Quote Originally Posted by EmporerEJ
While I certainly disagree with an awful lot of the policies our government tries to institute, and this is one of them, I'm not sure I agree with your statement of "heads would role." (You did mean roll, right?)

Please expand on that statement and share with me why you feel whichever countrie(s) you are referring to would or could do this?
Damn I hate when I've been in front of the computer all day and i make the WORST spelling errors.. but happens to the best of us.

The statement I made was regarding the American people having full disclosure of what our government is doing overseas to secure the dominant position as a world leader. Our government is well known for strong arming smaller countries, forcing our will and beliefs on them, and compensating them little, if anything, in return for their compliance. When a country stands up and wants to maintain their identity, or language, they are often portrayed as difficult or rebellious. Cuba comes to mind. I'm sure if you ask Mexicans and Canadians their opinion about America you'll be surprised, if they're honest with you. The Dominican Republic, Native Hawaiins.. the list goes on.

Quote Originally Posted by EmporerEJ
And on a personal note, I'm not real sure I CARE how other countries view us. They take our money, and we still have to fight to keep them from stampeding the borders, so I think that says something about how "the world perceives us."
Being American I understand your view.. and I used to share it.. but the reality is that America is a leading innovator, for now, and we don't give our technology with no strings attached.

How the world views us is very important. Every successful nation has had a turn being the dominant one, then fallen to another nation. China is pegged to be the worlds biggest economy within the next 10 years. China used to be the center of world trade, they fell, now they are rising again. Russia was powerful, they fell. Germany, Europe, the Middle East.

Eric the U.S. population is 296 million.. the world population is over 6 Billion... and you don't think it's important what the world thinks of the U.S.? [source] You can't possibly think the U.S. can strong arm the world to its ways forever do you? Power is continually shifting in the world and what we do can easily come back to bite us in the ass i.e. 9/11 - and I'm NOT saying we deserved it. Weren't you shocked when they showed footage of the Simalians jumping in the street with joy at the news of the trade centers? Didn't you wonder why the same faces we see on "feed the world" and are urged to send money to, would be reacting this way to such a tragedy befalling us? Here's a good article that explains things in better detail.

Regarding immigration: People have a hell of a lot of rights in the U.S. and can get away with a lot more then in other countries.. that's a good selling point. The value of the dollar is doing ok.. another selling point. But if you're talking about Mexicans coming over the border.. that's a whole nother story and I don't know any Americans that would work as cheap and do as much as those guys do.. that's why we let them in.