“They don’t think like we do”

European commentators are scrambling to interpret the American elections. Unfortunately, the sobering reality is that many are skeptical about finding common ground with us in the immediate future. Jonathan Steele (at the Guardian) has this to say about us (emphases are my own]:

In the wake of the huge support given to George Bush last week, it's time we realised how different America's majority culture is, and changed our policies accordingly. ...

American majority's social and moral values differ enormously from those which guide most Europeans.

Its dangerous ignorance of the world, a mixture of intellectual isolationism [ouch!] and imperial intervention abroad, is equally alien. In the United States more people have guns than have passports. Is there one European nation of which the same is true?...

Of course, millions of US citizens do share "European" values. But to believe that this minority amounts to 48% and that America is deeply polarised is incorrect. It encourages the illusion that things may improve when Bush is gone. In fact, most Kerry voters are as conservative as the Bush majority on the issues which worry Europeans. Kerry never came out for US even-handedness on the Israel-Palestine conflict, or for a withdrawal from Iraq.

With this assessment comes a call for an end to NATO:

Many commentators now argue for Europe to distance itself.

We must go all the way, up to the termination of Nato. An alliance which should have wound up when the Soviet Union collapsed now serves almost entirely as a device for giving the US an unfair and unreciprocated droit de regard over European foreign policy.

In fact, a handful of European states never saw the need to join NATO in the first place. Holding themselves out as “neutral” during the Cold War, Austria, Finland, Ireland and Sweden declined the invitation to find security in an alignment with the US. [These countries were also the most lenient toward Poland at a time of tremendous travel restrictions faced by Poles; they permitted visa-less travel even at the height of Communist Party rule. Interestingly, the US continues to refuse even tourist entry to Poles without a visa, a source of great bitterness among many of my friends who refuse to subject themselves to the indignity of begging for permission to visit.] These days many Europeans are wondering why the stronger nations (the troika: France, Germany, Great Britain) continue to keep the pretence of a unified front alive, given the increasing chasm between what is perceived to be the American worldview and the European one. Unfortunately, from their point of view, I have to agree. From ours, here in the States, I can only hope that countries across the ocean will fight and challenge our isolationism. Ours is a dangerous path and we need friends to put as many obstacles in our way as possible.