# V.P. Foreign Relations Experience is Important **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 13, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-p-foreign-relations-experience-is-important/463460 "2008-09-13T17:22:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-p-foreign-relations-experience-is-important/463460/21 "2008-09-14T03:15:55Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > You’re certainly free to comment on U.S. politics; I never said you weren’t. Lots of people who aren’t U.S. citizens do. Most of them don’t use “we”. Is that so? Well when I used the word “we” I had no idea that I was implying American citizenship. I was considering myself a member of this board. > [@](#): > > While I agree that most people on the board aren’t going to be interested in reading or posting about Canadian politics, I find it telling that _you_ are one of them. Especially given that there was a multi-page thread in MPSIMS leading up to the election call, and a multi-page thread in GD since then, in which conservative/Conservative Canadians have prominently figured. > > If you don’t even care about the politics of the country of which you are a citizen, why do you care about the politics of a country of which you are not? You say you find it “telling” and then why ask? Look, I’m very comfortable with the “state of our federation”. Our federal governments have been running consecutive budget surpluses over the past decade, paring down a national debt equivalent to two current annual budgets by around 40% of a current annual budget. This by both Liberals and Conservatives. We haven’t gotten into a stupid war and both serious parties will end our participation in Afghanistan by 2011. Abortion and embryonic stem cells, income redistribution and NAFTA are not issues in the mainstream. The two biggest issues of the past, the GST and NAFTA heartily fought for and against are no longer issues except amonst the fringe parties. And health care which is primarily a provincial responsibility though heavily federally funded is good enough for me and won’t change significantly under either party. So I have to wait and see what the local party reps have to say about what they’ll do for me if I successfully vote for their party. I’d like to see the northern entrance to my city upgraded. Think anyone here is interested in talking about that? As far as my interest in American politics is concerned I can only say that what you guys decide will most definitely affect the future of **our** world. Our planet I don’t know how I could possibly ignore the American political discussions. You’ve pegged me as a conservative. I don’t think that is true at all. I do try to instill some ballance into the discussions though which way more often than not puts me defending American conservatives by attacking American liberals. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-p-foreign-relations-experience-is-important/463460/22 "2008-09-14T21:49:15Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > You can at least expect that Palin would defer to foreign policy experts and consult with experienced people in her own party and in the State Department. This is one of the things that worries me about Palin. I have no doubt that she will consult others if put into a position of power. However, will those others be learned men and women of various political stripes who will present the whole picture or will she surround herself with Regent University grads who believe we’re in the end times? I find the second option terrifying and not at all unlikely. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/v-p-foreign-relations-experience-is-important/463460.md?page=1)