Slouching Towards Socialism, European Style

Europe is not the Liberal Democratic paradise we imagine it to be. Two articles explain why. Both have human nature at their root

European free speech has been devoured by fear of angry Muslims. Initiative? Quashed by statist policies. Freedom of mobility? It's trapped in a 600 square foot apartment the average European family lives in. Even if the occupants could escape, the lawnmower with doors they call a car is either upside down burning or it's tank is empty because petrol is four times as expensive as in the States.

Charles Murray identifies the factors that separate us from the Europeans:

First, the problem with the European model, namely: It drains too much of the life from life.

To become a source of deep satisfaction, a human activity has to meet some stringent requirements. It has to have been important (we don’t get deep satisfaction from trivial things). You have to have put a lot of effort into it (hence the cliché “nothing worth having comes easily”). And you have to have been responsible for the consequences.

When government does everything, it robs humans of the happiness derived from a sense of satisfaction with the fruits of their own efforts.

If we ask what are the institutions through which human beings achieve deep satisfactions in life, the answer is that there are just four: family, community, vocation, and faith.

...the goal of social policy is to ensure that those institutions are robust and vital. And that’s what’s wrong with the European model. It doesn’t do that. It enfeebles every single one of them.

Think about it: Government has replaced fathers with monthly checks and social workers. It's policies discourage parents from picking up hammers and paint to repair the neighborhood school and instead conditions them to look to Washington. President Obama mentioned this in his speech to Congress, with the First Lady hugging the little girl from South Carolina who went straight to Washington because her school needed some work.

Government largess has crowded out or co-opted faith-based charities. It has forced churches to water down their faith if they want to collect government money and avoid government censure. Public moralities like environmentalism and political correctness trump private conscience.

Euro-Socialism: High Taxes, Cramped Quarters, and Crappy Service

Michael Totten, indy war correspondent extraordinaire, writes about possibly the worst battle he's ever been involved in: The Alitalia baggage handler's strike in Italy. This is a long but highly entertaining read. Those who have actually lived in socialized Western Europe will be nodding their heads and grinning ruefully as the memories come flooding back.

This is also instructive for Americans cherishing the thought of 100% unionization, free health care for all, and guaranteed job security only European style soft socialism can provide. An up front encounter with the real Europe will disabuse any normal person from fantasies they may have entertained. Just like a person or a family, a society can appear serene on the surface, but when adversity strikes, the true colors fly.

Totten and the other stranded passengers were alternately shouted at, ignored and lied to by cowardly workers who knew they were getting paid regardless of what happened. The moral of the story is that people who are guaranteed a job tend to do it half-assed, and those given no responsibility for the success of their company will shamelessly avoid seizing it when the company's reputation is at stake.

Anybody who wants to see this go on in the United States is crazy.

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2009/03/the-worst-airli.php
http://american.com/archive/2009/march-2009/the-europe-syndrome-and-the-challenge-to-american-exceptionalism