My fellow Americans

It is election year in the USA and I doubt whether anybody will regret George Bush leaving the Presidential office . I think most people's view is that his successor cannot be any worse than him and his criminal posse . The choices appear to be between John McCain , Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and it is a pleasant surprise that the next President will have a higher IQ than a 8 year old , even though I am not holding my breath that there will be a great change in American foreign policy.

As an interested observer in England , the most striking difference in elections ,apart from the length of time , is the emphasis that is placed on being an American . It appears , sometimes , that there is nothing outside of the USA , that it is the whole world and Americans seem completely stunned when the outside world intrudes on the USA .About the one saving grace of 9/11 was the light , which was shone on US foreign policy and has forced the American public to question their government and its actions , even though this does not seemed to have made any difference . But what is striking is the arrogance that many Americans show to the outside world .Some of them really do think they are better than the rest of the world and their armed forces have behaved with breathtaking disdain for the citizens of the countries they have invaded . I do not let my own government , and the rest of the countries who have assisted the US , off scot free but there seems to be a difference in the attitude of the armed forces of the different countries .

However , this arrogance does highlight one of the Ego's main personality defect . It is not just Americans who think like this – it is in every human being in the world . Everybody will have someone or some group of people , who they think they are better than . Samuel Johnson was quite correct when he said that " Patriotism is the last refuge of the scandal . " The English think they are better than the French and vice versa . Men look down upon women and women look down upon men . Even in families , there is a hierarchy of power . However , when we look at the world through our true eyes , we will see that there are no differences – Life is Life is Life . The wino or the beggar or drug addict is no less worthy than anyone else . We like to use labels , but what we really are is Life . The Ego uses arrogance to continue our separation from one another ,but Life is a whole . When countries or individuals fight each other it is like the individual members of a football team arguing amongst themselves –stupid and ultimately counter productive . If we can change our perspective on the world there will be no more George Bushes in the White House .