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Anti-Americanism is simply a reflection of arrogance.

The Europeans always view themselves as the founders of enlightenment, the keepers of art and culture. They feed their egos on their castles, museums and grandiose history (lots of which is imaginary). They always thought of America as a wild place occupied by uneducated violent cowboys.

And then WWI happened and the"cowboys" started showing their power. WWII was the icing on the cake. ALL OF EUROPE WAS ON THEIR KNEES. A failure, destroyed and begging for help. The "Cowboys" came roaring in. Young, powerful, productive, winners.

The pride of the Europeans took a beating and everytime America has to bail them out (Kosovo) or shows determination (Iraq), the beatings continue.
Now the arrogant liberals of academia, the media , the elite, the socialist bureaucrats have a target for the "shame of their failures and impotence".

Only by denigrating American culture, American strength, our politicians and our beliefs in God and human freedom can they define themselves as something other than irrelevant "has-beens". Dusty museums and fine cuisine are poor medicine for a seriously wounded arrogance.

The same arrogance that feeds our Media, Academia and lots of Democrats. Their headlines on Bush's victory clearly show they believed that an incredible "injustice" had happened again. The world is not as they believe it should be.

TOO BAD!!! No matter how much John Kerry wanted to "rebuild alliances"(read kiss European butt), the root cause of their hatred of us will not go away. There is no Viagra for nations.

Mr. Longenecker is writing from the perspective of an American living abroad. What are your thoughts on his commentary?

Phew, that would probably entail a response as long as the author’s original – certainly if it encompassed a number of the rejoinders posted so far. I’m in a rush tonight and almost missed this thread anyway, so I’ll keep it relatively brief. Since this has religious as well as political overtones, I should firstly declare an interest.

I’m British, politically conservative and a traditional Catholic.

Leaving aside the plethora of ill-informed comments posted thus far and ignoring completely most of the downright silly epithets thrown around, I think Longenecker’s piece is fair, well-balanced and reasonably accurate. To be honest, I’m not sure, NYer, that I’m the right person to ask for a take on this. By dint of my personal experience, I'm likely to come across as somewhat of a fence-sitter since I have spent a great deal of my life travelling and working in the USA. Plus, having seen active military service ( much more recently than WWII !) alongside Americans, I’m likely to be seen as less than objective by some on this side of the pond. It’ll muddy the waters even further if I confess that, but for personal circumstances, I might by now have been an American citizen.

Drilling down through everything Longenecker says, I believe there is one key comment that epitomises the differences between both sides of the pond and it is this:-

Beneath it all, the growing divide between Europe and America is a divide between theism and atheism. This simple divide is cosmic in its importance and affects, simply, everything.

Earlier in his commentary he makes it clear that it is the impending demise of Christianity in Europe which will be its downfall and I wholly concur with that. The European Union ( and oxymorons don’t come more exemplary than that ) is an artificial construct founded on the monumental conceit of intellectual Marxism. It will, I am convinced, be consigned to the dustbin of history with the same epitaph as Gorbachev used to describe the end of the Soviet Union – an experiment which failed. There is, of course, a lot of water to go under the bridge before then and it is coming in the form of the tsunami of Islam ( I guess I’m into metaphor tonight ). I’m pretty well known for my robust anti-Islam views and make no apology for them, but the vacuum left by Christianity’s departure from Europe’s soul will not be filled for long by the prevailing secular humanism. It is already being filled by the adherents of Mohammed. So, although for reasons with which the author might not wholly concur, I think Longenecker gets it right when he posits that America is the last bastion of Christianity. It certainly is the final outpost of traditional Catholicism and one from which we must be prepared to deliver the counterstrike. There are many Americans, and this is evidenced by some of the posts here, who are tempted to say...”Well, let’s just pull up the drawbridge and let the suckers over there get on with it”. I can’t say that I would not have been tempted to take that view myself. But do remember this, FRiends. When Islam sends out its trailers, it does so with the clear message...”Coming soon, to a theater near you”.

On a lighter note, Longenecker proffers a quote from the Daily Mirror, which featured:-

a picture of Bush with the caption, "How can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB?"

For those who are not familiar with that newspaper, think NY Times edited by Che Guevara. As to DUMB, the number represents, almost exactly, the UK population –conscripted members of the Socialist Republic of Eurabia.!

And a final general comment which I never tire of repeating, to those to whom it is appropriate. Please try not to take the hot-air emanating from the British MSM with any greater degree of import than you would their counterparts in the USA. Likewise that populist rag, The Sun. Think of it as The National Enquirer but with all the integrity, eloquence and gravitas stripped out. ;-)