigh, the French Republic started so gloriously, descended into horror so quickly, and their slow recovery to previous idealism still seems incomplete...

Anyone here heard of the Dreyfus Affair?

[Brandon]

Vaguely.

[JasonMckerra]

It's the classic example of the racism that lay throbbing beneath the thin veneer of respectability that was the French polity at the end of the twentieth century.

It seems to this outside observer that that throbbing current of racism still lurks just beneath the surface of modern France.

[Omneix Micrasius]

Another positive aspect about the US is that it does "walk the talk" when it comes to racial .  While many black Americans voted for President Barack Obama, which surely helped him win, black voters for many years already voted Democratic--that is, for the same party to which President Barack Obama belongs.  Almost the same percentage of black voters who voted for Obama voted for Clinton and Gore.  In the context of racial color-blindness, what is remarkable about the the election of Barack Obama President is that it would not have occurred had it not been for white voters.  The result is that not only is it possible to imagine a black US President, it is a reality.  And this makes me proud to be an American.

But can anyone really imagine a black President of France or other European countries?  France has a growing immigrant population that it is going to have to accommodate.  Not only does it have racial issues to contend with, it has religious issues as well.  The French republic needs to become a republic that encompasses all its citizens AND permanent residents.