America Can’t Export Itself To Europe: Legacy Of The Hamburg G20
It is very disturbing that Europeans think it is normal for anti-capitalists and other such groups to constantly interrupt and plague their conferences such as the G20 just ended in Hamburg. It is even more disturbing to hear that they tend to avoid holding conferences in big cities because they can’t control them and tend to favor out of the way places in the country reachable only by helicopter. This lends the conferences an unnecessary elitist edge and also makes Americans wonder about politics in Europe and just how stable the continent really is.
The Roman mob was legendary. The English mob was fearsome. But at least in the old days before the G20 there were kings and emperors who could control them. The problem may be democracy itself which doesn’t totally fit Europe. Just one hundred years ago a lot of the continent was still controlled by royal families such as the Hapsburgs and the Hohenzollerns and now there is not enough autocratic discipline to keep the citizens in line.
By analogy Americans would have to hold their Republican and Democratic Conventions in the country instead of in cities which would never happen. The last thing either party would want would be to look as if they were hiding from the people and were trying to appear elitist and exclusive. It shows that democracy fits America better than Europe. And American ways do not export well to the Old World. In fact they can even be dangerous there as evidenced by the G20.
The continent of Europe, particularly Western Europe, is a key setting of the Edward Ware Thrillers at War novels. Hero Edward Ware’s home base is England. He travels to Germany all the time and had had adventures in places as far flung as Italy, Russia, and Gibraltar.
