RE: Questions regarding NAC ground units, was SG IF morale

G'day guys,

Brian wrote:
> Now it's regressing into pretty ugly territory, and this 
> reinforces my point in a post a few moments ago, 
> that the timeline has a lot more to do with 
> sticking it to Americans than any connection with reality. 
> I find it Ironic that most other groups gets pretty fair 
> representation in all the politics of the Tuffleyverse, 
> but it seems that even the suggestion of a free America 
> or American based entity in the future is met with such 
> disdain by so many.

As a non American having seen so many films/stories/games where the US
effectively reign supreme (and hearing the US of today proclaim
themselves
leaders of the free world fairly or not), its just so much fun to take
the
mick...and being the warped sardonic b@st@rds we Aussies are its all the
more fun when the USAians get all upset about it ;) ;) ;)

> Realistically speaking, any NAC that took the attitude Derek 
> just displayed would have not a snowball's chance in hell 
> of being accepted by any American....

Just like Master Atkinson you have to know when he's joking... I'm
considerate enough to add ";)", Derek isn't always as kindly.

>> Derek (Who lives in a country where the lowest can actually 
>> rise to hold the highest elected political position in the land)
> 
> That's because it's such a short rise. ;-)

I'll pay that one ;)

Atkinson said:
>While America does not mind inherited wealth, or even
>hereditary sucession in control of political machines,
>the idea of some drooling inbred yahoo lording it
>around because his family happened to choose the right
>side of the Harold/Willie dispute would tend to make
>most of us reach for weaponry.

....in the interests of international diplomacy I'll resist jokes about
the
shrub (nickname for the little bush down here) ;)

>When 80 million amalgamate with 300 million, guess
>who's mores get respect.  

I'm torn between saying your side or the ones at the top? ;)

>Really?  Keep in mind some of our Presidents are about
>2-3 generations removed from being white trash. . . Of
>course they are all lawyers et al--we do kind of
>require an education of some sort. 

And along the same lines Roger added:
>So a peanut farmer is more equal than others?	
>(Jimmy Carter), how about an actor (Ronald Reagan)?  
>Yes, the Bushes are Oil Barons, but that isn't a requirement.

I think Derek was thinking back to the fact (or at least that is how it
has
been portrayed in a few docos down here) that no non-Greek (uni frat)
and
fairly rich guy has been President since the earliest of days. Maybe its
media hype from outside the US (especially in Australia were "US
bashing/stirring" is considered a national past time), but your
Presidents
are painted as being larger than life and effectively royalty in all but
name. Our PMs and our governor generals certainly don't get the
treatment
(on the way up or afterwards) that the Presidents SEEM to (at least in
what
we get to see of them), but may be its all a cultural misunderstanding
(for
one you probably respect your pollys, here the general opinion is you'd
have
to be desperate, demented, out of touch or crooked to want to be one).

>I would bet my last dollar that you don't get elected in OZ without
>having significant financial backing, just like it is here.

You can get elected in Australia with VERY little if any financial
backing -
the biggest point Pauline Hanson's rise to fame has proved. Heck in a
country where the slumber party has a chance of getting a seat anything
can
happen. Having said that the party that gets into power as the
government
(liberal or labour) gets a fair whack of money thrown at it (but still a
pittance in US terms), individual candidates are a different matter and
the
PM is only the head of the most successful party not a directly elected
thing. So by US terms that last dollar is on shakey grounds ;)

However, as much as Derek will have enjoyed getting a rise out of
USAians
(he is an Aussie bloke after all) I think its time we let this one die a
natural death... I hate discussing politics at the best of times, but
when
its wasting good gaming time, heaven forbid!!! ;)

Beth