by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
PJ Media<\/em><\/p>\n European thoughts\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I am on my first week of an annual tour I co-lead to Europe. Some random thoughts. I hope that urban density, apartment living, Smart cars, and motorbikes are not the envisioned future of the United States. For all our perceived sins, the American with his suburban house and yard, and pickup and boat, enjoys a freedom of choice and ease unmatched anywhere \u2014 and unappreciated in most surveys of comparable standards of living. That autonomy in private life translates into a freewheeling, unpredictable electorate, about all we have left of the modern equivalent of the homestead farmer of the nineteenth century.<\/p>\n Me First?<\/strong><\/p>\n If socialist health care is so preferable, with the power of the state to mandate preventative health care, why do Europeans smoke far more than Americans? On cultural issues, such as politely forming lines, or not defacing monuments with graffiti, or yielding to pedestrians, or driving with concern for others, I think supposedly selfish Americans are light years ahead. But how so, when our capitalist system breeds \u2018me first\u2019? And what exactly once created the European genius that we see expressed in the beauty of Italian architecture and the zest for excellence throughout the art and literature of old Europe?<\/p>\n World Beneath Their Feet<\/strong><\/p>\n But more seriously, it is ironic to travel through Italy and see nearly all of its artistic treasures, whether classical or ecclesiastical, as a dividend of a religious, confident culture, and almost nothing comparable offered by the new Europe of socialism, statism, and agnosticism. If heaven is retiring at 55, leaving the apartment each mid-morning to sit in the local coffee shop, and then protesting on weekends about my lower than anticipated pension cost-of-living increase, then I would prefer hell.<\/p>\n The great unspoken truth? Somewhere right now, a U.S. ship, an American soldier, a circling F-16 keep the Russians honest, the fear in al Qaeda, the Straits of Hormuz open, the commerce of the Mediterranean safe \u2014 unknown, unappreciated to the mass of European utopian citizenry \u2014 whose cultural ancestry made us Americans what we are.<\/p>\n You Can\u2019t Possibly Take Care of Yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n What worries me about Obama is not the specifics of the nationalization of GM and Chrysler, the government rescue of the United Auto Workers, the effort to take over college financing, proposed universal health care, massive deficits and tax increases, although they are worrisome and only the beginning, but the attendant culture of \u2018inflate your tires\u2019 and \u2018wash your hands\u2019 paternalism. I think we are entering an age in which the federal government will increasingly guide our thoughts into what is deemed correct \u2014 the sort of car we must drive, the type of salary we should make, the sort of job we should have, even the type of thoughts we are to express, and all in the name of collective brotherhood. The slavish manner in which the media lock stepped into Bush the near fascist for tribunals, wiretaps, intercepts, renditions, Patriot Act, Iraq, and Guantanamo, followed by choruses of Obama the sensitive, anguished overseer of tribunals, wiretaps, intercepts, renditions, Patriot Act, Iraq, and Guantanamo was one of the most frightening things I\u2018ve seen in a free society in 50 years.<\/p>\n The Wages of Statism<\/strong><\/p>\n In Europe the collective effort to diminish religion, to do away with national identity and exceptionalism, to embrace pacifism and a forced equality of result slowly erode human aspiration. I accept all this is the reaction to the horrors of the 20th century, but we too went through the horrors, although to a lesser extent, and socialism need not be the only corrective to nationalist fascism or communism.<\/p>\n How odd that the caricatures of Americans as grasping workaholics who sacrifice the good life in an illusory search for material wealth more likely fit the materialist European, who predicates his existence on a guaranteed job, pension, apartment, and more or less same existence as everyone around him \u2014 at the repression of notions of religion, or national aspirations, or dreams of seeking to be different, and, yes, more successful than others.<\/p>\n The Euromerican?<\/strong><\/p>\n The very notion that the government in the United States would emulate Europe, hoping to nationalize or regulate as much as possible, to be overseen by a professional technocratic class on top, aided by legions of government clerks, is also frightening. How odd to see Europeans aspire to inherit an elegant villa, or a stately ancestral estate, appreciate the beauty of past individual genius or the fruits of ancient overweening ambition, and yet in the here and now ensure that few such expressions of individualism are any more likely. I understand the logic, and perhaps the necessity of, the state-subsidized box-like apartment complex, and the hundreds who are jammed into it with access to good water, sewer, and power hookups, but there is no beauty, no mark of the individual to be found there.<\/p>\n Human Nature Trumps All Else<\/strong><\/p>\n The natural human response to forced multiculturalism, socialism, and equality of result is cynicism. One senses that in Europe the public persona is a mere veneer. Privately most scheme to avoid taxes, to moonlight, to barter- \u2014 if they are not among the government elite with high-paying, hyper-perked tenures at a ministry \u2014 while avoiding the legions of new unassimilated Muslims from North Africa, and especially the Americanized troika of assimilation, integration, and intermarriage. Let us avoid such institutionalized cynicism in the U.S.