As some of you may already know, I am half Belgian and travel to Europe twice a year to visit my family. Of particular interest to me, are European’s thoughts on the American presidential race, something I had a unique opportunity to ask this summer while working abroad. What I found, was that many Europeans find American politics a rather silly spectacle.

Perhaps before I begin to relate the thoughts of my colleagues and friends, I should begin with an introduction to the nation of Belgium. When surveyed, about 7 years ago in 5^th grade, the main thing that most of my classmates knew about Belgium, aside from it being a country, was that the Belgians make good chocolate and waffles, something I can testify to, but not perhaps the most politically important fact. Belgium borders France, the Netherlands, Germany and the English Channel. It is divided into two main parts, Wallonia and Flanders, Wallonia being the French speaking part, and Flanders the Dutch speaking part. The two halves meet in Brussels, the capital where everyone is at least bilingual in French and English at the very least.

That in and of its self is a very interesting phenomenon in a nation like America where under the name of patriotism, many of our fellow countrymen and women decline the opportunity to learn a second language. Statistically speaking, just 25% of American adults self-report being able to speak a second language. In a city of 1.1 million like Brussels, nearly everyone, down to the street sweepers and bank tellers can speak at least enough English to communicate clearly where the Royal Library is. And this trend is not just limited to Brussels, in fact, two summers ago I traveled to Switzerland and found that nearly every Swiss person I asked directions from on the street was capable of speaking German, French, English, Italian and some speak more besides. The point is not that Americans are stupid or behind, but rather that our culture is less centered on learning about other cultures, which is most likely the reason that the average American has no particular opinion on Angela Merkel’s political stance. This is the reason that a viewpoint from an entirely different cultural and political background is important.

The main question that most Europeans posed to me about the presidential race was how reality TV like drama can dictate the presidential race, with less regard given to the actual policy that each candidate proposes, and more to the personality and words that each candidate uses in their debates or speeches. The main point they had was that the presidency of one of the most important nations of the world, should not be flaunting their racism, or self-importance or respect for women, but rather that they should be focus on how they can actually aid the country in its time of need. With so many questions in the world about how to handle ISIS and the Syrian Civil War, not to mention the refugee crisis, my colleagues and friends argued that the world looked to the American president as a figure of international power and leadership, and that such a spectacle in the early stages of the campaign, only made Europeans less likely to turn to the U.S. for leadership.

Such a point of view was unexpected to me, I had supposed that most would be anti-Trump and rather supportive of Clinton, but the answer I received was not about the candidates, but rather about our system of democracy and how it is viewed abroad. When I returned, I found I had gained a new perspective on not only how American politics looks abroad, the reasons behind the international interest behind the American presidential race. In short, as a great nation, with the power to wipe out the planet, naturally the United States is an international force to be reckoned with. But by becoming absorbed in the silliness of our politics, we have forgotten that to be good leaders, we must lead by example. The question is, what example do we want to set for those that turn to the American flag as a symbol of freedom?