I think if you want to point out the flaw in someones argument you could do better than to go down the exact same road they took.

You effectively claim that the US does not need the EU and that you could afford to drive the EU 'into a ditch' out of spite, when in fact the economies are now so interlinked that if the one suffers the other suffers right along with it. The current crisis is a nice example of that.

Effectively it is a single giant economy with lots of subtle and not well understood dependencies, wrecking one on purpose will likely wreck the other one as well.

Besides that, you are painting all Europeans with the same brush and that is just as stupid as those that like to paint all of the US with one brush.

America is not 'the evil empire' (and neither is Europe), but on both sides of the Atlantic there is plenty of stuff going on that does not have the interests of the general public at heart. I don't mind those that expose those things, and I don't mind people trying to avoid making past mistakes again. They're braver than me in many respects.

We're moving into uncharted territory with respect to the amount of impact surveillance technology and anti-terrorism measures have on the lives of ordinary citizens. It remains to be seen if the net result of that is beneficial or not (I'm skeptical and I think that it will be a net negative). The United States seems to me to be the party pushing most aggressively to achieve this with the EU following along and sometimes trying to outdo its counterparts.

What bugs me is that there is no - or very little - accountability on this front and the extent to which commercial interests and political interests are entwined. It may take a lot of work to undo the damage that we're doing to ourselves and our societies. To polarize that into a US vs Europe debate is silly at best and 'batshit crazy' at worst. Please don't add fuel to that particular fire.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply, and of course your right. But these fascist claims go unanswered here too often and I shouldn't have to dispute it point by point. It's ludicrous.

>you are painting all Europeans with the same brush and that is just as stupid as those that like to paint all of the US with one brush.

Well I did qualify it with 'whining'. Particularly the ones whose sense of entitlement has become so bloated.

My 'E.U. in a ditch' was too much, I have no beef with Europe, just calling out bullshit.

  But these fascist claims go unanswered here too often and
  I shouldn't have to dispute it point by point.

Except you didn't dispute it at all. Instead of making any sort of insightful argument you said it is sad, and I am batshit crazy, spewing nonsense, and that you want to sabotage the European economy. This is really not a good way to make an argument.

You conveniently left out the most important part when you quoted me. It's ludicrous. I know you are intelligent, and said as much, because I read some of your other comments. Unless you work for the Chinese government, the fact that you persist with this idea that America is a fascist country makes me think that something is dreadfully wrong somewhere. It was morning here and I was drinking coffee, maybe it was late there and you were drinking scotch. I'm sorry if I offended you.