An American Queen of Sweden?

[Champie]

Simeple examples: Castles, forts etc. Strugles, wars, redividing of countries... dude?

I am sure you would have a better understanding if you where raised in the setting.

I wasn't raised in the setting.

How about a SIMPLE example of something that makes you say to yourself, "I really enjoy the Monarchy because ______________ [to/for/with] the people of the country."

[Claeyt]

History and tradition. I am sure you would have a better understanding if you where raised in the setting.

...and that's why America will always seem fresh and new and those countries of tradition and history will seem stale, withered and afraid of the future.

"We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's dam is the history we make today."-Henry Ford

"Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay."-Jiddu Krishnamurti

[RuneNL]

...and that's why America will always seem fresh and new and those countries of tradition and history will seem stale, withered and afraid of the future.

Hahaha! What?! You seriously need to stop acting like your opinions are the universal opinion.
America is very traditional, extremist Christian and likely the least favorite western country.

Claeyt, I don't know what you are using but your simple assumptions about (half) continents is just plain stupid.

Your opinion is just that, your opinion.
Here are some known quote's for you:

Shut up, Claeyt.

shut up claeyt

shut up Claeyt

etc. etc.

[Dallane]

can we just ban him so everyone gets along again?

[Cheena]

...and that's why America will always seem fresh and new and those countries of tradition and history will seem stale, withered and afraid of the future.

Hahaha! What?! You seriously need to stop acting like your opinions are the universal opinion.
America is very traditional, extremist Christian and likely the least favorite western country.

This ^.
Where the hell have you seen that America seems fresh and new while we seem afraid of the future lol, that must be an american opinion only cause I've never heard anyone from any european country telling something like that xD

I'd rather say that America will always seem fresh and new TO AMERICANS only, while our countries of tradition and stuff only seem to progress, to us. It's because we do have a history that we (think we) advance. I mean, mistakes are learnt from the past, and you can only progress by making mistakes.

[Claeyt]

...and that's why America will always seem fresh and new and those countries of tradition and history will seem stale, withered and afraid of the future.

Hahaha! What?! You seriously need to stop acting like your opinions are the universal opinion.
America is very traditional, extremist Christian and likely the least favorite western country.

This ^.
Where the hell have you seen that America seems fresh and new while we seem afraid of the future lol, that must be an american opinion only cause I've never heard anyone from any european country telling something like that xD.

My opinions aren't universal but when I see the news in Europe or travel there I see much more nostalgia and fear of changing into something else than I do in S. America or here. It's not only Immigration and royalty. We don't have any part of America that is "traditional". We do have very extremist Christian groups but they aren't traditional in any way. Some of them like the Mormons have only existed for 150 years and now have of millions of followers. Others build on a long tradition of preacher based bible thumping but they aren't the same as nostalgia. They are one of the worst things about America and they don't exist in Europe. Other crazy religious movements that Europeans hate like Scientology and Walmart get their start in America because we have such an open society. It makes us better critics of Religion when you have to live with every kind imaginable.

Everybody hates America because of the Rich Capitalists and Multi-Nationals that live here and I hope you to fight against them. Currently the Americans and EU are negotiating a free trade agreement that will hurt us and help them. Read about it and fight it.

Cheena-
I've never met a French person that wishes they still had a monarchy to pay for. The French do hang on to their Art nostalgia a bit much tho.

[RuneNL]

Yet Atheism, gay marriage, canabis etc is still a mayor issue in the US.

Better look on religion? In the EU you can be any religion and live with it without having to defend it.
Especially in the Netherlands noone cares if you believe in Jesus, Allah or the spagetti monster.
Government reports on UFO's have been publicised... I can go on and on but at this point I feel ill have more success convincing a wall the difference between fact and oppinion.

Oh annd then there is the whole prison system in the U.S.
Its war policies... I am not a fan of public bearing arms but ***** me, I am glad the U.S. civies can!

[Syndarn]

My opinions aren't universal but when I see the news in Europe or travel there I see much more nostalgia and fear of changing into something else than I do in S. America or here.

Alright. So let's say for the sake of the argument that we fear to change into something new. Since we need to change, we are clearly doing something wrong. What are we doing wrong? and if we change, how does it make us better?

EDIT: I can agree that we do really fear some change. Alot of change has happened in europe because of EU and not all of it has been for the better. Mostly alot of **** byrocracy. But this fear has nothing or very little to do with culture and traditions. Laws and Legistlations should not be mixed with that.