<\/p>\n Not Obamaized Yet<\/strong><\/p>\n Like most skeptics of the new Obama frontier, I\u2019d simply trust in the ancient wisdom that one cannot get something for nothing \u2014 so creating $9 trillion in new debt either ruins the currency or burdens those not born to pay for it. One cannot tax a productive class into oblivion and not kill the proverbial goose. One cannot mandate equality by result without extreme coercion and endemic cynicism. The experimentation and utopian tinkering by a paternalistic overseeing class, Ivy-League trained but without experience in private enterprise or the underbelly of American life, can never prove successful. These are age-old truths that transcend Obama, but apparently must be rediscovered to our great pain each new generation.<\/p>\n Capitalists, farmers, eccentrics, and individualists created the American Constitution; clerks, bureaucrats, ministers, and appointees wrote the Constitution of the European Union. Are we then surprised at the comparative results?<\/p>\n More on European perceptions in the next posting \u2014 and the beauty and majesty of ancient Italy and Greece.<\/p>\n \u00a92009 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media European thoughts\u2026 I am on my first week of an annual tour I co-lead to Europe. Some random thoughts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[716],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-HE","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7886,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/should-we-hope-to-die-at-75\/","url_meta":{"origin":2706,"position":0},"title":"Should We Hope to Die at 75?","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Contra Ezekiel Emanuel, age is no absolute barometer for human vitality and dignity. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online Normally, no one would care that in a recent Atlantic essay \u2014 \u201cWhy I Hope to Die at 75\u201d \u2014 57-year-old Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel argued that living to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "America's Future"","block_context":{"text":"America's Future","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/americas-future\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"(Ruslan Huzau\/Dreamstime)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/pic_giant_092514_SM_Senior-Citizens-DT-500x291.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11515,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/gop-failed-to-fight-dems-health-care-scare-tactics-in-midterms\/","url_meta":{"origin":2706,"position":1},"title":"GOP failed to fight Dem’s health-care scare tactics in midterms","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Please read this piece by my colleague Paul Roderick Gregory in The Hill Exit polls showed that health care was the top factor in motivating voters in the 2018 election. Democrat candidates successfully stoked fears that the Republicans would\u00a0end\u00a0coverage of pre-existing conditions. Despite repeated\u00a0assurances\u00a0from\u00a0President Trump\u00a0that pre-existing conditions were safe, almost\u00a060\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Donald Trump"","block_context":{"text":"Donald Trump","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/donald-trump\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11474,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/medicare-for-all-is-as-scary-as-it-gets\/","url_meta":{"origin":2706,"position":2},"title":"‘Medicare for All’ is as scary as it gets","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Please read this piece by my colleague Paul Roderick Gregory in The Hill There is no mystery as to what House Democrats want to do with American medical care. Their intentions are clearly spelled out in\u00a0House Resolution 676, also known as the \u201cExpanded & Improved Medicare for All Act.\u201d Its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Medicare"","block_context":{"text":"Medicare","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/medicare\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6659,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/new-coke-health-care\/","url_meta":{"origin":2706,"position":3},"title":"New Coke Health Care?","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0NRO's The Corner\u00a0 The president has compared the rollout disaster of Obamacare to temporary tech glitches with a new-model iPhone. But a better comparison is the disastrous 1985 campaign to replace Coca-Cola with \u201cNew Coke,\u201d a new sweeter formula that was supposed to stop Pepsi from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Healthcare"","block_context":{"text":"Healthcare","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/obama-administration\/healthcare\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2950,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/pause-and-take-a-deep-breath\/","url_meta":{"origin":2706,"position":4},"title":"Pause and Take a Deep Breath","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media Five Easy Pieces I.\u00a0\u201cBush did it!\u201d Sec. Clinton went abroad this week and immediately, and yes, gratuitously, blamed Bush. On her initial tour abroad, Sec. Clinton announced that she would follow an approach that \u201cvalues what others have to say\u201d: \u201cToo often in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "February 2009"","block_context":{"text":"February 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/february-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2921,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-triumph-of-banality\/","url_meta":{"origin":2706,"position":5},"title":"The Triumph of Banality","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Obama didn't inven dishonesty in political discourse--but he has a talent for it. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online One of the most tired rhetorical tropes in Washington starts with, \u201cWe must . . . \u201d In the age of Obama, this is now usually followed by \u201cGet the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "March 2009"","block_context":{"text":"March 2009","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2009\/march-2009\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2707,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706\/revisions\/2707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}