Tammy Bruce
Monday, Feb. 17, 2003

It seems the French and Germans are concerned about losing the Iraqi dinar. They are so worried about their billion-dollar Iraqi oil deals they have been willing to sell out the safety of our nation and abandon a friendship built on American sacrifice and death. Considering their obscene betrayal of a country to which they owe their very existence, it’s time for these Euro freeloaders to start worrying about the American dollar.

Some great ideas have been coming out of Capitol Hill geared to put pressure on French imports specifically. U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert has suggested, among other things, that we put warning labels on French wine alerting the consumer that the French use bovine blood to clarify the wine. I think that’s a great idea.

Other than being generally disgusting to vegetarians, who thought French wine was drinkable, it highlights the risk of mad cow disease, via that bovine blood, tainting French wine.

Considering the rhetoric and actions of both the French and German governments and their people as we work to rid the world of another mad tyrant, it’s clear our supposed allies take for granted American consumer generosity and support.

So, being a rather uppity populist myself, and while I support every measure our government can take to make French and German imports less desirable, we individual Americans have the power of the wallet to tell both France and Germany exactly where they can stick their Beaujolais and beer.

For me, this is a sad proposition, but a necessary one. Capitalism and democracy have allowed Americans to enjoy lifestyles that have been made more interesting and enjoyable because of imported goods. Of course, buying American is always a good thing, but now we also have a duty to show our new friends, the “New Europe,” how much we appreciate their support. It’s time we become conscious of where our money is going and whom it supports.

Buying French wine is a habit – so replace that habit with Hungarian and Italian wines. While the Germans have genocide and betrayal down to a science, they aren’t the only ones who brew beer. The Czech Republic makes fantastic beer, as do Australia and England.

Let’s be honest here – whether it’s beer and wine, the car we drive, the food we eat, or the designer water we choose, it’s time to send a message to the French and Germans – taking Americans for granted is a mistake they will rue for years to come.

Freaks like bin Laden, Saddam Insane, and even North Korea underestimate the United States because they don’t understand quiet power. It now appears neither do France and Germany.

Keep in mind, this is not just about what not to buy, it’s about who truly deserves our friendship and support. While withdrawing our consumer support for those who betray us and our friends (for France and Germany to block a NATO commitment of defense to Turkey is simply obscene), being choosy as consumers allows us to support and celebrate our new friends with our consumerism.

Buy American, research on the Internet, and ask your grocer for products which hail from Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland and Hungary, to name a few.

It’s time the free ride the Old Europe has received from this country ends. With our wallets, we can help them realize that Americans can take a hint. If supporting this nation – which saved them from the beasts of their past – is beneath them, everything French and German is now beneath us.

And when it comes to travel – Paris and Berlin, while beautiful, historic cities, represent nations which have now proven that the concepts of Nazi and Vichy, and all the selfish world betrayal and destruction that came with them, still trump decency and morality.

So, goodbye France. I hear Budapest is beautiful. And Germany, despite your best efforts, Warsaw and Prague still live, and have more courage, more fortitude, and more passion than you ever will. And now they deserve to have more American tourists than you, too.

We Americans have been remiss – we have been hypnotized by the false romance of a France and Germany that we thought had become decent. Despite the lessons learned from the Holocaust, anti-Semitism still rages in France. Some attribute that to the number of immigrant Muslims in the country, but that’s hogwash (or should I say ‘bovine blood’?).

France’s history with Jews has always been appalling. Just 60 years ago, they far too willingly sent French Jews to Hitler’s gas chambers and ovens. And is it really surprising that Germany was the base of choice for bin Laden’s Jew-hating Radical Islamists in their planning of Sept. 11? I think not.

During this time of war, we have a simple dutiful pleasure to implement – we should buy the products and visit the countries of people who support us. After all, I absolutely refuse to travel to a country where I would have to pretend to be a Canadian, of all things, in order to feel safe.

Let the pathetic socialists up north wave their Maple Leaf and commiserate with their deluded French brethren about being irrelevant. For me, it’s the American flag and the New Europe, all the way and in all things.

Tammy Bruce is a former president of the Los Angeles chapter of NOW and a contributing editor to FrontPageMagazine.com. She is the author of "The New Thought Police: Inside the Left's Assault on Free Speech and Free Minds."

E-mail Tammy Bruce at heytammybruce@yahoo.com.

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