Fear and Loathing in Europe...

David Brooks' piece in the NY Times today talks about how the recent French and Dutch "no" votes for the EU Constitution are indicative of a disillusionment over the current economic state of Europe - caused by the failure of Socialism. He quotes Anatole Kaletsky from his column today in The Times of London that in continental Europe "unemployment has been stuck between 8 and 11 percent since 1991 and growth has reached 3 percent only once in those 14 years."

Not an encouraging track record. And Brooks deftly explains why:

The core fact is that the European model is foundering under the fact that billions of people are willing to work harder than the Europeans are. Europeans clearly love their way of life, but don't know how to sustain it.

Over the last few decades, American liberals have lauded the German model or the Swedish model or the European model. But these models are not flexible enough for the modern world. They encourage people to cling fiercely to entitlements their nation cannot afford. And far from breeding a confident, progressive outlook, they breed a reactionary fear of the future that comes in left- and right-wing varieties - a defensiveness, a tendency to lash out ferociously at anybody who proposes fundamental reform or at any group, like immigrants, that alters the fabric of life.

This is the chief problem with the welfare state, which has nothing to do with the success or efficiency of any individual program. The liberal project of the postwar era has bred a stultifying conservatism, a fear of dynamic flexibility, a greater concern for guarding what exists than for creating what doesn't.

The people of Continental Europe got themselves addicted to the nanny-State and now they're paying the price, afraid to lose the cushy lives they've become accustomed to. But they're learning the hard way that, in the long run, there's no free lunch.

I remember the "Today" show doing a feature on the Scandinavian countries several years ago with Matt and Katie going on and on about what an idyllic paradise it was compared to life in the U.S. I wasn't buyin' it then. And it looks like the current situation bears out my skepticism.

Posted by: Gary at 02:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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