White Chocolate

*Editorial Note: Pancho's politics, while not generally an issue in this blog, fall rather far to the left. They fail, however, to reach the often silly and ridiculous reaches of some of the dreadlocked, kaffiyeh-wearing, tattered clothes-sporting university students of many European cities.

*Second Editorial Note: Though Pancho does indeed quote Jesus Christ in the lines below, this is not meant in any way as a claim of religiosity, but rather as an attempt to faithfully quote an often mis-quoted line.

-----------------

Sometime ago, a friend and I (see his blog on Italian politics here) began planning on a still unwritten book. The proposed book title was something along the lines of "You're As Bad As U.S." and would have detailed certain inconsistencies, as we perceived them, in European ultra-lefty politics.

The idea was this: The U.S., in the field of International Policy, does some pretty terrible things. Nonetheless, we felt that many Europeans that we met were wholly ignorant of the terrible nature of the foreign policy of their own country, not to mention the foreign policy of other countries within the European Union. Our book was meant to expose everyone, showing that while we recognized our own problems, we also could see the problems inherent in the politics of our detractors.

In the words of Jesus, the star of the New Testament, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone. . ."

Anyway, this theoretical book comes to mind now as I read a New York Times article about the current state of Swiss poltics. (You can find the article, entitled "Immigration, Black Sheep and Swiss Rage" HERE.) According to the article, the country of Switzerland, known for its international neutrality, chocolate, skiing and raclette, is also a nation of racists, xenophobes, and budding fascists.

The image below, which has been mailed to thouands of households in Switzerland, put on billboards, and generally advertised everywhere, is the work of "the most powerful party in Switzerland’s federal Parliament and a member of the coalition government, an extreme right-wing party called the Swiss People’s Party, or SVP." The SVP, campaigning for upcoming elections, is focusing increasing energy on the perceived problems of immigration. Unfortunately, rather than engaging in a rational debate on the issue, they are utilizing scare tactics, racist advertisements, and proposed draconian policies to garner votes.



And so, I once again humbly remind the world of one simple fact: We've got problems, and lots of them. We've got a lunatic in the White House, corruption and hypocrisy in Congress, and a generally violent and greedy record of foreign affairs. We've also got our share of problems in domestic affairs. But remember--we're not the only ones. Sometimes, you're as bad as U.S.