Hope
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So where is hope going to come from in the new millennium? Will it come from the good will of the American people? Or might it come from somewhere else? Perhaps from the EU. While they may be a bunch of old fuddy duddies, they do take care of their people in a very civilized manner.

Take a look at this article from Reuters.

Or try this link:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=580&ncid=580&e=4&u=/nm/20030706/bs_nm/food_coffee_dc

Think about it. The foreign aid budgets of most countries of the EU are a significantly higher percentage of their GDP than in the states. People in the US seem to think that about 10% of the GDP goes for foreign aid, when really it's more like 0.5% of our GDP and shrinking. Then again, we give many loan guarantees for weapons purchases.

You must give cre3dit to the US for maintaining peace and tranquility in most of the world. People in Asia are freaking out about the possibility of a withdrawal of US troops from Japan and Korea. They hate to say it, but they love our guys abroad. And the USA does pay about 27% of the budget of the UN (27% out of 187 countries is a fairly high percentage...). So perhaps one can say we do our share in other ways.

Anyway, so where will hope come from? Possibly from the EU (with that strong Euro) or possibly from countries who's power structure is a little less entrenched than in the good old USA. Or maybe from some good people in the US. But to be honest, it does not look like the forces of progress are doing too well in the US right now. It seems like the Bushies are taking us back to the 1950s (mostly on social issues) as fast as they can...

Remember, hope always comes from places you never expect, from people that you'd never expect it from... But it does come...