-Kruger

[Claeyt]

Yet Atheism, gay marriage, canabis etc is still a mayor issue in the US.

Better look on religion? In the EU you can be any religion and live with it without having to defend it.
Especially in the Netherlands noone cares if you believe in Jesus, Allah or the spagetti monster.
Government reports on UFO's have been publicised... I can go on and on but at this point I feel ill have more success convincing a wall the difference between fact and oppinion.

Oh annd then there is the whole prison system in the U.S.
Its war policies... I am not a fan of public bearing arms but ***** me, I am glad the U.S. civies can!

I'm not saying the U.S. is perfect, I'm just saying that we don't have this "tradition" and "history' weighing us down from change and invention.

We have many, many problems but Europeans usually confuse the United Sates as all the same. Each State has it's own problems and politics.

Gay Marriage is now legal in 13 states I think and is changing every month. Weed is completely legal in 2 states to both grow and buy and there are maybe another 5 states with "medical" marijuana laws of various availability. Some local governments like mine only issue a $100 ticket (sort of like a parking ticket) for anything up to an ounce and don't go to jail or have any criminal record. You'd get up to 2 years in jail in Texas for that amount of weed. Atheism isn't a huge issue here at all. There are less atheists than in Europe but there are plenty. I always tell Europeans that the reason our religions are so nuts in the U.S. is because we took in all the religious crazies from every country in the world.

To your points, you can be any religion you want but many European countries have an official religion and the royalty is the titular head of that religion or church in that country. In some cases the Religion, Cathedral or Church is actually owned or supported by the state. That's unheard of in the U.S.

The Prison system here is bad but again it's different for every state. Many states have European levels per capita but they're overwhelmed nationally by places like Louisiana and Texas where the per capita rates are astronomical. My State is known for not having capital punishment since 1853, longer than almost all European countries, but other states have many executions every year.

Our war policies and gun laws are nuts.

Alright. So let's say for the sake of the argument that we fear to change into something new. Since we need to change, we are clearly doing something wrong. What are we doing wrong? and if we change, how does it make us better?

EDIT: I can agree that we do really fear some change. Alot of change has happened in europe because of EU and not all of it has been for the better. Mostly alot of **** byrocracy. But this fear has nothing or very little to do with culture and traditions. Laws and Legistlations should not be mixed with that.r

Number 1- stop defining citizenship by race and language. This is where Royalty gets in the way of most European monarchies becoming modern international states. We've seen our first 'Black' president and we're slowly moving past race here in the states. When are we going to see our first multi-racial royal family in England, the Netherlands or in Sweden. Would people accept it?

Number 2- Although it's interesting and good to know your history and keep old buildings and things for the next generation encourage experimentation with your arts. So many artists move to the United States to become known it's amazing. Even Banksy seemed timid and not at all revolutionary when he was here this summer. We see more experimental art, music and architecture on a daily basis in some cities in the States than in all of Europe. When you build modern architecture in Europe it stands out as an eyesore because it's surrounded by a museum. Architecture was not perfected in the 19th century no matter how much Jorb wants it to have been.

Number 3- Help and develop a more populist political leadership. The Elite political structure of most European countries hinders change, instead it tries to maintain what is. Populist and Progressive leadership isn't always good and it can be scary but it does open new paths. Too much of European populist politics is from the right and is seen as ugly. I'd love to see a Green party leader in France or a Pirate party head of state in Germany. Our mostly two party system in the states has problems but it also allows a wide diversity of political beliefs within the system. It's one of the advantages of an open declaration of party (anybody who wants to can declare themselves Republican or Democrat) and an open primary system (Anybody can run for president on either party ticket). It's why the tea party can do what it does.

Number 4-You'll notice that none of this included encouraging capitalism, de-regulation or "free trade". All of those are wrong. Instead loosen your Bankruptcy laws and encourage new small businesses while maintaining your labor laws and requiring similar labor laws in countries you import from. Those will create more jobs than any of the other things you hear the Right in America say Europe should do.

I could come up with more like encourage development of independent University systems and tripling your private and public research money but the U.S. has rolled back on that a bit lately and we need to do more of that too.

[MagicManICT]

America is very traditional,

What "traditions" are you speaking of, exactly?

@Claeyt: I believe nearly half the states in the country have some form of medical cannabis use (20 states and DC have existing laws, 6 have pending laws according to a site found through Google, which means about 3/4 of the countries population has access to it in some manner). In California, it might as well be legal, and other states can be as strict as relegating it to use for a very small number of ailments.