Oh How Far She Has Fallen

World opinion of the United States of America is lower than that of China.

Absorb that, and think of how it’s possible that the once-touted “beacon of freedom” is viewed less favorably than a communist nation with one of the worst human rights records on earth…

 WELL!  I dunno.  Perhaps our illegal misadventure in Iraq contributed, or the way our country props up brutal dictatorships when it serves our purpose, while bloviating about “Freeeeeeedom for EVERYBODY!”

 The world sees us as duplicitous and brutal.  The world considers our war in Iraq to be every bit as evil as the actions of terrorist cells like al Qaeda. 

 Another interesting statistic:  Fewer than 20% of Mexicans have a favorable view of the United States, and 62% of Canadians have a negative view of the United States.

 Even our direct neighbors are disgusted by us.

 The glimmer on the horizon is that the net positive view of the US from abroad has improved 4% in the last year, likely due to the fact that we’re in the middle of an election season, and the world overwhelmingly is watching and waiting to see whether we will choose Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton as our president, or whether we will sign on for four more years of bullshit by choosing John McCain.  They had high hopes in 2004 that we would vote Bush out of office, and felt slapped across the face when we didn’t.  They saw a glimmer of hope when we gave the Democrats control of Congress in 2006.  The USA is still in such a position, for however much longer, that the world watches to see what we do.  The era of American hegemony is waning, though, and time will tell whether we end up being a respected player in a global world, or a global annoyance.

My hope is for the former.