Big America and Little America

[Mole]

Alexis de Tocqueville, who wrote Democracy in America 1835, an American classic, says America is easy to understand. All we have to do is to find the centre and all else follows.

On the other hand, he says, it is difficult to understand Britain because there is no centre, there is only historical accumulation, which gives a rich culture but not readily intelligible. It is a culture that can only be understood bit by bit, there is no overview possible.

We can say America is a visual culture, linear and sequential, intelligible at a glance, while Britain is more an aural, spoken culture, that can only be listened to, everything happening all at once, quite like sound as it reaches our ears.

And interestingly, Australia was founded by British institutions and remains an intricate mix of historical tendencies.

And Americans, quite naturally try to understand Australia by looking for an overview of Australia, whereas the only way to understand Australia is to listen. So naturally they but come up empty handed.

We say that Americans see us as Little America but this misses who we are.

We can read "Democracy in America" by clicking on http://classiques.uqac.ca/classique...al_critical_ed/democracy_in_america_vol_2.pdf

 

[Xann]

 

[Mole]

I am sure Mr Trump is a good American who is as equally committed to the greatness of America as he is committed to the littleness of Australia.

Not a soul expects Mr Trump to understand Australia. We are so used to this historical American insult, we take it for granted.

 

[Xann]

I am sure Mr Trump is a great American who is as equally committed to the greatness of America as he is committed to the greatness of Australia.

Not a soul expects Australia to understand Mr. Trump. We are so used to this historical Australian insult, we take it for granted.

Fixed that for you.

 

[Mole]

Fixed that for you.

This is merely clever. And such cleverness betrays a shallowness that takes itself for granted and thinks everyone else is just as shallow.

 

[Xann]

This is merely clever. And such cleverness betrays a shallowness that takes itself for granted and thinks everyone else is just as shallow.

I don't think you're shallow, I just think you're misinformed about Trump. Trump is more clever than Australians give him credit for.

 

[Mole]

I don't think you're shallow, I just think you're misinformed about Trump. Trump is more clever than Australians give him credit for.

We are quite happy to work with whoever you vote for. And it is plain even from Australia that many Americans are unhappy with politicians at the moment, and Mr Trump is apparently independent of the political class, also he warms hearts by thumbing his nose at political correctness.

So it will be fascinating to watch what happens if he is elected. The main problem I see is in the implementation of his policies. Implementation requires good administration, so I think the question would be: is he able to choose good administrators?