Australia primed to be yanked into US

[YogsVR4]

Now this is pretty screwy. If anything. Puerto Rico will be the 51st state. If Quebec leaves Canada then a few of the other providences might join up (who knows). But Australia? Anything is possible, but I think the chances of this are a hell of a lot close to 0.0001% then they are to 20%

This is not meant to be a bash US or bash Australia thread. I just thought it was funny that someone would go to the effort to publish something so unbelievable.


http://www.news.com.au/common/story_...55E421,00.html

An American-born historian Dr David Mosler told a Brisbane audience yesterday there was a 20 per cent chance of Australia becoming an American state in the next 50 years.

The visiting research fellow at Adelaide University, who has lived in Australia since 1971, said the chances would increase significantly in the event of a major Al-Qaeda attack on Australia or if Indonesia became a fundamentalist Islamic republic.

Dr Mosler told the 2003 Fulbright Symposium at Griffith University yesterday that he decided Australia was "an unreformable society" after the loss of the 1999 republic referendum.

Australians, he said, had no flag of their own; a weak sense of nationhood; no prime minister in the Lodge, with John Howard living in Sydney; no national bushfire or water plans, even with the worst drought in history; and no "broad knowledge of nation in public discourse or popular culture". Australians had replaced "Empire with Yanks" after 1942, and the country retained a "quasi-colonial status".

He said Australian governments, attuned to the British, Americans, Japanese and global capital markets, had "sold off the farm" - electricity, water, ports, airports, resources - while Australians weren't offended by such "treasonous behaviour".

He said Australia's passage to American statehood would not be difficult under its Constitution.

He listed the advantages of American statehood for Australia as:

* Access to the world's best higher education system.

* Large savings on embassies.

* Being part of the world's most effective defence system.

* Merger with the world's strongest currency.

* Being part of the world's biggest economy.

* A constitution bringing a republic and a Bill of Rights.

* Fielding teams in the US national basketball, baseball and gridiron competitions.

[zebrathree]

Crap. He needs to get his head out of the textbooks and into the real world.

[freakray]

He listed the advantages of American statehood for Australia as:

* Access to the world's best higher education system.

* Fielding teams in the US national basketball, baseball and gridiron competitions.

Advantages?

Real advantage: America will get a decent rugby team

[NSX-R-SSJ20K]

thats his point of view which he is entitled to.

I don't see that the US has a better System since my experience of it that each school district sets different standards to get a high school diploma. So saying the US has a better system is a HUGE generalisation since mostly each district is independant of the others in setting standards.

[YogsVR4]

If rugby were on tv enough around here, it might just become popular. Its a heck of a lot more exciting then soccer.

[TexasF355F1]

Originally posted by YogsVR4
If rugby were on tv enough around here, it might just become popular. Its a heck of a lot more exciting then soccer.

[taranaki]

An American-born historian Dr David Mosler told a Brisbane audience yesterday there was a 20 per cent chance of Australia becoming an American state in the next 50 years.

The visiting research fellow at Adelaide University, who has lived in Australia since 1971, said the chances would increase significantly in the event of a major Al-Qaeda attack on Australia or if Indonesia became a fundamentalist Islamic republic.

Dr Mosler told the 2003 Fulbright Symposium at Griffith University yesterday that he decided Australia was "an unreformable society" after the loss of the 1999 republic referendum.

Australians, he said, had no flag of their own; a weak sense of nationhood; no prime minister in the Lodge, with John Howard living in Sydney; no national bushfire or water plans, even with the worst drought in history; and no "broad knowledge of nation in public discourse or popular culture". Australians had replaced "Empire with Yanks" after 1942, and the country retained a "quasi-colonial status".

It's amazing how some people can retain thier parochialism for decades after moving to a foreign country.I doubt if you would find more than a handful of Aussies that would support his projections,and if he stood up and spouted this kind of pie-in-the-sky nonsense in an average pub instead of the air-headed environment of a university symposium,he'd most like cop a hiding for his attitute problem.
Australia is not for sale.Its people would not sell their sovereignty to Uncle Sam any more than they would align themselves as junior partners to New Zealand.The population of Australia is still heavily immigrant based,with a huge number of first and second generation Australians.If they had wasnted to move to the U.S.,doubtless they would have tried.One of the merits of Australia is that it has an almost unique culture,a country that is just beginnning to slip the leash of Empire.There is no way that the Australian people,who are just beguining to create an idetity unique to their country,would surrender their sovereignty to a foreign power so readily.

[Ssom]

Worlds strongest currency my ass- the Pound and the Euro >> US dollar

[YogsVR4]

T - I totally agree. I thought the whole article was good for a laugh or two. I can't imagine even 1% of the population would even consider something like that.

Moss - while a pound or euro is worth more then a dollar, the financial markets around the world still trade heavily in the dollar. Its still the most powerful currency in the world. The second most powerful is the Yen and then the Euro follows that. Over time, the Euro will replace the Yen as China becomes more of a financial player and the East Asian markets keep shifting power bases. Perhaps one day the Euro will replace the dollar. Thats a wait and see since the Euro has only been around a short while.

[taranaki]

Originally posted by YogsVR4
T - I totally agree.

a rare opportunity,I'll have to get this quote printed and framed.