>>Most workers in the USA are in favor of trade unions, universal
>>health care, and so on, and they would be happy to see the end of
>>US foreign interventions, be they military, economic, or political.
>
>really? then i guess all those people in giants stadium who started
>chanting "usa, usa" in glee as the bombs dropped on afghanistan on
>october 7 weren't working people?
>
>i could buy the part about universal health care, and even to some
>extent the part about unions. but since when are "average people"
>in the u.s. opposed to military intervention?
>
>http://www.prospect.org/print-friendly/print/V12/20/stossel-s.html
>
>Whether intended or not, the timing of the air strikes had a potent
>effect on fans. When the crowd of 64,000 waiting to watch the
>Philadelphia Eagles play the Arizona Cardinals at Veterans Stadium
>in Pennsylvania saw Bush's announcement of the strikes broadcasted
>on the big screen, they erupted in cheers. And the news wires
>carried reports of men watching football in bars and commenting on
>the retaliation: "[The Taliban] wanted to play the game, and now the
>score is tied," one Rhode Island man said. "It's good. We should
>[hit them] again."
The crowd psychology in a sports stadium right after the most spectacular terrorist strike on the mainland USA, I submit, doesn't serve as a good barometer of what Americans usually think of US foreign interventions.
Also, at the beginning of any war, the majority of the US public (like any public) tend to rally for the war, though the rally effect doesn't last long. That, too, is a well documented phenomenon.
Barring such exceptional moments, however, most American workers think that the US government tends to stick its nose where it doesn't belong too often, to the detriment of their own welfare. -- Yoshie
* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>